Saturday, November 14, 2015

November 14, 2015

EYE TO EYE

As priest I have been blessed
to be standing  there - less than
12 inches - a ruler distance away -
when  couples look each other
eye to eye - when they take and make
their vows to each other in marriage.

As priest I have been doubly blessed
to be standing there  - looking at a
couple looking each other in the eye -
at their 25th or 50th wedding anniversary -
renewing their vows to each other in  marriage.

As priest, I have been 100 times blessed
to see couples almost on top of each other
when saying goodbye - looking at each
other eye to eye in a nursing home -
when one has to go home alone for
the night - or one is going home for good.
        

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

Friday, November 13, 2015

November 13, 2015 - Friday the l3th.

PICKING MY SKIN

I’m a skin picker.
How about you?

I won’t let my skin heal.
The scab itches - so I
pick and itch the scab.

I know this has a technical
term: “Dermatillomania.”
I like "scratchatosis" better.

Do you think this is bad?
You should meet people
who keep picking the skin
of their souls for mistakes
they made 30 or 50 years ago.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015


Thursday, November 12, 2015

November 12, 2015

STEPS

Steps:
as in dancing
or in learning to play the piano
or in recovering from an addiction
one step at a time.

Steps:
to make sure 
I see the step I'm on -
because people sometimes do fall
if they look too far ahead or too far behind.

Steps:
to be grateful 
for getting to where I am
right now - this far - and to say
"Thank you" to those who helped me
to get to this step in my life. Amen.

(c) Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

November 11, 2015



NOVEMBER HEADING FOR DECEMBER

It's November 11th - Veteran's Day -
and I can picture so many veterans
sitting on the edge of nursing home beds -
all alone - all alone - lonely and moaning
for visitors they can tell their story too....

I sit and listen to their war stories for a while
and then move on - and I wish that guy in 
Room 113A and that other guy in 78B could 
be near the front door watching visitors
coming and going - none with a familiar face....

None with a listening face - none with time for
them. Life in a wheel chair or walking with a walker is tough enough. The November of our life heading heading into the December of 
our life should not be seen and listened 
to away from home and alone. "Oh no!"



                                                                    © Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

OPPORTUNITY  PRAYER


Lord, you healed the blind and you healed the deaf - help us to see and to hear all that surrounds us, the scenes, the fall colors, the music and the chatter - and all the talk about what matters.

Lord, you fed the hungry and you reached out to the ignored - help us to be aware of the hungry and the lonely right in front of us and next to us each day.

Lord, you called all to live life to the full and to go beyond themselves - stretch us each day to our limits - and then some more and some more after that.

Lord, you have given us a thousand and one and then some more opportunities to be fully alive and fully aware of the beauty and wonder
of life and all its gifts - help us to welcome these opportunities each day.

Lord, help us see that it takes a family, a school, a church, a temple, a village to round out  a world - with restaurants, stadiums, classrooms, Bingo halls, hospitals, roads, airports, planes, trains, buses, cars, bikes,  skateboards, surfboards, sidewalks and highways to explore, to serve and to make each day to be a good day.


Lord, lastly, thanks for so many opportunities - and tonight we’re celebrating all the opportunities that come from sports - soccer, football, field hockey, cross country - playing, managing, coaching, cheering, driving, teaching kids how to lift weights and lift themselves to greatness, goodness and lots of fun. Amen.

ENVY  KILL US  EVERY TIME


INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 32nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Envy Kills Us Every Time.”

In the second sentence of today’s first reading I noticed the word “envy”.

Let me read the opening paragraph of today’s first reading again. “God formed us to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made us.  But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.” [Wisdom 2:23-24]

FIRST THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ENVY AND JEALOUSY


People often mix up the meanings of envy and jealousy.

It’s not a big deal, but I think knowing the distinction can help us to be more aware of what’s going on within us at times.

Envy is wanting something I don’t have.  Jealousy is being afraid to lose what I have.

These two evils - sins - can destroy us.

In this short homily I just want to focus on envy - the wanting to have what I don’t have.

TWO  KEY QUESTIONS

What do others have that I don’t have? Skills? Stuff?

Do any of these irk me, make me ugly, cause me stress?

For example, I have no skills in music. I tried the trombone and the piano - and gave up on both. Does that make me envious of those who have great musical gifts. I believe the answer is no.  I don’t like people making fun of me for having a tin ear - or being off key - or what have you.

It would have been nice to have had speed when running. Once more I’m realistic - that I was not a fast runner. Envious - a bit.

At times I wish I could have a good hand when it comes to drawing. My mother, my sister Mary and my nephew Gerard have that gene or skill or whatever it is. I tried it, but nope, no luck in that department.

So once more those two questions: what do I lack and does it kill me that others have certain gifts and I don’t have them.

SIGNS OR EVIDENCE OF ENVY

If you envy, you’ll never be satisfied

Envy is its own torture. It can become an inner itch that irritates the underneath side of my soul.

When you envy, you’re telling yourself, I feel inferior.

Those who have it all - leave a trail of envious people.

The greatest mischief you can do to the envious is to do even better or have even more.

Scratch a bitter person and you’re looking at an envious person.

There is a Tamil quote, “Envy has you when it’s refreshing to hear that there was a fight in a neighbor’s house.”

Here is an envy comment - that has an interesting complexity mixed in: Envy has you if you’re trim - and you get that secret delight in standing next to a fat person.

CONCLUSION

This morning I’m simply asking to look at the reality of envy. It appears in today’s first reading from Wisdom - where the author of Wisdom says that the envy of the devil is what brought death into our land.

Learn how the ability to laugh about all this makes a lot of sense.

Discover I have gifts and others wish they had mine. You’re kidding.


Reflect about envy and how my lacks can force me to make leaps and come up with new understandings about life. 
November 10, 2015



NEWSPAPER   NAMES 

Every day the newspaper presents the names

of thousands and thousands of people. Obituaries,
married, arrested, honored, dishonored, athletes.

Surprise! There's the name of someone I went to

school with. That must be the daughter of that gal
I worked with. That must be a mistake. Oh no!

Then we spot the sad headlines: plane crashes, boat

sinks, and our heart sinks because we know the 
horror of it all. Kids left behind. Impact for life.

Then for some reason someone writes a song about

a horror and the song helps the rest of us for years
to come - like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.




© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015
Today, November 10, 2015
is the 40th Anniversary of the sinking
of the Edmund Fitzgerald.