Past Journals 1

Praying for Courage!

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).

"Praying means being constantly ready to let go of your certainly and move on further than where you now are. It demands that you take to the road again and again, leaving your house and looking forward to a new land for yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters. This is why praying demands poverty, that is, the readiness to live a life in which you have nothing to lose so that you always begin a fresh. Whenever you willingly choose this poverty, you make yourself vulnerable, but you also become free to see the world and to let the world be seen in its true form. For you have no need to defend yourself, and you can tell loudly what you know through your intimate contact with him who is the source of all life. But this demands courage. If you are to make real all the consequences of a prayerful life, you might well be frightened and wonder if you should dare. Then it is vital to remember that courage is also a gift from God for which you can pray" (Fr. Henri Nouwen).

As I was reflecting on these thoughts by Henri at Victor's Piazza, Jamie walked in, tired, dirty, and worn out, asking for food. Buying him dinner, he sat down and rambled on about what was going on with him.

Jamie is 45 and has been homeless since he was 20. For the last six months, Jamie has been living in a hotel on a housing voucher, which now has ended.

He is hoping to get another voucher, but is doubtful, and says all he can do is pray, for praying keeps him going.

Jamie has learned to live out the words we find in I Peter 5:6-"Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." In his poverty, Jamie is praying for courage.

Praying for courage allows us simply to let go of our fears, burdens, and worries. The truth is, we are all simply like vegetables and meat on a barbecue grill, mixed together in our struggle in life. We are all a mix of good and evil, none of us are totally good or totally evil. We are all poor!

Gilbert K. Chesterton once wrote:

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty."

Our prayer life can open us to newness and we find we have nothing to lose. When we have nothing to lose, realize our common poverty, our hearts are wide open to care for others.

I offer you this poem again, read it, pray over it, and let your life go into the ocean of life:

"Praying means being constantly ready to let go of your certainly and move on further than where you now are. It demands that you take to the road again and again, leaving your house and looking forward to a new land for yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters. This is why praying demands poverty, that is, the readiness to live a life in which you have nothing to lose so that you always begin a fresh. Whenever you willingly choose this poverty, you make yourself vulnerable, but you also become free to see the world and to let the world be seen in its true form. For you have no need to defend yourself, and you can tell loudly what you know through your intimate contact with him who is the source of all life. But this demands courage. If you are to make real all the consequences of a prayerful life, you might well be frightened and wonder if you should dare. Then it is vital to remember that courage is also a gift from God for which you can pray" (Fr. Henri Nouwen).

Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
-----------------------------------

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"Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of Love."

(Quote given to Stephanie Salter upon learning of her terminal diagnosis).

======

View as Webpage

Make a Difference by Donating to
THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND

All across our nation, communities of faith are rising to the occasion to support immigrants and their families - our neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends - who have been singled out due to the policies of mass detentions and deportations, and now face extreme hardships and live in fear of separation from their loved ones.

Throughout our City, a multitude of community and faith-based efforts have been mobilized to respond to these threats in significant ways.

Immigrant families across the Bay Area are facing severe hardship right now. You’ve probably heard the stories of families torn apart without due process, parents nervous about leaving their homes, and elderly and pregnant people afraid to seek health care.

Our Bay Area immigrant families need your help. The Stand Together Bay Area Fund will be distributing funds for needs such as rent and food through community partners to ensure they reach families in need.

Temenos Catholic Worker is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions to The Immigration Defense Fund are tax-deductible.

Checks payable to Temenos Catholic Worker with a notation in the memo line for The Immigration Defense Fund may be mailed to: P.O.Box 642656, San Francisco, CA 94194, or on donators through pay pay.

=======================

Suggested Reading:
Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice
By Jennifer Mullan, PsyD

(Joy in Our Midst)

Joy In the Morning!

"For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. WEEPING MAY LINGER FOR THE NIGHT, BUT JOY COMES WITH THE MORNING" (Psalm 30:5 NRSV updated edition)!

At this time (May 12), 7:10 p.m., many years ago, I was driving from a youth meeting at my rural church in Missouri on a rainy night with two youth in my car, taking them home. And suddenly I found my car in a ditch, and all of us scrambling out of the car. Six hours later, I woke up in the hospital and was told thirteen-year-old Stacy was dead. No fault of my own, just an accident on a rainy night.

It was an accident that later I found where my PTSD developed, and would continue, and where my life was ripped open!

In the years to come, I would learn the true meaning of joy. Joy is the echo of God's life in us, and more importantly, joy is our leaping toward life as found in "Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in the age of Anxiety":

"Joy is that ongoing movement out of the places of death, out of the places where things remain the same and are not moving. Everything in life changes. Where we see life, we see change. And as soon as things stop changing, death appears. We become rigid, stiff, dead. It is very important for us to realize that joy is precisely that leaping toward life and moving away from the places that are the same. Joy is always about the experience of life as new."

A clergy friend was in my room, and after a prayer, said to me: "River, you are in the center of a whirlwind of pain, fear, doubt, and you will find, like a friend of mine did, you will pull back into the rigidness of the establishment, or you will go ride motorcycles." And in the years to come, that is what I did. I ride a motorcycle following the Wild Goose, the God who is always changing and moving forward!

Each day, I am seeing death in so many forms on our streets, it tears at my gut. Older homeless, laying on the corner, with a boxes over them, to protect themselves from the cold.

I see people gasping for drugs, drugs to cover up the pain they are feeling.

I listen, care for, and pray with undocumented immigrants, so afraid, they simply came to the U.S. for a new life, and now are terrified.

We live in our own worlds, classified by wealth and race, and in doing so, we are losing our humanity. Henri Nouwen offers us some advice:

"Jesus says, 'Let go of your complaints, forgive those who loved you poorly, step over your feelings of being rejected, and have the courage to that trust that you won't fall into an abyss of nothingness but into the safe embrace of a God whose love will heal all your wounds."

Only in following those words will we move into dialogue and care for others.

As for me, I am simply tired, tired of the pain, the hatred, of being physically hurt, and of the hatred and dislike thrown my way. But I will continue the struggle until my last breath because of the joy I find in the struggle, the presence of the Wild Goose who fly's leads me on.

And I am learning to "Relax As It Is!":

"We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy. It helps us to remember that our spiritual practice is not about accomplishing anything--not about winning or losing--but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is. That is what we are doing when we sit down to meditate. That attitude spreads into the rest of our lives.

And so Stacy, my young friend of yesteryear, who has followed me in my dreams, calling me onward, in this late stage of my life, you have taught me like John Milton, "They serve who only wait! I wait simply by letting go, caring, and serving, the "least of these", and "falling into the safe embrace of the Wild Goose"! Thank you for all the struggles we have gone through together, allowing me to find real joy in Christ! Rest in peace, my friend!

Thank you! Deo Gratis

===================================

"Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of Love."

(Quote given to Stephanie Salter upon learning of her terminal diagnosis).

======

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Make a Difference by Donating to
THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND

Sixth Sunday of Easter!

May 10, 2026

"I Will Not Leave You!"

John 14:15-21

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you"(John 14:18)!

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

I remember the night my mother died, a nurse told me as I was grieving, "We all become orphans". Those words were the saddest words, for I knew there was no one who would ever love me like my mother.

Through the years to come, I would learn that these words of Jesus, "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you." are the best promise of Easter. Not just that Jesus came back to life, but we are never getting left again.

Looking out at our world, and all of the evil, destruction that is going on, it is easy to feel abandoned. In many ways, I often feel like evil is overcoming good, and we are simply wild animals, and injustice is winning. It makes sense to wonder, "Where is God?"

Damien, in our photo above, was 16 when I first met him in Minneapolis, running away from home because he had told his parents he was "gay". They told him to either "straighten up" or go to hell.

He was a fun kid! We would go out to the Mall of America on a freezing day, and act crazy, riding the roller coaster, acting stupid, chasing each other on the escalators. Hiding from Security Guards!

Forward five years, and late on night here in San Francisco, I ran into him hustling on Polk Street. The cute young boy now looked very haggard, skinny, and bloated, he had AIDS.

His health began to decline, and I found a hospice run by a Franciscan priest, where he could spend his final days. I would sit with him the last three weeks of his life for hours, and finally, on the last two days, full-time holding his hands.

He was terrified, so afraid, and he kept saying, "I am going to hell! My pastor told me so! I am such an awful sinner!

I would laugh and jokingly tell him I was the greatest of all sinners, and I knew I would be with God. More seriously, I would simply share with him that Jesus loved him, and he was never an orphan, we were never alone. He wanted me to hear his confession, and I repeated to him in conclusion the word of Jesus, "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you!" And he started repeating them all the time, and as he died, looking at me, Damien simply slipped away at peace, knowing, "I will not leave you orphaned, I am coming to you."

Julian of Norwich tells us, "The mother can give of her milk to her suckling child, but our precious mother Jesus can feed us with himself," and so Damien was fed with "our precious mother Jesus," completely in his final moments.

It is when we feel most alone, most defeated, that we can know most strongly that Christ is indeed with us and will not leave. Christ, who went all the way to death, is not easily deterred, and Jesus is not taking leave simply because times are tough. St. Carlo Acutis, as he lay near death at 15, witnessed, "Golgotha is for everyone. No one escapes the cross."

If anything, God is leaning in. Jesus' death and resurrection tell us this: Nothing is too much for God to endure beside us. Nothing is enough to stop God's love and God's presence. No matter how overwhelmed we feel, we are not alone.

Even if we are going through fire now, God will bring us out to a spacious place, and I believe that in experiencing our little deaths on the way to our final death, that Death is the start of new life" (St. Carlo Acutis). Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!

-------------------------------------

"Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of Love."

(Quote given to Stephanie Salter upon learning of her terminal diagnosis).

======

View as Webpage

Make a Difference by Donating to
THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND

All across our nation, communities of faith are rising to the occasion to support immigrants and their families - our neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends - who have been singled out due to the policies of mass detentions and deportations, and now face extreme hardships and live in fear of separation from their loved ones.

Throughout our City, a multitude of community and faith-based efforts have been mobilized to respond to these threats in significant ways.

Immigrant families across the Bay Area are facing severe hardship right now. You’ve probably heard the stories of families torn apart without due process, parents nervous about leaving their homes, and elderly and pregnant people afraid to seek health care.

Our Bay Area immigrant families need your help. The Stand Together Bay Area Fund will be distributing funds for needs such as rent and food through community partners to ensure they reach families in need.

Temenos Catholic Worker is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions to The Immigration Defense Fund are tax-deductible.

Checks payable to Temenos Catholic Worker with a notation in the memo line for The Immigration Defense Fund may be mailed to: P.O.Box 642656, San Francisco, CA 94194, or on donators through pay pay.

=======================

Suggested Reading:
Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice
By Jennifer Mullan, PsyD

Epilogue

Journal of the Last Priest on Polk Street:

"This is what God's kingdom is like: a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table, not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry, because they said yes. And there's always room for more."
----------Rachel Held Evans

===========================

(This is the epilogue to a book I am writing about Polk Street!)

Through the past thirty-one and a half years, I have followed the advice in of Anne Dilliard and Elizabeth Gilbert:

"Sometimes you jump off the first cliff and build your wings on the way down." Anne Dilliard.

"You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not your successes or failures." Elizabeth Gilbert.

And the Scripture that has been the guide of my life and this ministry:
The Judgment of the Nations” Matthew 25:31-46 NRSVue
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Resulting in what author Joseph Plaster described in his book Kids on the street-queer Kinship and Religion in San Francisco's Tenderloin describes:
"The Reverend River Sims called his ministry "Temenos Catholic Worker", using the Greek word "temenos- a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated as a holy prescient" or as River ( from a quote by Harry Hay) interpreted it, "the area outside the walls of a city to which social outcasts such as prostitutes were exiled."

River approached street kids as sacred figures and the Tenderloin as a sacred space. Taking as his inspiration the life of Christ, he sought out the most loathsome and unclean and created a ministry identified with those who find themselves abandoned and isolated in their suffering."

Polk in the 90's, and early 2000's was home to the young men in the photo above, who lived on or near Polk Street, used drugs, and "hustled" or prostituted to survive. They were young men rejected from homes and society in general because of drugs, being gay, and other reasons. I found Christ in each one. Each was the very presence of the Crucified Christ, the suffering Christ.

I worked, and continue to work through a method coming to be known as "Decolonizing Therapy", which frees professionals and (clients)"soul friends" from the methods used in the world of "traditional" psychology, stemming from the very beginnings of the United States, seeing people as "clients" rather than human beings. From my own personal experiences of therapy from the beginning of my queer journey to be labeled, condemned and abused in that approach, seeking to set to place one back in the present culture, the movement of "decolonized therapy" freed me from the "white dominated, capitalistic, and controlling therapy. It has allowed me to simply meet the young men and women where they are, without judgment or labeling, as their "soul friend", and allow each to be who they are and decide where they want to go. For the most part, traditional therapy has no understanding of the street culture, and tends to expect and push them into the capitalist culture from which many have run, and can never re-enter.

Polk "Gulch" has transitioned into a "gentrified" area. It is a place where I view baby carriages in the daytime, and at night, men and women dressed up for the bars. Only one gay bar remains, and it is always full of late middle-aged men.

Yet we have our older homeless brothers and sisters in our doorways on Polk Street, ignored, sometimes kicked around, and calling the police to remove them from the street. In many ways, it is similar to when the police were organized in the 1850's, to catch runaway slaves, and now homeless individuals.

And we, in the words given to Stephanie Salter by her Soul Friend, continue to,

Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of love.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------------------------------

"Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of Love."

(Quote given to Stephanie Salter upon learning of her terminal diagnosis).

======

View as Webpage

Make a Difference by Donating to
THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND

All across our nation, communities of faith are rising to the occasion to support immigrants and their families - our neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends - who have been singled out due to the policies of mass detentions and deportations, and now face extreme hardships and live in fear of separation from their loved ones.

Throughout our City, a multitude of community and faith-based efforts have been mobilized to respond to these threats in significant ways.

Immigrant families across the Bay Area are facing severe hardship right now. You’ve probably heard the stories of families torn apart without due process, parents nervous about leaving their homes, and elderly and pregnant people afraid to seek health care.

Our Bay Area immigrant families need your help. The Stand Together Bay Area Fund will be distributing funds for needs such as rent and food through community partners to ensure they reach families in need.

Temenos Catholic Worker is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions to The Immigration Defense Fund are tax-deductible.

Checks payable to Temenos Catholic Worker with a notation in the memo line for The Immigration Defense Fund may be mailed to: P.O.Box 642656, San Francisco, CA 94194, or on donators through pay pay.

=======================

Suggested Reading:
Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice
By Jennifer Mullan, PsyD

Beauty in the Broken!

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you a blaze" (Isa. 43:2).

“Before he painted "Starry Night," Vincent van Gogh was a failed preacher living in a freezing shack, sleeping on the floor with coal miners. The church fired him for caring too much. That rejection created the world's most famous artist.
In 1878, Vincent van Gogh was 25 years old and desperate to serve God.

He wasn't painting. He wasn't drawing. He was a lay preacher heading to the Borinage, a coal-mining region in Belgium so poor, so brutal, that life expectancy was less than 40 years.
Vincent's plan was simple: bring the Gospel to the miners. Save souls. Follow in his father's footsteps as a minister.

But when he arrived, what he saw broke him.

The miners lived underground. Literally. They descended into pitch-black mines before sunrise and didn't emerge until after sunset. Some days, they never saw daylight.

Children as young as eight worked alongside their fathers, crawling through tunnels too small for adults, breathing coal dust that turned their lungs black.

Families lived in shacks with dirt floors. They ate bread and potatoes—when they could afford them. Tuberculosis, cave-ins, and explosions killed them by the hundreds.

And the other preachers? They lived in comfortable houses, wore clean suits, and delivered sermons about sacrifice from a safe distance.

Vincent couldn't do it.

He couldn't stand in a pulpit wearing clean clothes, telling starving people to have faith, while he slept in a warm bed.
So he did something radical: he gave everything away.
His money. His clothes. His bed. He moved into a tiny, freezing baker's hut—barely more than a shed—and started sleeping on the floor on a pile of straw.

He stopped bathing. He let coal dust cake his face and hands because he wanted to look like the miners. To be one of them.
He visited them in the mines. One time, he descended into a shaft called Marcasse—one of the most dangerous pits in the region. It was over 700 meters deep. The air was suffocating. The tunnels were so narrow you had to crawl.

Vincent nearly died down there. But he wanted to understand. He wanted to feel what they felt.

When a mine explosion injured dozens of workers, Vincent used what little money he had to buy bandages. He gave away his own food. He stayed up all night caring for the injured.

The miners loved him. Here was a preacher who didn't just talk—he lived the Gospel.

But the church authorities were horrified.

They sent inspectors to the Borinage and found Vincent living like a beggar. Dirty. Thin. Sleeping on straw. Looking more like a homeless man than a representative of the church.

They told him his behavior was "undignified." That he was embarrassing the church. That a minister should maintain respectability, not live in squalor.

Vincent argued that Jesus himself lived in poverty. That true Christianity meant sacrifice.

The church didn't care.

In July 1879, they fired him. Via letter.

Vincent van Gogh, at 26 years old, had failed. Again.
He'd already failed at being an art dealer (his first job). Failed at being a teacher. And now he'd failed at the one thing he thought he was meant to do: serve God.

His family was ashamed. His father barely spoke to him. His siblings whispered about the embarrassment.

Only his younger brother, Theo, still believed in him.

For months, Vincent wandered the Borinage in despair.

Unemployed. Directionless. Broken.

And then something shifted.

If he couldn't save people through sermons, maybe he could save them through art.

Vincent started sketching the miners. Their tired faces. Their bent backs. The darkness of the mines. The landscapes scarred by industry.

He wasn't trained. He had no formal education in art. But he drew obsessively, trying to capture the dignity in their suffering.
At 27 years old—an age when most artists have already been working for a decade—Vincent van Gogh decided to become a painter.

He moved to Brussels. Took a few art classes. But mostly taught himself, studying other artists' work, practicing for hours every day.

Theo, working as an art dealer in Paris, sent Vincent money every month. Without Theo's support, Vincent would have starved.

Over the next ten years, Vincent painted over 2,000 works. Landscapes. Portraits. Still lifes. Sunflowers. Starry nights.
He poured everything into his art—all the pain, the rejection, the loneliness, the burning need to make people feel something.

But almost no one cared.

Critics ignored him. Galleries rejected him. Other artists mocked his thick, aggressive brushstrokes.

In his entire lifetime, Vincent van Gogh sold one painting. One.
"The Red Vineyard" sold to a friend of Theo's for 400 francs (about $1,000 today).

That was it. Everything else sat in storage, unsold, unwanted.
Vincent struggled with mental illness. He had breakdowns. He cut off part of his own ear during a psychotic episode. He checked himself into an asylum in Saint-Rémy, painting between episodes of madness.

In July 1890, at age 37, Vincent walked into a wheat field and shot himself in the chest.

He didn't die immediately. He stumbled back to his room and bled for two days before dying in Theo's arms.

His last words: "The sadness will last forever."
Vincent van Gogh died thinking he was a failure.

Six months later, Theo died too—from grief and syphilis, but mostly grief. He couldn't live in a world without his brother.

The brothers are buried side by side in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
And then, slowly, the world woke up.

Art critics started noticing Vincent's work. Collectors began buying his paintings. Museums held exhibitions.

Within 20 years of his death, Vincent van Gogh was recognized as one of the greatest painters who ever lived.

Today, his paintings sell for over $100 million. "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold for $82.5 million in 1990. "Sunflowers" is priceless.
Museums across the world have entire wings dedicated to his work. Millions of people visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam every year.

The man who sold one painting in his lifetime is now the most famous artist in history.

But here's what haunts me about Vincent's story:
It all started with rejection.

If the church hadn't fired him—if they'd let him keep preaching in the Borinage—Vincent might never have picked up a paintbrush.

His greatest gift to the world came from his greatest failure.
The coal miners he loved are gone. The church that rejected him is mostly forgotten.

But the paintings he made—the sunflowers, the starry nights, the weathered faces of working people—those will last forever.
Vincent van Gogh didn't stop being a missionary when the church fired him.

He just changed how he delivered his message.

Instead of sermons, he painted light. Instead of scripture, he used color. Instead of saving souls, he tried to make people see—really see—the beauty in suffering, the dignity in labor, the holiness in ordinary life.

The miners of the Borinage never knew that the dirty, kind preacher who slept on their floors would become immortal.
But in museums around the world, you can still see their faces in Vincent's early sketches—anonymous workers whose portraits now hang beside kings.

He gave away everything to live with coal miners. The church fired him for caring too much. He started painting at 27. He sold one painting in his lifetime. He died thinking he was a failure. Today, his paintings sell for over $100 million—and the world finally sees what he always did: beauty in the broken.”

---------------------------

"God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread... broken bread to give strength. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever"--Vance Havner.

Van Gogh began his life as a minister who went to the coal miners, people who were the poorest of the poor, they were no-bodies, the church rejected him.

Several months ago, there were two young seminarians visiting. Really, great and awesome guys! They go to school in Berkley coming from other schools in the Mid-west.

Both were shocked at the homelessness on the street, both had never been exposed to it, they had been kept away from it in Berkley and the other cities from where they came.

As we finished up the night reflecting, both commented working with the homeless was the last thing the church wanted to do, to ask to do so would take them off the line of promotion.

Believe me, I can testify to that personally, most of our finances come from me working, and private donations.

I have been invited to preach at various churches with the condition, "preach about spiritual poverty, please!" So I never preach! Soelle, tells us "Sin has little to do just with what we do, but with what we allow to happen." Sin is not confined to personal morality.

This is the way of all society--we ignore our brothers and sisters on the street, we fail to provide food, mental health care, and housing.

Dorothee Soelle defined mysticism not as a new vision of God, "but a different relationship to the world--one that has borrowed the eyes of God."

She confirms that "Religion does not confirm that there are hungry people in the world; it interprets the hungry to be our brothers and sisters who are allowed to starve."

Van Gogh saw "beauty in the broken"! He was pushed aside, kicked out of his church, died in poverty as a result of seeing the broken in the coal miners.

Christ, Buddha, Mohamed, Moses, all great religious figures calls us to see that wholeness comes only through seeing beauty in the broken, the hungry, the homeless, in our midst!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

--------------------------

"Step out of the circle of time and into the Circle of Love."

(Quote given to Stephanie Salter upon learning of her terminal diagnosis).

======

View as Webpage

Make a Difference by Donating to
THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND

All across our nation, communities of faith are rising to the occasion to support immigrants and their families - our neighbors, coworkers, family members and friends - who have been singled out due to the policies of mass detentions and deportations, and now face extreme hardships and live in fear of separation from their loved ones.

Throughout our City, a multitude of community and faith-based efforts have been mobilized to respond to these threats in significant ways.

Immigrant families across the Bay Area are facing severe hardship right now. You’ve probably heard the stories of families torn apart without due process, parents nervous about leaving their homes, and elderly and pregnant people afraid to seek health care.

Our Bay Area immigrant families need your help. The Stand Together Bay Area Fund will be distributing funds for needs such as rent and food through community partners to ensure they reach families in need.

Temenos Catholic Worker is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions to The Immigration Defense Fund are tax-deductible.

Checks payable to Temenos Catholic Worker with a notation in the memo line for The Immigration Defense Fund may be mailed to: P.O.Box 642656, San Francisco, CA 94194, or on donators through pay pay.

Dream Catchers!

"Then Jesus went out to the Tenderloin. Early the next morning he returned to Nob Hill where a crowd gathered and he began teaching them. Then some preachers, bishops, members of the official boards of several churches, non-profits, and neighborhood groups, led in a woman caught having sex with someone she wasn't married to. They stood her up front and said to Jesus, 'Professor, this woman was caught in the act of having extra-marital sex. Now our Bible specifically condemns such an act. What do you say about it. (They were trying to frame him so they would have something to charge him with.) Jesus looked down and wrote in the sand with his finger. And when they kept on pestering him, he glanced up and said, 'OK let the man whose heart is pure lead off.' He looked down again and kept writing in the sand. They got the point and, beginning with the bishop, they sneaked out one by one, until only Jesus was left with the lady standing in front of him. He looked up and said to her, 'Where did they all go ma'am? Didn't "anybody" condemn you. Well surely I don't condemn you. Run along now and try not to do it again" (John 8:1-11 (Cotton Patch Version).

-------------------------

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Dream Catchers are a Native American symbol of hope and healing, used by victims of several school shootings, and are symbols of hope and healing in all of our lives.

In the book of John, the feeding of the five thousand preceded the presence of Jesus at the table with the pilgrims on the road to EmmaI was first introduced to the Dream Catcher on the L.A. streets, and through the years has been a symbol of hope and healing.

As I have said before my young friends analogy of my work as a means of "washing away my sins." I came out of the streets with the "sins" of prostitution, stealing, using people for money, fighting and hurting others, and so on; added to that, was in all my life in the past it was ingrained in me being gay as an "intrinsic evil" using the words of the former Discipline of my former church. I am a sinner every day, and in Christ there is forgiveness and redemption.

I am reminded by that we who are queer will not be accepted by the majority of Churches in my life time, my own sister does not speak to me and tells me I am going to hell, with a Bible in her hands. The dream for me is found in the knowledge that Jesus loves us just as we are! Jesus captures my dreams, holds them for me, and sends me out with them.

So the "Dream Catcher"is a symbol of hope and healing, reminding me that my dreams are caught continually and I continue to dream, to move forward with the hope and love of the Triune God, life, and my brothers and sisters.

The symbol of the "Dream Catcher" is one I talk about with my friends on the street where they live. To always have hope, to trust in the healing that comes each day, and to live with their heads held up.

In Matthew 1:1-17 we have a list of all generations preceding Jesus, and in that list what we see are men and women who have sinned drastically, and God loved them, and they did wondrous things for God.

King David, committed adultery, killed the husband of the woman he wanted, and many other major sins, yet continued to struggle with God, and was used for God's glory. The Apostle Paul worked with the persecutors of the followers of Jesus, and yet God used him in a great way.

There was a man, who too caught a dream, that of raising Mexican farm workers from a level of extreme poverty, to one of just pay and respect.

His name was Caesar Chavez, a Latino farm worker himself. He organized the United Farm-workers Union (UFW), continuing today.

Inspired by a priest who taught him God's desire for social justice, Chavez gave himself to voluntary poverty and a non-violent struggle on behalf of America's poorest and most exploited workers. "When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice, he said. "It's an extremely powerful weapon."

My prayer is that as we see beyond the affairs of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.,with women, that in time we too see beyond the accusations of Caesar to his powerful witness, giving hope, and raising the Latino community to higher level in our society. He caught a dream, a dream that took his every breath until he died.

"Show me the suffering of the most miserable, so I will know my people's plight. Free me to pray for others, for you are present in every person. Help me to take responsibility for my own life, so that I can be free at last. Grant me the courage to serve others, for in service there is true life. Give me honesty and patience, so that the Spirit will live among us. Let the Spirit flourish and grow, so that we will never tire the struggle. Let us remember those who have died for justice, for they have given us life. Help us love even those who hate us, so we can change the world.

--Caesar Chavez--

=====================================
"Step Out of the Circle of Time, and Into the Circle of Love!"

(Spiritual Director of Stephanie Salter)

Remembering Stephanie Salter
Pioneering Sports Journalist
Most Importantly My Friend

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. "
Psalm 23: 4

--------------------------

Journal of An Alien Street Priest

There is a deep sadness within me as I learned of the death of Stephanie Salter last week. I remember her as great journalist, in fact the greatest, a great and faithful follower of Jesus, and most of all a great friend.

One can read the newspaper articles and hear of her greatness in journalism, but what I remember is the woman who called me in 1999, a reporter who wanted to chat with me.

She asked me about my past, my struggles, my call, and most importantly, my street ministry. Later, another journalist called and wanted to follow me around on the street with a cameraman, and the article he published brought Temenos into the public eye, and donors poured in.

Stephanie, every Christmas, would feature Temenos with other small non-profits in her column, thus bringing in more donors, but gave me especially credibility, with all the controversy that always followed and follows me.

She once told me, "River, you serve in the middle of people in a way no one else does, you are their friend, and you serve in the midst of all their activities alone. People always sink to the bottom in their criticism, believe me, I know, so keep the work going!

Stephanie came back to San Francisco in 2014 and spoke at my 20th Anniversary celebration, and wanted to come to the 30th but was not well.

Stephanie was a great friend, loyal to the end, and a great journalist, and most important of all, a great hero:

"The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of the creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the speaker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity, always the one shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find ( Phil Cousineau).

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-------------------------------

Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Please Consider Giving A Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:
By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164

=============================

Glory Begins With Mercy!

"..."When he was at table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?... They returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord is risen indeed. .Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread" (Luke 24:28-35 NRSVue)!

-------------------------

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Recently, I received an email from a lady angry over the abuse the undocumented were receiving, asking, "What can I do?"

The only answer I know to give is found in Matthew 25: 31-46--to feed the hungry, to give the thirsty something to drink, to visit the jails, to clothe the naked, and give them clothing.

In the book of John, the feeding of the five thousand preceded the presence of Jesus at the table with the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus. He returned from prayer to see the hunger of the five thousand, and those trying to follow him, and he fed them. Jesus met their physical needs before their spiritual.

Glory begins with mercy! The tired and the hungry recline, rest, and are abundantly fed first of all. They are abundantly fed without any expectation.

Feeding people opens the door to caring, and meeting other needs, spiritual, housing, etc., will come abundantly as we meet the needs of everyone, for we are simply a Rainbow of Colors, simply broken people.

As we journey through the Easter season, each moment of shaken belief is met with abundance. "The one who is to come into the world" comes with mercy that sustains. The word "liminal" comes from the Latin limen -threshold. In breaking bread with Jesus, we are fed through Christ's mercy. Without it, we can not stand and bear witness at the threshold of God's glory.

Each time I have given food to another, the Eucharist is given, for Christ is present in our mercy. In each act of love we give, we give the broken body of Christ. We bear witness at the threshold of God's glory in each act of mercy.

Dorothy Day once said:
"What we do is very little. But it is like the little boy with a few loaves and fishes. Christ took that little and increased it. He will do the rest. What we do is so little that we may seem constantly failing. But so did he fail. He met with apparent failure on the cross. But unless seeds fall into the earth and die, there is no harvest!

As my own life rolls towards its ending, I will be simply cremated and forgotten, but I have found purpose in the dropping of seeds for the journey with Jesus changes us. Our hearts burn with joy when we finally surrender our earthly sufferings to Christ's love that is revealed among us who face hardship and narrow paths, casting the seeds!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

=====================================

"Jesus will have no hierarchies,
no separations or divisions'
not even between us and him.
'Call no one good but God.
There are no greater and lesser,
no servants and masters,
no insiders and outsiders.
Not even believers and unbelievers.
Only friends, peers, siblings, companions.
Every stranger is a sibling.
Every person you meet is a friend
for whom we lay down your life.
There is no "them." There is only us.
In the love of Christ, befriend this world
and everyone in it;
you will never be alone.

-Steve Garnaas-Holmes"
"Friends"

==================================

National Bi-Sexual Month!

National Child Abuse Prevention Month!

Temenos Catholic Worker
"Peniel"--"Where Jacob Wrestled With God!"
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Please Consider Giving A Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:
By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org

0n PayPal
Scan the QR Code to Donate

No one cares about crazy people!

"When he got to the other side, in Gadara County, he was met by two deviled possessed men coming out of the cemetery. They were such dangerous cats that no one was able to travel that road. And you know, they screamed out, 'What you got against us, you God's holy boy? Did you come here ahead of schedule to pick on us?" Now some distance away from them a large herd of hogs were being fed. So the devils started begging him, 'If you're going to dump us, send us among the hogs.' And, would you believe it, the whole herd stampeded down the bank and into the sea, and died in the water! The herdsmen took off, and the the man who was possessed stood before him clean. . .(Matthew 8: 28ff, The Cotton Patch Version).

--------------------------

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

The semicolon symbol is worn on my right arm, and that of many, it signifies that although life may have presented challenges and struggles, we have chosen to keep going. It serves as a reminder that our story is not over and that there is hope for a better future. This is one of the symbols of good mental health.

Every day, I observe people simply walking down the street, homeless, talking to themselves, not knowing who is around them, totally alone. They are people who are mentally ill. The failure of our system, which is a failure that goes back through the history of our country, to take care of them, and all people with mental illness, is an atrocity, one among many.
When we walk on the street, we either do not see them, we ignore or we simply walk across the street. I know people taking a walk who kick or push aside some "crazy" person in their way.

Statistics show that 50% of the general population will have mental health issues sometime in their lives. Social media can fuel anxiety, disrupt sleep, and leave one feeling alone in a crowd. It offers instant gratification, designed by companies for that purpose and it's taking a toll on our mental health.

According to the Pew Research Team, 69 % of U.S. adults and 81% of teens use social media--putting a huge portion of the population at risk. Studies link social media use to poor sleep, memory issues, and academic struggles, and fear. We see how social media is being used now in the political arena--used intentionally to divide and disturb both sides.

We have lost a sense of compassion and caring for others, resulting from being online.

Schizophrenia Bi-polar depression are common on the street, and illegal drugs are used by in desperation by the individuals to treat them. All other sorts of disorders are common as well.

One study shows there are 350,000 mentally ill people in our prison system. How many have committed crimes because of their mental illness, and will do so again? There is no treatment.

Dorothy Day once said, "We must talk about poverty (mental illness-added by me) because people are insulated by their own comfort--lose sight of it." We must talk about it!

I have no answers, accept to give compassion and care to our homeless and mentally ill brothers and sisters.

My answer is given by Stephen Grant:
"The essence of being with another person is to create a space where they can say what they've never been allowed to say, think what they've never been allowed to think, to feel what they've never been allowed to feel, and be the people they've always been afraid to be!"

For me, this means that I do not give a damn what their political persuasion, color of skin, economic status, or a criminal, for each person is a child of the same God, that forgives me, my god, I am the greatest sinner of all! And these are not words, I believe them in my very bones! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------------------------------

National Bisexual Month!

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

"Who is fit to hold power
and worthy to act in God's place?

Those with a passion for the truth,
who are horrified by injustice,
who act with mercy to the poor
and take up the cause of the helpless,
we have let go of selfish concerns
and see the whole earth as sacred,
refusing to exploit her creatures
or to foul her waters and lands.

Their strength is in their compassion;
God's light shines through their hearts.
Their children's children will bless them
and the work of their hands will endure"(Stephen Michell).

================================

Practicing the Resurrection-Seeing Mental Illness on the Street!

Matthew 8:28-34 (Cotton Patch
Version: "When he got to the other side, in Gadara County, he was met by two devil possessed men coming out of the cemetery. They were such dangerous cats that nobody was able to travel the road. And they screamed out, 'What you got against us, you God's holy boy? Did you come here ahead of schedule to pick on us?' Now some distance from them a large herd of hogs was being fed. So the devils started begging him, 'If you are going to dump us, send us among the heard of hogs.' He told them, 'Get moving.' So they left and went among the hogs. And, would you believe it the whole herd stampeded down the bank and into the sea, and died in the water" And two clean men remained free of demons. . . . ."

-----------------------
"Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

"The resurrection of Jesus makes everything simple. Life is so complex, so many political issues, so many problems to reflect on and ponder. And there is the ongoing question of priorities, and who we should love and care for, who is dirty, who is clean. But here before the rolled-away stone, a simple center from which hope radiates, all is very simple. I sense the deep truth of this simplicity. Jesus is risen. All has become one in his Divine Love.

Clarence Jordon, co-founder of Koinonia Farm wrote, "The resurrection of Jesus was simply God's unwillingness to take our 'no' for an answer. He raised Jesus, not as an invitation to us to come to heaven when we die, but as a declaration that he himself has now established permanent, eternal residence here on earth. He is standing beside us, strengthening us in this life. The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is not that we shall die and go home to be with him, but that he has risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick prisoner brothers and sisters.

San Francisco counts 4000 homeless and addicted mentally ill people, approximately 51% of the homeless population.

Those are the numbers we see on paper; but what I see day in and and day out are human beings suffering from no counseling, psychiatric care, no friends, and no place to lay their head.

What I see each day is a City government setting up a center for addicted people to come in, sober up from their latest use, and tries to get them into drug treatment, and have really little treatment to offer, and housing is needed.

I see each day broken, fearful, and human being on the street for years, who will find it almost impossible to get off the street without a lot of personal help.

Each day I see human beings like Jeremy above, walking down Polk, head bent low, holding his blanket, slowly walking down the street; I see Susan with scars on her face, sitting in front of Walgreens asking for money; I encounter Jimmy, who sees me, and simply wants to talk. I simply catch their stories, give them some socks, and food.

And what I see each day is people leaving churches, restaurants, bars, simply walking by without even seeing them.

On a number of occasions, I have seen police use a taser, rather than talking to someone who is high. I have stood between police and an homeless person who is high on drugs, a number of times, moving them into a peaceful state of mind. They need love, they need compassion--not fear, anger, towards them.

Over fifty-percent of our housed population will have mental health issues in their lives.

Eight years ago, when my shoulder was broken, having surgery, and than four months of recuperation, I went into a deep depression, a very deep depression. I called my sister during this time, seeking to communicate, she told me she would not talk to me until I "came to Jesus" and hung up, definitely ending our relationship.

My friend David, gracious, kind, and caring paid for three months of therapy and I had a doctor at Kaiser, (paid for by friends in Albuquerque) who placed me on Wellbutrin. My depression lifted, and have not been depressed in five years.

I had friends, insurance, a home, income, therapist, my faith and a doctor. Without them I could have simply descended into the hell of mental illness.

So try living on the streets, without family, friends, financial and medical resources, and housing, and imagine having a mental illness. I was hellar lucky!

So if one wants to help do not ignore people on the street, talk to them, give them food, and most importantly simply give them caring and love.

Simplistic! Well I have done it for thirty one and a half years and will do it till the day I drop dead without regrets!

Remember the words of Dan White Jr., ones that I try to live by each day:

"When you live in Culture War Mode there is always a battle to fight, a side to take, and people to fear.

When you live in God's Kingdom there's always a stranger to welcome, a neighbor to befriend, and an enemy to love!"

Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!

--------------------------------
Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Please Consider Giving A Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:

By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org

On PayPal
Scan the QR Code to Donate

"Who is fit to hold power
and worthy to act in God's place?

Those with a passion for the truth,
who are horrified by injustice,
who act with mercy to the poor
and take up the cause of the helpless,
we have let go of selfish concerns
and see the whole earth as sacred,
refusing to exploit her creatures
or to foul her waters and lands.

Their strength is in their compassion;
God's light shines through their hearts.
Their children's children will bless them

and the work of their hands will endure"(Stephen Michell).

================================

Questions! No Correct Answers?

Good Friday, April 3, 2026

In 2018, the Rabbi, holding the memorial service for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue, with the sunlight pouring in from the high windows of the Temple, spoke these words:

"Before the world was made, God was complete and whole. If that's the case, then there was no space for something new to be made, so God blew himself up, and out of the broken pieces came the world."

The world has always been broken. Even as we stand here with our good intentions, we are in the midst of learning a terrible lesson--we are a part of a long history of brokenness stemming from the beginning of creation. And one of the passages of the Seder readings haunts me:

"In every generation an enemy will rise up to destroy us."

The truth is in our world is full of voices that are unheard with, many, many, different points of view.

The truth is in the middle of all of the voices, heard and unheard, all of the various groups, there is NO CORRECT ANSWER-and we are not responsible for finding it. We are responsible for living in care, and love for everyone who have different points of view, and ways of doing things.

On this Good Friday, we are reminded there is only mercy and love, no Blue, Red, Democrat, Republican, but simply loving our fellow human beings.

Love is not depending on judgments or feelings, but on a decision to set judgment aside.

Love is anarchy, love is a choice, we don't love the deserving, we don't choose who is allowed in our country and neighborhoods, for we are flawed and imperfect human beings in an emotional logic that belongs to an entirely different weather system than the cold, chilly climate of reason.

Fannie Lou Hammer, a well-known civil rights leader, beaten and jailed, often said:

"It wouldn't solve any problem for me to hate whites just because they hate me, oh, there is so much hate, only God has kept the Negro sane."

There is an old Negro spiritual entitled "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" reminding us to be fully present with the whole of humanity, not requiring us to enter the sanctuary or walk across the threshold of a church. The cross, Calvary, is a public spectacle. The question "Were You There!" signifies the real pressing question about whether you are there for our undocumented immigrants, will we be present to them in the corners of our streets, will we be there with them in the churches and houses in which they hide, will we be with them on our borders?

"Were you there? calls us to be present at the front lines for justice.

The lyrics of "Were You There?" continue with the words, "Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble! Tremble!" I wonder whether we have lost our ability to tremble in the presence of a holy God who REQUIRES us to be present to our immigrants/non-documented, and do the work of justice for all:

"Who is fit to hold power
and worthy to act in God's place?

Those with a passion for the truth,
who are horrified by injustice,
who act with mercy to the poor
and take up the cause of the helpless,
we have let go of selfish concerns
and see the whole earth as sacred,
refusing to exploit her creatures
or to foul her waters and lands.

Their strength is in their compassion;
God's light shines through their hearts.
Their children's children will bless them
and the work of their hands will endure"(Stephen Michell).

================================

(Transgender Jesus)

International Transgender Day of Visibility:

Dedicated to celebrating Transgender People Raising Awareness of Violence and Discrimination And Acknowledging Their Service to Society!

March 31, 2026

Entering the Journey of Another!

"There is no male and no female, for all are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28)!

==================

"Journal of An Alien Street Priest!"

---------

Rather than preach about the neglect and discrimination we the majority of people have given, including me, to transgenders, resulting in them having severe mental health issues , being targeted, beaten up and murdered in numbers above all populations, I offer these words:

"Before you judge a man walk a mile in his moccasins"(Native American proverb)!

To truly understand another we must feel their journey, walk with them, being one, and facing the same dangers and difficulties as they face.

Remembering Jesus walks the journey with transgenders this Holy Week, as he did on his journey to the cross, let's commit to looking deep with inside ourselves. Going so deep to see our monsters of racism, trans-phobia, and entitlement, and then to truly begin to truly tame those monsters into Dragons of Light!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

========================================

---------------

Above the Chains!

No King But the Divine One!

"Look at the 'Sea Lions', for they neither sew, nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father, feeds them. Are you not of more value than they are" (Matthew 5:26, NKJV paraphrased by me).

==========================

Last Thursday, I was sitting on a boat dock on the American River, and dozed off. Suddenly, I was awakened by my face being licked, and laying beside me was a Sea Lion, snuggling up to me. I put my arm around him and fell asleep, feeling safe and loved.

Watching the Sea Lions across from my hotel, I see them play, are frisky, and simply enjoying life without a worry. In an area where wildlife are safe--all sorts of birds flying, rabbits, deer, and squirrels around. I could stay forever!

In going back into the "real world" the next day I am reminded of a quote by Ta-Nenehisi-Coates,"The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of trick questions, and every incorrect answer risks a beat down, a shooting, or a pregnancy," Coates expands on the assertion by listing "guns, fists, knives, crack, rape, and disease as some of the elements that assail Black, Queer prostitutes, Mexican, both non-documented/ undocumented people, and many others. He asserts that such vulnerability is not accidental; instead, it is the product of an intentional policy of forcing people to live under fear.

It is a world I have lived in for over thirty-six years, from being kicked out of my denomination for being queer, going to the streets of L.A., where I sold my body, stole, used my fists for protection, and living under fear.

I learned from those years the true meaning of the words of Jesus, "But Jesus did not trust himself to any man, because he knew all men!"

That dark and cold night, as I sat in the Cathedral before our Lady of Guadalupe, and she surrounded me, I was the woman brought before Jesus, caught in adultery, "they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. . .but Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear, and when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw at her first. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one. When all had gone, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are all those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more" (John 8:2-13).

From those moments, I entered into as redeeming relationship with Jesus, but guilt always followed me, forcing me to stay chained!

Four years later, late one night on Polk Street, I was helping Sean shoot up, because his arms were torn badly, and he said to me, "River, you must have done something really awful, and afraid you are going to hell, to be out here with us, no bodies!"

That was the beginning of my own journey of rising above the chains!

A psychologist friend told me starting this ministry, "You will be in the center of a railroad track, with twenty tracks attached, and have twenty railroad trains come towards you at one time, so stand firm in your faith, prepare yourself for the doubts and fears that will come!" Very much like the woman the woman caught in adultery!

And so each day I remind myself, my death will come on an ordinary day, in the middle of unfinished plans. The world, in its craziness, will continue without me. So seek to live fully, loving each person, forgetting about any divisions, anger, and be a Sea Lion, above the chains, and going forward to "finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from my Lord Jesus Christ, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------------------------

TWENTY- FIFTH ANNUAL
STATIONS
OF THE CROSS!
Temenos Catholic Worker
FOR MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS,
Undocumented Immigrants
AND THEIR ALLIES!
Noon-April 3, 2026
Philip Burton Federal Building and United States Court Hours
450 Golden Gate Street
(Near San Francisco's Civic Center and San Francisco City Hall)
For Information Call or Email [email protected]
Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims
415-305-2124--[email protected]

=============================

"All Love Is Wasted" by Steven Garners Holmes:
"All Love is wasted
It is not a wise investment
It is not a powerful tool.

It is given away
without thought of profit or outcome.
Often it is swallowed up by ingratitude
or falls into gaping wounds.

Or it is sown among evil and hated
where no amount of love can succeed.

Love is wasted gladly on the unknowing,
the ungrateful, the undeserving.

Even your love of someone
dear is a waste
for their love can only be a gift
not a return!
We tread on the seeds of Divine Love.

Daily we go out to sow
wastefully, scattering
as much love as possible."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------

"When treasure is not shared,
When riches are kept hidden,
Walls are erected,
Hope is trampled,
Life can not flourish.
Help us, Holy One,
to share our treasures,
to uncover riches,
to tear down walls
and build up hope
and live and love
abundantly.
(Chett Pritchett)

----------------------------------

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Revenge Is A Terrible Vice!

"There Is no male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28)!

Reverend Benjamin Cremer wrote: "A god that needs violent men and women to succeed is a god invented by violent men and women!"

Throughout my life, segregation, homophobia, justification of violence, war and transphobia are all false "gods" always present.

Throughout the past 35 years, living, and now serving on the pavements of L.A. and San Francisco, the truth in the words of Ta-Nehisi-Coates: "The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of trick questions and every incorrect answer risks a breakdown, a shooting, or a pregnancy."

Coates expands on this assertion by listing "guns, fists, knives, crack, rape, and disease" as some of the elements that assail victims living on the streets. He asserts that such vulnerability is not accidental; instead, is the product of an intentional policy of forcing people to live under fear.

People in power have forced people to live under fear, in their weaknesses, and poverty on the street. They provide know real assistance.
Four years ago, I received a call from a now "middle aged" friend, with whom I had been friends with for twenty years; He lives in another state, and is a lawyer, and had a friend who wanted to come and visit three days before our Good Friday service to volunteer with Temenos.
"Susie" showed up on the Tuesday before, a nice "elderly" lady! Unknowingly I was not told of her fundamental religious beliefs!
Frankly she lied to me. We were in the Haight and I was ahead, and heard the scream of a young guy, turning she was passing out flyers and telling him unless he accepted Jesus there was no salvation; I lost it! This young man had suffered abuse from Christians over being gay! I sent her away, and frankly after talking to her, and her refusing and telling me I needed to "find Jesus", dusted my feet off, as Jesus says, and moved on.
A year later I went to visit my friend who sent her, and from the moment, we met he said: "I had Susie come down to encounter you, she came back really angry, simply because you were not really saved and were leading your kids to hell; so during our time together since she proved to me that religion is simply a way of dividing people and hurting them you are not to talk about your job, God, or anything pertaining to religion. There are no gods."
It was a rough day, and I kept my mouth shut, but in saying good by, I simply pointed out the reason I had been his friend between the good and bad times, loving him no matter what, because of the loving Spirit of God! It never mattered to me what he believed or how he behaved. I loved him. I dusted off my feet and walked away, very sad, feeling much alone.
There are times when we feel absolutely helpless to prevent terrible injustices, abusive language and behavior, and unnecessary disasters. Our helplessness may be fed by fears of reprisals and revenge. Societal polarization can create such seemingly impossible situations, and our only hope is to fall back on our faith in Divine Love! Care for others without judgment! Acceptance of All!
Wishing revenge is a debilitating and complicated vice. .
We know individuals consumed by it for signs of their suffering are evident--major depression, hatred, condemnation of family members, other races and religious affiliations. Their pride, anger, and envy, has them reach out in destruction and hate.
Paul, trained by Pharisees, advised:

"Beloved, don't be obsessed with talking revenge, but leave that to God's righteous justice. . If your enemy is hungry buy him lunch! Win him over with kindness.
For your surprising generosity will awaken conscience and God will reward you with favor!
I have learned that I have to move from speaking about Jesus to letting him speak within me, from acting for and with Jesus to letting him act through me. I am learning not to live in a culture war mode, where there is always a battle to fight, a side to take, and people to fear, but finding that live in God's Reign there is always a stranger to welcome, a neighbor to befriend, and an enemy to love. (edited Dan White and Henri Nouwen). Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
"All Love Is Wasted" by Steven Garners Holmes:
"All Love is wasted
It is not a wise investment
It is not a powerful tool.

It is given away
without thought of profit or outcome.
Often it is swallowed up by ingratitude,
or falls into gaping wounds.

or it is sown among evil and hated
where no amount of love can succeed.

Love is wasted gladly on the unknowing,
the ungrateful, the undeserving.

Even your love of someone
dear is a waste
for their love can only be a gift
not a return!
We tread on the seeds of Divine Love.

Daily we go out to sow
wastefully, scattering
as much love as possible."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
-----------------------------------

"When treasure is not shared,
When riches are kept hidden,
Walls are erected,
Hope is trampled,
Life can not flourish.
Help us, Holy One,
to share our treasures,
to uncover riches,
to tear down walls
and build up hope
and live and love
abundantly."
(Chett Pritchett)

--------------------------------------

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director
Please Consider Giving A Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:
By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
0n PayPal

Scan the QR Code to Donate

Tears Before Surrendering and Healing!

Fourth Week in Lent
March 18, 2026

(Gentleman Living On Street for 31 Years)!

"Jesus said: "I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever. And one who lives believing in me will never die. "Do you believe this?" (John 11:25, The Passion Translation).

---------------------------------
Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Today, March 18, I sat outside at a restaurant down the street and I thought of the book and movie, "Good Bye Mr. Chips," it began as he began his teaching career at an upper class elementary and high school in the 1930's, taking him through the War in the forties, where he lost his wife in a bombing, and became the principle. In the 1950's he retired.

We watched him age over the next ten years, as he would come and sit on a bench outside of soccer practice, watching the young boys. He became grayer, and grayer, until he died. He found comfort, in remembering his life, and the parents and grandparents of these boys he taught.

I think of the story often as I sit in restaurants on Polk and the Haight, simply watching people pass by. I have seen thousands of young boys and adults pass through my life.

The gentleman in our photo above is one I have known for thirty-one years. He was 22 when I met him, young, spry, making money and doing drugs, hustling, and now simply surviving. We visit, and I listen, feed him, and love him.

This year the theme of my Lenten devotions is "Journey of Surrender", I am surrendering letting go of changing others, and meeting people where they are. St. Therese tells us:
"True charity consists in bearing all my neighbors defects, not being surprised by them, but edified at the smallest virtues!"

So not expecting anything in return and in the words my favorite poem accepting love as wasted, with many tears for my heart is full of loss, and joy:

"All Love Is Wasted" by Steven Garners Holmes:
"All Love is wasted
It is not a wise investment
It is not a powerful tool.

It is given away
without thought of profit or outcome.
Often it is swallowed up by ingratitude,
or falls into gaping wounds.

or it is sown among evil and hated
where no amount of love can succeed.

Love is wasted gladly on the unknowing,
the ungrateful, the undeserving.

Even your love of someone
dear is a waste
for their love can only be a gift
not a return!
We tread on the seeds of Divine Love.

Daily we go out to sow
wastefully, scattering
as much love as possible."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------------------------

"When treasure is not shared,
When riches are kept hidden,
Walls are erected,
Hope is trampled,
Life can not flourish.
Help us, Holy One,
to share our treasures,
to uncover riches,
to tear down walls
and build up hope
and live and love
abundantly."
(Chett Pritchett)

--------------------------------------

"Blessed are the Merciful!"

"NRSVeu-"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." (Matthew 5:6)

==========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Similar to Mother Teresa my life has been full of doubt of God's existence, yet I feel a strong presence.

Raised, belonging, and serving as pastor in a church that said, being gay was an "intrinsic evil", finding myself on the streets where every person and every move put my life in danger, as they still do, seeing young people and adults die from neglect of housing, being shot, stabbed, disease and knowing the political structures do not give a damn I have a lot of doubts!

Seeing in the words of Frederic Nietzsche that "The most dangerous form of blindness is believing that your perspective is the only reality," and finding that truth in the Gospel is dangerous in living that truth out. There are a rainbow of perspectives our country, and the world! We need to be liquid, (flexible).

Being merciful is showing every one mercy and in doing so receiving the gift of mercy in return.

Recently I was told with much anger that Republicans, conservatives--the Middle Western and Southern people are ignorant and not worth dealing with. That horrified me, for I have friends, relatives, and donors in the South and Midwest, who disagree with my political, theological, and social beliefs, but we still care and respect one another and our differences. I love the South where I was raised. I smell the fragrance of crops, flowers, hear the sounds in the air, feel the warmth, taste the food, love August, the hottest month of the year, and I am home.

To be merciful to the "forgotten ones"--homeless, the undocumented immigrant, the poorest of the poor, all people, is where we to will find mercy. To be merciful is
"To serve the God of love, one must be free to face the terrible responsibility to love in-spite of all unworthiness, whether in oneself or in one's neighbor"(Thomas Merton).

In my doubts, my fears, St. Patrick sums up the way I practice: "Let your faith be your shield in times of doubt."

Also in my doubts I remember the man Jesus healed in our lectionary reading for this morning. The Pharisees asked him if Jesus was evil or not, and he responded, "I do not know whether Jesus is a sinner, one thing I know is, that though I was blind, now I see (John 9:25).

Being merciful is showing every one mercy and in doing so receiving the gift of mercy in return.

Recently I was told with much anger that Republicans, conservatives--the Middle Western and Southern people are ignorant and not worth dealing with. That horrified me, for I have friends, relatives, and donors in the South and Midwest, who disagree with my political, theological, and social beliefs, but we still care and respect one another and our differences. I love the South where I was raised. I smell the fragrance of crops, flowers, hear the sounds in the air, feel the warmth, taste the food, love August, the hottest month of the year, and I am home.

To be merciful to the "forgotten ones"--homeless, the undocumented immigrant, the poorest of the poor, all people, is where we to will find mercy. To be merciful is
"To serve the God of love, one must be free to face the terrible responsibility to love in-spite of all unworthiness, whether in oneself or in one's neighbor"(Thomas Merton).

In my doubts, my fears, St. Patrick sums up the way I practice: "Let your faith be your shield in times of doubt."

Also in my doubts I remember the man Jesus healed in our lectionary reading for this morning. The Pharisees asked him if Jesus was evil or not, and he responded, "I do not know whether Jesus is a sinner, one thing I know is, that though I was blind, now I see (John 9:25).

All I know is I do not know exactly who Jesus, but "one thing I know is, that though I was blind, now I see," the face of Jesus in every creature!

"When treasure is not shared,
When riches are kept hidden,
Walls are erected,
Hope is trampled,
Life can not flourish.
Help us, Holy One,
to share our treasures,
to uncover riches,
to tear down walls
and build up hope
and live and love
abundantly.
(Chett Pritchett)

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

TWENTY- FIFTH ANNUAL
STATIONS
OF THE CROSS!
Temenos Catholic Worker
FOR MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS,
Undocumented Immigrants
AND THEIR ALLIES!
Noon-April 3, 2026
630 Sansome Street
For Information Call or Email
Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims
415-305-2124--[email protected]

--------------------

"A Grace Filled Life"

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6)

==========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

I was eating at Victor's Piazza, watching people pass by--some were old, some young, some middle class, some infants - of different races, mixed religions, and economic status. In their faces, one could see happiness, sadness, and for some, contentment. My heart became full of love, for each one has within them the image of God, each is precious in God's eyes, no matter color, belief, or religious position! To remember that leads to treating them with compassion!

I remember President Obama recently commenting on social media, saying it has allowed a disintegration of people talking with disrespect and hate, "constantly disintegrating others."

Myself, I feel there are days I am in a cesspool--death threats, being called the most awful of names, to the point I get sick to my stomach. It comes from all sides!

I think of the young girl in MacArthur Park who fed seven hundred people a week for over a year, being severely beaten; the death threats and the harm done to me through the years.

Gradually, ever so gradually, I am learning to let go, and follow the advice of St. Ignatius, to be "indifferent," not to take it personally, and keep following my calling.

Thomas Merton once said, "The one who does the most to avoid suffering is the one who suffers the most." So I have found like our text tells us, that when one directs their love towards one's neighbor, we suffer less, focusing on another's suffering, assisting them, and making ours much smaller.

On April 3, Good Friday, we will have a time of prayer through following the Stations of the Cross, at ICE Headquarters, 630 Sansome Street.

Rather than showing anger, political disagreement, and hate, let us show forgiveness. What I have learned through the years is "forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future"(Paul Boese).

Let us continue towards Easter and newness of life with a Gushing River, "The water that I will give will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life (John 4:40).

"Maybe faith is something you "have" as a river "has water":
for a river is not just some water, but a flowing, releasing as it receives.

The unkillable life God gives you is not for you alone, not for you to keep, but to pass on. Faith is the flowing of love
from the spring of God
through you
into the world,
freely flowing
the receiving-and-giving,
the passing on,
one fluid motion.
You are the riverbank
through which God
never stops gushing.
-Steve Garnaas, Gushing

"Be gentle when you walk into the lives of others, because not all wounds are obvious" (Narin Grewal)

-----------------------

The Mid Night I Fell in Love with the Whole World!

(The Saints of Polk Street)

"They who are gentle are his people, for they will be partners across the land" Matthew 5:5 (Cotton Patch Version)!

--

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5: NRSVue).

==========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

"It was the dying man in the hospital bed at San Francisco General who started it. His look of impending death. Each time he breathed, he suffered pain.

I looked at him with hatred, seeing the man who had murdered my son.

And then within me came tears, a letting go of the pain, and my heart filled with the light of Jesus, reminding me as he loved me, so he loved him. And the room glowed with the light of the Divine!

Didn't need to know his or anyone's story to know they were worthy of love, didn't need to know the stories of anyone to love them.

Everyone a son, a grandchild. Everyone light. It was like how on these midsummer nights, the late sun shines long through the cities and fields

and everything, every whole and broken thing, beautiful.

Oh, people, people of Iran, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine.

Russia, Somalia, Yemen. America. I will never know you, yet I honor how you carry inside you your own strange and beautiful spark. Each of us longs to belong. No matter what our leaders do, the light is right to see how much we all long to be safe, to be seen, to be kind, to be trusted, to meet on any street, in any room, all of us slivers of divinity. (River, 2001, edited, 2026).

-----------------------

It was on the night my son died in 2001 that my journey towards meekness began, and the letting go of the feelings, guilt, and abandonment, a journey that will continue until I come into God's arms at death.

The heart of Jesus is filled with it. He speaks of meekness, associated with humility, as the principal quality of his soul in a beautiful passage:

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Dorothy day describes meekness as a "seamless garment of love that is the animating force of Christian faith, we want to show love for our brother and sister so that we can show our God love."

Violence is contagious. Violence in all forms, be it our dislike of the beliefs of other people, of their choice of politicians, parts of the country in which they live, violence is violence. A middle finger for a honked horn. Hatred begets hatred. Pick up the sword and die by the sword. You kill us and we'll kill you. There is a contagion of violence in our communities, states, nation, and the world.

But grace is contagious. An act of kindness inspires another act of kindness. A random smile is exchanged for an opened door, a cup of coffee, a piece of bread. Helping someone carry their laundry, their groceries makes them nice. Randomly talking to a homeless person, buying them food or coffee, invites them to a kinder life. A single act of forgiveness can feel like it heals the world. Grace begets grace. Love rubs off on those who are loved.

There is nowhere you can see the battle of grace and disgrace waged more vehemently than in our present society. When it comes to words like "justice", "compassion", "love of others", people can say the same thing and mean something differently.

Judgment, lack of understanding of one another, and political views offer contrasting ideological thoughts of the word "justice", where people can say the same thing and mean something completely different.

For example, when people on one side has experienced hurt by the other in a demonstration or other forms, we see evil not going without consequence. And there is a theology behind it: "An eye for an eye... a tooth for a tooth" (Exodus 21:23-24).

Yet grace, meekness, offers us another version of justice. Grace makes room for redemption. Graces and meekness offer a vision of justice that is restorative and dedicated to healing the wounds of injustice. But the grace thing is hard work. It takes faith--because it dares us to believe that not only victims be healed, but so can the victimizers. It is not always easy to believe that love is more powerful than hatred, life is more powerful than death, and that people can be better than the worst thing they've done.

These two versions of justice compete for our allegiance. One leads to death: The other can lead to life, and to healing and redemption and other beautiful things.

Mercy is a natural overflowing of grace. In the photos of the young guys and young women above, and the ones presently on the street, they all want "justice", the justice of mercy, not of judgment. The guys in the photo suffered at the hands of our system, as do those now on our streets. A system that only cares for money, beautiful houses and apartments, rather than housing for the poor, food, and drug treatment, we can too understand as Dorothy Day once referred to her system as "a dirty rotten system," and it continues to be "a dirty rotten system." and each one of us is a part of that system.

I have been asked, "Why don't you quit?" You have "PTS," and you suffer hatred and death threats and lack of money, what keeps you going?"

My answer is grace and mercy, are things just like forgiveness, that exist in the context of the evil, and in contrast to it. When all is well, grace and mercy are hard to notice. But when things are tough, they are hard to ignore. They shine brightly. Just as light shines in the darkness, grace is radiant next to evil and darkness! I love seeing grace! One can see the grace and good in ourselves and each person we encounter!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

=====================================

The Blessings of Jesus

Blessed are those who know their need
for theirs is the grace of heaven.
Blessed are those who weep
for their tears will be wiped away.
Blessed are the humble
for they are close to the sacred earth.
Blessed are those who hunger for earth’s oneness
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the forgiving
for they are free.
Blessed are the clear in heart
for they see the Living Presence.
Blessed are the peacemakers
for they are born of God.
(The Casa del Sol Blessings of Jesus — based on Matthew 5:3-9)

— Praying with the Earth: A Prayer book for Peace

------------------------------------------------

The Immigrants Creed

"I believe in Almighty God who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger.
When he returned to his own country he suffered under the oppression of Pontius Pilate the servant of a foreign power.

Jesus was persecuted, beaten, tortured, and unjustly condemned to death.

But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead
not as a scorned foreigner, but to offer us citizenship in God's kingdom.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God's kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries and reunites all races.

I believe that the Church is the secure home for foreigners and for all believers.

I believe that the communion of saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in forgiveness, which makes us equal before God, and in reconciliation which heals our brokenness.
I believe, in the Resurrection, God will unite us as one people, in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be a foreigner but all will be citizens of the kingdom where God reigns forever and ever. Amen." (Jose Luis Casal)

Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director
Please Consider Giving A Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:
By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
0n PayPal

Scan the QR Code to Donate

Happy Are Those Who Mourn, For They Shall Be Comforted!

(The Saints of Polk Street)

"Blessed Are Those Who Mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4)

==========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

On the day of the beginning of the Iran War, I experienced the death of a young man on the street; coming home, there were two death threats in my email; I broke down and started crying, just crying!

Crying, not out of fear, or regret, but of compassion of the young guy whose hand I had held, until he died from a fentanyl overdose, watching the ambulance taking him away; seeing person after person as I walked home in our alleys, and street, begging for money, suffering from pain in so many ways, and from the suffering in Gaza, Iran. And I cried for those who have sent me death threats, really, in having no idea of what they are doing. My prayer is that we would drop our divisions, our hatred and distrust of one another, and see each other as simply children of the same God. If that would happen, what might happen in our cities, state, nation, and world.

And I get up, sad, with joy, and go back to work, writing, hanging with my friends on the street with food, socks, and simply being a story catcher, holding their pain as they tell me their stories.

I continue to live in the Reign of God, where there is always a stranger to welcome, a neighbor to befriend, and an enemy to love.

And in mourning daily, there is comfort!

Jesus' promise in this beatitude has sustained and given solace to the bereaved in the face of death in its many forms, and the pain of loss is assured.

On the cross, Jesus' vulnerability and pain expressed in lament are transformed through his compassion into strength and consolation of death.

Our honest outpouring of mourning and lament, acknowledging our vulnerabilities, fears, and need of God--itself becomes the means of our experiencing God's ever-present compassion, support, and healing in our times of sorrow. We are strengthened in our weakness as God's power is made known.

And on Good Friday, as we walk the Stations of the Cross for Migrants and Immigrants, we remembering their suffering and ask ourselves what we can do for these brothers and sisters of ours?

Then Jesus said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:23).

Opening Prayer: Most merciful and loving Savior, crucified and risen, we now walk these stations of your passion, death, and resurrection, alongside our migrant brothers and sisters suffering here, and throughout the world, who have been forced to share in your sufferings by circumstances beyond their control. As we meditate on these stations and worship you, filled with gratitude for all that you have suffered for us, give us the courage and empathy to encounter and accompany our migrant brothers and sisters in their sufferings so as to respond to your divine teaching: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matthew 25:35) and "Whatever you did for me of these brothers and sisters of mind, you did for me) Matthew 25:40). Amen.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

=====================================

The Immigrants Creed

The Poor In Spirit!

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the reign of God
(Matthew 5: 3, NRSV eu).

======================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Recently, Olympian Jack Hughes commented when his team was criticized for going to the White House, "People are so negative out there, they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing."

And that we see in every moment these days! We tear people down, we criticize, condemn, and we destroy people around us with our words and attitude.

Therese of Lisieux, wrote The only good is to love God with all one's heart and to be poor in spirit here on earth!

You see, ultimately, "All worldly honors are nothing but the smoke and fire of burning straw. All that remains is the little good that we have done, if we have managed to make the most of the grace which our good Lord has given us at every instant in our lives" (Fr. William Gagnon). Fr. Gagnon ran a hospital for the poor in Vietnam, where the threat of death was constantly present. Nevertheless, he was sustained by prayer and by the spirit of St. John of God, who taught that all those who were poor and suffering were Christ in disguise. "Blessed are the poor in spirit!"

The first Beatitude is the source of all the others; it contains them all, as a seed contains a plant. One could easily show how each of the following Beatitude presupposes some form of poorness of heart. At the heart of the Gospel, of the person Christ is, and the work of Paul, is a mystery of poverty. This is an essential key to grasping the Christian theology as St. Paul expresses it. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich"(2 Corinthians 8:9).

Every day I pass by people pan-handling, whom people simply pass by not seeing them; one night recently I held the hand of a homeless man as he died on the street; my heart bleeds as I see my friends suffer, and I am reminded of negative poverty, leading to material or moral bankruptcy, and interior emptiness, that of people with money who fail to see that loving money separates them from God.

Our media is full of commercials and stories illustrating to make it we must obtain riches, of acquisition, and accumulation of goods.

I am convinced that spiritual poverty is the key the spiritual life, to holiness, to fruitfulness, as well as true happiness.

Spiritual poverty is a form of freedom, the freedom to receive everything freely and to give everything freely.

The central logic of the spiritual Kingdom, of living by the true logic of God's Reign, is what Jesus calls, the justice of the Reign of God," as he says, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well.

I remember, at age 12, standing around the campfire at Arcadia, our church camp, "feeling my heart strangely warmed," knowing God was calling me to ministry as I answered the call to ministry, going forward in response. For me, ministry was to be like Damien of Molokai, Dorothy Day, St. Francis, and so many others. I am still striving to be like them. And until I truly committed myself to following their example on the streets, I did not have joy!

Experiencing poverty, we come to know ourselves simply as fallible creatures, suffering every day, with everything we have as a gift from God, to share with others. We are not indispensable, who we are is from God.

Poverty of heart with regard to others is expressed in many ways. As the sixth beatitude evokes, we refuse to give with an expectation in return--to renounce all manner of manipulating and using the other person for own ends. We give, without expectation but out of love.

One Christmas, a board member from a local church called me and nervously said, "River, we have decided this year to give our gift we have given to you for Christmas to another ministry that has RESULTS! That has happened over and over, and to have that attitude always leads to disappointment, success is in the giving.

Being poor in spirit means we are no better or no less than any person. I meet people where they are, treat each one with respect, and see them as my friend. I do not care what political or religious persuasion, rich or poor, each person is a child of God. Treating them as a child of God means always wishing the best for them.

Mercy and forgiveness toward our neighbor, every person, are essential aspects of poverty of the heart. I have heard people on both sides, educated, kind, and generous people, wish either the President be assassinated, and the liberals die. The questions I raise in my own mind is first, do they want to be killed by the other side? Second, I get death threats from all sides, so do you want me dead, and not telling me that, and third, do you ever think of each person as a child of God? I get death threats all the time, and there are days I wonder why keeping on writing, and walking with others, simply go to Palm Springs, get a place alone in the desert and say to hell with life. But my faith reminds me to love others as myself. There is hope!

I especially fail on practicing poverty towards friends, on not having the last word on everything, and letting my judgments show. I have prideful insistence. Keep silent and listen!

Generosity is one of the most beautiful forms of poverty of the heart.

Finally, being poor means we accept the reality we are not the masters of our own ships; we depend on God! There is a parable that reminds us we are in a storm-tossed ship, and all we have is one another for support.

To be poor means knowing how to abandon oneself, trustingly allowing ourselves to be led along the unforeseen pathways of life, and saying yes to reality.

Life becomes full of meaning and beauty when we remember the words of Jesus: "Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

In closing, St. Francis de Sales reminds us to live in the moment, that is all we have:

"Do not look forward to the trials and crosses of this life and fear. Rather, look to them with full confidence that, as they arise, God, to whom you belong, will deliver you from them.

He has guided and guarded you this far in life. Do you but hold fast to His hand, and he will lead you safely through all trials. Whenever you cannot stand, he will carry you lovingly in his arms.

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. The same Eternal Father who cares for you today will take good care of you tomorrow and every day of your life. Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you the unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace then and put aside all useless thoughts, vain dreads, and anxious imaginations."

St. Francis de Sales
=================================

TWENTY- FIFTH ANNUAL
TENDERLOIN STATIONS
OF THE CROSS!
Temenos Catholic Worker
FOR MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS,
Undocumented Immigrants
AND THEIR ALLIES!
Noon-April 3, 2026
City Hall, on Polk Side
For Information Call or Email
Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims
415-305-2124--[email protected]

A Prayer

God of justice and mercy,
we bring you our grief and our anger,
our confusion and our exhaustion.
We see the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer,
and our hearts ache with the weight of it.

How long, O Lord?

Keep us from despair that numbs the soul.
Keep us from fear that silences truth.
Give us courage that does not harden into hatred
and hope that does not drift into denial.
Strengthen our resolve to resist violence without becoming violent,
to speak truth without losing love,
to stand with the weak without bowing to power.

Teach us to lament faithfully,
to act courageously,
and to trust that no injustice escapes your sight.
Until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,
keep us rooted in love.

Amen.

(Padraig O'Touma)

Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

The Immigrants Creed

Choose Life!

"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. . .

Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days. ." (Deuteronomy 30: 15-30 NRSVeu)

===========================================

"Then he said, so everybody could hear, "If anybody really wants to share my own life, let him have no regard for his own welfare, and let him risk his life every day and walk the way with me. Whoever puts his own life first shall lose it. But whoever lays his life on the line for me shall come out on top. For what has a person gained by getting the whole world, and then having his or her life broken or destroyed in the process? If anyone is embarrassed around me and my ideas, the son of man will be embarrassed to have him or her around at his 'coronation' by the Father and the dedicated attendants. For I'm telling you a fact: there are some standing right here who won't die before they see the God Movement" (Luke 9:23-25, Cotton Patch Version).

===========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

During my growing up years there was a sign I would pass hiking out to the river, going to a friends, on an old country road, with glowing letters:

"Choose Life, Your Mother Did!"

It reminded me of how my own mother chose life, getting pregnant, kicked out of her home as a result, divorced. She was bound and determined to give me a good home, and most importantly, a college education. And so she struggled, fought the rest of her life for me. First, she married my "adopted dad," who loved me as his own; secondly, she drove in my head I would be going to college, and later seminary as well.

For me, struggling with depression, kicked out of my denomination for being queer, living as a prostitute on the streets, fighting my way back into ministry, and the past 31 years of struggle in ministry, "Choose life!" learned and drilled into me when I was young, has been the theme of my life!

For I am still learning, minute by minute, a hardened truth from Jesus:

"Then he said, so everybody could hear, "If anybody really wants to share my own life, let him have no regard for his own welfare, and let him risk his life every day and walk the way with me. Whoever puts his own life first shall lose it. But whoever lays his life on the line for me shall come out on top. For what has a person gained by getting the whole world, and then having his or her life broken or destroyed in the process? If anyone is embarrassed around me and my ideas, the son of man will be embarrassed to have him or her around at his 'coronation' by the Father and the dedicated attendants. For I'm telling you a fact: there are some standing right here who won't die before they see the God Movement" (Luke 9:23-25, Cotton Patch Version).

Ash Wednesday, I was on the street, visiting, etc, wearing a red vest with a cross and "Clergy" written on the shoulder; I had ashes available if someone requested. As I was talking and to three guys and a young lady in a tent, the young lady asked me, "Will you place Ashes on my head?" Doing so, one gentleman lunged at me from the tent, screaming, and raised his fist, as I pushed him back. I asked him the problem, and he simply said, "Why bring this church sh..it out here? Once all was calm he went on to share how he would see people taking in "loads" of food through a window, and when he asked for some food, they told him harshly to move on; others have refused to let him into worship because he scared them and was dirty. I received a phone call, several years ago, one Sunday morning, and was asked if it was possible for me to come to a local worship service and sit with a homeless man who was sitting in the front pew of the church, people were afraid! I walked in during the first hymn, and sitting in the very front, a nineteen-year-old "Jamie", in ragged clothes, looking very unkempt! He enjoyed worship and especially the hospitality after the service. During the time of refreshments, people would walk over and talk, and said to me later, "He really is sweet, but he is dirty, can you clean him up so he can come back!"

People who are UN-housed scare people! They are living on the street, many using drugs, mentally ill, as do many people who are in our churches--accept they are not dirty and use drugs in their homes.

Yet, we are the Church, and John Chrysostom spoke these words of our responsibility as the Church:

"Do you wish to honor the body of the Savior?
Do not despise it when it is naked. Do not honor it in church with silk vestments, while outside you are leaving it numb with cold and naked. He who said, "This is my body," and made it so by his word, is the same that said, "You saw me hungry, and you gave me no food. As you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me. Honor him then by sharing your property with the poor, for what God needs is not golden chalices, but golden souls!"

Let us pray:

God of hope, from you come every blessing and all peace: Show us that, in the midst of our struggles, you are with us. Give us the abundance of your grace that we may do the work you give us to do and that we may be for the world a sign of your presence; through Christ, the Way and the Truth. Amen.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Immigrants Creed

Walk With Jesus!

Come Join Me at An Ash Wednesday Service, at 1618 Polk Street, No. 8, at 6:00 p.m.

"HOWEVER I CONSIDER MY LIFE WORTH NOTHING TO ME; MY ONLY AIM IS TO FINISH THE RACE AND COMPLETE THE TASK THE LORD JESUS HAS GIVEN ME--THE TASK OF TESTIFYING TO THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD'S GRACE" (ACTS 20:24)!

"Journal of An Alien Street Priest!"

I remember, observing my first Ash Wednesday as student clergy, when I was 19, the year of being assigned to my first parish, and have often been asked if there were any regrets over starting in ministry so young, and my response is in the words of Fr. David Michael Moses:

"What a gift to be called young, to forsake all you could be in the world, and to bet it all on Christ. To choose Jesus first, without tasting what the world offers, I would do it a hundred times over again!"

Ash Wednesday is not about affirmation. It is about identity. We are marked to remember who we are, who claims us, and the faith we practice. Remember we are dust! And to dust we shall return!

The meaning of Lent is deeper than any of the practices we follow. Jesus reminds us that prayer and fasting and alms-giving--praiseworthy in themselves--can easily be subverted into an exercise in public relations, "See how pious I am!-beating our drums to be noticed. Something else needs to be going on, something more profound than a big chest of virtual signaling. Is there a deeper significance to these practices which renders them valuable?

(Katherine Schmidt)

Jesus never seems to produce bread in the city; what would be the point? In cities people can go to restaurants or bakeries. (Ha!). No, Jesus provides food where no food is possible.

Haven't we all visited those deserts--those wild places where we feel lost, weak, liable to collapse trying to find our way home? Jesus orders the disciples and us to sit and wait for God, who will provide enough enough for leftovers. The alternative is to stuff our mouths with sand, so let's be patient. Let's be patient and look with our eyes and hearts all around us. We can see the hunger in our midst. God has better for us and will sustain us where no sustenance is possible, God in Christ will provide more sustenance than we can imagine when we provide sustenance to others.

The San Francisco Chronicle, and Examiner, have often referred to the Tenderloin as a"food desert" referring to the reality there are very few fresh foods and vegetables available to its residents.

I refer to the Tenderloin as a "food desert" as I walk among the people living on the street, who have no money for food, have very little food given to them and for many are unable to go to the soup kitchens. I often can not take out enough food to feed them, there is so much need.
I refer to the Tenderloin as a "food desert" when the people who live in SRO Hotels living on disability from $500.00 to $1200.00 a month, do not have enough money for their living expenses, of which food is the top expense. The majority never get a meal with green vegetables and enough for good nourishment.

I can not dine with friends at some of the fine restaurants, in midst of the "food desert" when we are surrounded by hundreds who have no food. It literally makes me sick to my stomach.

And so we come to what is known in New Orleans as "Fat Tuesday", February 17, this year, and join us in celebrating Mardi Gras:

"Mardi Gras celebrates the last day of Carnival before Lent, but its roots go all the way back to pagan spring festivals thousands of years ago. The day has similarities to the raucous Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia. Once Christianity came to Rome, religious leaders tried to blend pagan traditions with Christian traditions for a smoother transition. What resulted was a festival where people drank, feasted, danced, and partied before the abstinent and somber period of Lent began.

However, some experts disagree and say that this festivity actually began as a response to the Catholic Church banning sex and meat during Lent. They say this then led to people partying and indulging as much as they could before Lent started. In this narrative, experts believe that Church leaders encouraged the rumors of pagan roots in an effort to quell the festivities.

Some don’t realize that while Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday before Lent, the actual season begins in January. Three Kings’ Day, which falls on January 6, is not only the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but it is also marks the beginning of Carnival.

Where did Mardi Gras originate?
While the holiday could have pagan Roman roots, it didn’t become known as “Mardi Gras” until it reached France and then spread throughout Europe. In England, it became known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which is still popular today (you can imagine what they eat). European colonists later brought the huge celebrations to the Americas, where it became Carnival Tuesday in Caribbean nations."

We (Temenos) will host a Mardi Gras celebration at:
Victor's Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant
1411 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
6:00 p.m.-?
Come! Celebrate With Us!
Donate to our Goal of $1000.00
for Food for the Tenderloin, Polk Street and Haight Street During Lent!
A Mardi Gras Dessert will be provided free!

If anyone would like to have an early Ash Wednesday before you leave we gladly ash and pray with you.
Let us come together on "Fat Tuesday" remembering in the midst of chaos, and pain around us: Christ is King! Amen, and Amen! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
-------------------------
Ash Wednesday, 2026

"Walk With Jesus!
Come Join Me at An Ash Wednesday Service, at 1618 Polk Street, No. 8, at 6:00 p.m.

"HOWEVER I CONSIDER MY LIFE WORTH NOTHING TO ME; MY ONLY AIM IS TO FINISH THE RACE AND COMPLETE THE TASK THE LORD JESUS HAS GIVEN ME--THE TASK OF TESTIFYING TO THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD'S GRACE" ( ACTS 20:24)!
------------------------------------------
A Prayer

God of justice and mercy,
we bring you our grief and our anger,
our confusion and our exhaustion.
We see the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer,
and our hearts ache with the weight of it.
How long, O Lord?
Keep us from despair that numbs the soul.
Keep us from fear that silences truth.
Give us courage that does not harden into hatred
and hope that does not drift into denial.
Strengthen our resolve to resist violence without becoming violent, to speak truth without losing love, to stand with the weak without bowing to power.

Teach us to lament faithfully, to act courageously, and to trust that no injustice escapes your sight.

Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, keep us rooted in love.

Amen.
(Padraig O'Touma)
Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

The Immigrants Creed

"I believe in Almighty God who guided the people in exile and in exodus,

the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger.

When he returned to his own country he suffered under the oppression of Pontius Pilate the servant of a foreign power.

Jesus was persecuted, beaten, tortured, and unjustly condemned to death.

But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead

not as a scorned foreigner, but to offer us citizenship in God's kingdom.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God's kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries and reunites all races.

I believe that the Church is the secure home for foreigners and for all believers.

I believe that the communion of saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in forgiveness, which makes us equal before God, and in reconciliation which heals our brokenness.

I believe, in the Resurrection, God will unite us as one people, in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be a foreigner

but all will be citizens of the kingdom where God reigns forever and ever. Amen." (Jose Luis Casal)

Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Please Consider Giving End Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:

By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
On PayPal

"Everyone is born an original, but most end up dying as photo copies!"

Saint Carlo AcutisTemenos Mardi Gras!
Fundraiser!
Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Victor’s Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant
1411 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA!
Come! Join Us For Great Pizzeria, Fat Tuesday Deserts!
And Donate to Temenos Catholic Worker!
For more information Call Fr. River: 415-305-2124
Email: [email protected]
======
TWENTY- FIFTH ANNUAL
TENDERLOIN STATIONS
OF THE CROSS!
Temenos Catholic Worker

FOR MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS,
Undocumented Immigrants
AND THEIR ALLIES!

Noon-April 3, 2026

City Hall, on Polk Side

For Information Call or Email

Fr. River Damien Carlos Sims

415-305-2124—[email protected]

Scan the QR Code to Donate

Journey into the Desert!

""In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd because they have now been with me for three days. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way--and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?"

========================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!
The only miracle that appears in all four Gospels, outside of the resurrection, is the feedings of large crowds.

Mark has two separate events: In the first, Jesus feeds five thousand and the disciples collect twelve baskets of leftovers. In the second Jesus feeds four thousand and the disciples take up seven baskets afterward.

In every account of the feedings, the crowd is in the desert, other translations have it as "remote", "isolated", "wilderness".

Echoing through these readings here is the provision of manna by God in the desert to the wandering Israelite s during the Exodus.

Jesus never seems to produce bread in the city; what would be the point? In cities people can go to restaurants or bakeries. (Ha!). No, Jesus provides food where no food is possible.

Haven't we all visited those deserts--those wild places where we feel lost, weak, liable to collapse trying to find our way home? Jesus orders the disciples and us to sit and wait for God, who will provide enough enough for leftovers. The alternative is to stuff our mouths with sand, so let's be patient. Let's be patient and look with our eyes and hearts all around us. We can see the hunger in our midst. God has better for us and will sustain us where no sustenance is possible, God in Christ will provide more sustenance than we can imagine when we provide sustenance to others.

The San Francisco Chronicle, and Examiner, have often referred to the Tenderloin as a"food desert" referring to the reality there are very few fresh foods and vegetables available to its residents.

I refer to the Tenderloin as a "food desert" as I walk among the people living on the street, who have no money for food, have very little food given to them and for many are unable to go to the soup kitchens. I often can not take out enough food to feed them, there is so much need.
I refer to the Tenderloin as a "food desert" when the people who live in SRO Hotels living on disability from $500.00 to $1200.00 a month, do not have enough money for their living expenses, of which food is the top expense. The majority never get a meal with green vegetables and enough for good nourishment.
I can not dine with friends at some of the fine restaurants, in midst of the "food desert" when we are surrounded by hundreds who have no food. It literally makes me sick to my stomach.
And so we come to what is known in New Orleans as "Fat Tuesday", February 17, this year, and join us in celebrating Mardi Gras:
"Mardi Gras celebrates the last day of Carnival before Lent, but its roots go all the way back to pagan spring festivals thousands of years ago. The day has similarities to the raucous Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia. Once Christianity came to Rome, religious leaders tried to blend pagan traditions with Christian traditions for a smoother transition. What resulted was a festival where people drank, feasted, danced, and partied before the abstinent and somber period of Lent began.
However, some experts disagree and say that this festivity actually began as a response to the Catholic Church banning sex and meat during Lent. They say this then led to people partying and indulging as much as they could before Lent started. In this narrative, experts believe that Church leaders encouraged the rumors of pagan roots in an effort to quell the festivities.
Some don’t realize that while Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday before Lent, the actual season begins in January. Three Kings’ Day, which falls on January 6, is not only the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but it is also marks the beginning of Carnival.
Where did Mardi Gras originate?
While the holiday could have pagan Roman roots, it didn’t become known as “Mardi Gras” until it reached France and then spread throughout Europe. In England, it became known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which is still popular today (you can imagine what they eat). European colonists later brought the huge celebrations to the Americas, where it became Carnival Tuesday in Caribbean nations."
We (Temenos) will host a Mardi Gras celebration at:
Victor's Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant
1411 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
6:00 p.m.-?
Come! Celebrate With Us!
Donate to our Goal of $1000.00
for Food for the Tenderloin, Polk Street and Haight Street During Lent!
A Mardi Gras Dessert will be provided free!
If anyone would like to have an early Ash Wednesday before you leave we gladly ash and pray with you.
Let us come together on "Fat Tuesday" remembering in the midst of chaos, and pain around us: Christ is King! Amen, and Amen! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
-------------------------
Ash Wednesday, 2026

"Walk With Jesus!
Come Join Me at An Ash Wednesday Service, at 1618 Polk Street, No. 8, at 6:00 p.m.

"HOWEVER I CONSIDER MY LIFE WORTH NOTHING TO ME; MY ONLY AIM IS TO FINISH THE RACE AND COMPLETE THE TASK THE LORD JESUS HAS GIVEN ME--THE TASK OF TESTIFYING TO THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD'S GRACE" ( ACTS 20:24)!
------------------------------------------
A Prayer

God of justice and mercy,
we bring you our grief and our anger,
our confusion and our exhaustion.
We see the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer,
and our hearts ache with the weight of it.
How long, O Lord?
Keep us from despair that numbs the soul.
Keep us from fear that silences truth.
Give us courage that does not harden into hatred
and hope that does not drift into denial.
Strengthen our resolve to resist violence without becoming violent,
to speak truth without losing love,
to stand with the weak without bowing to power.
Teach us to lament faithfully,
to act courageously,
and to trust that no injustice escapes your sight.
Until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,
keep us rooted in love.
Amen.
(Padraig O'Touma)
Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

Peniel--"Where Jacob Wrestled With God!"

News Letter of Temenos Catholic Worker!

February, 2026

"Black History Month"

"Unless you make what is right left, and what is left right, what is above into what is below, and what is behind into what is in front, you will not learn how to know the Kingdom"(Acts of Peter)!

=====================

"Journal of an Alien Street Priest!"

Opening Prayer:

"Things are topsy-turvy in your Kingdom, God. The poor bear gifts of great worth, the dead rise, the meek inherit the earth. Teach us how to live in an upside-down world where we are called to welcome the outcast, see all people as one people to love, prepare a feast for the ragged, and forgive those who offend us. Amen (Shane Claiborne).

I was raised in the South, where the primarily teaching was Blacks (that was not the word used) were ignorant, and belonged out of sight if possible, they were seen lesser than human! Thanks to a pastor, my parents, a best friend who was black, my years on the street, my college and seminary education, did I not fall into that trap. Today I feel those feelings around me, even here in the Bay Area, for the reality is if we are not careful, living in our separate neighborhoods of economics and race, those feelings remain.

Our apocryphal writing today points out that until we see that no color or side is right, but only that of love. That is the primary reason I have never worked for a white or queer group in order to keep myself open, and continue to learn respect.

Throughout the nation, including California, school boards are removing African-American literature, limiting the discussion of race, gender, and sexuality. There is a constant push on not discussing sex, recognizing the sexual identity of students; bathrooms are being designated as boys and girls, omitting space for transgenders. Some schools have insisted on using the names transgender students had before they transitioned. Teachers being weary of breaking rules, have shied from discussions related to race, gender, and other politically sensitive topics, even as students say they desperately need to see their lived experiences reflected in the classroom. Pride flags and other symbols used to signal support for LGBTQ+ students have been removed. Counselors in schools are being forced to share conversations with the parents of their students, who want to talk about their sexual identity.

LGBTQ+ black adolescents find themselves in the minority when they are neither entirely accepted by main white LGBTQ communities nor are they fully accepted by the black community. Black churches are homophobic for the most part. Churches in general shy away from letting youth discuss queer or racial issues. The whitest day of the week is Sunday, and accept in few churches, "the straightest!

The Trevor Project states: "LGBTQ+ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk, not because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at a higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society." Most profoundly, they experience rejection or lack of support from their family members much more often than their heterosexual peers. The 2023 survey found less of than 40 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth say they live in a gender affirming home. One out of four suicides among youth is among LGBTQ+ youth.

Recently, I was in a discussion with some adults in a church on issues around youth, and almost to a one, they raised the queer issue, and told me how it makes them feel so uncomfortable, even disgusting, to talk about queer youth, and especially transgender and nonbinary youth. As much as I tried to talk about the fact that one's sexuality has nothing to do with our physical gender, and that mistakes are made in our creation leading to transgender and nonbinary individuals, each one started yelling about my sinfulness and the sinfulness and wrong of LGBTQ youth and of my wrong example! I have experienced this attitude in adult groups for years.

This month, we affirm Black history, this poster is affirming their God-given dignity.

Black LGBTQ+ Youth Deserve Joy!

Black Joy is Powerful!

Black Joy is Life Affirming!

This Black History Month

We center joy for Black LGBTQ+

Young People!

Not as detachment from struggle but as a right and a truth!

"Unless you make what is right left, and what is left right, what is above into what is below, and what is behind into what is in front, you will not learn how to know the Kingdom"(Acts of Peter)!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

===================================

Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

The Immigrants Creed

"I believe in Almighty God who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger.

When he returned to his own country he suffered under the oppression of Pontius Pilate the servant of a foreign power.

Jesus was persecuted, beaten, tortured, and unjustly condemned to death.

But on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead not as a scorned foreigner, but to offer us citizenship in God's kingdom.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God's kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries, and reunites all races.

I believe that the Church is the secure home for foreigners and for all believers.

I believe that the communion of saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in forgiveness, which makes us equal before God, and in reconciliation, which heals our brokenness.

I believe, in the Resurrection, God will unite us as one people, in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be a foreigner, but all will be citizens of the kingdom where God reigns forever and ever. Amen." (Jose Luis Casal)

Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director

Please consider giving an end-of-year tax-deductible gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:
By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
0n PayPal
Scan the QR Code to Donate

"Everyone is born an original, but most end up dying as photocopies!"

Saint Carlo Acutis

Temenos Mardi Gras!

Fundraiser!

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Victor’s Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant

1411 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA!

Come! Join Us For Great Pizzeria, Fat Tuesday Deserts!

And Donate to Temenos Catholic Worker!

For more information Call Fr. River: 415-305-2124

Email: [email protected]

======

TWENTY- FIFTH ANNUAL

TENDERLOIN STATIONS

OF THE CROSS!

Temenos Catholic Worker

FOR MIGRANTS, IMMIGRANTS,

Undocumented Immigrants

AND THEIR ALLIES!

Noon-April 3, 2026

City Hall, on Polk Side

For Information Call or Email

Fr. River Damien Carlos Sims sfw. D.Min., D.S.T.

415-305-2124--punkpriest1@gmail.com

(The service is prepared if you would like to volunteer to read. I will be glad to send you one, and remember we will not march as far!)

Suggested Book:

"African American Readings of Paul"-Lisa Bowers

"For Such A Time As This" Hanna Reichel --excellent book for getting through these tough times.

"The 1619 Project and the Forging of American Democracy by James Horn--excellent history from the black perspective!

Groaning for 13 Billion Years!

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groaning too deep for words" (Romans 8:26, NRSVue).

James Webb, a prominent Astronomer, views galaxies from 13 billion years ago, in his microscope, far beyond the our galaxy which is only 800 million years old, and the beginning of humanity, a mere baby of 300,000 years.

And creation is still "groaning". The Greek word for groaning--stenagmos-- means groaning, but also sighs. It is that deep sound that erupts when pain, longing, or holy desire passes beyond the limits of normal speech. Philip Clayton says, "If you don't get this groaning you don't get the Gospel.". .the Divine Spirit is big with child. The Spirit groaning for the becoming the world that is meant to be. Salvation is a birth metaphor. And it's a partnership between God and everything else. .Groaning is feeling together. Compassion. Suffering with. Empathy. It's a longing for a community of thriving, of justice for all."

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of depression--being threatened, accused of being on the wrong side, from all sides, and the pains of getting older, and wondering if maybe I should pack it in.

But then I remember, an elderly Black lady named Lucy, who when finding out of my being appointed to my first parish, hugged me, and said: "You are taking the plow--trust God-never, never look back, always look to God as your anchor!" And so I plow on! The words of Coretta Scott King come to mind: "If a man had nothing that was worth dying for, then he was not fit to live." So I have something to die for! I am fit to live!

For thirty-one years, as I have groaned, I come back to the Crucified Christ in the photo of the Christ above, as a reminder, that Christ groaned painfully unto death, and continues to groan, calling us to "Love one another!"

The photo of Cory, taken twenty five years ago, brings to mind his "groaning", coming to Polk Street, as a fifteen year old kid, cute, getting the attention of older men, and living with one after another, being given money, working as a bar tender, and then getting AIDS, during a time of no drugs. His body deteriorated, hooked on drugs, and finally he died alone! My heart groaned with him, and continues to groan for all the homeless, disenfranchised, and the minorities, who to are groaning for better lives, a place simply to live!
The "law of love", demands that we become people of the towel and the water, that like Christ we wash the feet of one another--be we Blue or Red, Black, Brown, or whatever color! We are to wash the feet of our neighbor.
This simply means we wash the feet of one another, of the stranger, the one we dislike, and afraid of, implementing the Gospel.
That and that alone is the true revolution that will change the face of the earth.
We determine how our creation will end up in its evolution, as we revolutionize the world the way Christ wanted it to be revolutionized--a world of where there are no Culture Wars, of always having a battle to fight, a side to take, and people to fear. Where we live in God's Reign, and there is always a stranger to welcome, a neighbor to befriend, and an enemy to love. ( edited Dan White Jr.).
We are only a speck in time, so let us revolutionize the world the way Christ wanted it to be revolutionized, pass the revolution on to others, as we fade away! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

Ministry on the Edge of Grace!

"Now when Jesus learned that John had been arrested, he set out for Southern California. Then he moved from Fresno to Porterville which is on the border of Tulare County, near Porterville. (This gives meaning to the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

"County of Tulare, and County of Kings across the various fruit and nut trees in the State of California, land of Mexicans, non-documented and documented;

The people who operate under the cover of night

Had their eyes opened and saw a great light;

The sun arose on the dwellers in the land of darkness and death.")

From then on Jesus began spreading his ideas. "Reshape your lives, for God's new order of the Spirit is confronting you!"(Cotton Patch Version)

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in the American River, setting off the California Gold Rush. Prior to the discovery of this precious metal, one hundred and fifty thousand Native Americans lived in California. White Americans in search of gold brought with them genocide through both disease and violence. In 1851, the government of California endorsed the extermination of Native people. Offering five dollars per head in some places, they invested a total of a million dollars in the systematic murder of men, women, and children. By 1870, only an estimated thirty-one thousand California Native Americans had survived.

Seattle, chief of the Suquamish, said, "One thing we know, which the White Man may one day discover--our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of humanity, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to him, and to harm the earth is to leap contempt on its Creator. Even the white man can not be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see."

With all that is going on in our country, the animosity, the hate, one quote comes to mind:
"Religion without humanity is mere performance; Spirituality without kindness is illusion; Faith without compassion is empty(Buddhist saying).

What I will work myself to death for, be injured, or murdered for is found in the words of Sr. Joan Chittister:

"Compassion is not sympathy. Compassion is mercy. It is commitment to take responsibility for the suffering of others."

We are called to "Reshape your lives, for God's new order of the Spirit is confronting you!"

I invite people to minister on the edge of grace.

Today is an anniversary that we pass by easily, but is an anniversary of an organization that has saved and changed millions of lives, Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson along with Dr. Bob Smith, and many others gave birth with their first meeting.

    AA genius is spiritual realism.
    It begins with surrender.
    It centers on humility.
    It requires confession.
    It demands repair.
    It insists on community.
    It trusts grace.

Step One echoes the Psalms.
Step Four mirrors traditional examinations of conscience.
Step Five is sacramental confession in street clothes.
Steps Eight and Nine embody Matthew 25:23-24.
Step Twelve is evangelization without coercion.

During the Pandemic, working in the hospital, holding the hands of people dying and fearing I might catch the virus, and than after I was beaten up, and could not walk, I used pot and alcohol supposedly for pain, but the reality was the PTSD I was suffering, and the pain from being beaten up. I saw no one basically outside street kids and people at the hospital during this time. It was a painful and lonely time.

As the Pandemic lifted Jay, one of the street kids, who was in AA invited me to a meeting with him in the Haight. I knew most of the people, mostly street kids, and in participating for six months or so I found that I was headed for trouble and began working the steps. I gained so much strength and Jesus became real to me again. I became a 'straight edge'.

The truth is we all have an addiction, power, food, fear, anger, and so on, we depend on them to survive and are destructive to our lives! We need to hear the words of St. Paul who often refereed to his 'thorn in the flesh', so let us examine ourselves each day and find the 'thorn' bring it out, talk about, and change actions that are hurtful to ourselves and others.

I close with a poem that teaches us during Winter Ordinary Time to slow our faith, and so does AA:
"No shortcuts.
No triumphalism.
No pretending,
Just today.
Today I will not drink.
Today I will not act violently to any one.

Today I will offer hands of peace to those different from me.
Today I will tell the truth.
Today I will make amends.
Today I will trust grace.
We need recovery.
We walk the path together, one honest day at a time!

"Reshape your lives, for God's new order of the Spirit is confronting you!
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Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

Heart, Hope, and Call!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call" Ephesians 1:17-18.

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

Three evocative words grab us here: faith, hope, and call. While we appreciate that hope is isn't always or predominantly an emotional response to difficult situations, it does demand a change of heart and perspective. It requires us submission to a deeper calling than the impulses that instantly take hold in a crisis: fear, anger, paralysis, or despair.

In a small medieval town in in Gubbio, people were terrified for fear of a wolf which was terrorizing the town. The wolf had been killing livestock, then pets, then people. The townspeople were terrified. They would send parties of men out to hunt for him--all the usual responses to threat. Nothing seemed to work, he kept killing.

They were desperate, and called in St. Francis. Francis did something nobody else expected, he walked out to meet the wolf. Alone. Unarmed.

"That's insane," they shouted. But here is what interests me about the story—what Francis saw that no one else could see. The hunting parties saw a monster, a threat to be eliminated. Francis saw something different.

What did he see? Hunger. The wolf wasn't evil. It wasn't starving. And fear made the townspeople incapable of seeing that. All they could see was threat. So they responded with force, which only made the wolf more desperate, more dangerous. A cycle of fear and violence that couldn't be broken because nobody could see what was actually driving it.

And so what did Francis do? He made a deal. He told the townspeople, "If you agree to feed this wolf, it will no longer kill." Thinking he was crazy they agreed. And it worked. The wolf lived peacefully in Gubbio for two more years. When he died, they buried him with honor.

Our fears are of the unknown, of different viewpoints, ways of living, races, and cultures.

Our hunger is for certainty, from our fear of losing our absolute beliefs and opinions, losing our money, and losing our land. So we arm ourselves with labels, like red and blue, black, white, and Mexican. . undocumented, documented, rich, poor. And then come words, weapons, and hate.

Rather, we should arm ourselves with the words of Jesus: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength, soul, and mind. And love thy neighbor as thyself!"

Recently I took two seminarians into the Tenderloin, and along one street alone there were people sleeping in tents, sleeping bags, and simply on the sidewalk. People were sitting around, obviously hungry, dirty, and looking scary to the naked eye. Like the ones on the Haight many years ago (in the photos). They certainly did not look like people on campus on the hills of the University of California, where they could walk a little ways and see the ocean.

I sent these two armed with only socks, some clothes, and food out on the streets as I sat in the van. My excuse is, "I am tired and hurting. I lie well."

One person was a woman, who commented she remembered me from the age of 14, giving her socks; now she is 40+, and the young priests to be were stunned. She shared some ways of staying safe. One was giving blow jobs to keep certain men happy.

One of them asked how I knew when they were telling the truth, and my question back was, "How do you know when your classmates are lying? The truth is, I have found my unhoused brothers and sisters more truthful than the housed."

As we closed the night, one commented how social justice and working with the homeless are at the bottom of the Church's priorities!

I remember my early days in the pastorate and seminary, never hearing a word about ministry at the lower rungs of the ladder; that was until being forced to the street.

Being on the street was God's calling to being a priest on the borders, the street. It was God's calling to be "outside the gate."

I close with a reminder for us to push our fears aside, like Francis, and walk with love into the lives of those we see as different, to see our differences evaporate as we find our lives simply a "rainbow of colors!" Let us find each other's "hunger" and feed one another! Let us submit to the deeper callings of understanding, hope, love, and heart, rather than our fears and love for all human beings! It is not easy! Never easy! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Patron Saints: Damien of Molokai, Carlo Acutis, St. Francis, Dorothy Day

How Long, O Lord!

First Sunday in Ordinary Time!
January 11, 2026

John 1:20-42
John 1:20-42 NRSVUE

20 He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”[h] 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah,[i] nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”[j]

The First Disciples of Jesus

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed[k]). 42 He brought Simon[l] to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”[m] (which is translated Peter[n]).

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From the first day I began ministry on Polk Street, I have asked God, "How long must we wait?" (Psalm 40:1), Things seem to be getting worse--war, more homeless people, lack of caring for the disenfranchised, and and more vividly our undocumented and documented Mexican brothers and sisters!

But as the struggle for justice continues I am reminded of those who fought the good fight far longer than I have and who have faced hard ships I have never known.

I think of civil rights leader John Lewis who wrote in Across that Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of American:

"Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation mus do our part.....,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Lewis continues, "Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once. In the movement, we didn't know how history would play itself out. When we were getting arrested and waiting in jail or standing in unmovable lines on the courthouse steps we didn't know what would happen, but we knew it had to happen."

The noted theologian and civil rights leader Howard Thurman famously noted that Christmas and Epiphany becomes real"

"when the song of the angels is stilled, and the shepherds and the magi have gone home, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others!"

As Thurman understood, all of those things--including healing the broken hearted, releasing the prisoners, and rebuilding the nations--are prerequisites to "bring peace among the nations."

Through the years and especially now, I have remembered the words of Martin Buber:

"A rabbi was asked by one of his students "Why did God create atheists? After a long pause, the rabbi finally responded. .God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all--the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone

who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching, He does not believe that God commanded him to perform his act.

In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his actions are based on his sense of morality. Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he simply feels it right. When someone reaches out to you for help you should never say 'I'll pray that God will help you'. Instead, for that moment, you should become atheist--imagine there is no God would help , and say 'I will help you",

To many of us believers two kinds of reality confront us: the seeming darkness, and despair of an increasingly violent world and the belief that darkness must and will give way to light"

Let us claim God's justice and peace as our natural habitat remembering they are inextricably entwined.

Let us be "Atheists" in caring for the hungry, the sick, the disenfranchised, and the lonely. . .let us care for all people with the love of God that passes all understanding, knowing that God is smiling, loving us as we care, without judgment for each person, and is our hope! Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!

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LGBT Q+ Monument (Palm Springs, California)

"Miles To Go Before I Sleep"

(Lost Boys of Polk--1994-2012?)

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4Then the LORD called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ 5and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. 6The LORD called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ 7Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ 11Then the LORD said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. 12On that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13For I have told him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.’

15Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ 17Eli said, ‘What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.’ 18So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him.’

19As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD. 21The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

=====================================

Robert Frost writes in his poem,

"Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening:
"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
"But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

---------------------------------

As I continue in my thirty-first year the Frost poem continues as my guide, and I do not allow age to impose limits. Half the time, I forget how old I am! Just keep embracing life, and know that the best is yet to come! My health changes, the City changes! Always stay liquid!

Learning ever so slowly, peace comes when you realize that everything that's out of your control, should be out of your mind too. Don't cry over the past, it's gone. Don't stress about the future, it hasn't arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful. Happiness is found in three things: Letting go of what's gone, enjoying what is, and having faith in what will be.

Like Samuel God's call came to me ever so quietly at a young age, and always through the tumult of life--the good, the bad, and the ugly, remains the guiding Light.

In the words of Saint Oscar Romero edited:

"Our mission now is to carry God to all parts of the world and to be his epiphany and his revelation! (A revelation of the inclusive God, who has many faces, and loves every human being, and creature)!'

As I look at the photo of "Lost Boys", I remember each one, their smiles, jokes, and most of all the pain of their journeys.

As the years past, one by one, my life encountered them, and each one with their unique story, and struggle with drugs, and their sexual identity. With each one I walked as a Story Catcher, holding their stories, their pain, as they struggled and they have moved on. One died of AIDS! There are no black and white answers!

People who ask me about telling them of one person who has been "successful" I laugh to myself, for "success" in their eyes never happens, success of a high paying job, nice house etc.! And many walk away when I can not give an example, our work continues in the words of Elizabeth Gilbert: "You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!"

Through these years on the street, both as "street kid", "hustler" for four years and now thirty-one years as a priest one of the greatest learnings is found in the words of St. Oscar Romero:

"Violence is a retreat from civilization; it is an expression of the primitive instinct of those who are unable or unwilling to follow the paths of reasonable dialogue" (St. Oscar Romero).

And through, the giving of ourselves, with out expectation to others converted to a life of compassion:

"Compassion born in solitude makes us very much aware of our historicity. We are not called to generalities but to the concrete facts with which we are confronted day after day. A compassionate person can no longer look at these manifestations of evil and death as disturbing interruptions of their life plan but rather has to confront as an opportunity for their conversion. Every time in history that men and women have been able to respond to the events of their world as an occasion to change their hearts, an in exhaustible source of generosity and new life has been opened, offering hope far beyond the limits of human prediction"(Fr. Henri Nouwen)!

Let us open our hearts to one another! Let us be compassionate with one another!

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

---------------------------------------------

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director
Please Consider Giving A Year End Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:

By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org
0n PayPal
"Everyone is born an original, but most end up dying as photo copies!"

Saint Carlo Acutis

"I write because writing is the way I protest.
Ministry on the streets is the way I resist. doing what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment--All Are Welcome!" "River's Creed”

"May your spirit be strong, especially during these trying times.

May you be safe and protected.
May you be filled with deep healing.
And may you be held by love, this day and everyday! (unknown)

Scan the QR Code to Donate

Baptize the Flowers

January 11, 2026
First Sunday In Epiphany Baptism of Our Lord!

In Honor and Memory of Roy Guptill, Friend, Supporter, and Child of God!

Baptize the Flowers

Matthew 3:13-17:

"Then Jesus arrived at the American River, at the beach, near Old Sacramento from San Francisco, to be dipped by John. But John tried to put him off." Look he said, "I ought to be dipped by you, yet you are coming to me." Jesus replied, "Please let me be baptized right now, for it is proper for us to give meaning to the way to all that's right." Then John consented. Now when Jesus was immersed and just as he came up from the water, the sky was split and he saw God's Spirit settling upon him like a dove alighting. And you know, a voice spoke from the sky, "This is my beloved Son, I'm so proud of him" (Cotton Patch Gospels, edited).

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Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

One afternoon we were coming to a little pond of water in Golden Gate Park, near the entrance; dirty, full of insects, grime, and someone had dropped a hugh bunch of fresh cut, rainbow colored flowers into its water. In my thoughts those flowers were preparing the water for the Baptism of "Arrow" that afternoon.

Seeing those flowers took me back to walking with my mother, in my grandmothers yard, full of beautiful flowers of all sorts. She would remind me not to pick the flowers, because "the flowers would die."

Though the flowers were floating currently in the water I was reminded that baptism is a sort of death. What an odd thing we "bury" people in its waters as cause for celebration. If our culture honored death more honestly, it might not seem so strange. Death has always been part of life. The life/death/life cycle depends on dying. The spiritual journey often contains many small deaths, I have lost count of mine, and on this day we initiated 'Arrow' into the mystery, I did not speak of death that disregards life, but death that honors it, the kind that honors it, the kind that lowers something into water with tenderness, trusting it will rise again--not violence but faith in the spring after winter.

Today I have learned of the death of my friend of twenty-five years, Roy Guptill, Portland, Oregon. We met through his son, Louie, a tender, loving gentleman, Roy through a blood transfusion had developed AIDS at a time when the diagnosis was a sentence of death, yet Roy believed that God had spared him, in granting him life, living until December 28, 2025, sixty nine years old. His life was one of raising, frankly, I really can not remember, how many adopted children. In doing so he was passing on the gift of his life to others, in service to God.

Roy and his wife Patti, long after Louie flew the nest, have been two of my best friends, giving a monthly donation to Temenos, supporting me through emotional and physical pain, never, never judging. I cry now, but see his smiling face with the Jesus he loves. Roy had been Jesus to so many!

"A bruised reed he will not break," says Isaiah (42:3) of the servant of justice, and I remember my mom saying, "Don't pick it!" Even if you don't break the reed--no blade of grass, petal of a flower, or shred of humanity is treated as dispensable in the generations-long work of making things right. We are each precious in the eyes of God.

In baptizing "Arrow" I was trusting him and now Roy, in their, brief lives, to the One guarding these reeds from every winter frost,knowing new life will spring forth! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-----------------------------------------

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director
Please Consider Giving A Year End Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:

By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org

0n PayPal
"Everyone is born an original, but most end up dying as photo copies!"

Saint Carlo Acutis

"I write because writing is the way I protest.

Ministry on the streets is the way I resist. doing what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment--All Are Welcome!" "River's Creed”

"May your spirit be strong, especially during these trying times. May you be safe and protected.
May you be filled with deep healing. And may you be held by love, this day and everyday! (unknown)

Scan the QR Code to Donate

From the Darkness Into the Light!

Epiphany, January 6, 2026

When Jesus was born in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, CA., during the time that Herod was governor, some Kings came from the Orient and inquired, "Where is the one who was born to be Governor of California? We saw his star in the Orient, and we came to honor him?" Then Herod called the Kings privately and questioned them. He sent them off to the Tenderloin of San Francisco with these instructions, "Go and find out the facts about the child. Then tell me what you learned, so that I too may come an honor him". And you know the star which they saw in the Orient went ahead of them until it came to the place where the child was. Just looking at the stars flooded them with great happiness. So they went inside and honored him and opened the presents they had brought to him gifts of jewelry, incense, and perfume. And having gotten the word in a dream not to revisit Herod, they went back to their own country by another route" (Matthew 2:1-12, Cotton Patch Version, names edited).
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Epiphany means "to make manifest". By the fourth century, Epiphany was a major annual celebration within the church. It is the season when we see Jesus' divine mission revealed when the magi visit him, and then we remember his baptism, miracles, ministry, and his call for us to follow.

One Epiphany Fifth century monk and bishop Paulinus, wrote describing the Epiphany call: "We have no right to our possessions, they have been entrusted to us for the good of all," signaling our mission is to caring for all human beings.

Today (Sunday) I ran into forty five year old Jay, a homeless gentleman known for the last twenty years. I woke him to give some socks, food, a raincoat, he smiled, and went back to sleep.

Another gentleman, who stop, carrying his church bulletin, and commented, "River, you really do not do much for the homeless, you never get them off the street. That is why our church stopped giving you money years ago." A simple reply was given, "My friend, I have learned in the words of Elisabeth Gilbert, "You can measure your worth by your dedication to you path, not by your successes or failures."

I simply walked away sad, and visited with twenty more people on the street.

I always shock people when a young or older adult, shares with me they had stolen clothes, or someone tells me all he/she had to eat was food they had stolen from Safeway and I jokingly say: " Oh you creatively required" I am thankful.

I did the same thing over thirty years ago when I was on the streets, starving, and needing clothes and no money. I am reminded of Basil of Caesarea's comment:

"When someone steals a persons clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to the one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to those who need it; the shoes rotting in your closet to the one who has no shoes. The money which you hoard up belongs to the poor."

The streets, late at night, is another world, dark, sometimes scary, but always do I find light. The broken, the homeless, many addicted, sick, and always struggling just to exist bring light into my life, for in the words of Ronald Sider, "True happiness flows from generosity," for in caring, being present, giving everything I have, there is much happiness.

My invitation to everyone find true happiness in your generosity and care! Deo Gratias? Thanks be to God!

Temenos Catholic Worker
Fr. C. River Damien Carlos Sims, Director
Please Consider Giving A Year End Tax Deductible Gift to Temenos Catholic Worker:

By Mail:
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org
0n PayPal
"Everyone is born an original, but most end up dying as photo copies!"

Saint Carlo Acutis
Scan the QR Code to Donate

"Black Eye Peas and the Holy Mother of God!"

Luke 2:16-21: "So they went just as fast as they could, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in an apple box. Seeing this, they related the story of what had been told them about this little fellow. The people were simply amazed as they listened to what the farmers had told them. And Mary clung to all these words, turning them over and over in her memories. The farmers went back home, giving God the credit and singing his praises for all they had seen and heard, exactly as it had been described to them. And when the day came for him to be christened, they named him Jesus, as he was called by the angel before he was conceived"(Luke 2:16-21 Cotton Patch Gospel).

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Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

An old Southern custom, going back for centuries is eating Black Eye Peas, as I have done today, from the day I began to eat real food. It is a custom rooted in African culernary practices, going back for three centuries. This custom is wide spread in the South according to legendary Soutern food journalist and writer John Eagerton.

Black Eyed Peas are associated with a mystical, and mystic power to bring "good luck" for the New Year. They have been a staple in the Southern diet for three centuries, and were the only food item not limited for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

On first day of the New Year, as we celebrate the "The Solemity of Mary, Holy Mother of God, the eating of Black Eye Peas, has allowed me, this old, former Methodist minister, to see, to understand and experience Mary, Holy Mother of God.

Mary, trusted in the Word of God, as she became pregnant as an unmarried woman, moved through his birth, and death, and resurrection, where she became God's Mother.

Mary became real to me, in the Los Angles Cathreral on a cold night, when "Our Lady of Guadlupe", came to me, and brought me back to Jesus. She has been truly there in my struggles with the cruel, masculine, God used to attack and hurt me, and the thousands I have worked with through the years. Through her the arms of Jesus came to surround and nurture me.

Through my experience I have found Our Lady does not stand above us as an unreachable icon. She stands with us, trusting God can work with us.

On this day the Soleminty of Mary the Mother of God we are invited to release our fears, our anger, our judgments, our hatreds, and resentments to embrace the love of faith Jesus brings us to be a family of God, a family that treats each other as we do ourselves.

Mary shows us what it means to cooperate with God without fully understanding the out come.

We are asked to say "yes" with honesty, courage, and hope, trusting that God meets us in the becoming and in the becoming we follow Christ looking at others as our brothers and sisters: undocumented, all races, the rich, poor." Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Fr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA. 94109
www.temenos.org
0n PayPal
Phone is:415-305-2124

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")

(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive.

I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now. I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate—“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).
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We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well! (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!

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WE ARE BEGGARS! WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home! Live within me as if I were your dwelling!" - Saint Carlo Acutis
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Be Aware that For Now We Are Accepting Donations through PayPal And by Check: The Flip Cause App is no Longer valid.

Flip Cause is under investigation by the 'State and Donations Can not be Received. We are in the process of getting another app for donations. Please Give Us Time!

"Seeking the Common Good!"

"In My Fathers/Mothers house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?"(John 14:2).

Fourth century John Chrysostom said: "This is the rule of most perfect Christianity, its more exact definition, its highest point, namely, THE SEEKING OF THE COMMON GOOD. For nothing can so make a person an imitation of Christ AS CARING FOR HIS NEIGHBOR."

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Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

    In the last months there have been people I know as good, kind, and loving people, yet if the name of President Trump comes up, their faces become distorted, and from their mouths come these words, "I wish someone would kill Trump; I wish Trump would have a fatal heart attack!" I become nervous, and uncomfortable, to hear violence wished on another human being, for killing another simply leads to more violence. Violence is against everything that Jesus stands for.

    Hearing words of violence remind me of an old grave stone once seen in an Arizona cemetery, with this sentence summing up the man's life, "This man killed 99 Indians and he still has gone to rest in the loving arms of Jesus!" Not "white" people but "Indians". Today we could add: "Illegal Aliens", Blacks, Queers, homeless and so on!"

    Edward Stanton, President Lincoln's Secretary of War once stomped into the Oval Office angry after Lincoln's speech, where he said: "With malice toward none. . .", referring to the South, saying, "How can you say something like that, they are our enemies, and should be treated as such!" and Lincoln replied with a smile, "If we see them as our friends, and treat them so, how can they be our enemies?" The way we see others and treat them, is the way we to shall be treated.

    The Cotton Patch Version of the New

Testament, Romans 14: 8ff: "For not a one of us lives all to himself/herself.. For if we live, we live in the Lord's presence, and if we die, we die in the Lord's presence. This is why Christ died and lived, that he might be Lord of both dead people and live ones. So you now, why do your pass judgement on your brother or sister? And you over there, why are you so snooty towards your brother or sister? For we shall stand up before God's bar, just as Scripture says:

"As sure as I live," says the Lord, "every soul will go down on his knees before me, and every person's tongue will admit that I am God.

So then, each of us will account for ourselves before God. Then let's quit rating each other. Rather you test yourselves on this: "I do not put obstacles or a trap in front of my brother or sister!"

    We are all different! We are like a rainbow with its many colors! Jesus calls us to "Love one another! And that is not easy!

Several months ago I was sitting in a restaurant down the street, and a gentleman, an Ice Agent and his family came in to eat, he looked at me, and started to walk out and I simply laughed and said: "In the Bhagavad-gita  there are two knights fighting, the sun goes down, and they sit down eat and fellowship together, let's put our swords down and have lunch together. It was a delightful meal, as I heard his story. Simply a man trying to earn a living. I shared with someone my meal guests, and they know longer speak to me..; I have been beaten, spit upon, threatened, and hated this past year for simply saying "I work for the reign of God, feeding, and caring for people."

    Jesus never lifted a hand, or uttered a word of hatred, against his enemies, instead he died for them. He rose again, and continues to love, care, and cry for them. Jesus calls us to non-violence.

    Fourth century John Chrysostom said: "This is the rule of most perfect Christianity, its more exact definition, its highest point, namely, THE SEEKING OF THE COMMON GOOD. For nothing can so make a person an imitation of Christ AS CARING FOR HIS NEIGHBOR."

    Watch Night was established in the African-American communities on December 31, 1862. Watch Night was originally a gathering to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation becoming law. When the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1862 becoming January 1, 1863, all slaves in the Confederate States were proclaimed free. Since that date, 163 years ago, Black Americans have celebrated their freedom in local churches on New Years Eve.

    On Watch Night, 2026, let us proclaim freedom for all captives in Jesus name, knowing that for millions, freedom is not a reality. Our celebration is a commitment to join modern slaves and undocumented people in their struggle for justice.

    Tonight I will pray as I have since being twelve years old, the John Wesley Covenant Prayer, and the only resolution I am making, and asking God to help me grow in is: "Seeking the Common God, and to follow the Imitation of Christ as Caring for His Neighbor!
Let us pray:

    "I am not my own self-made, self-reliant human being.
In truth, O God, I am Yours.
Make me into what You will.
Make me a neighbor with those whom You will.
Guide me on the easy path for You.
Guide me on the rocky road for You.
Whether I am to step up for You or step aside for You.
Whether I am to be lifted up high for You or brought low for You.
Whether I become full or empty. with all things or with nothing.
I give all that I have and all that I am for You.
So be it.
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. Amen.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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The Immigrants Creed

I believe in Almighty God who guided the people in exile and in exodus,

the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger.

When he returned to his own country he suffered under the oppression of Pontius Pilate the servant of a foreign power.
Jesus was persecuted, beaten, tortured, and unjustly condemned to death.

But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead
not as a scorned foreigner, but to offer us citizenship in God's kingdom.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God's kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries and reunites all races.

I believe that the Church is the secure home for foreigners and for all believers.

I believe that the communion of saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in forgiveness, which makes us equal before God, and in reconciliation which heals our brokenness.

I believe, in the Resurrection, God will unite us as one people, in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be a foreigner
but all will be citizens of the kingdom where God reigns forever and ever. Amen. (Jose Luis Casal)

Second Sunday in Advent-December 7, 2025

Quietness!

"One day John the Baptizer showed up and started preaching in the rural areas of Georgia (California). "Reshape our lives," he said "because God's new order of the Spirit is confronting you.. .This guy John was dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket, and he was living on corn bread and collard greens. Folks were coming to him from Atlanta and all over norther Georgia and the backwater of the Chattahoochee. And they owned up to their crooked ways, he dipped them in the Chattahoochee.

When John noticed a lot of Protestants and Catholics showing up for his dipping, he said to them, "You sons of snakes, who put the heat on you to run from the fury about to break over your heads? You must show some proof that you've had a change of heart. And don't think you can feed yourselves that 'we-good-white people stuff, because I am telling you that if God wants to he can make white folks out of this pile of rocks. Already the chain saw his set at the trunk of the trees, and every tree that doesn't perform some worthwhile function is sawed down and burned up.

I am indeed dipping you in water into a changed life; the one who follows me is much stronger than I'm I that I'm unworthy to shine his shoes. He will dip you in Holy Spirit and fire. His combine is already running and he'll give the field a thorough going-over. He'll store the grain in his bin and burn off the stubble" (Matthew 3:1-12-The Cotton Patch Version).

Journal of an Alien Street Priest!

Quietness brings me back to the old hymn "Blessed Quietness, Holy Quietness." I sang it as a kid without really knowing what I was singing. Now I view quietness as a rare and holy gift. The world can be so busy and loud, yet every so often a soft stillness shows up and makes room for God. In those pauses, peace slips into the noise and the Spirit reminds me that Christ is near. Quietness is not just empty space. It is full of presence, hope, and rest for outworn hearts and weary spirits. This Advent I invite you to welcome those sacred pauses and listen again for the voice that meets us in silence so we can notice the love that has been there all along.

WORLD AIDS DAY, 2025, December 1, was an opportunity for every community and individual to honor the more than 32 million people who have died worldwide from AIDS-related illness. December 1 and the following are days for voices to unite by sharing experiences, remembering those lost, and standing together in the fight against HIV.

AIDS has always been difficult for people to talk about for two reasons: one, it is related to sexual transmission, and two, it is known primarily as a "gay disease." I remember living in the Midwest, serving in United Methodist Churches, and not hearing a word about this disease; I remember a "queer pastor" of a local church telling me they never discussed AIDS in his church because not one person had it, and his membership had a lot of gay men in fear and many with the disease.

And my education began when I found myself on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, making money being a "whore." All around me people were afraid and yet, for many, there was no understanding of the need for protection; others who found no fun in protection and others not caring continued to have sex without protection, especially with us "hustlers," and through nearly four years, seeing friends one after another getting sick, and the majority dying of AIDS, I began to be safe, and as luck would have it, I did not contract the disease. For many years I carried a guilt of being spared, finally seeing it as a gift to be used for the healing of others, living in the presence, and moving ahead with joy in serving others.

Today, throughout our country, from our leaders on down to the common people, World AIDS Day is being ignored and swept under the rug, ignoring the 32 million who have died worldwide and the millions who struggle with the disease today. People of color and those without insurance, and the poor, suffer because they cannot afford the life-giving drugs we have today; homophobia continues to rise with a new face. We all want to look at the world with rose-colored glasses, turning our faces away from the reality of the disease.

I remember the thousands now I know who have died and who suffer from the disease. There is Tonto, Jimmy, Mimi, and so many others I have walked with on their journey to death, holding hands, washing bodies, clothing them, and finally burying many. Their faces are in physical and emotional pain from being rejected by their families; they never leave me. I hear the voices of fear today from many more of not having the needed drugs.

The monsters of homophobia, AIDS phobia, and transgender phobia are real, raising their ugly heads before us. Politicians of all stripes continue to fail us; our queer allies fail us, largely because they do not want to face the truth and struggle against the lies that surround us.

San Francisco was once full of bill boards promoting safe sex in the fight against AIDS; now we see bill boards of the various treatments, for that is where the money is, and yet AIDS continues to be prevalent. Those who can afford the treatments live long, healthy lives, but those who cannot suffer.

The truth is our media outlets ignore the continued threat of the disease, largely because they cater to the middle class and upper-middle-class straight and rich gays of our society; they always portray homelessness as a scourge on society.

My prayer is that we move beyond our tribes where we feel safe and look at our society and our neediest. We all suffer, and in our pain and suffering, we can feel the suffering of the "least of these" and move out and walk with our brothers and sisters.

Jean Donovan, a lay missionary and a martyr in 1980, was asked by her family to come on from El Salvador, and her response was

"Several times I have decided to leave—I almost could except for the children, the poor, the bruised victims of adult lunacy. Who could care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine!"

She speaks for me, my friends; through the years, there have been people who have come to join me, some even have come to take my place, and each one leaves afraid—all I see are broken human beings, my brothers and sisters! Come walk with me! Let your fears and biases go, and you will be blessed! Take hold of the quietness, and enter into their presence, leaving behind the voices of rage, hate, and anger! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

Locating Our Lives in the Abundant Places of the Empire!

"But the messenger said, "There's no need to be afraid, Zack Harris, since your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, whom you'll call John. He will be your pride and joy, and his birth will bring gladness to many people. He'll be a great man of God. No wine or whiskey will touch his lips, but he'll be full of the holy 'spirit' while his mother is still carrying him. He'll turn a lot of church people toward their God. God himself will go in front of him with the spirit and power of Elijah. His job will be to turn the hearts of father's and mothers toward their children and to bring the stubborn around to the thinking of the devoted; in short to get a dedicated band ready for the Lord (Luke 1:12-17, Cotton Patch Version of New Testament).

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Everything in our society teaches us to move away from suffering, to move out of neighborhoods where there is high crime, to move into our own little "tribes" where our neighbors are the same as we are. Our televisions are full of advertisements for beautiful items, primarily for young people or to "make us look young,"crimes on T.V. are pretty much people of color, homeless and young people are portrayed in negative views. We view a rose-colored world!

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These last few months I have not watched my diet, and have been telling myself, "I do not have long left, so why worry?" "Once I die, no one will remember me, and I have accomplished anything?"

I look around me and I see hatred, anger. I open email, and listen to messages, read texts, and threats and hatred spew out. PTSD is always lurking, as I struggle with depression, and night- mares, waking up with cold sweats.

Everyday I see people bleeding, struggling with staying warm in our doorways, and parks. And I listen--to their fears, struggles, loneliness--am their counselor, pastor, and most importantly friend.

I question God as I pray the Daily Office, even in my doubts, fears, and loneliness. And yet wherever we all are Jesus teaches us that good happens.

In the monastic tradition of St. Benedict, the idea that each day, each hour, each moment, the opportunity to "begin again" through the grace and presence of Jesus is central. It is a way of being in the world that allows one to always be learning, growing, and changing. It allows safety for apologies and forgiveness without shame. It allows for fresh starts fueled by beloveds. In this way, as we start Advent again, we are also experiencing a taste of Christ's coming again.

I find hope in the scriptures, where our hope lay-in the eternal God, in Christ our instructor, in God's call to be a covenant family and to seek God's reign, buy not centering our lives on stereotypes, seeing people as one big rainbow of colors, and to fight for justice by caring for others.

Second I re frame the question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen. and ask, "Where is God in the midst of this disaster?" Every time I hear of first responders risking their lives in the midst of disasters, fighting fires, taking people to the hospital I see God's work. Each day as I give food, hold people in their suffering, and simply listen, that is God's work. For all who feed people, love them, that is God's work.

Third, I express gratitude for the good things around me. I express gratitude to every person, seeing each one as my brother and sister. l look at myself and remind myself when I think or negative of others, that as I point the one finger four others are staring back at me.

Fourth I look for signs of hope in the world around me and in the lives of those who have gone before: St. Damien, St. Carlo, Blessed Dorothy Day, and in the Great Cloud of Witnesses of the many I have loved, and served.

I remember all of the undocumented immigrants and homeless who in their fears and suffering, are surrounded by people who love them, care for them, fight for them, with Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I remember with a filled heart of love walking with my buddy "Blue Blood" (photo above) on his journey of suffering and dying from AID's. He is now, a saint, cheering me on in the Great Cloud of Witnesses

One of the best stories of community in the United States comes from the backwoods of Georgia. In the 1940's, long before the civil rights movement had begun to question the racial divisions of the South, white brothers and sisters, and black brothers and sisters, came together with the lead of Reverend Clarence Jordan, to start Koinonia Farm-a "demonstration plot" for the Kingdom God as they called it. Koinonia survived attacks from the Ku Klux Klan in the 50's and 60's, tilling and sewing the land, seeking God's movement in the least likely of places.

The reign of God grows "Little by Little", never through violence, always with the works of love.

And so in the words of Saint Charles de Foucauld I pray: Father, I abandon myself into your hands, do with me what you will. For whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all. I accept all, let only your will be done in me, as in all your creatures.

Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!

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We are asking to provide extra this year for Holiday Food mittens, beanies, and extra treats for our brothers and sisters who live on the street!

Please Give Only Through PayPal or by Check--Our Flip Cause App has now is no longer working. We are working on another, and if someone would like to volunteer to help us set up, we would great appreciate that as a Christmas Gift!

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Fr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA. 94109

www.temenos.org

0n Paypal

Phone is:415-305-2124

(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")

(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive.

I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now.

I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate—

“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

_______

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

My Friend Shay!

"The End Is the Beginning!"

November 30, 2025: First Sunday in Advent!

"Nobody--not even the angels in heaven or the Son, only the Father. .knows about the final day and hour. The coup of the son of man will be similar to Noah's situation. During the days before the flood, it was 'business as usual' for everybody right up till the day of Noah went into the ark. They were unconvinced until the flood came and swept everything away. The son of man's coup will be like that. When it happens, two brothers will be in the field; one will be caught up and one will be left plowing. Two sisters will be fixing dinner; one will be caught up and one will be left cooking. So stay on your toes, because you can never tell what day your master will come.. By the same token, you too be on the alert, because the son of man might arrive at a time when you're not expecting it"(Matthew 24: 35-44 (Cotton Patch Gospel).(coup is an area where chickens are penned up for you non-southerners and country people)

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"Jesus is God's Wounded Healer, through his wounds we are healed" Fr. Henri Nouwen).

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!:

We live in apocalyptic times! Only God knows if that means the end of the world or just the end of the world as we know it, both seem easily possible at this point. Luckily the Scriptures for this week were all written in apocalyptic times as well, when the end times appeared to be emerging, and the old order was rapidly falling a part. Rome was in its decline, chaos reigned.

Jesus and John the Baptist often preached about the end arriving without warning, and about the need for each of us to examine our lives. How are we living? What are we living for? Are our values the values of love of the Kingdom of God?

Living in apocalyptic times requires a grit and honesty that appears to have deeply laid dormant for decades. As we look at the chaos around and within us, we need to look far deeper within at our own woundedness, embrace it, and live our woundedness with others. We are all wounded, every last one of us!

Shay, (above) was a 21 year old I met as I walked the River Walk in Sacramento, he was trying to climb down a hill to his tent with a wound from surgery, and I reached out and helped him. I brought him some food, and clean clothes, and we were instant friends, whom I hung out with for several years as I went to Sacramento every month for a break.

Shay shared with me losing his parents at 12, being moved from one foster home to another, given various medications, and finally running away at 15. I last saw him when he was 24, after the police had cleaned the river banks of homeless people, and he was gone.

His tent, his treasures were scattered in the wind, waiting to be picked up by garbage trucks. There is no more mournful sight than that of seeing the belongings of homeless people simply scattered, as if they were simply trash as their owners to were considered.

Walking with Shay, as with everyone, I allowed him to enter my life, and I his, where two wounded persons come together, "As a follower of Jesus we also allow our wounds to bring healing to others"(Fr. Henri Nouwen). Like Nouwen tells us, When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become sources of healing, we have become wounded healers."

When I speak to others of working with homeless and the broken, there comes excuses of fear, not having training etc, and my answer is always it is not my training that has given me skills, it is entering into my own wounds, and seeing these wounds as the healing presence of God. When that happens, each person is simply a fellow brother and sister.

Political turmoil is always around us, as we think of ourselves, let us turn our eyes towards Gaza and other countries, to the poorest of the poor and homeless in our midst. One in every 10 people go hungry in the Bay area, about 870,000 people are food insecure and 11.5 percent of the Bay Area is food insecure, in this one of the wealthiest areas in the country.

When we point to one political persuasion or another I am reminded in Nouwen's words, that "Jesus was a Revolutionary, who did not become an extremest. Since he did not offer a political ideology but Himself," For when we live in God's Kingdom there is always a stranger to welcome, a child to love, a person to heal, someone to be fed, and there are no enemies but only our brothers and sisters.

We are called to see that "Listening Is A Door" by Steve Garnaas-Holmes:

You listen, as the forests listen to the wind, as the ocean hears the river. You listen to someone, not just their speaking but their being. Your listening is a door, through which they enter you. The more fully, openly, spaciously you listen, the more of them comes in what they're saying and not saying, and can't say, what they may not even know until they hear it being heard.

The door that is your listening becomes the whole space, a house, a temple. It holds the world. In this temple, beneath the words, beneath the cries and silences, you hear the voice of God-without words, a wind. A music enveloping all, the full sound. In someone's story, even their pain, is the world's vast joy and agony. In your listening the whole sanctuary resounds with the glory of God.

Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!

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Joker

The Changing God

The messenger said to her, "Don't be alarmed, Mary for you have been chosen for a special favor from God. Listen, you'll become pregnant and have a baby boy, whom you'll name Jesus. He'll be a great man, and will be called 'The Almighty's Son'. The Lord God will set him on the throne of his father David, and he'll always be head of the faithful. His movement will never end" Luke 1:30-33, The Cotton Patch Bible!
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"One day a teacher of an adult Bible class got up and tested him with this question: "Doctor, what does one do to be saved?" Jesus replied, 'What does the Bible say? How do you interpret it?' The teacher answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your physical strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.' 'That is correct answered Jesus. Make a habit of it and you will be saved" (Matthew 25: 1 ff. "Cottage Patch Bible")

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In Octavia E Butlers "Parable of the Sower," her theme is "God is change and so are we!" We are forever changing, we see that in our lives, and we fear change, but St. Patrick and "Joker" demonstrate the positivity of change and how we can measure "our worth by our dedication to our path, not by our successes or failures," (Elizabeth Gilbert).

St. Patrick is not thought of as a traveler, but he traveled all of his life in the mission of spreading the Gospel.

As a youth he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave where he remained for six years. Praying the prayers of his childhood he became a Christian during that time. Finally escaping after six years he returned home, an inner voice, called him back to Ireland where he traveled the rest of his life establishing churches. He was beaten, attacked, and put in irons.

Patrick had learned as an anonymous author said, "Life will never be without storms. Stop fearing the storm. Built your inner self." Like Mary in her own journey to the birth of Jesus he was determined to face adversity! He taught and lived out tolerance.

Last Sunday was International Tolerance Day, as we pause to consider what it truly means to

respect and talk to those who are different from us, in beliefs, race, creed, or color, and political beliefs.

Through the years we have learned that tolerance is to be cultivated by:

Listening first--approach people not to rebut, or to to disagree with. but to understand their views, The apostle James wrote, "Let every body be quick to listen, slow to speak" (James. 1:19).

Resist Caricature: Don't reduce others to caricature or imaginary heresies".

Act in solidarity: Stand with those marginalized or demonized by societies intolerance.

Model respectful dialogue: Be patient, humorous and humble, be curious not judgmental.

Celebrate Diversity: See all as a part of a rainbow of colors, of perspectives, of people-that reveal the fullness of God's image.

Anchor in faith: it requires embodying truth with mercy. "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another" (John 13-35).

"Be an encourager, the world has plenty of critics"(Dave Wills). So many are critics, that there is no understanding of others, they can not understand change over time, and give others tolerance. Fear is given full rage, and in the process destroys people.

"Joker" is a young man, now of 24, he was born in bushes of Golden Gate Park, raised on the streets, the only home he has ever known. In evaluation by a "shrink" he was given a label of being "feral " meaning he is a "wild one", one who will not be able to exist in our cultural society, in other words, a failure, who can not be helped. I was once given the same label as well, "feral", "impossible for him to exist in our modern culture," and so I have learned to take the negative, and turn it into the positive.

I am "feral", a "wild goose" one who flies outside the gate representing the living and Christ. We both were given this diagnosis's by shrinks who were young, never been near the streets, and spent an hour with us. That is why there are a couple shrinks who have me evaluate clients who have lived on the streets.

"Joker" was in essence condemned, and assigned to streets, rather than simply walking with him, letting him lead the way, into where he feels comfortable.

I am often asked, "Tell me about one of your success stories," irritates the hell out of me, because success [s simply "dedication to my path," for that question sets me up and the "Jokers" of the world to failure, writing us off. I came from a wealthy family, but gave the money away, so I am a failure to many!

"Joker" takes his name from Batman, seeing himself as a person who is made fun of, yet he is happy! He has a business of selling his art work, jewelry he makes from wire, and loves playing his guitar and singing for donations!

"Joker" feels trapped inside a building, feels isolated, has to sleep where he can breathe. He doesn't like working for anyone, he is his own boss. Several years ago when I had to have shoulder surgery, and could not alone for a week, he took care of me, came to my place, slept on the floor, help me to the bathroom, washed me off, check my badges, and cooked for me. "Joker" is a "success" he adapts to the changes in his life.

God is a God who changes, and we his children are the same, our lives are always changing, in doing so we find life. As the "storms" come close, overwhelming us, we do not fear, we find "inner peace" and "inner strength! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! Amen and Amen!

Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA. 94109
www.temenos.org
On PayPal
Phone is:415-305-2124
(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")
(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive. I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now. I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate--
“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May
Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

--------------------------------------------------

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well!" (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!
===========================================

WE ARE BEGGARS!
WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home! Live within me as if I were your dwelling!" - Saint Carlo Acutis

"First Week of Celtic Advent!"
"Be Kind!"

"Then Jesus said, "A man was going from Atlanta to Albany, and some gangsters held him up. When they had robbed him of his wallet and brand new suit, they beat him up and drove off in his car, leaving him unconscious on the shoulder of the highway. It so happened that a white preacher was traveling down the same highway. When he saw the fellow, he stepped on the gas and went scooting by. Shortly afterward, a white Gospel song leader came down the road, and when he saw what had happened, he too stepped on the gas. Then a young hustler traveling that way came upon the fellow, and what he saw moved him to tears. He stopped and bound up his wounds as best he could, drew some water from his water jug to wipe away the blood, and laid him on the
back seat. He drove him into Albany and took him to the hospital and said to the nurse, "You take good care ot this white man I found on the highway. Here's the only two dollars I got, but you all keep track of what he owes, and if he can't pay it, I'll settle up with you when I make pay day" (The Cotton Patch Gospel-Luke 10: 25ff-Clarence Jordan).

==================================

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

"A man was going from Atlanta to Albany, and some gangsters held him up. When they had robbed him of his wallet and brand new suit, they beat him up and drove off in his car, leaving him unconscious on the shoulder of the highway.

In the early 2000s, I attended a meeting in Portland, Oregon, on the topic of harm reduction. After a long day, early one evening, I took a walk along the river, slowly becoming ill, and suddenly, from behind, I was knocked down, my wallet was stolen, my jacket was taken, and I was left on the street bleeding. I was taken to the hospital, and called a minister friend, and he commented, "It is late, I will be there in the morning!", after telling him how screwed up I was, afraid, no money, no identification, and I broke down, crying.

Shortly afterward, a white Gospel song leader came down the road, and when he saw what had happened, he too stepped on the gas.

I then called the song leader for the event, an older man I knew, and his response was simply saying, "Sorry, sorry!" and he hung up. Again, I cried, terribly afraid, feeling alone.

Then a young hustler traveling that way came upon the fellow, and what he saw moved him to tears. He stopped and bound up his wounds as best he could, drew some water from his water jug to wipe away the blood, and laid him on the

back seat. He drove him into Albany and took him to the hospital and said to the nurse, "You take good care ot this white man I found on the highway. Here's the only two dollars I got, but you all keep track of what he owes, and if he can't pay it, I'll settle up with you when I make pay day."

And looking through my phone numbers, I saw Jeremy, a young 22-year-old hustler, whom I met when he was 13 years old, on the streets of San Francisco. Jeremy was a young man wrestling with his own demons--being gay, rejected by his parents, and using drugs-he lived with a 60-year-old "sugar daddy" in Portland, coming to San Francisco often. Over the years, we became friends, and at times he would sleep on my floor, with the joke that "you have an awful God, he won't let you have sex now, because you have to make up for all your sins."

I called him, and within minutes he was there!

Taking me to his apartment, he let me have his bed, and I was getting ill with a high fever and throwing up. For three days, I found my hustler, drug-using friend, the kindest person I had ever met. He reported all my credit cards stolen, picked up my clothes, and closed out my motel bill. When I was better, he drove me home, refusing any money, and said, sarcastically, with a smile, "Let me be the good Christian for once!"

After being home a few days my minister "friend" from Portland called, asking me, "How could you be with a street kid, he could have hurt you," and my response was to hang up, for I had been with the kindest person in the world.

James Baldwin once said, "The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love--whether we call it friendship or family or romance is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light."

Being Kind is the mirroring of the light of another! And the more we mirror kindness, the brighter it becomes.

The corporal works of mercy (Matthew 25:31-46)--feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, burying the dead, giving alms to the poor--are based in not identifying a person with their superficial qualitie--being Blue, Red, documented, undocumented, rich or poor or even their outward behavior. The works of mercy refuse any knowledge of others that can lead to judgment. The only knowledge required for the works of mercy is: this is my brother or this is my sister, whether I find them likeable, objectionable, agreeable, or repulsive.

The spirit of violence, prejudice, and judgment always creates new victims, is an inferno that consumes everyone in its path.

Jesus' preaching of the beatitudes (Matthew 5-6)--which elevate vulnerability and gentleness in the form of meekness, peacemaking, and mercy--reveals the inner hope of his own refusal to reciprocate violence, even unto death--Jesus was kind regardless of the consequences--Be Kind--! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Christmas Gifts:

This year, we are giving Blankets and extra-large sweaters. Please buy a blanket or give money!

We are working on Christmas cards. If I don't have your snail mail address, please send it to me.

=========================Pi8

Buy A Slice of Piazza for Thanksgiving!

For $5.00, you can buy a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving!

---------------------------------------

Schedule

This year, from November 15, 2025, to January 1, 2026, I will refrain from socializing. The first day of Celtic Advent! During this time of fasting and prayer! Our retreat time will be totally on the streets. where it is difficult to live and work with people who are suffering, and enter into a world of comfort. Personal Gifts this year I request a financial donation to Temenos Catholic Worker!

If you would like to volunteer, you are more than welcome. I have several youth groups and families helping already, and if you need support in any way, I am always available!

======================

Fr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA. 94109

www.temenos.org

0n Paypal

Phone is:415-305-2124

(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")

(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive.

I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now.

I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate—

“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

_______

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well! (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!

========================================================

WE ARE BEGGARS!

WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home!

Live within me as if I were your dwelling!"

Saint Carlo Acutis

________________________

LGBT Q+ Monument (Palm Springs, California)

Extragagent Seeking!

"No one lives to themselves, and no one dies to themselves. While we live, we must live for our Master, and in death we must bring honor to him. So dead or alive, we belong to our Master...Therefore, we must answer for ourselves and give a personal account of our lives before God"(Romans 14:7-12 (Passion Translation)!"
---

"In the beginning, the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God.

For the perfect Light of truth was coming into the world and shining upon everyone. He entered into the world He created...He came to the people He created"(John 1: 1 ff, Passion Translation).
-----------------------------------------------------
Archbishop William Temple once commented, "The Incarnation says the personality of human beings is sacred!"

Our photo features the recently unveiled Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Monument, with its colors representing our journey. The color that speaks loud and clear is that of Black and Brown, honoring marginalized communities of color within the LGBTQ+ community, and representing those lost to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

This Monument was raised, loud and clear, at this time as a statement of protest against the violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people now! It states very clearly the words of Archbishop Temple: "The Incarnation says the personality of human beings is sacred!"

All human lives are sacred beings, the worst of the worst, or the best of the best. When we seek to kill anyone, be it Putin, Trump, etc., we violate the laws of God. God is the judge, not us!

Throughout history, empires have risen and fallen; they rise through violence and destruction, only to fall in the same manner.

Through thirty-one years of working on the streets, I have seen thousands of children crying in pain, brutalized, and terrorized, and the words of a poem by William Broderick sum up the effect:

"Once you've heard a child cry out to heaven for help and go unanswered, nothing's ever the same again.

Nothing. Even God changes. But there is a healing hand at work that cannot be deflected from its purpose. I just can't make sense of it, other than to cry. Those tears are part of what it is to be a monk.

Out there, in the world, it can be very cold. It seems to be about luck, good and bad, And the distribution is absurd. We have to be candles, burning between hope and despair, faith and doubt, life and death, all the opposites.

Presently, transgender people are being persecuted by our government, basically blotted out of existence in their eyes, and people across the land, by their silence, are doing the same thing! Palm Springs is shouting loud and clear in their monument the rights of Transgenders, the queer community, and all oppressed and marginalized people, not by violence, but non-violence and faith in humanity. Martin Luther King, Jr., told us that human rights are one step forward, and one step back, and our mission must be to move them forward non-violently! This is Extravegent Seeking!

My faith is found in the words of Fr. Henri Nouwen:

"For Jesus there are no countries to be conquered, no idealologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated.

There are only children, women, and men to be loved."
------------------------------------------------

Christmas Gifts:
This year, we are giving Blankets and extra-large sweaters. Please buy a blanket or give money!

We are working on Christmas cards. If I don't have your snail mail address, please send it to me.

==================================

Buy A Slice of Piazza for Thanksgiving!
For $5.00, you can buy a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving!

---------------------------------------

Schedule
This year, from November 15, 2025, to January 1, 2026, I will refrain from socializing. The first day of Celtic Advent! During this time of fasting and prayer! Our retreat time will be totally on the streets.

where it is difficult to live and work with people who are suffering, and enter into a world of comfort. Personal Gifts this year I request a financial donation to Temenos Catholic Worker!

If you would like to volunteer, you are more than welcome. I have several youth groups and families helping already, and if you need support in any way, I am always available!

======================

Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA. 94109
www.temenos.org
On PayPal
Phone is:415-305-2124
(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")
(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive. I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now. I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate--
“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May
Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

--------------------------------------------------

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well!" (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!
===========================================

WE ARE BEGGARS!
WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home! Live within me as if I were your dwelling!" - Saint Carlo Acutis

I Did It For Love

"Jesus continued, 'There once was a very rich man who had the finest things imaginable, living every day, enjoying his opulent luxury. Outside the gate of his mansion was a poor beggar named Lazarus. He lay there every day, covered with boils, and all the neighborhood dogs would come and lick his open sores. The only food he had to eat was the garbage the rich man threw away.

One day, poor Lazarus died, and the angels of God came and escorted his spirit into paradise.

The day came when the rich man also died. In hell, he looked up from his torment and saw Abraham in the distance, and Lazarus was standing beside him in glory. The rich man shouted, "Father Abraham! Father Abraham! Have mercy upon me. Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and come to cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames of fire.
But Abraham responded, 'My friend, don't you remember? While you were alive, you had all you desired. You surrounded yourself with luxury, while Lazarus had nothing. Now Lazarus dwells in the comforts of paradise, and you are in agony. Besides, between us is a huge chasm that cannot be bridged, nor can anyone cross from one realm to the next, even if he wanted" (Luke 16:19-26, Passion Version)

----------------------------------------------

Journal of an Alien and Puny Street Priest!

As I sat early this morning, eating breakfast at Toast, looking out the window, the street came alive. The police were rushing around waking the homeless, getting them off the street, before the "good citizens" came out.

One was a young Black lady, sleeping under a doorway, with a child wrapped in a dirty cloth blanket; another was an older white bearded man, sleeping in his wheelchair. There was on other white woman feeding her child with some bread crumbs.

On the street corner, there is a stuped, older Chinese woman rummaging through the garbage can for bottles and cans to trade in. There is fatigue covering her face.

Walking down the street, I find a gentleman in our photo, sprawled over the street; I check to see if he is ok, and he barely opens his eyes, saying "yes"!

As people move towards downtown with their signs for the "No on Kings March," the thought comes to mind to take off my jacket and sit on the ground, begging for food. Sure enough, people simply passed me back, on the way to protest the harm of our government. One person told me to get out of the way; people were in a hurry. They passed by, not even seeing me, in their own "tribe".

My morning observations and experiences gave way to understanding that love gives meaning to suffering. Without love, we are simply living "A1S".

The Mayor on "YouTube" shows off the Bart Station at 16th and Mission, smiling, bragging about how clean and ready it is for our "good citizens". At this place in the past, we have found homeless people begging, people selling items on the streets, which is now illegal, and, of course, drugs. Poverty and homelessness are increasing, and we are now concerned with a clean Bart Station for "our good citizens".

The street fills with mostly middle to upper-class people in the "No More Kings March". People march as if they see no poverty, homelessness, or immigrants around them.

I have a vision of seeing people come to our big marches bringing food, clean clothes, and money to give to those on the street as they march. My dream is that as they leave City Hall, putting down their signs, they move into their daily lives of reaching out in serving homeless, non-documented, and documented immigrants, and all in poverty, bringing food, but also in advocacy in our City government. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

---------------------------------------------

Christmas Gifts:
This year, we are giving Blankets and extra-large sweaters. Please buy a blanket or give money!

We are working on Christmas cards. If I don't have your snail mail address, please send it to me.

==================================

Buy A Slice of Piazza for Thanksgiving!
For $5.00, you can buy a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving!

---------------------------------------

Schedule
This year, from November 15, 2025, to January 1, 2026, I will refrain from socializing. It is difficult to live and work with people who are suffering, and enter into a world of comfort. If you would like to volunteer, you are more than welcome. I have several youth groups and families helping.

======================

Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA. 94109
www.temenos.org
On PayPal
Phone is:415-305-2124
(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")
(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive. I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now. I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate--
“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May
Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

--------------------------------------------------

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well!" (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!
===========================================

WE ARE BEGGARS!
WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home! Live within me as if I were your dwelling!" - Saint Carlo Acutis

Charlie

Forever Young!

"But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27--The Passion Translation).

============================================

Journal of An Alien and Puny Street Priest!

Starting my ministry in my late teens as a student pastor to three rural churches, I was greeted by a man who looked fifty years old the day I moved into the parsonage. He owned a large garage, read two books a week, worked sixty hours a week, and was active in the Masons and church. We became tight friends, and Charlie became my best ally.

Several years later, preparing to move into my first full-time appointment, graduating from seminary, we went out for a long walk.

Charlie asked, "How old do you think I am?" I simply answered, "fiftyish?" We sat down on a street bench, placing his hand on my shoulder. Charlie said, "I am eighty-seven!" I started laughing, believing he was teasing, then he said, "I am! Never tell anyone your real age, because you, your ability, and your place in life will be judged! Think of how you would have judged me if I told you my real age the day we met. You will stay "forever young", if you stay out of the way of judgmental sissies! "Don't let people place their labels on you!"

Charlie was right! I would have seen him as an "old man", treated him as such, and never fully appreciated and known him in my time there. Charlie died on his feet while working at the age of ninety-eight.

Through the years, I have never told anyone my real age, in an era that worships youth. A minister friend once shared with me, "After thirty, you will find working with youth simply too much, as you truly mature." That is hogwash!

The one learning, learned, through the ups and downs of ministry has been found in Matthew 18:1-4 (Passion Version):
"At that time, the disciples came to ask Jesus, "Who is considered to be the greatest in heaven's kingdom realm?"

Jesus called a little one to his side and said to them, "Learn this well. Unless you dramatically challenge your way of thinking and become teachable like a little child, you will never be able to enter in. "Whoever continually humbles himself to become like this little child is the greatest one in heaven's kingdom realm. And if you tenderly care for this little one on my behalf, you are tenderly caring for me. But if anyone abuses one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a heavy boulder tied around his neck and be hurled into the deepest sea than to face the punishment he deserves."

I never ask anyone on the street their age, and not one time has anyone asked me, for the street is a different world where every move must be watched or you are beaten, raped, or murdered! Expectations are not determined by age, but by one's ability to survive.

From the moment I found myself whoring on the streets of Los Angeles, struggling to survive by any means possible, to now on the streets of San Francisco, cared for through the love of Jesus, it is simply that age is a number, a number forgotten in the winds of struggle and service. The words of Paul remind us in a society of youth, beating our friends out for the next promotion, and all the divisiveness around us:
"But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27--The Passion Translation).

Dying in all of its forms, physically and emotionally, is our ultimate vulnerability, so rather than look at the weakness of old age as simply one little death after another, we can see it as a journey to emptiness where our whole heart is opened to have room to be filled with the Spirit of Love spilling all over us.

It is ultimate fragility, but also the potential for the greatest moment of our fruitfulness!

In the eyes of God, we are "forever young", as long as we are open to His Spirit in love of others! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

------------------------------------------------

Christmas Gifts:
This year, we are giving Blankets and extra-large sweaters. Please buy a blanket or give money!

We are working on Christmas cards. If I don't have your snail mail address, please send it to me.

==================================

Buy A Slice of Piazza for Thanksgiving!
For $5.00, you can buy a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving!

---------------------------------------

Schedule
This year, from November 15, 2025, to January 1, 2026, I will refrain from socializing. It is difficult to live and work with people who are suffering, and enter into a world of comfort. If you would like to volunteer, you are more than welcome. I have several youth groups and families helping.

======================

Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims.sfw
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA. 94109
www.temenos.org
On PayPal
Phone is:415-305-2124
(PayPal)

(Affiliated with "Society of Franciscan Workers, Inc.")
(In Association with "Extraordinary Catholics" and the "Fellowship of Saint John")

“I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful, and I want to sustain life force out of words and make things that will stay alive. I write to connect with people who are not here with us right now. I write to be fully alive” (Elizabeth Alexander).

We are Politically Neutral—We Vote for No Party or Candidate--
“Just as I also try to Please Everyone in all Things. I do not Seek My Benefit, but the Benefit of Many, So That They May
Be Saved” (Corinthians 10:32-33).

--------------------------------------------------

We are a 501.3 Non Profit

"All Shall Be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well!" (Julian of Norwich)

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures!
===========================================

WE ARE BEGGARS!
WE ARE BEGGING!

"You can make yourself at home! Live within me as if I were your dwelling!" - Saint Carlo Acutis

"We Are All Crazy!"

The Grateful Leper==Luke 17: 11-19

11 Now on[a] the way to Jerusalem,[b] Jesus[c] was passing along[d] between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As[e] he was entering[f] a village, ten men with leprosy[g] met him. They[h] stood at a distance, 13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy[i] on us.” 14 When[j] he saw them he said, “Go[k] and show yourselves to the priests.”[l] And[m] as they went along, they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising[n] God with a loud voice. 16 He[o] fell with his face to the ground[p] at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.[q] (Now[r] he was a Samaritan.)[s] 17 Then[t] Jesus said,[u] “Were[v] not ten cleansed? Where are the other[w] nine? 18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”[x] 19 Then[y] he said to the man,[z] “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”[aa]

Feast Day of Saint Carlo Acutis "God's Influencer!"

October 12, 2025

"The Eucharist is My highway to heaven!'

Saint Carlo Acutis, dying at 15 in 2001, was canonized in September of this year. Carlo represents God working in this young man's life. He came to Jesus at six or seven, and as he grew, his whole life was dedicated to service, spending his allowance, taking blankets, and clothes to the homeless. Carlos felt God calling him to ministry at a young age.

Kindness!

Exodus 20: 1-4,7-9,12-20
Philippians 3:4-14
Matthew 21:33-46

-------------------------------------

"There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is the only desert that shall truly flourish like the lily!"

Journal of An Alien Street Priest:

There is a story told about St. Benedict, which I love, "Close your eyes and imagine St. Benedict sitting outside reading, a book in his hands. A group of thieves is approaching, and the question comes to his mind: "Will they hurt me?, take everything I have?, kill me?" And he comes to the conclusion that all his belongings will be gone someday anyway, so he lets those concerns go and continues to read.

Wow, that is power! What are we so afraid of losing that would give anyone in the world power over you? Why? Ultimately, we lose everything in death!

I have spent so much energy trying to make people love and respect me, and ultimately, what have I achieved?

As the end is closer to the beginning in my life, I simply want to follow Jesus in His Kingdom, being kind.

Kindness, Joseph Joubert wrote, "is loving people more than they deserve." Benedict did more than just being kind to the thieves, he invited them in for lunch! Enough is enough, right?

Kindness for me is found in "Arrow", who slept on my floor for days, after my son was murdered, fed me, and stood with me as arrangements were made.

My 18-year-old friend Matthew, from Marin, spent weeks assisting me after surgery eight years ago; his friends supported him in assisting.

Kindness is found in those who donate to Temenos, believing in our ministry, despite this crazy priest.

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time "Who Needs Mercy?" Matthew 18:1-5

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
For I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

Matthew 18:1-5

The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, You will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

title 0

October 1, 2025

"Divine One, grow our capacity to love without condition, (including myself)

To speak without bad intentions!To give without reason!
And most of all, care for others without expectation!"

(Commoners_Communion )

Follow the Poor Jesus!

"You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. If anyone thinks they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless" James 1:19-20m 26).

====

"How blessed are the poor" (Matthew 5:3)

Living in the Queer Wilderness!

Ex. 17:1-7; Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21: 23-32

Journal of the Alien Street Priest:

"How queer everything is today", said Alice in Wonderland, and yesterday things went on just as usual! I wonder if I have changed overnight?"

We handle so many in-between things changing in the blink of an eye. It is like the tea party in Wonderland, where everybody is mad.

We read about children who say one thing and simply do another. We have a kind of trans-God who is trying to pass as a woman.

We have people living in the wilderness of exile, wandering in the Wilderness of Sin (Ex. 17:1). How queer indeed, everything is. We live in a liminal space.

Legacy of Charlie Kirk and Pluralism!

September 21, 2025

"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets"(Matthew 7:12, NLT).
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the midst of all division, anger, hatred, and judgment in response to the death of Charlie Kirk, an unknown quote reminds us:

"We are not God We are simply the image of God And our task is gradually to discover that image and set it free."

To move towards a pluralistic society, it is essential that we meet each other where we are, without judgment, for we are all on the same journey. As Maya Angelou aptly puts it, "In diversity there is beauty and there is strength."

The death of Charlie Kirk is not just about the loss of one man; it is a moment calling us to reflect on the kind of society we are building together. It is a moment calling us to examine how we live our own lives!

A Liberation Theology of the Cross-Queer White Perspective!

Feast of the Holy Cross - September 14, 2025

Numbers 21:4b-9
Psalm 98:1-5
I Corinthians 1:18-24
John 3:13-17

Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. .(Henri Nouwen).

----------------------------------

Journal of An Alien Street Priest:

We stand at the crossroads of suffering and liberation, witnessing a truth that has been carried by generations of the oppressed. It is through the truth, the cross, God declares solidarity with the marginalized of all who are "different", "the other"-the Queer, Transgender, Homeless, all Minorities.

Hospitality--Radical Empathy!

(Maurice)

"Lord, You ask me, 'Will you love this one for me?
I answer: 'Yes, Lord, this one I will love for you!"

***************************

Frankly, I did not appreciate my parents, especially my dad, until I began to understand how their lives had shaped my ministry. For it was from their daily lives, providing hospitality to anyone, regardless of color or age, that a life of hospitality permeated my very being. Their faith, lived out in hospitality, filled me with a deep care for others.

There was a radical empathy that denied no one who was hungry or in need! We owned a grocery store where, out of his own belief, my dad refused to sell alcohol, and he provided food for anyone who had no money or was hungry. My dad would take food to the "White Project" and Black Project", where the poorest of the poor lived every Sunday, and share the food. On Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, my parents provided traditional meals to people in need.

Where Jacob Wrestled With God!

Peniel

Fall Newsletter!

(River--Outreach on Polk Street!)

Psalm 41: "How blessed is the one who treats the poor properly. When trouble comes, may the Lord deliver him." Psalm 41:1-3.

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Ecclesiastes 8:15-17: "So I recommend the enjoyment of life, for there is nothing better on earth for a person to do except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. So joy will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life that God gives him on earth!"

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Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, and pleasing to God--which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God--what is good and well pleasing and perfect."

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Surprise!

Genesis 45:1-15
Psalm 133
Romans 11:1-2a; 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20) 21-28
(Readings from A Queer Lectionary—Proper 15.

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Surprise! is the theme for these lectionary readings. From the time I was born, my life was planned: college, seminary, ordination, successful ministry, and retirement!

And lo and behold, I found that "God is what happens when you are making other plans."

Questions That Haunt--The Journey of Religious Trauma!

UnKnown!

"Broken Bones scattered in the road, some are mine, some are yours. The roof is gone, The walls splattered with blood. Worms feasting in the flesh swarming all around me but yet I eat this heart. The sun is gone. Darkness has arrived. I dream of you again. -Grim Reaper"

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There is a battle of two major forces in our society-the Institutional Christianity and the Secular Nation-coming together in battle.

In the middle, being overwhelmed, are the outsiders, those who walk the borders of society--LGBTQ, which includes those of the 71 different genders, Blacks, Native Americans, Undocumented Mexican Immigrants, Documented and Citizens who are Mexican, homeless, the very poor, and those who suffer Religious Trauma. They are being crushed, and it is happening now.

When the Lord Passes By!

"...Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by..."

(I Kings 19:9-18 NRSVeu).

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"For there is no difference between Jew and Greek but the same Lord" (Romans 10:17 NRSV eu).
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Albert Einstein is reported to have said:
"It is strange to be known universally and still so lonely."

Thinking of loneliness, I reflect on the experience of being lonely among people when one is queer. In today's environment, with the present government's attitude, we feel placed in a corner, labeled, and especially for our transgender brothers and sisters, persecuted, who seem to be isolated by many in the queer community as well. People have been kicked out of the military and other government agencies. This year, some donors withdrew from supporting San Francisco Pride. People have withdrawn support from Temenos.

Holy Queer Vindication--Radical Empathy!

(Jeremy)
Genesis 32:22-31:
(NRSV ue)

". . .Jacob was left alone, and he wrestled with God until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said: 'Let me go, for the day is breaking.' Then Jacob said, 'I will not let you go until you bless me.' So he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said: 'You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed...'

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.'.

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As we begin the story of Jacob and his encounter with God, I am reminded that, like me, Jacob was not a decent person. In collusion with his mom, he stole his bro's birthright, tricking his blind father, thus cheating Esau out of his inheritance, and he is an all-around unpleasant git.

Jacob is stubborn, and God always seems to choose those of us who are unsavory. He is so stubborn that he becomes Israel and limps for the rest of his life.

Peniel was chosen for our newsletter because my story is like Jacob's wrestling with God. For over thirty years now, I have wrestled with God and together with those I serve. Through this wrestling, I continue the journey of "Holy Queer Vindication and Radical Empathy!

And on this journey of wrestling with God, 19-year-old young men like Jeremiah join me, rejected by family and church for his queerness, drug use, and prostitution. For four years, Jeremiah and I struggled as his drug use became his god, his depression, and his continued struggle over being gay, feeling so rejected by his family and God, and trying to change.

In our photo, we see him in Golden Gate Park on his 21st birthday, where he and six of his friends had a cake and a celebration. We continued to wrestle with God for several more years, through learning of an HIV diagnosis and being stabbed and beaten several times, until he disappeared into the mists of time.

Falling Downward: A Spiritual Journey of Joy!

"We can't understand the meaning of up until we have fallen down" (Fr. Richard Rohr).

"We are often knocked out but not crushed, we sometimes doubt but we never despair; we have many enemies, but we are never without a friend; And though we're badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9!

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"..........Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you! Heal the sick in that town and say to them: the Kingdom of God has come upon you." (Luke 10:8-10 NET)!

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Sam (photo) was twelve when he came to San Francisco with his youth group to follow me on the street for a day; he was charming, mischievous, and a lot of fun, and I knew he was no little angel. He called me several weeks later and asked if his mother could bring him down for a day, and I said yes.

And that was the beginning of a friendship that has continued for twenty-four years.

His mom was a schoolteacher, and for as much as she doesn't want to admit it, she has her wild side, even though she tries to cover it up with her motherly advice. Sam would have me up regularly, and we had a lot of fun.

On Halloween, we and our friends would toilet-paper houses of various people and shoot off fireworks. On another mission trip, Sam and several of his friends were caught with beer when he was sixteen and flown home at the expense of their parents, and it was announced in his church, shaming him and his friends. Frankly, that was not appropriate.

"Shaft"

"Ice Agent!"

Welcoming the Stranger!

Genesis 18: 1-8 (Net Version)

"The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three strangers standing across from him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, 'My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant. Let a little water be brought so that. You may all wash your feet and rest under the tree.' And let me get some food so that you may refresh yourselves, since you have passed by your servant's home. After that, you may be on your way."

Abraham began a tradition passed down through the centuries, that of "welcoming the stranger," for he lived in the desert, where people often lacked access to food and water. As they approached his oasis, he offered them food and comfort, regardless of who they were. He met them in the middle, without judgment.

"Shaft" in our photo above is a "stranger" in our land of wealth, housing, and "success"! I met him some fifteen years ago at twenty-two, "hustling" in front of the bar. He had been hooked on heroin for five years, already in treatment four times. One of the problems was that the City paid for his treatment, but would give him housing in the center of the Tenderloin, drug addiction, central surrounded by drugs.

Any Persons Death Diminishes Us..!

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee" (John Donne).

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"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32, Net Version).

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The Chronicle recently reported that our senior citizen population is growing at a rate far faster than any other generation, and that by the end of the century, there will be more seniors than younger people. San Francisco is expected to have more seniors than youth by the end of the 2020s.

We see more and more senior citizen communities being created, beautiful housing, and programs, but for the very wealthy, nothing for the lower middle class, poor, and homeless.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time!

July 13, 2025

"Muddy Creatures!"--Hollywood Dave."
Matthew 13:1-9

"That same day Jesus went out of the house and set beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him. . .And he told them. Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil, and they sprang up quickly, as they had no depth of soil. However, when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no roots, they withered. Other seeds fell among thorns, grew up, and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!' NRSV EU--FROM A Queer Lectionary)

Recently, I received an email in which the writer said, "You are nothing, just f... .king mud, like all the dirt on our streets!

At the same time, we have President Trump replying to an interviewer's" question: "Why don't you ever talk about God forgiving your sins? And his answer, "Why do I need forgiveness? I have not done anything wrong, look at all the good I do? I think more people seem to feel as he does, for I have heard few apologies from anyone.

I have more sensitivity from my fellow "pieces of mud" on the street, who are always apologizing.

In The Thin Spaces--Justin!

"Whether I am full or hungry, I am always contented" (Philippians 4:12).

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"What matters is the new creation" (Galatians 6:16).

As I look at the photo of Justin, I am taken back to my adolescence, walking in New Orleans and observing people of all races, ethnicities, and religions. My heart was strangely warmed, full of love for each one, whether they were a saint or a monster; I love them. In the words of Sister Rose Tillemans, CSI:

"I dance every day to the truths that express for me what makes sense, giving love, caring for others in their needs, working for justice, sharing tenderness, accepting the things I can not change, working with the poor who must often face insurmountable obstacles, caring for the Earth and all its children!"

The Yoke of Freedom - The Story of Greg! 1998

"Come to me, all you that are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew ll:29). Lectionary reading from "A Queer Lectionary" edited by Peter Carlson "Improper Readings from the Margins Year A!"

John the Baptist sent a message to Jesus asking, "Are you the One? It is tough to tell Jesus, I need a sign."

And Jesus's response is, "Look around. Free health care is being handed out. The poor are getting good news. People who are dead are coming back to life."

For the first three centuries, Christians believed in Jesus, and from their house churches, they went out and practiced the gospel message of loving and caring for others. They all believed and experienced the living presence of Jesus, and in his presence, that was all that mattered. Many were martyred, others fed the poor, and in the epidemics, they served the victims, knowing they would probably die. They resisted the state.

WE ARE BEGGARS! WE ARE BEGGING!

A Small Speck in the Ocean of Life

Last weekend, I was walking on the beach in Pacifica late at night, and the surf was up, with high waves. Listening and observing, I reflected on how we are specks in the ocean of life, for soon the waves will carry us out into eternity.

Looking at our lives from that perspective, how irrelevant is labeling, fighting, and hatred?

Labels bring division, hatred, and death. As I was beginning this ministry, I visited with a gentleman who owned a factory and was an extremely successful businessman in Los Angeles. He was 95, and he worked 40 to 50-hour weeks, and was active up until the moment he died.

Smiling, he commented, "River, as you begin your ministry in San Francisco, I want to give you some advice that has worked for me: NEVER TELL YOUR AGE! Labels lead to false stereotypes, for not being "labeled" I work, make money, enjoy life, rather than being an "old man", who needs to be retired."

Several years later, I was invited to be a counselor at a "Diversity Camp."The Director requested that I bring a black clerical shirt for the closing ceremony.

For two weeks, we were to live together without telling our ages, race, or sexual identity. We were assigned discussion groups to guide as equals. Mine was the group of sexual and religious abuse survivors.

Defying Gravity!

Upon encountering Fr. Henri Nouwen's writings, I found his understanding of life as a trapeze act to be an apt image for my journey, which has spanned three decades.

In the past six months, as I have struggled with PTSD and Religious Trauma, his words: "but I was suddenly confronted with the other side of this air-ballet, not simply the dangers of physical harm, but the experience of failure, shame, guilt, frustration, and anger."

These feelings have come as I have moved further away, unintentionally, from friends and colleagues who follow a traditional path of ministry. With the attacks on LGBTQ people, undocumented migrants, the homeless, and all disenfranchised, I have come to realize that with all the divisions in our country and religious groups and the constant accusations and threats against me, the only guideline in life that makes sense is to follow the command "Seek first the Kingdom of God," following Christ in simply following his way of love. All of us are merely God's children, all broken. Following Christ is moving away from trying to construct people in our own image by letting them be whom God has created them to be.

Give Them Something to Eat!

June 22, 2025

"The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ!"

Luke 9:11-17. "Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. Then they all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets."

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In Mark's account, the disciples and Jesus set sail towards a deserted area near the town of Bethsaida. The multitude follows, and Jesus, tired though he is, welcomes the crowd and begins teaching and healing. When the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away because there are not enough resources to feed everyone. Jesus challenges them, "You give them something to eat!" And then Jesus blesses the five loaves and two fish and gives them back, multiplied, for "the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were fed!"

The Call of the Lone Wolf

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control. There is no law against such things!" -Galations 5:22-23

In the past weeks, my heart has become full of pain. My nights are sleepless, at the deaths, starvation, in Gaza, and other places in the world; as I walk in so much pain on our streets--people are starving, they have no housing, no medical care, and are treated like garbage; Walter Burghardt's definition of contemplation rings through my daily office as a long loving look at the real! I see the real, and hear the real every day in my presence!

God became obvious and ever-present. God is everywhere. At the exact moment, I experience exactly the opposite emotion. My eyes were full of tears, filled with immense sadness — a sadness at what we are doing to the earth, sadness about the people I have hurt in my life, my mixed emotions, and my selfishness. Most of all, sadness at the ones on our streets, in the richest City in the country, who are suffering!

Goslings In a Cage!

Romans 5:1-5 (Net Version): "Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God's glory. Not only this, but we also rejoice in suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, character, and hope. Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Our Awakening in the Spirit!

(Riptide)

John 7:37-39, NRSV(EC):
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed: "Let Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink, and whoever believes in me, as Scripture says, 'Rivers of living water will flow from within me!"

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The Spirit of God rushes into our lives not to create uniformity but to awaken us to a more profound unity.

At Pentecost, the Spirit draws people together across languages and cultures, creating understanding and shared purpose.

This is a return to sameness but a movement toward solidarity, alive with diversity and compassion.

Broken Arrows!

"Resurrection is not a consoling opium: soothing us with the promise of a better world in the hereafter. It is the energy for a rebirth of this life. The hope doesn't point to another world. It is focused on the redemption of this one" (Jurgen Moltmann).
Several nights ago, I was in a deep sleep, and dreaming of being surrounded by "broken arrows", lying on a train track with many trains bearing down upon me--hatred, judgment, physical threats, doubt, death, and very much alone. I found myself, as I so often do these days, feeling my brokenness.
    And sitting, holding my hands, was my friend Mary, smiling, surrounded by her fellow witnesses in the Great Cloud.
    Speaking softly, she said, "Listen to the Voice within, follow your heart, it knows the way. Remember you are a Story Catcher."
    I opened my eyes and began crying, tears pouring held back for months--over the deaths of street people, the threats, threatening letters, emails, phone calls, fears of health and safety--remembering I am to be "all things to all humans," holding the pain of each person within, catching their stories, holdling those stories as a sacred trust, and as safe place to lay them. I remember simply sitting on the streets, listening, handing out food, and giving recognition. After I am gone, I pray you will notice the people and take my place, or better yet, join me now.

Looking On the Heart!

But the Lord looks on the heart! (Samuel 16:7)

Galatians 3:26: For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

The essence of Christian spirituality is a heart that is wide open to every person in the world. It is inclusive, crossing various boundaries and tribes, not erecting barriers. It goes so deep that without losing what is distinctive, it becomes universal.

We are always labeling one another into “tribes”—middle class, poor, homeless, black, white, red, some sixty-eight terms of gender reality, Democrat, Republican, and so it goes.

I become frozen when people try to stereotype me. I am angry because stereotypes have been used to harm me, and try to kill me all of my life. I choose not to fit into any tribe, to be “all things, to all humanity.”. In the words of Fr. Henri Nouwen:

Yet Nothing Changes (Dan)

Matthew 25:31-46
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Judgment of the Nations

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

A Night of Celebration

"You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures." Elizabeth Gilbert

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
(Pema Chödrön)

The most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” (Pema Chödrön)

John 14:23-29 NRSV ue
23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

Queering Is For Everyone!

John 13:34-35 NRSV eu

"You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come." 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

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"What are we looking for when we are looking for queers?" asks theologian Lisa Isherwood, "I am looking for a wider picture of the incarnation? The word queer is all about expanding boundaries going over the edges, seeing things not as the world sees them, Christains are called to be in the world, but not of the world!"

In the majority of our states (including the great state of California, outside our urban areas), in the most significant swath of our country, except cities, the suicide rate among young people is exceptionally very, very high, especially for LGBTQ people. It is tragic. It is blasphemous, actually; it's a sin against whatever we consider Divine, because these young people are carriers of the Divine!

Pilgrimage Towards Galilee!
Outside the Camp!

"We must go outside to him, then outside the camp, bearing the abuse experienced"(Hebrews 13:10), Net Version.

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Heraclitus said, "You cannot step into the same river twice." The river is constantly changing, and so are we and our government.

Recently, Governor Gavin Newsom has once again called on local officials to eradicate homeless encampments: "It is time to take back the streets. It's time to take back the sidewalks."

Being a Shepherd on the Road of Sorrow with "Speed"!

John 10:27-30 in the NET Bible states: "My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand. The Father and I are one."

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"Boys like me, with no jobs, no classes to attend, and nowhere else to go, hung out on Polk Street. Or, if we needed some quick cash, we could go down on Market Street in front of Flagg Brothers Shoes, where the daddies drove by.

The city was filled with boys like me. Boys from all over, all colors, all backgrounds. We'd come to rock and roll, we'd come to be gay, we'd come to join the revolution (Cleve Jones)!

Caring and Mutuality--A Surrendering into Powerlessness!

(Jake/Justine)
John 10:28-30

"My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they know me. I give them eternal live and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. .My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand. The Father and I are one."
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Christianity shaped and formed me, beginning at birth and in creating my landscape. God called me to pastoral ministry within my mother's womb. Through my experience of God's call into ministry, seven years of education, and ordination, I spent fifteen years in the established church.

And then I was banished, labeled "intrinsically evil," shoved outside the community of believers, driven out of my home state. Christianity became disgusting, and I would throw up when, on the street, I was approached by a "good Christian", well dressed, with a cute smile--reminding me that if I took the hook of "accepting Jesus,", he would forgive my sins, and save me from my sins of "homosexuality", and being a "hustler"!

Even though I hated Christianity, I loved Christ and continued to read Scripture, in sorrow over my loss of the Church. It was in meeting Christians outside the Church who loved me and evangelized me in their love. They taught me that sorrow, the Cross, leads to the Risen Christ, and in loving me and evangelizing me, I came to resurrection. To evangelize is to find ministry of the Spirit in sorrow—sharing in the spirit of the God known for love.

Look to What's Little!

John 21:15-22:
15 Then, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?”[ac] He replied,[ad]“ Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”[ae] Jesus[af] told him, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Jesus[ag] said[ah] a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus[aj] told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Jesus[ak] said[al] a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed[am] that Jesus[an] asked[ao] him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said,[ap] “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus[aq] replied,[ar] “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the solemn truth,[as] when you were young, you tied your clothes around you[at] and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up[au] and bring you where you do not want to go.” 19 (Now Jesus[av] said this to indicate clearly by what kind of death Peter[aw] was going to glorify God.)[ax] After he said this, Jesus told Peter,[ay] “Follow me.”

Road Map To Reality!

"Blessed Carlos Acutis"
"Blessed of the Street Ghostman!"

John 21:15-19

15 Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John,[ab] do you love me more than these do?”[ac] He replied,[ad] “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”[ae] Jesus[af] told him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Jesus[ag] said[ah] a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied,[ai] “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus[aj] told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Jesus[ak] said[al] a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed[am] that Jesus[an] asked[ao] him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said,[ap] “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus[aq] replied,[ar] “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the solemn truth,[as] when you were young, you tied your clothes around you[at] and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up[au] and bring you where you do not want to go.”

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We live in a world of the "feel good" type of reality, where the goal of life is to be happy. This type of reality began to develop in the 1700s. The transcendent was removed in development, and a rational approach became the norm. Several months ago, when I called Betterhelp.com, I asked for a referral to a counselor who was spiritual in their approach, and the response was, " All of our counselors take the rational approach. " Sad, very sad!

Most Psycho therapy seeks to make people feel good, always seeking perfection. My beginning in treatment when I was young had one goal, according to one therapist, to move away from my "homosexuality" into a "happy life of being straight. And I can say the same thing about most religions as well--pouring guilt on people! It was only until I found one who looked at me and said, "You are ok, I simply want to listen! And Dr. Anderson listened for my first ten years in San Francisco, and I found a road map to reality! I hung onto a "spiritual ledge", usually with one finger, which gave me hope then and now! In his listening, I found the living reality of Jesus of Nazareth. I found the reality of my humanness, good and bad, and that a fulfilling life is coming to live as one who knows one's failures and successes, and in so doing, finds contentment. I owe Dr. Anderson my evangelism of listening, for he was a true evangelist of listening. Evangelism meets people where they are, simply being Christ to them, and letting them find their spirituality that sustains them on their journey. I found a road map to reality!

Remembering Pope Francis: The Good Shepherd!

John 10:11ff (Net Version).

11 “I am the good [y] shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life [z] for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and runs away. [ac] So the wolf attacks [ad] the sheep and scatters them.. .”I am the good shepherd. I never abandon my sheep, and I lay down my life for my sheep.
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I hold the utmost respect for Pope Francis, one of the five contemporaries of our time, whom I hold with the highest respect! He exemplified one who tried to follow his call as the Good Shepherd to the best of his ability. I wear the copy of his cross above, for being a Good Shepherd is the highest calling of all of us!

I have on my desk a statue and a necklace worn often of "Mary the Untyer of Knots," whom Francis revered, which brings me comfort! Pope Francis set an example of ministry that embraces all of one's life; there is no retirement until death!

Reimaging the Resurrection!

(Holy Communion and the Street)

John 20:1-20
New English Translation
The Resurrection

20 Now very early on the first day of the week, [a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene [b] came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. [c] 2 So she went running [d] to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. [e] 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter [f] and reached the tomb first. [g] 5 He bent down [h] and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there,[i] but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw [j] the strips of linen cloth lying there, 7 and the face cloth,[k] which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself.[l] 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed.[m] 9 (For they did not yet understand[n] the scripture that Jesus[o] must rise from the dead.) [p]

The Continuing Crucifixion of Jesus in the Trans, Undocumented Migrants, and Homeless!

John 18:17-18-Net Version

"So they took Jesus, 17 and carrying his own cross[fr] he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull”[fs] (called in Aramaic[ft] Golgotha).[fu] 18 There they[fv] crucified[fw] him along with two others,[fx] one on each side, with Jesus in the middle!"

The most effective way to unite people is to give them a good enemy.

The film Wizard speaks to our current political situation. In the film, protagonist Elphaba—despised and feared by her family and peers alike for the green hue of her skin—seeks the counsel of the 'the great and terrible' Wizard of Ox when she learns of animals' disenfranchisement. Rather than helping Elphaba protect animals' rights, the Wizard reveals himself behind the campaign against them.

Elphaba also discovers that the Wizard has no political powers but lies and propaganda, and she becomes an enemy of Oz. Dripping with bloodlust, the community chases her out of town.

The tragedy of Good Friday is that the tale of scapegoating and condemning innocents continues to be played out every day!

In the 2024 national elections, Transgender Americans, undocumented migrants, and homeless individuals fit the bill of real good enemies to unite against.

For all the talk and progress here in San Francisco, our Transister Jamie reminds us of how much prejudice trans, especially the homeless, face. Difficulty in getting medical treatment, difficulty in being accepted socially. Our Governor talks out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to trans athletes.

Reckoning with Betrayal!

"Jesus replied, “You have said it yourself."

Matthew 26:14-25 Net Version

The Plan to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me to betray him into your hands?” So they set out 30 silver coins for him. 16 From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him.

A Saint In Sneakers!

(On April 27, Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized and declared a saint by Pope Francis!)

Saint Carlos Actis

"Everything fades away, anyway... What will make me truly beautiful in the eyes of God is only the way in which we loved him and how we loved our neighbors."
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Saint Carlos Acutis--born May 3, 1991, in London, England, and raised in Milan, Italy--died at 15 on October 2, 2006.

Carlo's brief but impactful life was marked by the unique combination of his devotion to the Holy Eucharist, "The Eucharist is the Highway to Heaven" (Carlos), and his extraordinary computer skills. He inspired many through his kindness, remarkable maturity, and use of presentations and websites to spread the Gospel.

Carlo's most notable achievement was creating a comprehensive online catalog of Eucharistic miracles worldwide. This project was a testament to his dedication to the Eucharist and his desire to share the miracles that reinforced his faith in the Eucharist's Real Presence. He is the patron saint of the Internet and Holy Eucharist!

Carlo's greatest witness came in his dying. One day, his nose began bleeding, and he was rushed to the hospital; the doctors discovered he had fast-acting leukemia. Sitting with his mom in his doctor's office, Carlo said bluntly, "Tell me the truth!" After the doctor explained about the disease, Carlo was told he had maybe a month to live, he never left the hospital.

Liturgy of the 'Street' Passion!

Luke 23:1-49
"And all those who knew Jesus stood at a distance" (23:49).

This detail in Luke haunts me and makes my hair stand up: "And all those who knew Jesus stood at a distance!" The friends, followers, and women have journeyed with him from Galilee--and now they can only helplessly watch him die.

There is a sense of powerlessness and shame with them, like it is with all of us who "stand at a distance" from the atrocities of our time. The gospel writer does not condemn the early witnesses, for sometimes, bearing witness is seeing and remembering the situation is itself a holy act.

And so it is that this Sunday, we will witness the "Liturgy of the 'Street' Passion"!

One young man in which I witnessed the "Liturgy of the Street Passion" over several years was"Bobby," who entered my life on Polk the first night at 15; he found himself "hustling."

Moment By Moment

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Moment by moment, I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment, I’ve lived from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Bearing Witness to the Sorrow of the Cross in the Broken Hearted!

(Ozarks of Missouri)!

Matthew 25:31-46
The Judgment

31 “When[a] the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All[b] the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Self Portrait of Jesus!

“Blessed are the poor,” he said. Jesus is poor, not in control, but marginal in his society. What good can come from Nazareth?

“Blessed are the gentle,” he said. Jesus does not break the bruised reed. He always cares for the little ones.

“Blessed are those who mourn,” he said. Jesus does not hide his grief but lets his tears flow when his friend dies and when he foresees the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem.

Third Sunday in Lent!

March 30, 2025
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"Living on the Borderlands of Life!"

Luke 15:1-3: Now all the tax collectors [a] and sinners were coming [b] to hear him. 2 But [c] the Pharisees [d] and the experts in the law [e] were complaining, [f] “This man welcomes [g] sinners and eats with them.”

Matthew 25:31-46 Net Version
The Judgment

31 “When [a] the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All [b] the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He [c] will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, [d] ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When [e] did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?

Third Sunday in Lent!

March 23, 2025
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"Jesus Goes To Hell!"
Isa. 55:1-9; I Corinthias 10:1-10; Luke 13:1-9

Holy Saturday is a remembrance of Jesus going to hell. Between the gruesome crucifixion on Good Friday Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday, Jesus does not rest. He goes to hell!

Tradition, through the Apostle's Creed, the oldest confession of faith, says: "We believe in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, buried, he descended into hell."

First Corinthians tells us that Jesus was not only raised from the dead but from the place where the ones who have died are jailed.

As we witness Jesus in hell, we witness the ravaging of death. Hell has been used for centuries as a means of control, contrary to the Scriptures.

One day, as I was visiting people on the street, a lady behind was passing out religious tracts, giving one to "Tim" from Christian's home, where he was abused and had the judgment of Jesus held over his head for years. H was queer, and he ran away at 16, and now at 21 hated religion, telling me, "My religion is "Satan."

The joke between him and me was, in his words, "You are an alien priest; you will be with me!" I always told him we would have a lot of fun!

He started yelling, screaming, and throwing his belongings around! As he calmed down, Tim, in my arms, I said: "Tim, you are in the only hell I know, here on Haight Street, in the judgment of people, and living on the streets. The day is coming when you will be in a better place!" I am in hell with you!"

=I know a lady scientist who had an eating disorder and used drugs, and one day, she attended AA, finding hope and allowing God to come into her life. She called the God she met "Hope," who had no judgment and loved her for who she was. Jesus was in hell with her, bringing her to a new life.

At the Corner of Polk and Pine-1994!

The Judgment—Matthew 25:33-46 Net Version

31 “When[a] the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All[b] the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He[c] will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him,[d] ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When[e] did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When[f] did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

"The Path of Solitude!"

March 16, 2025
Second Sunday in Lent!
Feast of the Transfiguration!

"I am the Chief of Sinners—no, I am the Chief of Sinners!
"Sean and River!"

Over the years, I have received offers of roommates and partners, and when I refuse, I am told how selfish I am!

Solitude is a practice of spirituality, following the practices of Julian of Norwich, St. Anthony, St. Columbo, and many others. It has enabled me to become more aware of God's presence. It is a way of life that has enabled me to embrace a service of love and give myself totally to service.

It has never been an easy life, but it fulfills me! My heart is full of compassion for others, but being compassionate without expectation of rewards is difficult.

I have struggled through the years with having individuals come and volunteer and suddenly walk away or with friends not wanting to meet me on Polk.

I have concluded that we all believe in compassion, but most people turn away when it comes to practicing it in its fullness. It is hard to fully enter the lives of others. I see this when they walk by the homeless and the poor; I have seen it when they have walked by me lying on the sidewalk after being beaten up; people walk by without seeing the other in front of them! I have witnessed marches for various political issues seeking the rights we are all entitled simply pass by people in need! Walking Zombies!

Responsibility

Lenten Study on Teachings of (Dietrich Bonhoeffer): Wednesday, March 12, 11:30 a.m. We will put the Zoom info up tomorrow evening!

"Responsibility!"
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due." (Proverbs 3:27.)

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"Those who act responsibly place their actions into the hands of God and live by God's grace and judgment" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

Our Haunted-ness!

"Corey!"
First Sunday In Lent!
March 9, 2025

Luke 4:1-3
New English Translation
The Temptation of Jesus

"4 Then [a] Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River [b] and was led by the Spirit [c] in [d] the wilderness, [e] 2 where for forty days he endured temptations [f] from the devil. He [g] ate nothing [h] during those days, and when they were completed, [i] he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If [j] you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” [k]

People, who live on the streets, the homeless, have haunted me all of my life. From the time I was six years old, driving late night through Sequoia National Park, seeing an old homeless woman walking up the road, and when I was seven walking across the street with a homeless person begging for money. They continue to haunt me as I walk out my door and see someone begging or mentally ill, out of their mind. They tear at my heart! As I walk up the street, sit in restaurants with friends, go to a movie, I am haunted by the woman sleeping in a corner, or the man in a wheel chair begging. I am haunted by every time the San Francisco Chronicle is opened and I see the Mayors of San Francisco, and San Jose persecute people sleeping on the streets in the name of haunted. I will be haunted on my death bed by the homeless who suffer so much, and I have been so lucky.

Haunting is both acute and generally haunted, but that haunting comes from the haunting of society. The United States is permanently haunted by the homeless, its massive population of poor, and the violence intertwined in its past, present, and future days.

Haunting-s aim is to wrong the wrongs, a confirmation that the rich and middle class hope to evade.

Our First Sunday of Lent the cross calls us to look at its “backside”, of the cross, the side that points us seeing the homeless from their perspective, not one of judgment, but one of love, and to work to end homelessness.

On this First Sunday of Lent I remember the words of Ta Nehie Contes “The street transforms every ordinary day into a series of quick questions and every incorrect answer risks a breakdown, shooting, or pregnancy. “

Faithful Friendship!

Nothing is comparable to a faithful friend, and no weight of silver or gold is worth more than the goodness of his fidelity. A faithful friend is a medicine for life and immortality; and those who fear the Lord will find one. He who fears God will have a similar good friendship, because his friend will be like him ( Sirach 6:15-17)

On a cold rainy night in the winter of 1998 walking by one of the Gay bookstores on Polk Street, I observed a young boy, around 15, Mexican descent bent over in tears. His name was Braille, an undocumented immigrant, crying, shared with me he had just been raped. He was afraid to go to the hospital, and so I brought him home, helped him clean up, made a bed on the floor, and he dosed off saying "Gracious", thus beginning a "faithful friendship" between both of us.

Through the three and a half years which followed Braille was in and out of my life weekly, sometimes daily. His dad had recently died, he was now at fifteen the bread winner for a family of five in Mexico, thinking he could make a ton of money to send home in San Francisco, being fifteen, and an undocumented immigrant he soon found out a different story.

Penuel: "Where Jacob Wrestled With An Angel!"

Ash Wednesday, 2025
March 5, 2025

"Repent And Believe the Gospel!"
Growing up in a rural Southern culture I learned very early that ashes improve our lives, not skimpy a dirty waste material of fire. Ashes enriches compost, melts ice, derring pests, a silver polish, and the list goes on an old.

​Alien Street Priest Journals

Praying for Courage!

Joy In the Morning!

Sixth Sunday of Easter!

Epilogue

Beauty in the Broken!

Dream Catchers!

Remembering Stephanie SalterPioneering Sports JournalistMost Importantly My Friend

Glory Begins With Mercy!

No one cares about crazy people!

Practicing the Resurrection-Seeing Mental Illness on the Street!

Questions! No Correct Answers?

International Transgender Day of Visibility:

Above the Chains!

Revenge Is A Terrible Vice!

Tears Before Surrendering and Healing!

"Blessed are the Merciful!"

"A Grace Filled Life"

The Mid Night I Fell in Love with the Whole World!

The Immigrants Creed

Happy Are Those Who Mourn, For They Shall Be Comforted!

The Immigrants Creed

The Poor In Spirit!

The Immigrants Creed

Choose Life!

Journal of An Alien Street Priest!

The Immigrants Creed

Walk With Jesus!

Journey into the Desert!

Peniel--"Where Jacob Wrestled With God!"

Groaning for 13 Billion Years!

Ministry on the Edge of Grace!

Heart, Hope, and Call!

How Long, O Lord!

"Miles To Go Before I Sleep"

Baptize the Flowers

From the Darkness Into the Light!

"Black Eye Peas and the Holy Mother of God!"

"Seeking the Common Good!"

Second Sunday in Advent-December 7, 2025

​Locating Our Lives in the Abundant Places of the Empire!

"The End Is the Beginning!"

The Changing God

"First Week of Celtic Advent!""Be Kind!"

Extragagent Seeking!

I Did It For Love

Forever Young!

"We Are All Crazy!"

Feast Day of Saint Carlo Acutis "God's Influencer!"

Kindness!

Sunday, October 5, 2025

October 1, 2025

Living in the Queer Wilderness!

Legacy of Charlie Kirk and Pluralism!

A Liberation Theology of the Cross-Queer White Perspective!

Hospitality--Radical Empathy!

Where Jacob Wrestled With God!

Surprise!

Questions That Haunt--The Journey of Religious Trauma!

When the Lord Passes By!

Holy Queer Vindication--Radical Empathy!

Falling Downward: A Spiritual Journey of Joy!

Welcoming the Stranger!

Any Persons Death Diminishes Us..!

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time!

In The Thin Spaces--Justin!

The Yoke of Freedom - The Story of Greg! 1998

A Small Speck in the Ocean of Life

Defying Gravity!

Give Them Something to Eat!

The Call of the Lone Wolf

Goslings In a Cage!

Our Awakening in the Spirit!

Broken Arrows!

Looking On the Heart!

Yet Nothing Changes (Dan)

A Night of Celebration

Queering Is For Everyone!

Pilgrimage Towards Galilee!Outside the Camp!

Being a Shepherd on the Road of Sorrow with "Speed"!

Alien Street Priest Journals

Remembering Stephanie Salter
Pioneering Sports Journalist
Most Importantly My Friend

Locating Our Lives in the Abundant Places of the Empire!

"First Week of Celtic Advent!"
"Be Kind!"

Pilgrimage Towards Galilee!
Outside the Camp!