April    13, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“This is the grave of Mike O’Day  

Who died maintaining his right of way.  

His right was clear, his will was strong, 

But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong.”

 20^th century Anonymous

April 13, 2019

ORBIT

We all have various orbits:

family, friends, fellow workers,

church, and then we had those old orbits,

classmates, teams, organizations that

more or less float away from us as well.

Where we crash, spin out of control,

become confused, is when we are

spinning in two different directions

at once - like having dinner with family

and being on a iPhone at the same time.

Then there is God - who somehow

can orbit in and around all of  us -

all at the same time - but that’s

something we can’t do because

we’re not God, but we can try to be.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April 12, 2019

SYMPHONY  ORCHESTRA

“Okay, attention,” someone yells out.

“Choose, your instrument!”

“Today you’re to be a violin or a drum,

a horn or a base fiddle or a glockenspiel,

a cello or a flute or a clarinet or a bell ….

“Choose one and start playing.”

"Don't just take pictures!"

"Don't just walk by."

"Smile. Tap you toes."

"Feel the beat in your heart beat"

"Clap!"

“Make music - while you’re alive.”

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    12, 2019 - 

Thought for today:

“When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.”  

Kikuyu Proverb

April 11, 2019

DISTANCE

It’s quite a distance

from the edge of a branch

to the edge of the moon -

as the branch tries to scratch

the moon’s hard rock back

and accept that it has craters.

It’s quite a distance

from the edge of now

to the edge of my body

in my casket box - but

touch my hand and say, “Hi!”

and hear me say, “Thanks!”

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    11, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“The lie has seven endings.” 

Swahili Proverb

April 10, 2019

BEFORE  AND  AFTER

There’s a before,  before us - 

if we take the time to think about it. 

We have parents. They had parents. They had parents. 

And back and back and back and back and back. 

There’s a before,  before us - 

if we take the time to think about it afterwards. 

We’re the after, but we’re also the before of a 

lot more that is to come.

A rose is from a rose is from a rose is from a rose is from a rose and 

back and back to the beginning of roses and oak trees and bonsai trees. 

So too butterflies, spiders, monkeys, hippos, Rottweilers, singers, teachers,  carpenters, lawyers, nurses, speakers of the house and cleaners of the bathroom.

There’s a before,  before us 

if we take the time to think about it. 

So if - who we are, what we say, and what we do lasts, - back and back - till way, way back -  why not do the best we can do - in the here and now - right now.

We pray, we play,  we work,  we think, we talk, with words and structures 

that go back, and back, and back, and back - till before we remember back.

So I guess the message is:  we’re all connected and a lot is going 

to follow us, so best case scenario: let’s leave a great legacy. Amen.

Parvis Prayer

St. Mary's High School

April 10, 2019

36 Scholars were inducted

into the Rose Parvis 

Scholarship Program  

at St. Mary's High School,

Annapolis, Maryland 

- Prayer Reflection 

written for this occasion.

Father Andy Costello