the sun is bright, it is warm today
the walkways are wet with snowmelt
a breeze comes through the open window
and the voices of
robins
chattering,
with squirrels in the maple
the scent of wet cement reaches my nose
with an undertone of decay
autumn’s foliage,
disintegrating in the
light of day
Siddhartha Ulysses Gateaux, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1st, 1969) to French/American parents. A lifelong resident of South Minneapolis, Historian, Philosopher and Theologian and Poet, educated in the Benedictine tradition, master of Buddhism in the Zen-Sufi tradition, Buddha at Large, Co-Founder of the Zen Syndicate Intergalactic, Neighborhood Buddha and the People's History Project, teaching history of religion and providing spiritual direction.
First Reading – Deuteronomy 26:4-10 ©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
90(91):1-2,10-15 ©
Second Reading – Romans 10:8-13 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:4
The Gospel According to Luke 4:1-13 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
We are saved because God loves us, and there is nothing more to it. God loves us in the same way that God loves all creation. God’s love, which is utterly dependable, is the agent of our salvation, the catalyst and the cause.
First Reading – Deuteronomy 26:4-10 ©
The Creed of the Chosen People
Moses
said to the people: ‘The priest shall take the pannier from your hand and lay
it before the altar of the Lord your God. Then, in the sight of the Lord your
God, you must make this pronouncement:
‘“My
father was a wandering Aramaean. He went down into Egypt to find refuge there,
few in numbers; but there he became a nation, great, mighty, and strong. The
Egyptians ill-treated us, they gave us no peace and inflicted harsh slavery on
us. But we called on the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice
and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of
Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs
and wonders. He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and
honey flow. Here then I bring the first-fruits of the produce of the soil that
you, the Lord, have given me.”
‘You
must then lay them before the Lord your God, and bow down in the sight of the
Lord your God.’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
90(91):1-2,10-15 ©
Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.
He
who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says
to the Lord: ‘My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’
Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.
Upon
you no evil shall fall,
no plague approach where you dwell.
For
you has he commanded his angels,
to keep you in all your ways.
Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.
They
shall bear you upon their hands
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
On
the lion and the viper you will tread
and trample the young lion and the dragon.
Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.
His
love he set on me, so I will rescue him;
protect him for he knows my name.
When
he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you,’
I will save him in distress and give him
glory.
Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.
Second Reading – Romans 10:8-13 ©
The Creed of the Christian
Scripture
says: The word (that is the faith we proclaim) is very near to you, it is on
your lips and in your heart. If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be
saved. By believing from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with
your lips you are saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will
have no cause for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all
belong to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask his help, for everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:4
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Man
does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Gospel According to Luke 4:1-13 ©
The Temptation in the
Wilderness
Filled
with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through
the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time
he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If
you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus
replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’
Then
leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the
kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the
glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to
anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus
answered him, ‘Scripture says:
You
must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’
Then
he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If
you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for
scripture says:
He
will put his angels in charge of you to guard you, and again:
They
will hold you up on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’
But
Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:
You
must not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Having
exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the
appointed time.
The First Sunday of Lent (Year C)
Siddhartha Ulysses Gateaux, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1st, 1969) to French/American parents. A lifelong resident of South Minneapolis, Historian, Philosopher and Theologian and Poet, educated in the Benedictine tradition, master of Buddhism in the Zen-Sufi tradition, Buddha at Large, Co-Founder of the Zen Syndicate Intergalactic, Neighborhood Buddha and the People's History Project, teaching history of religion and providing spiritual direction.
First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17
Second Reading – 2 Corinthians
5:20-6:2 ©
Gospel Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14
Alternative
Acclamation Psalm 94:8
The
Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 – 6, 16 - 18
(NJB)
Jesus
revealed the truth of it, and entrusted we who follow the way with the
task of keeping the truth before us…always, and sharing it.
First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©
Let
Your Hearts Be Broken, Not Your Garments Torn
‘Now,
now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting,
weeping, mourning.’
Let
your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and
ready to relent.
Who
knows if he will not turn again, will not relent, will not leave a blessing as
he passes, oblation and libation for the Lord your God?
Sound
the trumpet in Zion!
Order
a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, call the people together, summon the
community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the infants at the
breast.
Let
the bridegroom leave his bedroom and the bride her alcove.
Between
vestibule and altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, lament.
Let
them say, ‘Spare your people, Lord!
Do
not make your heritage a thing of shame, a byword for the nations.
Why
should it be said among the nations, “Where is their God?”’
Then
the Lord, jealous on behalf of his land, took pity on his people.
Responsorial
Psalm - Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17
Our
God comes and will not be silent!
Devouring
fire precedes him,
it
rages strongly around him.
He
calls to the heavens above
and
to the earth to judge his people:
“Gather
my loyal ones to me,
those
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
The
heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for
God himself is the judge.
Were
I hungry, I would not tell you,
for
mine is the world and all that fills it.
Do
I eat the flesh of bulls
or
drink the blood of he-goats?
Offer
praise as your sacrifice to God;
fulfill
your vows to the Most High.
You
hate discipline;
you
cast my words behind you!
Second
Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ©
Be
Reconciled to God
We
are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and
the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake
God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness
of God. As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace
of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have
listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the
favourable time; this is the day of salvation.
Gospel
Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
A
pure heart create for me, O God, and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Alternative Acclamation Psalm 94:8
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Harden
not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 –
6, 16 - 18
Your
Father Who Sees All that is Done in Secret Will Reward You
Jesus
said to his disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to
attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father
in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is
what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s
admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give
alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving
must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward
you.
‘And
when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers
standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them;
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your
private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will
reward you.
‘When
you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces
to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their
reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no
one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in
secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’
Ash Wednesday (Year C), A Holy Day of Obligation
Siddhartha Ulysses Gateaux, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1st, 1969) to French/American parents. A lifelong resident of South Minneapolis, Historian, Philosopher and Theologian and Poet, educated in the Benedictine tradition, master of Buddhism in the Zen-Sufi tradition, Buddha at Large, Co-Founder of the Zen Syndicate Intergalactic, Neighborhood Buddha and the People's History Project, teaching history of religion and providing spiritual direction.
Brenda
Ueland lived most of her life in Minneapolis, the city where I grew up. She
wrote and she taught writing and lived most of her life within a mile or two of
where I have lived most of mine…and though we were contemporaries, for a time,
I never met her.
I was still in my teens when she died, and I was well into my forties before I knew who she was.
From the moment I began to read her book: If You Want to Write I knew that I had found a mentor whose simple prose and honesty could guide me in the maturation of my own work.
Brenda wrote as a columnist for local newspapers and magazines, as well as national publications like Harper’s, she taught writing at the YWCA and published, among other things, a memoir about her life growing up in Minneapolis, a book that bears the title: Me.
She was born in Minneapolis at the end of the nineteenth century; she spent her twenties in New York City where she was connected to various movements in the arts, literature and politics. She was a proto-feminist and a revolutionary thinker. She came to all of that with a simple self-assuredness that was the defining characteristic of her public persona, and which I believe was a true expression of her authentic self…her own self, which she though of as her muse.
Brenda Ueland is a hero to me.
As a teacher of writing, she provided (and continues to provide) simple and profound guidance to authors and poets.
She taught her students to find their own voice and write from there.
Brenda encouraged her students to be themselves, to tell their stories with the written word as if they were speaking to their closest friend, to shout when they are shouting, to whisper in the time of whispering.
She guided them to their true-selves, helping them to find the muse within themselves so that they might write with authenticity…reminding her students that the reader will know if they are faking.
Brenda encouraged people to listen to themselves, as deeply and as interestedly as they might listen to any other, to become as familiar with the sound of their own voices as they are with the image of themselves they see in a mirror.
Her book on writing had been out of print for nearly forty years until; a few years after her death in the 1980’s, it went back into production and became a best seller.
Like Brenda, the book she wrote was ahead of its time, and is the best treatise on writing I have ever been assigned.
Siddhartha Ulysses Gateaux, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1st, 1969) to French/American parents. A lifelong resident of South Minneapolis, Historian, Philosopher and Theologian and Poet, educated in the Benedictine tradition, master of Buddhism in the Zen-Sufi tradition, Buddha at Large, Co-Founder of the Zen Syndicate Intergalactic, Neighborhood Buddha and the People's History Project, teaching history of religion and providing spiritual direction.
irst Reading – Ecclesiasticus 27:5-8 ©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
91(92):2-3,13-16 ©
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians
15:54-58 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Acts 16:14
Alternative Acclamation – Philadelphians
2:15-16
The Gospel According to Luke – 6:39-45
©
(NJB)
Listen!
We cast our words like seeds which bear fruit; they are the product of our thoughts, reflecting what is in our hearts. Even when we try to use our words to conceal our feelings, they tell the story without our consent. The truth will out, as the bard has said, like fractal geometry, the pattern will carries on.
The things we say matter as much as the things we do. Speech is action, in fact, our words are deeds; they have the power to move mountains. How you speak matters as much as what you say.
Be mindful.
Discretion is the hallmark of wisdom, and circumspection is its ally.
Consider the wisdom of the psalmist.
It is good to give thanks to the creator, and mindful of God’s enduring mercy.
God is merciful to everyone: both to those who have God’s name on their lips, as well as to those who speak no word of God at all, the divine spirit is merciful even to those who curse God.
God loves each and every one of us, both in our humility and in our folly, God cares for the wise and the ignorant alike; God loves us all.
If you sing praises to God in recognition of all God’s works, and give thanks for them as the psalmist does, know this; among God’s works are all of those with whom we quarrel. God does not have any favorite children, neither does God love any one person, tribe or nations above another.
When you are reaping the rewards of the blessed, it is not because you have been blessed. There is no guarantee that that the just will flourish, and no guarantee that the unjust will perish. God does not interfere in our lives; the divine spirit allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.
Though God does not intervene in the course of human events, God does promise to right all wrongs, to do so with justice in one hand and mercy in the other.
Divine correction comes with love, it is never to the detriment of anyone.
The works of the wicked will pass away, but the wicked themselves (by that I mean all of us—HUMANITY writ large) we will be reborn as servants of God; as brothers and sisters and members of the divine host.
No one is lost, not a single one of us.
Know this!
Sin is not the cause of death. The death of our bodies is a part of God’s plan, and God is its author. God made us mortal and death is a natural part of life. Do not fear death for it is not the end of the self, fear of death is a function of the lack of faith.
Consider the teaching of the apostle, who tells us that the law is the cause of sin.
He is wrong.
It is not the law, such as it is, that causes us to sin…it is desire. We sin because we are broken, we sin because we fear.
Though we cannot see into the next world, we feel it all around us. We know the next world is there; in our hearts we know that we were made for it, and we continue into it according to the divine will…everyone continues.
The death of our bodies is not the death of ourselves, there is no finality in it, Death is a passage shrouded in mist, we pierce it like veil, traverse the way and find ourselves renewed.
Remember this.
God hears you, God sees you, God feels you, God is on the journey with you.
Having set aside fear, take joy in the work that is in front of you, content in the purpose that has been set before you, bearing witness to the reality of divine love.
If the service you give the world, is not a service to your sisters and brothers, to the widow and the orphan or to the stranger among you, then it is not God’s work you are doing; it is an exercise in vanity.
God’s work is always done in the service of the living.
Consider the gospel reading for today, and know this: the blind can lead the blind, and often do; this is what we do here on earth…we are all walking in the dark. Therefore, be humble, the truth eludes us all, teacher and disciple alike.
None of us are the equal to Jesus the Messiah, to Moses the Lawgiver, to Mohammed the Prophet, none of us are equal to Gautama the enlightened one. Our stories cannot match theirs. We are ordinary women and men, while they are figures of myth and the archetypes we aspire to, our stories will never equal theirs, and we are not meant to live up to their epic example.
Their stories are meant to lead us, we are meant to hear their call; though all of us will fail at some point or another, and most of will fail many times over. Some of us will fail daily throughout the course of our lives, but that does not mean we are meant to stop trying,
Be mindful.
Do not shun the hypocrite as much as your own hypocrisy.
If it falls to you to correct your sisters or brothers, do so with a spirit of love and humility, do it with full cognizance of your own errors.
In today’s gospel the authors of Luke recalls the teaching of Ecclesiasticus, saying that our words go out from us like seeds, and return bearing fruit.
Our words are the product of our thoughts, they reflect what is in our hearts. Even when we try to use our words to conceal our hearts, they tell the tale nonetheless.
The truth will out; like fractal geometry, the pattern of our words, both what we hoped they would reveal and what we hoped they would conceal, these patterns will carry forward.
Discretion is the hallmark of wisdom, and circumspection, is its ally, how you speak matters just as much as much as what you say.
First Reading – Ecclesiasticus 27:5-8 ©
The Test Of a Man is in His Conversation
In
a shaken sieve the rubbish is left behind, so too the defects of a man appear
in his talk.
The
kiln tests the work of the potter, the test of a man is in his conversation.
The
orchard where a tree grows is judged on the quality of its fruit, similarly a
man’s words betray what he feels.
Do
not praise a man before he has spoken, since this is the test of men.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
91(92):2-3,13-16 ©
It is good to give you thanks, O
Lord.
It
is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
to
proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night.
It is good to give you thanks, O
Lord.
The
just will flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.
It is good to give you thanks, O
Lord.
Planted
in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,
still
bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to
proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.
It is good to give you thanks, O
Lord.
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians
15:54-58 ©
Death is Swallowed Up in Victory
When
this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature
has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is
swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your
sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So
let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Never
give in then, my dear brothers, never admit defeat; keep on working at the
Lord’s work always, knowing that, in the Lord, you cannot be labouring in vain.
Gospel Acclamation – Acts 16:14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open
our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation – Philadelphians
2:15-16
Alleluia, alleluia!
You
will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word
of life.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke – 6:39-45
©
Can the Blind Lead the Blind?
Jesus
told a parable to his disciples: ‘Can one blind man guide another? Surely both
will fall into a pit? The disciple is not superior to his teacher; the fully
trained disciple will always be like his teacher. Why do you observe the
splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can
you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your
eye,” when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out
of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the
splinter that is in your brother’s eye.
‘There
is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that
produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do
not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws
what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is
bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words flow out of what fills his
heart.’
The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Year C)
Siddhartha Ulysses Gateaux, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1st, 1969) to French/American parents. A lifelong resident of South Minneapolis, Historian, Philosopher and Theologian and Poet, educated in the Benedictine tradition, master of Buddhism in the Zen-Sufi tradition, Buddha at Large, Co-Founder of the Zen Syndicate Intergalactic, Neighborhood Buddha and the People's History Project, teaching history of religion and providing spiritual direction.