September  6, 2019

Thought for today: 

“I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.” 

Katherine Mansfield’s last words.

September 5, 2019

POCKET  CHANGE 

Three dimes, two nickels,

a quarter and some pennies:

loose change in my pocket....

That’s how I treat some  people

in my life, loose change, present,

but just there - lumped together....

Not important - and sometimes

given away to the poor beggar

or the guitar player on the corner....

Then there is my wallet with my credit

cards, a few Andrew Jackson's - and

my medical and identity cards: ME.

© Andy Costello, 

Reflections 2019

September  5, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.”  

Gail Lumet Buckley, “The Hornes:

An American Family, Knopf, 1986

September 4, 2019

GNAW

“Gnaw”:  now that’s an interesting verb

and word. Its meaning never gnawing me.

I haven’t ignored it. In fact, I never used it.

But now that I heard it used - I’ve been

asking myself, “Is there anything or

anyone biting and chewing and gnawing

me - like a dog with a bone or - like a

lion gnawing on a gnu and gnarling as

it gnashes its teeth? How about God?

Francis Thomson is the only one I ever

heard of - who did some thinking about this.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

September 4, 2019

Thought for today: 

“Her whole life was governed by her desire not to be blamed, so she never did anything and got blamed for that.”  

Gerald Brennan, 

Thoughts in a 

Dry Season, 1979

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “I Know Who You Are?”

The man in today’s gospel from Luke 4: 31-37, the man with the demons, meets Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum and announces, “I know who you are!”

In Mark’s gospel the man in the synagogue in Capernaum is described as having demons - as well as convulsions.

I think one point is: the scribes and the Pharisees don’t get who Jesus is, but the demonized, the crazy, the poor, the sick, the unimportant people, the outsiders, they know who Jesus is.

Obviously a point I’d like to make in this homily is to ask, “Do I know Jesus? Can I say, ‘I know who Jesus is?’”

QUESTION

Stepping back a bit, can I ask, “Do I really know any other person?”

Hopefully married couples know each other.

And parents know their kids somewhat, but ….

DADDY

Two or three years ago my sister Mary was going through, sorting and tossing out old family papers.  And she found a newspaper clipping of an obituary of my father’s brother who fell off a building working construction in Pittsburgh.  Talking we figured that my dad, still single had to take a train from Manhattan, New York where he was living, to Pittsburgh, get his brother Willy’s body, and take it to Portland, Maine for burial.

Thinking about that, I said to myself, “What was my father thinking having to deal with all that?”

Thinking about that I wish I had known that.  I would have loved to know what my dad was thinking and feeling. My dad was absosultely quiet and I have to admit I didn’t know him.

I once went by bus with him from the Port Authority Bus Station to Portland Maiine. I still don’t know him - after that long time. And my dad is long dead 1970.

OBITUARY

I’m asking and addressing the question in this homily: “Do I know other people?”

I once did obituaries for our province newsletter.  Someone would die and I’d call around to get information.  Sort by accident I found out that a guy named Ed Jackson knew guys much better than anyone else. I would write up the obituary and guys would say, “Wow, Andy you really knew so and so.” I’d say, “No, I didn’t but Ed Jackson did and he wasn’t even stationed with the guy who died.”

So I guess some people know people better than other people.

BACK TO JESUS

So I’d assume that some people know Jesus better than a lot of other people.

Talk to them.

I’d assume that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did a lot of research on who Jesus was and they certainly help us to know him better. And I’d assume that each of the 4 gave their take.

I like the Myers Briggs test- and I like to think that Matthew was head, Luke Heart, Mark Hand- practical - no talk, more action and John was the dreamer, the imaginer.  So each gave their take on Jesus.

I assume this is why we come to Mass - to be with Jesus - to hear him in the gospels, to eat with him and him, and get to know him.

CONCLUSION

So can we say,  “I know who you are Jesus Christ.”          

September 3, 2019

CELL PHONES

When it comes to cell phones,

there are lots of takes. You see

some folks getting calls every

five minutes. Some answer on

the spot. Some ignore the call.

Some check who the call is from -

make a plus or minus sign with

their face - and then hit something.

Some people make comments

about  people with cell phones -

being addicted - being trapped -

being smart or being more  

concerned with the person on the

other side of the call than with the

persons they are with. Some have

not given any thought to any of this.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019