January 14, 2019

THE BEGINNING OF 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  MARK

INTRODUCTION

Today as we begin the Gospel of Mark, for a homily I’d like to preach on 3 points:

1) Some quick opening reflections on the Gospel of Mark

2) A brief reference to Jesus’ opening message about the Kingdom—as we heard it in today’s gospel

3) A few comments about Jesus calling ordinary people: Peter, Andrew, James and John.

1) THE GOSPEL OF MARK

Today we begin Ordinary Time with the Gospel of Mark—Monday the first week in OT and we’ll have Mark till Monday, the tenth week in OT.

In year B, on Sundays, we have The Gospel of Mark on Sundays till the 16 Sunday in OT—with time out for Lent and Easter.  However, this year - is the year of Luke for Sundays.

So some quick comments on Mark.

Mark is most probably the first of the 4 Gospels, so it’s a good place to start. It’s only 16 chapters. It can be read in one sitting.

Mark is practical. Mark is visual. Mark is details. No frills. All action. No fluff, stuff. He does not tell too many parables, stories, sayings of Jesus—especially the little images, but rather he’s into action. He tells what Jesus did more than what Jesus said.

“Jesus went about doing good.”

He does not give us the infancy stuff. That’s fluff.

No, he starts off with John the Baptist and then gets right to the point: Jesus.

Jesus then does stuff right around Galilee—in the north—then Jesus goes south.

He get to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He cleans out the temple. He is arrested and killed.

Then he rises from the dead, tells his disciples to “Go into the whole world and preach what I told you—the Kingdom—to all people.”

2) THE KINGDOM

So that’s Jesus in a nutshell according to Mark. It’s about the Kingdom.

It’s about being in the Kingdom—living in the Kingdom—living in the Kingdom of God.

We don’t start there, so we are called there—to change and enter that kingdom.

Picture yourself in a room—better picture yourself as a room. It’s filled. It’s filled with so much stuff that to go to bed you have to take stuff off your bed and you put it on your desk. And to work at your desk, you got to take the stuff off your desk and put it on your bed—and that’s what you do day after day after day and night after night after night all through your life.

Finally someone says, “You don’t have to do it that way, stupid!”

You say, “There is? What is it?”

And the other person says, “Get rid of everything that you don’t need and you’ll have all the space you need.”

Change! Repent! Turn around! See everything different. Start doing things differently.

The Purgative Way is the emptying way.

The next stage is The Illuminative Way.

So my second point simply is Jesus message to change. To see differently, to do different, to be different.

That’s Good News if you are sick and tired of being dragged down by your own nonsense.

I can change. That’s good news. I can become light.

3) THE CALLING

My third point is the calling. The simple call: “Come follow me!”

I read a quote from a man by the name of Lew Wallac. Picture or listen to his account of deciding to follow Christ compared to the calling and letting go and following Christ by Peter, Andrew, James and John, in today’s gospel—how they were called, let go, and followed Jesus immediately.

After six years given to impartial investigation of Christianity, as to its truth of falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world, and my personal Saviour.”

That’s some contrast.

We are both.

Some of us made our move fast and took 6 years + to reflect upon it.

Some take six years and then jump at the right moment.

So I advise you to have Jesus Christ come to your boat and see what he sees in you.

Barclay, commenting on this text sees Jesus knowing these guys beforehand  -- at least to have watched them.

Barclay also makes a second point and that is that these are common men, common slobs, that Jesus mixed with, the common folk.

If you ever get to New York City, take the subway. Look around. You'll be with common folk.

What is your attitude towards common folk?

George Bernard Shaw, “I have never had any feeling for the working-classes, except a desire to abolish them, and replace them with sensible people.”

John Galsworthy has one of his characters in his book, The Patrician, say, “The mob! How I loathe it. I hate its mean stupidity. I hate the sound of its voice , and the look of its face—it’s so ugly, so little. “

Carlyle, in a fit of anger, once said that there were twenty seven million people in England, mostly fools.

Jesus did not talk or feel that way about people.

Lincoln, quoted by Barclay, said, “God must love the common folk—he made so many of them.”

So Jesus called common people, ordinary people, in an ordinary time, to be his extraordinaly disciples.

So too us!

We can say that he’s calling us.

Our move.

Our choice.

CONCLUSION

So those are three reflections to keep in mind today as we begin the Gospel of Mark here in Ordinary Time—up till Ash Wednesday (March 6th this year). 

January 14, 2019

DIG  DEEP 

TILL  YOU  UNEARTH 

YOUR DREAMS

Down deep

in the depths

of our underearth -

are our dreams.

Dig - keep digging - till

the strong steel of your

shovel hits your dreams:

then lift them out - 

clean them off -

and then start singing.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

FOR EXAMPLE:

January 14, 2019

Thought for today: 


“Kind words don’t wear out the tongue.” 

Danish Proverb

THE  MASS OF  SNOW

A mass of snow covered us ….

Silent night …. Holy night ….

Waking up …. Looking out the window….

All is bright ... all is white … all is clean ….

Christ … no footprints of your people -

coming to church this Sunday morning….

Christ …. your footprints in our homes ...
your presence in our souls when 
we are gospel, when we are good news,
when we take and eat  these moments 

to be in communion with each other….

A chance for all to be with each other in

this clean, white, beautiful Sunday morning.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

WHAT DOES 
THE WORD “BAPTISM” 

TRIGGER IN YOU?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is a question: “What Does the Word ‘Baptism’ Trigger in You?”

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of The Baptism of the Lord.

It recalls the day Jesus headed to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist.

I know that people like to go back to the church where they were married.

The following has happened at least 100 times. I go down to the office at St. Mary’s - to look something up or drop some outgoing mail. Surprise! I bump into someone who is visiting St. Mary’s. They say, “We were married here 35 for 16 years ago - or what have you.”

I’ve never had anyone say, “I remember when I was baptized here - 55 years ago.”

Obviously, because we’re baptized as babies - most of the time.

Yet, since today is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, let’s revisit our baptism.

Let me look at 3 aspects of baptism. There are many more.

NAME

First of all, our baptism is the day we got our name. This was much more significant way back when - because way back when, people got baptized right close to their birth, mainly because baby deaths were much more frequent.

I ask you to revisit your name - even if it was weeks or months after you were crawling around with your name in place.

I just found out last year,  I was to be a John - and my father - changed me to Andrew almost at the last minute.

I’m glad. There are too many people named John.  Sorry to all those here who got the name “John”.  I hope you prefer your name, like I like my name.

I got Andrew Jackson at my baptism  - which I also  like. It got me to read at least 3 biographies of Andrew Jackson - the 7^th president of the United States - and his being featured on the 20 dollar bill.

I see Andrew Jackson’s painting on the wall in the Oval Office of President Trump - so my fear of being replaced by a woman on the 20 dollar bill has gone away.

I was born on the feast of St. Andrew Avellino - who has since been dumped from the church calendar in favor of St. Leo the Great.

I prefer the Andrew.

My father took that Andrew from the Saint’s name of my birthday and added the Jackson. The reason: because growing up in Ireland priests would say from the pulpit trying to get priest recruits, “Andrew Jackson was a president in the United States and he would have been Catholic - if there were more priests over there in the South. Lots of Irish Catholics lost their Catholic faith because of the shortage of priests.”

Now this was not historically true - but there is some truth in the statement. In fact, I once  received a newspaper clipping on this practice.

So revisit your name. Is there any history behind it? If there is,  advertise it. If your parents are still alive and you don’t know why you got your name, ask.

If you have any power - if you’re still hoping to have kids - think twice of the selection of kids’ names.

I love the saying, “If you’re about to pick a name for a kid, go outside - back porch or front yard and yell out, “Jeremiah get in here, you bull frog.” 

Give your kid a name with history - and a neat sound -  and realize a name has great impact on a person.

And don’t forget grandparents and family stories.

FAITH

Secondly, revisit your faith.

Having your kid baptized is an act of faith.

Is it any wonder, we priests keep on hearing from grandparents, our kids have stopped going to church and our grandkids have yet to be baptized.

I have heard 2 times so far about parents having a party on their street for their new born kid  - during which they name the kid and hold the kid up in the air in celebration like the bread and wine being held up at Mass.

Ritual is part of being a human being - like grandparents wanting to show us pictures of new born babies in Wyoming or what and where have you.

And I still hear of some grandparents baptizing their grandkids secretly in the kitchen sink or bathtub - because their parents didn’t get them baptized.

In today’s gospel we hear the great message that God breathes on us and in us, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”

May all parents and all brothers and sisters treat each new baby and each little kid as beloved.

May each human being sense, believe, know that they are cherished, beloved, pleasing to some people on the planet.

May all Christians - all christened people - all baptized people - know they are the body of Christ.

Father Blas who was here for a few years - and was back this week - triggers for me a powerful story.  When he was here, he was in the back of church at St. Mary’s and the cantor said right before the Mass began, “Today is the 20 Sunday in Ordinary time. Please check your cellphones or electronic devices and make sure they are turned off and  our main celebrant  for this mass is, ‘Father Blas’” and he heard one person say out loud, “Oh no!”

Oooooooooh!  That hurts.

Every human being - baby to Nursing Home person - needs to know he or she is a child of God - and nobody should be dissed in any way.  And every day - hopefully the Holy Spirit hovers over us and we experience the love of others for us as well as God’s love for us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - as well as our love for every person.

Others know when they are respected and loved.

We know.

FAMILY

The third trigger and thought and theme for baptism is family.

I have done thousands of baptisms and I see the presence of family - big time at baptisms.

A baptism is a family event.

We Catholics know the baby doesn’t know what’s happening at her or his baptism. The baby doesn’t know about the lighted candle handed to the parents and Godparents and the deacon or priest says to them, “Receive the light of Christ.” 

Baptism is a family and a community event - we’re all in on passing great values and example onto this kid.

If people stop going to Mass - and church - because of the non example or bad example of others, the opposite happens.

I was part of an enormous wonderful funeral this morning at 10:30 at St. Mary’s and I could feel the connection of so many with the family that lost their dad and husband, coworker and friend.

CONCLUSION

So today’s feast celebrates the people of Israel returning to the Jordan River - where they started by crossing the river into the Promised Land - and being re-dipped - re-baptized - re-washed - renewed - rebooted - recalled again.

January 13, 2019 

Thought for today: 

"God often  visits  us, but most of the time  we are not at home.” 

French Proverb

January 12, 2019

COMPLICATIONS

Sometimes I hit the wrong number 

when making the phone call. Sorry. 

I apologize. Sometimes I say the

wrong thing when saying, “I’m sorry.”

I know it’s complicated.  With me,

I’m okay, but with you I’m not. Sorry.

There’s that “Sorry!” once again. It’s

complicated. It’s always complicated.

Then again, for the past 3 years I

simply say, “Sorry. This is me. Then

I add, “It’s complicated and I have

found out I’m not God. I’m me.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019