Saturday, April 15, 2017

April 15, 2017



ROLL CALL

Each day,
life the great teacher,
calls out our name
as we meet at least
3 key moments or 1 key person.

Each day
this disciple called, “me”,
sits there in life’s classroom,
and we can  respond with
either a “Present” or an “Absent”.



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

Friday, April 14, 2017


JUST  SITTING, 
JUST  THINKING, 
JUST  PRAYING 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Good Friday Service  is, “Just Sitting, Just Thinking, Just Praying.”

A little girl came into church one day - and saw all those people sitting there - and it was a very quiet moment in the Mass and she asked her grandmother, “What are all these people doing?”

And her grandmother answered, “Just sitting, just thinking, just praying.”

So the title of my homily is just that, “Just Sitting, Just Thinking, Just Praying.”

And if someone asks you, “Why do you go to church?” there’s a good answer. Simply say, “Just Sitting, Just Thinking, Just Praying.”

MOVIE - OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

Around 1970 - during the Vietnam War - I went with a couple of guys to see the movie, “Oh What a Lovely War.”

Amazingly,  it was a musical. It was a shoot-em-up. It was a horror movie.

It contrasted what was going on back home in England during World War I to  what was happening in the trenches and the killing fields of Europe.

The war - dubbed “The War To End All Wars” - went on from 1914 to 1918.

We’re in the midst of its 100th anniversary - right now - and not as much has been made of it - as should be made of it.

70 million military personnel were involved - 60 million European.

9 million combatants and then another 7 million civilians were killed.



The war ended in 1918 with the armistice.

The movie ended and something very unusual happened in that New York Theater that night. I heard after wards, it happened many times after the movie ended.

Nobody moved when the movie ended.  People were just sitting there. People were just thinking there. I don’t know how many people were praying there. Nobody was talking.

It felt like forever - till we all stood up - and quietly walked out of the theater into the night.

The final scene of the movie had 4 women dressed in white: a grandmother, two young women, and a young girl. They were sitting in this great big - enormous green hilly field. It was easy on the eyes and a welcome sight on the screen after two hours of seeing mud and water and rain and machine gun fire and bomb blasts and soldiers dying, dying, dying, just to get less than a hundred yards of dirt brown ground and holes.

And the little girl in white says to her grandmother in the presence of her mother and an aunt, “Granny, what did daddy do in the war.”

And the song that answers that little girl’s question has the refrain, “Oh,  we’ll never tell them, no we’ll never tell them ….”

And across the movie screen - across the big green field on the movie screen - comes a lone soldier - the war is over and he comes to a  place where there are 4 soldiers - laying there alive but not talking in the waving green grass - eyes closed or looking at the sky.

And the lone soldier plops himself down - without any words - on the grass - and then the 5 men fade and disappear  - and the field then has 5 white crosses and then the camera in this last scene in the movie - pans back the scene and the field now has  5 thousand - then 50 thousand at least - white crosses all lined up in perfect symmetry in this gigantic military cemetery.

It’s worth seeing this movie.


It’s worth seeing bits and pieces of this movie on You Tube snippets - especially that last scene - with all those crosses.

IT’S GOOD FRIDAY

Today we come to church to:  just sit, just think, just pray.

As priest I get to kiss the cross of Christ early on - up front - and personal.  Then all of you come up to kiss the cross as well.

I love to then sit back and watch.

I remember reading Karl Rahner - the famous German Jesuit theologian’s sermon - for  Good Friday. He thinks out loud about 10 or 15 people who kiss the cross and tells you what they might be thinking and praying about at that moment.

Tonight do the same. Watch each other. Think about each other. Pray for each other.

The big long gospel reading mentions 10 or 15 people whom we might  think about on Good Friday. Jesus the Nazarene entering a garden on the last night of his life - needing to find space and time to pray - but with his disciples and they bottom out and fall asleep. Then there is Judas and the Pharisees and the soldiers. What were they thinking? Then there was Peter who denies knowing Jesus. What did that do to him for the rest of his life? Did his failure make him a better first pope?  What about the chief priest? What was his take on the weak and easily manipulated Pontius Pilate?  What about Barabbas? Did he pinch himself when the crowd screamed for Jesus’ death and spared him that day? What about Mary and the Beloved Disciple under the cross.  What about those who heard Jesus say, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing?” What did Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea think - when they asked for Jesus body so they could bury him? Did their faith that day - die as well?

That’s a lot of people to think about - those at the time of Jesus, those who are with us in church tonight, those out there tonight in battle zones and in harm’s way in the killing fields or our world.

CONCLUSION

Picture a little girl coming into the back of this church tonight. Hear her seeing us here tonight and then thinking and saying, “What are you doing here in church tonight?  What  did you do in your life so far?”



And unlike the men in the movie, “Oh What a Lovely War,” talk to each other about life’s big questions - what you have seen so far in life - what you’re thinking about each day - and what you’re praying about. Amen.
April 14, 2017


GOOD  FRIDAY

People screaming at Jesus:
“Crucify him. Crucify him.”
As if he was running for office.

No.  And he was not running
for his life. He was standing up
and standing out for the Good.

After that it’s a mystery why God
became one of us and was willing
to lay down his life for his friends.

And enemies…. To scream out from
the cross “Father forgive them for
they don’t know what they are doing."

To voice from the cross - to God our
Father - what everyone feels while
suffering, “Why have you forsaken me?”

To pray: “Into your hands, my God,
 I hand over my spirit.” To hear back,
“Today, you’ll be with me in Paradise.”



©  Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
Painting on top: The Yellow Christ 
by Paul Gauguin, 1889


Thursday, April 13, 2017


WEARING  A  CROWN 
  
The title of my reflection for this Holy Thursday Morning is, “Wearing a Crown.”

I think I’ve had this Holy Thursday morning reflection every year for the past ten years or so, so I look for something new every year from this short reading from Hebrews - Chapter 2 - verses  9b-10.


"We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, that through God’s gracious will he might taste death for the sake of all. Indeed, it was fitting that when bringing many to glory, God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make their leader in the work of salvation perfect through suffering." 

Last night I read this text a few times to see what would hit me. This year - it’s  the idea of being crowned. The reading begins, “We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.”

If Father Tizio was preaching this I’m sure he would have found a golden crown - like one from Burger King - or asked if they had a crown as a left over prop in our school.  He’s the best I’ve ever seen with props for preaching. I love the way he introduces a theme and then goes over behind the altar or a chair or the podium and brings out a prop we all can see.

From this reading I could see him holding two crowns: a gold one for a king - and a crown of thorns which Jesus gets tonight or tomorrow - when being ridiculed by the Roman soldiers who arrested him.

This week we see Jesus both in glory and honor -  and Jesus in sorrow and suffering.

On Palm Sunday Jesus is hailed as Prophet, Priest and King - coming into Jerusalem in honor and glory - but by Friday - Bad Friday - which was renamed Good Friday because on the cross - he dies and saves the world.

If we look at our lives there are days when we felt like a king or queen - for example on our 25 or 50th birthday or anniversary  - or we were the one chosen to crown Mary Queen - in a Marian May Procession. We might have had a solo in a musical or hit a solo home run in a baseball or softball game - and we were the hero - or there was a game when we struck out or made an error and we were booed.

Life is both!  Life is  both successes and failures.

Which do we learn from the most?

Many say we learn the most from our mistakes - our sufferings - our failures - when we are hurting.

Many say we learn the most from our crosses.

It’s when we recover - when we rise.

That Holy Thursday evening Jesus sat down and ate his final meal with his disciples. He talked about the great themes - that he had preached and talked about - all through his trips through Palestine.

Life is all about being last - being the servant of all - washing feet - providing bread and wine - food for others - proclaiming what life is all about - saying to each other, “This is my body, this is my blood, I giving it to you, I’m being poured out in love for you.”

Do that yourselves in memory of me.

That Holy Thursday evening he needed his disciples to pray with him - at least for an hour - in the garden - but they didn’t get it - they still didn’t get what Jesus was about.  They were still sleeping.

That Holy Thursday evening he experienced betrayal by a kiss - when Judas arrived with those who gave him 30 pieces of silver - and Jesus was handed over - dragged away for trial - a scene we’ve seen on TV and news clips a hundred thousand million times ever since - from Calvary to Auschwitz to Tijuana.

That Holy Thursday evening Jesus experienced the crown of suffering - that would lead to his death - but we know the rest of the story: Easter - the rising - the being lifted up of Jesus - up out of the tomb.

This Holy Thursday morning I’ll close with our reading from Hebrews once again, “We see Jesus crowned  with glory and honor because he suffered death, that through God’s gracious will he might taste death for the sake of all.” 
April 13, 2017



LENIENT

I know the word, but I don’t remember
anyone ever being called, “lenient”.

“Lefty,” “Liberal”, yes, but “lenient” no.

Yet, come to think about it, who of us
wouldn’t mind being called, “Lenient”?

That’s the father of the Prodigal Son.
That’s Jesus on the cross. “Forgive them…”

That’s my hope when I come out of
my tomb and walk my way into heaven.


© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017


Wednesday, April 12, 2017

April 12, 2017

LANDSCAPE

Coming over a hill,
coming around a curve,
all I could see were trees,
fences, roads, cows, homes,
and a bridge and a church in
the distance…. enough to get
me to - where I know I have to go -
and the church is still a bridge -
even with the scandals and the
nonsense - in the landscape of
my mind.  Christ, thank you, for
being both bridge and church to me.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017




Tuesday, April 11, 2017

April 11, 2017


SOUNDS
  
So many sounds
in the distance:


Train whistles ….
Boat horns ….
Ambulances screaming ….
Someone playing a guitar ….
A baby crying ….
Birds singing ….


God’s tears ….
A mother crying ….
A home run at the ballpark ….
Prayers ….
Worries ….
A shouting, “Hey, I love you ….”


So many sounds
in my ears.



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017