Tuesday, April 28, 2020

April  28,   2020


MAIL  

A surprise letter 
since it wasn’t Christmas: 
“Tom passed away March 13th
Please pray for him.” 
It happens from time to time. 
Another widow. 
Another winter is coming 
in the middle of the summer. 
There is a lot of this happening 
lately.  Lord, it looks like 
we need each other. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020



April  28,  2020 

Thought  for  Today 



“I like reality.   It tastes of bread.” 


Jean  Anouilh,  
Catch  as  Catchcan, 1960 



THE  MASS: 
DIGESTING  FOOD AND WORDS 


INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3rd Monday after Easter is,  “The Mass: Digesting Food and Words.”

We spend our lives sitting down for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks and conversations.

We spend our lives taking in food and words.

Then we move away from tables carrying food in our stomachs and conversations in our minds.

We spend our lives digesting both.

The word “digest” – has in it – the word, "gestation" – to carry.

We take in conversations – we take in words – we digest them – we listen to them – we chew on thoughts – they become us – for and against.

READINGS

Today’s first reading - Acts 6: 8-15 -  has people coming to listen to Steven – to try to figure what he’s got – and they get stuff that they don’t get – and they get against him – words and ideas.

Today’s gospel is from John 6. As John McGowan said the other day: "It's the Eucharistic Chapter."

And we were taught by Father Gene McAlee, this chapter 6 of John has several levels - which kept on growing.  A whole earlier level centered in on wisdom – which becomes the bread of life – once the early church digested Jesus – once the wisdom became flesh – once the word became flesh.

We were talking the other day at table and the name John Corbett came up. He told me somethng very unique: the only reason he was becoming a Redemptorist was our rule. He read it and it made sense for his life.

It is a great document – which we need to digest - and feed upon.

The only reason I became  a Redemptorist was I saw and digested the Redemptorists as a  kid at O.L.P.H Brooklyn, New York.

The only thing I stayed as a priest was this: I began to see so clearly in the Mass is that it is a meal.

The only way I get the gospels is that it was put together in the context of meals

The big thing I have digested about the Redemptorists is our meals together.

Taste and see.

We eat together.

We drink together.

We digest each other.

We become each other.

If we don’t eat each other up, we leave.

If we don’t digest each other, we don’t become Redemptorists – that is this community , this province,

Taste and see.

The Mass of time called our day – is a meal, a mass of stuff we digest from table and time together.

Someone said the tongue  is forever moving – because the mind is forever moving – taking words, thoughts, deeds, in through papers, phones, TV, news, talk at table.

Communion with each other - becomes us.

CONCLUSION

Meals and minds together - is how we became who are in our family meals - we digested language - and how to be who were have become.

Life: Becoming us - digesting each other.

Amen.






Monday, April 27, 2020

April  27,  2020





LINGER

Yes, some people linger.
To buy or not to buy the # 4  
or the # 6 meal at the fast food
counter. Wait! Maybe I should 
get two scoops of ice cream,
butter pecan and rum raisin.
Then I can sit outside and watch
the world go by – slowly.  I’ve
been rushing around too fast
lately.  Maybe by just lingering, 
so and so will talk to so and so
and I’ll be more at peace with
both of them. Listening  works
better when we wait for the
other to tell us what’s really
happening. Maybe they know.
Maybe they know why the
other is  lingering – why they
are waiting – and maybe this
virus will bring us some new 
life as it  is really  lingering.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

April  27,  2020



Thought  for  Today:

"It's important to remember that everyone has something they are dealing with, whether they are sharing it or not.  It helps to be understanding and accommodating."

Marissa Mayer, Lumi Labs Co-Founder,
from comments asked of the Time 
Magazine 100 about the best way
 to lead during times of crisis. 
Page 90, Time, April 27-May 4, 2020

Sunday, April 26, 2020


April 26, 2020


FETCH


He expected his wife
to be an airlines attendant.
It was as simple as that,
but it took her a while –
to figure this out -
to realize "Fetch" was her nickname -
but he didn't know - she knew -
that he didn't know - all this.
Getting him this
and getting him that:
a pillow, a magazine, a snack.
He never gave;
he always got.
She never sat;
she only served.
He: watching her walk
down the aisle.
She: smiling, the last one
to fasten her seat belt -
in any turbulence -
in the flight  of their life -
till one day she said -
on the 44th day of the coronavirus,
“It’s time for me to quit my job
and take another flight.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

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



April 26, 2020


Thought  for  Today

“Traditional  autobiography  has  generally had a poor press.   The novelist Daphne du Maurier condemned all examples of this literary form as self-indulgent.  Others have quipped that autobiography reveals nothing bad about the writer except his memory.  George Orwell thought that an autobiography can be trusted only ‘when it reveals something disgraceful.’  His reasons?  ‘A man who gives  a good account of himself is probably lying.’  Sam  Goldwyn came to this conclusion: ‘I didn’t think anybody should write his autobiography until after he’s dead.’”  

From Autobiography – 
A Life Decoded by 
J. Craig Venter