Tuesday, May 8, 2018

May 8, 2018


SOUNDS

Where do sounds go?

A car crashes on Main Street
and someone screams as
the car hits the traffic light pole.
Where does that sound go?

So too a bell - it rings
on the hour from a big tower.
Where does that sound go?

As people walk down a
certain corridor in a nursing 
home they can hear an old lady,
who was a teacher years and
years ago, teaching class once
again - with her mind lost in 
the last stages of dementia.
Where do those sounds go?

A little kid is praying on the side
of his bed - kneeling on the floor -
next to his grandmother - who has
him for the weekend - while his
parents went to a wedding in Utah.
She is teaching him how to pray
like she was taught as a kid and how
she taught her kids when they
were kids - but they have given
up on all that childish stuff.
Where do those sounds go?

Where do sounds go?




© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  


Monday, May 7, 2018




ON  THE  WATER

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6th Monday  after Easter is, “On The Water.”

I would like to trigger good thoughts about the water - which makes up over 70% of our earth.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 16: 11-15 touch on two experiences Paul had from being on the water or at the water.



The first takes place in the Aegean Sea - which goes from the Mediterranean Sea up to the Marmara Sea and then into the Black Sea.

The second takes place at a river in Philippi.  I looked up on several maps and found the name of the river - the Krenides River. It’s also named the Gangas or the Gangetes river.  But I also found the names of other rivers in and around Philippi: the Strymon and Nestus Rivers - so I’m not sure just what river in Philippi is in place here. I’ll keep these in my notes and keep figuring out what’s what and where’s where.

I’ve been to the Mediterranean Sea and to Istanbul and to Athens - so maybe I was on the Aegean Sea. All I know is I saw a lot of water.

WATER EXPERIENCES

In this homily I simply want to address water experiences. We’ve all had our water experiences.  What are yours?

The river in Philippi was a place of prayer.

Here in Annapolis, we’re blessed with being near the water.

Nearby, we have the South River and the Severn River.  I  remember being at a blessing service for a bench or two on a point at the end of Quiet Water’s Park - in memory of a man who was killed in a big machine accident here in Maryland. I also remember being part of a funeral service on the Severn River for a young lady who died from an overdose. Her father was part of the band that sang, “Down by the Riverside.”

In other words, rivers as we heard in today’s first reading, can be sacred places.

We have the Chesapeake and then on the other side of Eastern Maryland the ocean.

Are they holy places for you?

I have on my wall a picture of the rocky shore line in Galway Ireland where my mom is from. She’d said, “I could step out our back door and put my big toe in Galway Bay.”



It was a great moment of life for me when we visited that place and seeing the flag stone where her house was - and stepping on it - and then lean over and put my hand into the water and then bless myself with that holy water - made famous in the song, “Did you ever go across the sea to Ireland and maybe at the closing of your day -   Galway Bay…..”

Where do you come from - what was the nearest source of water?

Water makes up over 70% of this planet. Without it - no us.

Every Sunday as a kid we would go down to the Narrows - the water between Staten Island and New Jersey and Brooklyn NY - the water that leads to NY Harbor - out into the Atlantic.



For 14 years of my life I lived on the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and Kingston NY.  For my second stint there, 8 years, every morning around 6:30 I’d walk down to that river, put my hand in it, and bless myself with that Holy Water - unless there was too much snow on that river road.



Blessings…. Blessings…. Blessings….

Water …. Water …. Everywhere ….

How about you?

I lived on a Lake in Wisconsin for 1 year - Lac La Belle in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.



I’ve never heard anyone say they wanted to be on all the Great Lakes or on all the Finger Lakes.  We have a place on Lake Canandaigua NY. I know some folks want to say they were in every major league ball park. How about lakes?


I know people who did some of the Mississippi - and a few the Amazon - and more - the Danube.

What have been your River or lake or Ocean experiences.

CONCLUSION

Today I just want to trigger those experiences and ask:  “Do you see all water as Holy Water, all water as living water, all water as a blessing, all water to make sure we’re taking good care of it?

Without being political, which I have got yelled at because of comments from the pulpit, that weren’t meant to be political, I want to push for taking good care of our waters and our earth. - Pope Francis has his whole encyclical Laudato Si - On Care for our Common Home.  That’s the earth and that’s the waters.

As you know there are those who want to deregulate protection for our air, water, and earth. Protecting the earth costs money.

If you haven’t seen air - water - and earth that has been messed up, take another look. When you do, do all you can do for our home.



When we were kids, when we took the subway to Coney Island, in Brooklyn, we used to go by a place called, “Perfume Bay” - because it had such a horrible smell. Finally, it’s in the process of being cleaned up!


May 7, 2018




RECOGNITION

Sometimes it all depends who’s doing 
the recognizing - and who’s being recognized. 

Sometimes I just want to hide in my hood.

Sometimes I don't want to be just a potted plant.

Sometimes I don't know what I want.

How about you?


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  


May 7, 2018 





Thought for today: 

“She always loved the old  adage.  
‘Leave them while you’re looking good.” 


Anita Loos from 

Gentlemen Prefer Blonds [1925]  

chapter 1.





Sunday, May 6, 2018



SOME PEOPLE SLIP
THROUGH THE CRACK

Some people slip through the crack.

I don’t know how this is possible - but some people slip through the crack and end up with amazing powers and knowledge - that nobody else has - and we have no idea how many people down through the centuries have these unique powers.

I would think it’s very rare.

I’m sure God wouldn’t want - anyone to know - what these few people on our planet - who slip through the crack - know. 

Actually,  it would be unfair to them.  It would be too much to know what they know. 

It might bring joy - but then again - it would also bring sorrow. 

Tears sometimes; smiles at other times.

What am I talking about?

Well, right now, there are right now some 7.7 billion people on the planet.

It’s estimated by skilled researchers that there have been some 108 billion people who have lived on planet earth so far.

It’s estimated - numbers wise - that there have been 15 dead  people - who have gone before us -  for ever living person on the planet right now.

Now that’s a lot of people - but that’s not what I’m about to get at today. But I’ll be  sliding into that in a moment or two.

In these 7.7 billion people on the planet right now - today - and in these 108 billion people who have lived on this planet so far, every once and a while there is a special person who  slipped through the cracks and they have powers and knowledge that very few other people have.

There might be one exception: babies. What do babies know?  We don’t know what they know, but sometimes we wonder.

Some think all babies have what these few people have - and then as they age - week and after week - month after month  - babies lose this gift. It simply disappears - but not for these other people.

What gift? What are you talking about?

What do you think babies are looking at -   and thinking about as they look around - all the time - and sometimes they cry and scream?

I don’t know about this - but it’s possible - but I sort of doubt this.

What are all those little babies we see in supermarkets and in church looking at and wondering about? They are staring at something - to their right, to their left, to their up and to their down. What are these babies smiling at - sometimes - and we didn’t do anything to cause that smile  - or that scream?

Okay it’s time to fess up and tell you  just what these few people on the planet know  - these folks who have slipped through the crack and know what they know and see what they see and wonder about what they wonder about.

They see futures.

They hear all the trees on the planet asking the age old question everyone asks every little kid when they are little kids: “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

They hear every tree give their hope. For example, “I want to be a dining room table - so I can be in on everything: meals, card games, homework, people doing their taxes. I want to be a great table that every family member wants when their mom and dad pass away.”

They hear another tree say: “I want to be a baseball bat. I want to get into every game free - and hit lots of home runs. The Orioles could use me big time.”

“But,” some other tree says, “Baseball bats break and are tossed.”

“Not me,” that future hall of fame  bat from that tree said, “I’m thinking positive. I’m going to last. I’m not going to break.”

So for starters, this person can not only hear  every tree, but they can hear every rock, every watermellon, every grain of salt, talk about their future.

Think about it. This could be very stressful. This person with all these voices coming at him or her, would  have trouble hearing their own family members. They could be constantly overloaded with TMI - too much information.

And these people who slipped through the cracks - whom God forgot for a moment - felt double whammy pain in their heart and mind - because this tree here - who wanted to be a Grandfather’s Clock - in a great mansion hallway - could end up being  wood for a fire for a family whose electricity went off for a week in the middle of winter and they had to cut down this tree for fire wood - to stay warm.

Then there was that 5000 acres of trees in Arizona - which had thousands and thousands of stories and dreams on what they were going to become - all were burnt up in a late autumn forest fire. Dreams of being pianos, violins, ladders, pencils that were used to write prayers in the back of churches - they all went up in flames.  They never became their dreams.

Then there were those pessimist trees who felt they would never amount to anything.  This person who feel through the cracks - this person whom God didn’t notice - knew that this pessimist tree would end up being a frame for a 2 million, 3 hundred and 50 thousand painting by Renoir - in a big Paris art museum - hanging there for a couple of hundred years.

And this was just trees and wood.

This person who slipped through the cracks could hear cats and dogs, birds and bees, gold fish and salamanders, talk to themselves about their future - their hopes to be in mansions or be the poodle of an old lonely lady or the gold fish or guppy of  and only child in Bejing or Boston.

And this person who fell through the cracks - in time - discovered that trees and apples, all  got calls from God - sometimes  tree whispers or wind sounds - that life is all about  giving one’s life  for others - to be canes and crutches - banisters and benches - for others - or to be firewood and matches - or newspapers - all for others.

And this person who fell through the cracks - knew - and this was the most beautiful knowing and the most painful knowing - they knew - that the God - who fell through the cracks and appeared in Mary in Bethlehem and Nazareth, this Jesus told us what it’s all about.

Each of us is not called to be a selfie   - but to be an  otherly - and the greatest love in life is to know this and do this - to lay down our lives for others - to die to self - so others can rise.

That’s what we’re growing up to be and to do. And those who didn’t like this, hung him on  a tree and no tree wanted to be that tree of the cross.

May 6, 2018


WITHOUT WINDOWS

Without windows,
we wouldn’t see church towers
in the distance.

Without windows,
we wouldn’t see sunrises
and sunsets.

Without windows,
we couldn’t peek to see
who’s coming up the street.

Without windows,
we couldn’t let in fresh air
and catch a cool breeze.

Without windows,
we might not be able to
escape in case of a fire.

Without windows,
we couldn’t catch the sounds
of kids on the street. Amen.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  



May 6, 2018 



Thought for today:  

“The Promised Land always  lies on the other side of wilderness.”   


Havelock Ellis [1959-1939] 
The Dance of Life  [1923] Chapter 5