The Invitation to Lent

The Invitation of Lent Mark 10:17-27 As we come to Lent a question that was asked of me recently comes to my mind. I had been helping someone clean a wound from a bad needle stick, and I had blood on me, and this person whom I have known for sometime asked: “Aren’t you afraid of what you are going to get, and of what people think of you being so close to “those” people?–“those” people–well I am one of “those people,” as in truth we all are.  St. Ignatius once commented: “You speak of the enmities, the intrigues, the untruths which have been circulated about you. I am not at all surprised at this, not even if it were worse than it is. For just as soon as you determined to bend every effort to secure the praise, honor, and service of God our Lord, you declared war against the world, and raised your standard in its face.  If we wish absolutely to live in honor or to be held in esteem by our neighbors, we can never be solidly rooted in God our Lord.” I hunger to be liked, but I know that is the one idol that will destroy me. I have wrestled with this idol all my life. This Lent I am continuing to wrestle and hopefully to let it go, and to  place my complete trust in God.   May this Lent not be about what you give up, but what you are willing to give to God. The Invitation of Lent So, it’s Lent! What are you going to give up? When I came into the Church twenty years ago this Easter, that is what I heard. You must give up something for Lent. Of course, I thought about the scrumptious things I loved and decided that I must give one of them up for 40 days. So, I gave up bacon! Well, aside from the fact that it nearly killed me, it also confounded me. How could giving up bacon for 40 days deepen my relationship with the Lord? I soon discovered that Lent is so much more than giving up delicious food. It is an invitation to look deeply within myself and give up those things that separated me from God and neighbor. This First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel recounts Jesus being tempted in the desert. Elsewhere in Scripture we are told that Jesus was fully human, even to the point of being tempted, but he did not sin. As the Church begins this 40-day journey into the wilderness, we are reminded of our own temptations. Our temptations to things like violence, racism, gossip, and fear. Instead of focusing on the things we have to give up, let us look at what Lent invites us to. Lent is an invitation to kindness, to mercy, to justice, to peace and to live out the Beatitudes. Lent is an invitation to blessedness and wholeness after 40 days in the dry, desolate wilderness. Saint Francis of Assisi called all Franciscans to yearlong Lent, not just the 40 days. We are to gaze and reflect every day on the places within ourselves that do not show the grace and charity of the Lord. We must constantly ask ourselves what keeps us from being the face of Christ to our neighbors? Is it fear? What am I afraid of? Perfect love casts out fear. Am I loving unconditionally? Or do I impose conditions on those I am in close contact with? Have I heard your story before I judge you? Do I seek to understand you before I demand that you understand me? This Lenten season, I invite you to take this journey a little differently. Meditate on your prayer, your fasting and your almsgiving with new spiritual eyes. Instead of giving up the bread and chocolate, how about giving up using words that harm and divide and feast on using your words to create connection and peace. Carolyn D. Townes, OFS National Animator, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation U.S. Secular Franciscan Order FAN Board Member Suggested Action: Fast from the ways you can do violence with your thoughts, your words and your actions; and feast on ways to bring about more joy and laughter. Suggested Petitions: May we take time each day this Lent to pray and consider what it is the Lord is calling us to do, we pray… May we find the strength to act out our faith by calling out those who speak and act against our faith, we pray…

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Ash Wednesday, 2017

ASH WEDNESDAY, 2017:   “Where Is Your Treasure?”

“Is it not often suffering that breaks open our hearts to receive love? Is it not often the suffering of others that draws us into compassion? To receive love, to express love, to be broken as the bread is broken, to be poured out as the wine is poured out: this is to become the flesh and blood of Christ: this is to participate in the Divine Nature.”

-Br. Mark Brown

“For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.” Matthew 6:21

    Whatever we claim as treasure in our lives is where we put the bulk of our time, resources, energy and talent.    We begin early in our lives to decided what is important, and as we grow  we put our energy into that choice. The choices we make each day are based upon what we treasure.

    For people of faith our treasure is found in the love of God, and in the love of others.

    Last week twenty year old Lake had broken his glass frames. He can see very little without glasses.  I took his lens into my doctor and bought another pair.  The joy on his face when I gave  the frames to  him was worth all the money in the world. My eyes filled with tears.  My treasure is the face of Christ I see in each of these kids, in each encounter, and meal served. I treasure those moments. Their photos are on my wall, and each one is a treasure. They open my heart to the pain, and to the joy in the world. To walk with them is to walk with Jesus.

    As we enter Lent this Ash Wednesday may we each find the treasure beyond price that touches our hearts and souls.  May we, as we reflect upon the Scriptures of Lent, and the events of Lent, find our treasure in the broken body of Christ. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

A Way Other Than Our Own

by Walter Brueggemann

Devotions for Lent

Dr. Walter Brueggemann was my Old Testament professor in seminary; I also took a lectionary course from Walt.  He was a  hard ass–gave me my only two C’s in seminary–to “keep  you humble” was the written explanation on my grade card;  Walt continues to keep all of us humble in his writings. He is a prophet in our own time, continuing to proclaim the Word. This is an invitation  to  join me this Lenten season in using his book written for this season.

I Tell You: Do Not Worry!

Memorial Service for

Donald and Sandy

February 27, 2017

Fern Alley–off Polk Street

2:00 p.m.

Lunch Provided– New Orleans Styled Beans and Rice

I TELL YOU: DO NOT WORRY!

Eulogy for Sandy and Donald

“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk a way from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget  you-never.” Isaiah 49: 15

“Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

Matthew 6: 34

    Today we remember Donald and Sandy.  Their lives have touched each of us. Both have always had a kind word to say; both were always courteous and kind.  I have seen people walk by  and ignore them or be down right mean , and each would respond with kindness.

    Donald and Sandy have lived on the streets.  Both have expressed the fear that no one really cares about them, and that they were  just “trash.” Through the years I have assured both that   they, like you and I will always be remembered by God.

“But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget  you-never.” Isaiah 49: 15″  and they both have lived out the Gospel in their lives found in this verse:

“Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

Matthew 6: 34

Sandy and Donald never complained about being on the street, not having enough food, or no where to call home,  for each believed their daily needs would be met.  Today I am serving Sandy’s favorite, beans and rice. She was always grateful for each bowl I would give her and would tell me it tasted like “New Orleans Beans and Rice.”

They both taught us that if we notice God’s gifts and offer  thanks for them, than we will be able to recognize God’s presence and deliverance when times are bad.  Anxiety eats away at our sensitivity to God’s actions and the ability to feel gratitude. Instead Jesus teaches us to go about the business of God’s kingdom: to love our enemies, go  the extra mile, share our gifts, and be kind to every one.  We will than receive everything we need and more. The lives of  Donald and Sandy teach us to live in that spirit.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min. candidate

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

Franciscans Against the Death Penalty March Schedule and Information

 

Franciscans Against the Death Penalty

March, 2017

Vigil Against Death Penalty

Earl Warren Supreme Court House

Noon-1:00 p.m.

Friday’s:

March 3

March 10

March 17

March 24: No Vigil

March 31

350 McAllister Street

San Francisco, CA

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Scheduled for Execution In March

Jame Bigby–Texas–Murdered Mike Trekell and infant son Jayson in 1987.  He is paranoid schizophrenic

Roland Ruiz–Murder for Hire of Theresa Rodiriguez

Let’s remember both the Victims and Convicted.

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Franciscans Against the Death Penalty

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

415-710-8709

franciscansagainstdeathpenalty@gmail.com

for further information, and resources please go to:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

Being Salt

Being Salt

Mark 9:41-50

When Jesus says: “If your foot or eye or hand should cause you to sin, cut it off,” he is using harsh language to emphasize that we should allow nothing to get in our way of entering life with God.  The questions he raises are: Am I free to love God and others?  Is there any aspect of my life that prevents this?

For me personally -Br. Curtis Almquist clarifies our reading this morning:

“Jesus and his early followers continually broke the standards for purity. That’s the outcry which blazed with such burning heat because of the perceived eroding of morals. Jesus and his followers intentionally and indiscriminately associated with those branded as being the most notorious of sinners – the “invisible people,” ranging from prostitutes and tax collectors and shepherds, to women who were “ritually unclean,” to people born of a different race. Jesus simply called them all “children of God.”

Jesus broke the standards of purity by calling us to see each other as children of God, who are loved by God.  Jesus calls us to remove our eyes of judgment from others and look at ourselves, and in so doing seeing each other as broken human beings on the same journey. We are all children of God.

This week Sandy and Donald have died. They died of drug related causes. Both have been on the streets for years. I have fed them, listened to them; they scammed money, they stole, and they prostituted at one time or another in their lives. On the surface  they would appear as “nobodies’, as “losers”, as “failure” and as people who have wasted their lives. But each one of them were children of God; each one them offered comfort and solace to their neighbors in one form or another. They were never “nobodies” nor “failures”, Donald and Sandy were both children of God who struggled on their journey, and now may they enter into eternal rest. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

Peniel–Newsletter of Temenos Catholic Worker–March, 2017

Temenos Catholic Worker

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

415-305-2124

Temenos@gmail.com

www.temenos.org (pay pal)

March, 2017

Fr. River Damien Sims, Director

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Journal of An Alien Street Priest:

Lent is a time of reflection. On Ash Wednesday the words used when placing ashes on our heads, “Remember thou are dust and to dust thou shalt return,” remind us that we are simply flesh and that we will die. We will disappear from the earth. Our money, our power, our friends, none of that will matter—we are nothing.   There is quote I ran across on LinkedIn that describes the message of Ash Wednesday:  “When you die, they won’t remember your car or house. They will remember who you were. Be a good human, not a good materialist.” Our nothingness finds meaning in the arms of Jesus of Nazareth, in the caring and loving of God through Jesus. Our lives have meaning only in that context.

As we reflect upon our mortality, I have a suggestion for a sign of penitence. Rather than give up food, beer, soda, wine, or some other item we like, why not give of ourselves to another human being.  Recently I saw an advertisement for a dating service that will teach a person how to “interact socially, outside of social media.”
So this Lent—interact socially outside of social media, outside of your phone, outside of your busyness.

Recently, a server in a restaurant was taking a new job and she told me as I was going to pay for my meal, “River, in all the time I have been here, you have been the one person who has treated me like I was more than just a server of food, you have treated me like a friend, a human being, and so I am giving you this meal.”

When you are in a restaurant, on the street, interact with people at a counter or on the phone, take time to ask them how they are doing, chat with them about their lives, give them some of your personal attention. See them as the Christ and show them the love we want to be shown in return. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Polk Street and Haight-Ashbury Streets

“The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15)

“A Church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what Gospel is that”? – Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time for personal and societal repentance, radical conversion, renewal and transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire, Jesus declared: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15) We are a part of the U.S. Empire that is responsible for so much needless death and suffering in our world, we need to heed Jesus’ proclamation now more than ever!

Seeking to eradicate what Martin Luther King, Jr., called the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism, we call for an end to corporate domination and systemic exploitation, racism, and discrimination; debt forgiveness for poor countries; justice for the poor and all immigrants; an end to torture, indefinite detention, and the mass incarceration complex; and for the abolition of war and the conversion of our war-based economy to one centered on serving the common good, alleviating poverty, and protecting our sacred earth.

As the ashes are placed on our heads as a sign of our mortality, we can acknowledge the greater need, by  moving out, giving of ourselves to walk with our brothers and sisters who suffer on our street corners, in their homes alone, in parks, in nursing homes, and in our own homes.

Let us begin Lent together by joining in this important Ash Wednesday witness as we strive together to make God’s reign of love, justice, and peace a reality.

We will distribute Ashes on Polk and Haight Streets during the afternoon .

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WE ARE BEGGARS:

When people donate money to us, one can say it becomes the money of Temenos Catholic Worker, but we personally always remember that that money is the possession of others given to be used for the welfare of our street youth, and we use it as a sacred trust and in a responsible manner. Food, socks, pastoral care, and harm reduction supplies are provided through your giving.

Please give as your heart leads you:

 

Temenos Catholic Worker

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

PayPal: www.temenos.org

 

 

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SUGGESTED DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR LENT

 

Devotions for Lent:

A Way Other Than our Own

 

Walter Brueggemann

Compiled by Richard Floyd

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What Kind of God?

What kind of God would He be

If He did not hear the

bangles ring on

an ant’s

wrist

as they move the earth

in their sweet

dance?

 

And what kind of God would He be

if a leaf’s prayer was not as precious to creation

as the prayer His own son sang

from the glorious depth

of  his soul-

for us.

 

And what kind of God would he be

if the vote of millions in this world could sway Him

to change the divine

law of

love

 

that speaks so clearly with compassion’s elegant tongue,

saying, eternally saying:

 

all are forgiven—moreover, dears,

no one has ever been guilty.

 

What

kind of God would He be

if He did not count the blinks

of your

eyes

 

and is in absolute awe of their movements?

 

What a God—what a God we have.

Kabir

 

Hustling and Listening

Hustling and Listening For Jesus

Sirach 1:1-10  Mark 9:14-29  Dorothy Gauchat

“Our faith supported our actions: If one does not love his neighbor, he can not love God. These unwanted waifs are our neighbors.”

Two women who have been examples for me through the years have been Dorothy Gauchat, a Catholic Worker, who took care of disabled children and children with AIDS, and Sr. Helen Prejean, Anti-Death Penalty Advocate. We  knew Dorothy, and we  know Helen, and both are the greatest examples of what it means to hustle for Jesus and to be listeners.

Their charm and their words for their ministries can hustle every dime  you have, for you know the money is going for their work.  Hustling is making money out of anything, and both can teach you how to take a dime and use it for thousands of people.  Both  hustle for Jesus.

Dorothy listened to her kids, she listened to any one; and Helen for me is the greatest example of listening. You can sit with her for hours, and she says little, she listens without judgment. She can be tired, in pain, suffering, and you never know it, because you are the center of her world. I  remember the first day we met. I picked her up at the air port and we drove to the Haight. As we walked around she listened, and knelt down by one young man and  listened. As we were leaving he gave her some marijuana as a parting gift. My first thought, “Oh God, he is giving this to an old  nun,”, and she smiled and thanked him and put it in her pocket and we moved on (I never asked her what she did with it, so who knows? ha). Helen never judges, she listens, and let’s people make their own judgments.

Helen and Dorothy both embody the hope that does not perish.  They believed and believe everything is possible. “All things are possible to those who believe.” Mark 9:23.  And hope comes through respect and love of each person where they are. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Temenos Catholic Worker

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www. temenos.org

415-305-2124

Blessed Are the Weird–A Book Review

 

BLESSED ARE THE WEIRD

BY JACOB NORDBY

A Book Review

“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally sensitive. To him. .a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy , a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the over powering necessity to create, create, create–so that without creating music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.” Pearl S. Buck

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Yesterday I came to a point where I had to shut every thing down–two of my Marin friends called to “hang out”, there way of asking for a ride home from the Haight, which normally I would give them in a minute, and I said “no”; another friend wanted to go to a movie, and I said “no”; and so I turned my phone off.  The night before I had made a house call  to see a friend who had just had surgery and then went to the Haight to see a person who was suicidal, and yet another was at my door later crying, plus  outreach in the rain.  I was spent. And while I was  exhausted, I was  filled with much joy, because this is what fulfills me, being present to another. This is never work for me.

Where I truly become exhausted, even depleted, is from my own inner struggle with being myself to people at large.  Some see me as a “heretic”, others as “different”, and most as just “weird”. And I say you are right, absolutely correct, I own it.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Jesuit priest, philosopher, mystic, “heretic”, and a saint in a thousand years wrote: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” 

His words, echo the words of Jesus: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy soul, thy mind, and thy strength, and thy neighbor as thy self,” and Jesus lived this out to his death.  Love is not a romantic word it is a harsh word of compassion and care for people regardless of who  they are or what they  do. Because each person has in them the spark of the living God.

For me that means walking with people regardless of  what they do or have done: murder, sex offenses, stealing, taking abuse without giving it back, forgiving when hurt, facing the monsters within myself, and outside of myself–with holding my judgment and letting God be the judge (for I judge harshly, like we all do,  that is why I leave that to God). It means I can say that every person I encounter is “nice” for in  each person there is “good”. I have seen the good in the people who have stabbed me, shot at me, say horrible things to my face,  have murdered and hurt people, and in emails of hate I receive–there is good in each one–they are all “nice” somewhere deep within themselves and through love we can bring that out.  In each person there is the face of Christ. It means telling people we all deserve justice when we hurt people, but we are all entitled to  mercy as well.  Mercy means we love them whether they are repentant or not, mercy means we love them for being human beings, and children of God. For me personally these are not just words–I bear the scars on my body, I bear the scars in my psyche, I bear the scars in often being alone. I am rejected often, and I am also loved often.

On my wall, on my book shelves, on my phone, I see the photos of all the “weird” people I know–they struggle for food, a place to sleep, they have no friends in the mainstream, they are often dirty, and they can be mean, they live their lives as they choose.  They are rejected because they choose their lifestyle of independence. That choice leads often to being homeless, and many choose that as a price to pay.

The choices I make every day have reverberations. And I pay the price for those choices, but if my choices bring life to others, than the cost is worth it. And for me to see the face of a young man brighten when I buy him his first new jacket in who knows how long is worth it.  It is in the simple things we find joy.

These are my own personal reflections on this book  in which  Nordby sums up his views on life , and the way I see Jesus viewing life, and this quote from our  author gives us a cue on how to approach life:  “This is a not a time for martyrs. The era of suffering saviors is over. We are not throwing our lives away like cannon fodder in a hopeless war. Our greatest strength and contribution comes from living in joy.  By living our truth beautifully in this world, we take our places as leaders. Now is the time we are the people who can redefine the words “success” and “normal” and yes “weird”.

We live in a time when we are confronted by great pain in poverty, racial and religious discrimination.  Yesterday in America, the Jesuit magazine there was an article which suggests  that we are on the brink of a world war,–this is our time to be weird, to be weird in calling out for love, equality, and acceptance for all; to be weird in calling for world peace, and for all to be fed, and provided for.

We can redefine life by living with out judgment, respecting all people regardless of race, religious belief, color, gender, sexual orientation, and love people–even when they do wrong.  Justice is making people accountable–it is not destroying their lives, but bringing mercy. We are all held accountable for our wrongs–and we all receive mercy. For each of us have the potential  to  “born again”, and become new people. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

 

Living in the In Between

LIVING IN THE IN BETWEEN

Mark 9:2-13

     The story of the Transfiguration is a way in which the Gospels tell us that the divine is hidden within each of us.  Sometimes our goodness shines out, sometimes it is hidden.  But everyone we meet, at home, on the streets, at work, in the hospital, and the super market is a son or daughter of God.

     Yesterday as two of us stood in Vigil in front of the Earl Warren Supreme Court Building, in the wind and rain, holding our sign “Building Bridges Not Walls,” I thought of how we live in the between.  As we stood there a black lady approached me and commented: “You know I believe in laws for people coming into this country, but I believe they should be the same for people of all colors, and they should be fair. But any way you ain’t nothing in this country if you are a person who is not white.” There were tears in her eyes as we talked. 

    Ideally looking at the Gospel there should be no borders, but we live in the in-between times, and so we should  work with people regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, gender, and religion equally, and with fairness in bringing them into our country.  And that is possible, very possible. 

    It begins with each one of us–each one treating each person we see with equality and respect. It begins with each of us looking at our fears–and facing those fears. Personally I have found only when we face our monsters do they go away. It begins first with us slaying our monsters of fear and than moving out into the world. Let us live in the in-between without fear and with justice for all.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Fr. River Damien Sims sfw

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 04164

415-305-2124

Temenos Catholic Worker

Franciscans Against the Death Penalty

http://www.temenos.org

 

The Freedom of the Father’s Children

The Freedom of the Father’s Children

Matthew 5:38-48

“Jesus said to the crowds: ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.

But I say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if any one wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to anyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.. .”

The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth served to prevent excessive retaliation for an offense. But Jesus wants no retaliation at all. Instead  he looks for a generosity of spirit that forgives the offender and returns good for evil.

Discord and hate have come out in full force on all sides throughout the world, and in our communities.

Today as we walk in prayer for immigrants and against the death penalty we pray that people begin reflecting on how  God  pours out his gifts of grace, love, mercy, and peace, on all of us, just as he sends the rain on the good and the bad. As the rain comes down today on us let us remember all creatures share it, and God calls all of us in the sharing of that rain,  to share of our love, mercy, grace, and peace to all–to walk in openness with love for all creation.

Come Join us At:

Earl Warren Supreme Court Building

350 McAllister Street

San Francisco, CA

Noon-1:00 p.m.

For

“Building Bridges Not Walls”

Bring your Umbrellas,

Open Them Up In Love and Peace

Franciscans Against the Death Penalty

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

415-710-8709

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!