January 20, 2019

FAIRY TALES DO HAPPEN

OPENING IMAGE: FAIRY TALES

If you read the folk tales and fairy tales of the nations, from Finland to Italy, from Russia to Spain, there is a story plot that pops up over and over again. It's this: the person you would least expect, the poor girl or the Ugly Frog, ends up marrying the prince or the princess.

For example, take the Brothers' Grimm story of Cinderella. Literally, "Cinderella" means, "the little cinder girl". She was the one who was left at home to do all the "dirty" work, while her step-sisters went out partying. Fairy tales do happen. Surprise! Cinderella is the one whom the prince falls in love with and wants to marry.

However, before happy endings happen in these stories, there is always some kind of conflict or trickery. The story teller introduces a series of problems that have to be overcome in order for the happy ending to happen. The king or queen or someone screams when they hear the news: "The prince certainly doesn't want to marry a dirty little nobody named `Cinderella'".

Then one by one the obstacles are overcome. There is a riddle to figure out or a treasure to be found. Or there is poison to avoid, arrows that just miss, or knives that sometimes wound, but don't kill.

In the end, the golden slipper fits Cinderella's foot and the marriage takes place. Or the princess discovers that  the Ugly Frog that she can't stand is actually a prince. And they live happily ever after.

HOMILETIC REFLECTIONS

In today's first reading, Israel, the least of all the nations, a place called, "Desolate" and "Forsaken" by so many, is chosen by God for his bride. It is then given a new name, "My Delight." It is no longer a God-forsaken place. It is now  "Espoused" to the Lord. Isaiah 62 develops here the theme of Hosea. The Lord forgives Israel her adultery. He is willing to forgive and forget and  start once again. Happy endings can happen. "For the Lord delights in you, and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you."

In today's gospel, a newly married couple run out of wine at their wedding feast. Surprise! The Creator of the World, the Lord of the Harvest, changes water into wine. And the celebration accelerates. The Lord, who in the desert refused to change rocks into bread, in the community changes water into wine. The kingdom has begun to come.

And this couple, we don't know their names, end up having the wedding of all weddings, the wedding of the centuries.  Hasn't their story book wedding been told and retold as a story of hope at so many other weddings ever since?

Fairy tales do happen. Water can change into wine. Disasters don't always have to happen. Happy endings can happen.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Now to be practical, using today's three readings, let me make three points.

1) No One Needs To Feel Forsaken

The message of today's first reading is quite blunt. If God doesn't give up on people, why should we ever give up on another person?

Don't count Cinderella out. Her step-sisters tried to, but she didn't count herself out. Somehow she got herself to the party and the prince on seeing her, would dance with nobody else but her. Meanwhile, in their blindness, her sisters had no idea who the beautiful girl in the arms of the prince was.

Too many kids end up as disappointments, because parents or a parent or teachers or coaches give up on them.

Too many marriages die after the honeymoon is over, when someone finds out that the other person isn't "prince charming" or a princess. Too often we stop there and don't communicate. As a result, we don't discover the rich gift that the other person is. Maybe this ugly frog really is a prince.

Fairy tales do happen. Don't count out the person we consider the "poor slob". Don't count out any person or for that matter any country or company or family or community or city.

Unfortunately, we do. We write people off all the time - especially the people we make no effort to get to know or understand. We don't believe that fairy tales can happen.

The message of today's first reading is: Don't ever call a person or a place or a city, "Forsaken" or "Desolate."

Conversions happen. Marriages turn around and blossom. Kids surprise us. Addicts recover. Abuse can stop. Budgets can be straightened out.

Haven't persons and places been known to make great turnarounds? Bill W., the person who started AA was written off by many people. He changed and millions of people in 12 step programs have also changed as a result of his change. Or take Lake Erie. Lots of fish and lots of people gave up on it. However, if you look at it today, you'll see lots of people swimming and fishing in it once again. Or take  downtown Cleveland and a host of other cities that are recovering. We saw the Berlin Wall come down,  didn't we? 

People of hope can hope that South Africa, Palestine, Appalachia and a lot of other places, as well as many United States cities can recover and get their act together.

2) Cooperation and Teamwork are the secret.

Today's second reading gives us the secret of how dreams become reality, how miracles can happen, how water can change to wine. It's through cooperation and teamwork. It's when individuals pull together and each person does their part.

Paul tells us that each person has their particular gift, their unique manifestation of the Spirit. Yet, there is one Spirit, one Lord.

So far so good. So where do our problems in parishes and organizations come from? Don't our nightmares happen when everyone is out for oneself, when jealousy is sitting in too many seats, when the group is pulling in 100 different directions? Pull too many ways at once and the body ruptures.

Cinderella's step-mother and her two step-sisters had a fit when the prince chose Cinderella. Her sisters, instead of being happy, were blinded by jealously. And in one version of the story, they actually went blind. Because of their jealousy, their was no happy ending for them.

Paul discovered in the Church at Corinth, what all of us have seen in so many parishes, choirs, and organizations. Problems arise, happy endings don't happen, when we use our different gifts, our different ministries, our different manifestations of the Spirit, in attempts to try to  top one another in so many unannounced talent contests. Our gifts are not for competition, but for the common good.

3) We Run Out of Energy.

Because of self-interest or too many outside interests, we can lose interest in the relationships and groups that we belong to. They can become uninteresting. Or as we go through life, we often lose interest in the familiar. We love the new model and grow weary with the old.

Marriages, communities, families, cities, all can run out of energy, life, joy and excitement. The marriage that was a bubbling, vintage wine can turn into sour vinegar. It can become water - stagnant water. There is no inebriation, no celebration left. So too our buildings and our organizations. The infrastructure of a marriage, a home, a parish, a city, a country can begin to crumble.

At that point, we need to stop, look and listen. We need to observe, judge and act. We need to make some heavy duty decision making. Isn't that also a good time to invite Jesus to the funeral that once was a wedding? Jesus, is the Lord of Resurrection and Life. He is the Lord of the Kingdom. He cries over cities, as well as individuals. He attends both weddings and funerals. "This is my beloved son. Listen to him." His hour has come.

Mary tells us in today's gospel to do whatever he tells you to do. Jesus told the waiters to fill the jars with water. Don't just stand there, do something.

It might seem simplistic, but I would assume that the solution to so many of our problems would be to follow that simple dynamic of doing whatever Jesus tells us to do.

If we pick up the Gospels, we would hear Jesus tell us to do all sorts of things that would make persons, places and situations that much better: love one another, forgive one another, listen to one another, wash feet, use your talents, build your house on rock, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give the thirsty a glass of cold water, visit the sick and those in prison, stop on the road to help the person who has been hurt, officials give an accounting of your stewardship, don't throw rocks, don't give bad example to kids, love one another as I have loved you, greater love than this has no one that they lay down their life for their friends.

CONCLUSION

We all different gifts and different ministries, but don't we all have the gift of the Spirit to do all those things that Jesus tells us to do? And if we do them, miracles will happen. Water will change into wine and we'll be surprised to discover that God wants to marry us - the Ugly Frogs or the Cinderellas of the world.

January 20, 2019

BALLYNAHOWN  GRAVEYARD

We were seeing family in Ballynahown,

County Galway, so we had to go to the

old cemetery. We went through the

metal - revolving cow preventing - gate.

The stones were books we never read.

The letters were faded and worn away

by Irish Rain which is forever - but my

old Aunt Nora - told us who was who.

But what I remember most - was the moment

my sister, mind you, a nun stepped in you know

what - and I can’t repeat what she said -

and we don’t know how a cow got in there.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

January  20, 2019 -

Thought for today:

“If a man has no time or only a short time for seeing  people, you can be fairly sure  that he is neither very important nor very busy.” 

John S. Churchill

January 19, 2019

EXPOSED

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this first Saturday  in Ordinary time is “Exposed!” 

I’d like to get at the issue exposing the real me to me—exposing rather than posing—as we see in today’s gospel, not being a Pharisee, but being Levi— but sitting down as the real me with Jesus.

So to get at, to expose self honesty, self evaluation, self love, the real truth of who I am, and allowing Jesus, in fact, in one way, even more importantly, allowing myself to be loved as I am by myself and by Jesus and then going from there in my life.

FIRST READING

Today’s first reading gives a good image, in fact I think a powerful image—that of the Word of God as a sword—that exposes the truth. It’s an that can challenge us to make some painful but healing decisions to lead a better way of living life to the full.

Picture a sword. Picture a knife. Picture a surgeon’s scalpel or whatever a coroner uses for an autopsy—to cut open—to get in there and find out what’s on the other side of a person’s skin. 

This image of the sword or the knife appears in today’s first reading. The author of Hebrews uses that image of a sword or a knife cutting open the human body and exposing:

•         soul and spirit

•         joints and marrow,

•         the reflections and thoughts of the human heart.

As a result all is there to be seen before us. All is exposed. Reality. Truth and lies.

The author of Hebrews is saying that the Word of God is like a sword—that cuts to the truth.

Words can do that. You read scripture and you say, “Shit, I’m not doing this!” Or “I guess I gotta stop doing that!” Or, “Wow, I got a long way to go. I’m not feeding the hungry or visiting the sick.”

God’s word is like a press conference. You stand up there and reporters can pick you clean. They can ask questions that can expose you for what you are. Help! Then there are the newspaper articles and columns that follow. Words can be powerful things. Words can expose. That’s what the author of Hebrews seems to be getting at.

DENTIST OR DOCTOR

It’s like going to the dentist.  That would be a good modern analogy what the Hebrews is getting at.

You sit there in the chair ready for an examination. If you have not been taking care of them: flossing or brushing correctly, now is the time for the reckoning.

The dental hygienist looks right into your mouth. There are your teeth, gums, all. Then comes the X-rays and more is exposed.

It’s the same with going to a doctor. He checks and probes and sees what’s what. Then he asks you to step on the scale.  Then comes the trip to the lab—where blood and urine and all kinds of other stuff can be done.  It’s like the gospel text, “Make an account of your stewardship.” What have you been doing with your body.

It’s at examination time, people who eat too much or eat poorly, or drink or smoke, etc. All comes out in the wash as they say.

Make an accounting of your stewardship.

We could add that provincial visitations or looking at the books or doing evaluations or taking exams is all exposure time.

SELF-TESTS

I thought the Myers-Briggs Jungian Type test or the  Enneagram or lots of other self tests can be a great examination of consciousness moment. They can expose our realities. They can expose our sins - our weaknesses and what have you. 

Well, Hebrews is saying that the word of God is like a sword. It lifts up the rock and underneath are all kinds of creeping things.

Exposed!

ENTER JESUS

Now when we are exposed, caught, put in the light, we tend to want to run and hide once again. We don’t like what’s showing. Our butt is showing. Our sins are before us.

That’s why today’s readings are also very helpful. Hebrews tells us that we have a great High Priest. He can sympathize with our weakness.  So go to him with confidence.

Yet, we find it difficult, because he’s God. Hebrews tells us, that he was tempted, but never sinned. And we have sinned, so where do we turn. We still want to hide.

Today’s gospel is perfect. Jesus eats with sinners and dines with them. Jesus came to call the sinner and not the righteous. Mark tells us that Jesus said, “People who are healthy don’t need a doctor; sick people do.”

We need Jesus the doctor.

Today’s gospel talks about scribes and Pharisees who said of the kind of people Jesus was hanging with, “Tch, tch. Why does he eat with people like this?”t

It’s my experience and my feeling that today’s scribes and Pharisees are not out there. They are not the other guy. They are me. I don’t like me as a sinner. So I hide that side of myself from myself and become self-righteous.

The truth is that I am a sinner. The truth is that I have some good stuff in me as well. I am marbled. I have a crack in me as Emerson said. “Everything has a crack in it.”

That truth can set me free.

The truth is that Jesus wants to sit with me and eat with me and I want to be perfect before I allow him to eat with me. I keep saying, “One of these days I have it all together. Then I can get together with Jesus.

Notice it’s Jesus in the 3^rd person. Notice it’s Jesus at a distance.

Today’s gospel—or the Gospel today means that Jesus walks up to my booth, my face as a 2^nd person facing me a 1^st person and says, “Hello. My name is Jesus. Come follow me!”

CONCLUSION

That’s the truth that today’s gospel and today’s first reading from Hebrews is exposing to us.

If we read these readings in truth, we will be exposed for who we are and what we are—hiding stuff under our rock that we don’t want anyone to see—even ourselves.

Jesus goes under rocks—into our graves—and rises from the dead—in us.

“Lazarus come forth!”

Lazarus come back to life.

Time tells where the truth lies!

Exposed!

January 19, 2019

CLASSROOMS

Who’s the best teacher?

Where’s the best classroom?

Where do we learn the most?

Books, newspapers, cartoons,

TV talk shows, a death, cancer,

relationships,  marriage, having a child?

Loneliness,  being walked out on,

being laughed at, fired, abused,

thinking/feeling God has disappeared?

Who’s the best teacher?

What was our greatest learning?

Who grades us?  Us ….

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

January  19, 2019 -

Thought for today:

“As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valour of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptations we resist.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

January 18, 2019

THE

PARALYZED MAN

INTRODUCTION

I would like to talk about today’s gospel - Mark  2: 1-12 - and how it offers lots of food for thought—lots of themes for reflection, for meditation, and for prayer.

ONE THOUGHT AT A TIME—ONE THEME FOR A HOMILY

I know that the specialists in preaching homilies stress one theme per homily, but this morning’s gospel is like a menu. It offers so many meals to choose from.

Joe Manton in his book, 10 Responsible Minutes, uses the image of the cafeteria line. If everybody stopped at every dish and every possibility along the way, they would drive everyone behind them up the wall. If the conductor of a train stopped at everything he saw along the way, he would be late—late for his destination—say for example, he was to make a non-stop to New York City or Chicago.

Well, this morning I am going to break that rule and stop and nibble on a bunch of thoughts that come out of today’s gospel. It has lots of food for thought.

1) JESUS AS GOD

The first thought we could reflect upon is Jesus as God. Mark is telling us that. Who can forgive sins but God? Well, Jesus can forgive sins, therefore God is amongst us.

Too often we try to do it alone—to forgive us our own sins and the result is that our falling back again into our sins over and over again.

So Mark is telling us here in his gospel that “Only God can forgive sins.” So allow Jesus to forgive you your sins, whether you are the Paralyzed man or a Scribe.

2) FRIENDS

Or we could take today’s gospel and reflect upon the theme of friendship.

The man in the gospel has good friends who go out of their way to help him. Who are the friends in our life who would go out of their way to help us? Who are the friends in our life who if we were paralyzed, if we had a stroke, if we were stuck and couldn’t move, would come running to help us.

Who are the friends who would not give up if when trying to help us, they ran into a brick wall. Who of our friends would then try to come up with an alternative way of helping us.? Who of our friends would go the extra mile to help us? Who of our friends would go through a roof to help us?

In his Serendipity Series for youth ministry, Lyman Coleman uses this gospel to get young people to think about their friends. He asks kids to read and reflect and picture this gospel. Then he asks young people to list in his book the answer to this question: “Who are your 4 closest friends?”                              

          1)___________________

          2) __________________

          3) __________________

          4) __________________

3) FAITH

Or we could reflect upon faith. We could stop and choose the issue of faith—faith in Jesus again as necessary for forgiveness and healing of our sins. No wonder we are not healed. We try to do it alone.

4) COMMUNITY

Or we could reflect upon the theme of community—the communal dimension of the sacrament of healing, confession, reconciliation—and how healing effects community.

The man is sent back home by Jesus.

If they were effected so deeply by his paralysis, image all the scheduling and re-scheduling that has to take place if someone in the community is paralyzed. Well, now all everyone in the network is now freed up because the man is now unparalyzed.

We know from alcoholism how much the alcoholic person effects a family and the community. His or her problem mushrooms. It networks. It effects lots of people. 

Well, doesn’t the opposite happen when they are into recovery?

When someone gets into A.A, don’t all the people in his or her life benefit from their recovery process. Of course, we have issues like people who have related to the person in a sick way -  dependency — co-dependency and all that. So obviously, lots of recoveries are called for.

5) CELEBRATION

Or we could reflect and chew upon the theme of  celebration. Celebration happens when one is healed—when one is converted—when one changes. We praise God!

When this gospel — but Luke’s Version (Luke 5: 17 - 26) is used for the 2 Monday in Advent the first reading is Isaiah 35: 1 - 10. Isaiah tells us what happens when an Exile is over, when an Exodus happens, when a Conversion happens: The desert blooms, the parched earth is healed, flowers blossom, people sing and rejoice. We see the splendor of Carmel!

6) SIN AS PARALYSIS

One more theme is sin as paralysis. This one of my favorite ways of understanding sins.  Sin paralyzes us. I think we can all relate to this image of sin as paralysis.

Take the sin of anger. It gets us every time. Martin Luther describes sin as turning us in on ourselves (“incurvatus in se”). Well, when we are angry, our hands, our fists, our mind curls up. Our hands and our whole body, soul, mind and strength turns in on itself. We become arthritic with anger. People with arthritis suffer more. The human hand is like the mind when it’s clenched. I used to tell my mom to double her tension when she is tense and she ended up teaching that technique to some old people she worked for as a home care servant.

Take the sin of fear when it’s a lack of trust in God or self or others. Fear paralyzes people from going out of the house or from helping a neighbor. I might get mugged. I might crash. I might fall. It might rain. It might snow. It might ....

Take the sin of jealousy. It kills so many marriages and so many relationships and so many businesses. It can become a habit that we take into every relationship, every community, into every situation we find ourselves in. We start screaming inwardly and acting out outwardly, “This ain’t fair.” The husband who hates to dance and also gets jealous when his wife loves to dance at weddings ends up not enjoying his prime ribs because his wife’s ribs look too close to this other guy’s ribs.

Take the sin of gluttony. We become bloated and overloaded and slow. We eat so many French fried potatoes that we become a couch potato. Or we drink too much and become incoherent and we destroy ourselves, our families, our homes, our cars, our jobs, etc. Addictions paralyze!

Take the sin of pride. We become paralyzed and unable to move when our pride is hurt—when our ego is crushed—when we think we’re better than the other guy or gal. Our nose goes in the air and it gets stuck there.

So take any sin: hatred, harboring or holding onto grudges, hurts, comments, and unable to let them go can paralyze us.

I once was at a Mission Conference. Charlie Zeller, a young missionary at the time, began a major talk to a crowd of missionaries, most of whom were old: “The missions are dead!” I was sitting behind Father "Chubs" Renehan, an older missionary.  

Well, at that opening comment that our missions were dead, his back went up. It stiffened. It froze. And it stayed like that for the rest of the talk. 

At the end of the talk Charlie said, “Any questions or comments” and Chubs arm and hand went up, “You said, `The missions are dead!’ What do you mean by that? Who said they are dead?  It’s you young guys who say things like that.” 

He held onto that opening comment the whole talk and probably didn’t hear anything else. I am still holding that memory for 25 years plus. We hold onto things. And holding onto things take energy.

We hold onto sins. We hold onto being sinned against. We hold on to all kinds of stuff. Sin paralyzes us.

Isn’t that everyone’s experience? Can’t we all say that sins effect us? Can’t we all see how sin effects our bodies? 

When we sin, we can’t look at others. A man cheats on his wife and she wonders why he can’t look her in the eye. 

When we sin our face and our jaw tightens. We become uptight. We don’t even taste the chocolate pie we are eating. Our attention is elsewhere. We hide. We get nervous. We fear being caught. We bite our nails. We can’t see. We cause accidents. We bang things.  So sin effects our bodies, our souls, our spirits. Sin paralyzes us.

And how does this happen? Mark has the Scribes talking to themselves about what Jesus is doing. They spend all kinds of energy talking to themselves about what Jesus says he will do for this man. Jesus is NEW! They can’t accept the NEW: Good News. They are already filled with OTHER NEWS: other paradigms—other assumptions. Their apple carts are filled with their stuff and they can’t let go.

The word used in the NAB for what the Scribes were doing is “harboring”. They were harboring lots of stuff. The Greek word “DIALOGIZOVTAI” is translated in the NAB by “harboring”. Other translations use “dialoging” or “talking to yourself” or “reasoning” within yourself about.

That’s how the paralysis takes place. People harbor stuff!

I can relate to this image of harboring because when we were kids my dad took us down to the New York Harbor every Sunday. We would go to Bliss Park which overlooked the New York Harbor in a place of the harbor called the Narrows. My dad would give my mom a break. So we would go down there and see ships anchored waiting for their turn to move into a dock to be unloaded and to be loaded up with stuff to be taken to some other harbor.

Aren’t people like harbors. We collect all sorts of things. We spend our lives grabbing and letting go and some stuff we can’t let go of. We harbor some stuff. We grab some stuff. We hold onto to some stuff for 5 minutes, 25 minutes, 25 weeks, 25 years.

Go into any nursing home and listen to people. In 25 minutes you’ll discover what people are harboring.  They’ll show you their pictures. They will tell you their stories. Some are good stuff. Some are poison. And we cry at people who are still holding stuff that they don’t have to—hurts that are killing them—disappointments that paralyze them.

Read any book about counseling and you’ll read case after case of people who can’t forgive themselves or a husband or a wife or a kid who went a way different than expected.

Surprise we go through life harboring expectations. And they can kill us.

To harbor is to hold onto stuff. To hold onto the past. To hold onto garbage. Take the New York Barge that was filled with garbage. They couldn’t get rid of it. So they had to keep on bringing it back to harbor.

Sin is the sludge that we are harboring inside us.

Sin is a frozen harbor.

Sin is a strike!

Sin is the stones we keep in our suitcase.

Sin is the junk that we keep stored up in our basement.

Sin is the memories we’re holding onto—just in case we need to feed on hurts to prove we’re right and you’re wrong.

Read Markings by Dag Hammarskjöld. He tells us about his early years especially and how he constantly kicked the crud  out of himself in his self examinations about his not liking his self-centeredness. (Cf. p. 41, 62, 72, 63, 48, 43). A big change took place in New Year’s Eve on New Year’s Eve/Day. It was a slow long change and healing a-coming, but it came and he said his “Yes!” to new life.

Sin as paralysis makes us hostages. We are incarcerated in our smelly garbage. We need Liberation Theology!

We need conversion: a new way of seeing, a new way of being, a new way of hearing, a new way of treating people, a shift in perspective, a stopping of using people,  a radical inner transformation, a change at the core, a substance change and not a style change, because we have being been substance abusing ourselves.

We need our ice broken. Jesus is an ice breaker that can crack the ice that freezes our harbor.

Jesus is a strike breaker that ends the strike and we get moving again.

Jesus is a wrecker who comes and opens up Route 9W or Route 90 that has been stopped and backed up for miles and years because of our crashes, sins or accidents.

So we need to take the time to go to our core, our substance, our being, our meaning / belief / attitude / center and have Jesus heal there—effect there what needs to be healed and then our behavior will change. We will be able to stand up, pick up our mat and walk in a new way.

We need to learn how to be forgiven and forgive—whatever is called for.

All this happens slowly. But let the seed be planted.

We need to make some major shifts - Abraham / Joseph / Moses / David type shifts. Like Dag Hammarskjöld we need to say “No” to our past and “Yes” to a new future.

We need to change our perspective by changing our philosophy.

We need to let go of our special interest groups.

The process is dying / rising or decline / fall / rise!

It’s the Pascal Mystery here and now in me.

It’s a shattering experience. My status quo is shattered.

I am like the man paralyzed for 38 years.

I am like the woman at the well.

Read your own Markings, your own Confessions, your own Autobiography and see where you have energy blocks— stuckness — paralysis.

CONCLUSION

So let Jesus heal you — body mind and spirit. When we were kids the image was sin as a black smudge on our soul. Now we can picture it as a paralysis that effects our body and our soul. So let’s go through the roof and let Jesus heal us.