March 6, 2019 -
Thought for today:
“Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death / Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.”
T.S. Eliot in
his poem,
“Ash Wednesday”.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
March 5, 2019
BRIEF INTERVIEW
“You’ve been married to your wife,
Lizzy, for 45 years now. What have
you learned about relationships?”
“I don’t know. I guess I learned
that the best thing you can do -
sometimes - is to shut
your mouth
and let the other person do what
they need to do. It takes a lot of
acceptance to make a marriage
work, and you have to keep
listening and talking. And you have
to like the other
person, too. That
helps an awful lot … and there’s
more but I need to think some more.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
March 4, 2019
THE MUSIC OF LIFE, LIFE, LIFE
Sounds, refrains, melodies,
beats, repetitions,
drums, drums, drums,
back and forths, ups and downs,
turns and returns,
violins, guitars, banjos,
pianos, organs, key boards,
strings, strings, strings,
air, the use of air,
blow Gabriel, blow,
fingers, the use of fingers,
feet, the tapping of feet,
the tapping of toes,
dancing to the tunes,
the thousand tunes of life,
tip, tap, tip, tap, tip.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2019
Monday, March 4, 2019
TOO MUCH
CAN BE TOO MUCH
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 8th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”
TRIP TO JAPAN
I just finished a trip to Japan with 24 people. Most were
from this parish.
Now I need some time to process - to think about what we
saw and what we did - and what it told me.
for starters, it was a bit much. It was too much to see - and experience - but
I took notes of what happened.
The title of my homily or thoughts for today is, “Too
Much Can Be Too Much.”
I only had one suitcase and a small duffle type bag for
stuff to carry stuff to have on hand while on the plane.
One time there I helped someone who was trying to get on
an escalator with two suitcases - wrong move - I almost fell - as one bag
slipped down on the moving staircase - and I grabbed the side banister, but
that was moving as well.
I was reading a book on preaching about a month ago - and the author said a priest had a great
sermon - made his point - and then he made a second point - which was good, but
it was too much - and he proceeded to kill his whole sermon.
Sometimes, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”
So too eating - so too speaking - so too so much.
Three scoops of ice cream on a cone - too much - the top
two - rum raison and butter almond can land on the side walk - and all one is
left with is the chocolate scoop on the bottom - which might be one’s third
preference.
Soo too - too many
prayers. Sometimes folks do too many prayers and too much time on getting one’s
prayers done.
So too TV or any kind of couch potatoing life.
JESUS IN TODAY’S GOSPEL
Jesus is edging up and around this topic of too much in
today’s gospel.
A man comes up to Jesus and asks the secret of life. He
wants to inherit eternal life. He wants it all? Don’t we all?
So Jesus keeps it simple and says: “Keep the
commandments.” Then Jesus gives a few of them.
The guy says, “I do all that.”
Then he adds, “But I want more!”
“Okay,” says
Jesus,
So Jesus gives him more - which is paradoxically - taking
on less - giving up his wealth, giving up his too much, to the poor - and he
can’t do that.
So his too much is preventing him from seeing the more -
begommm which is to live lighter and less filling - and he walks away sad.
CONCLUSION
Mark’s gospel tells us the guy had too many possessions.
And they were possessing him.
He couldn’t fit through the eye of the needle - so there
were too many rips in the fabric of his life.
The title of my homily is, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”
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