The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
Week of 11/14-19: On Praise, Air, Sacred Stories, and Festivals |
Each Sunday we offer a brief summary of the meditations from the previous week as a kind of “index” inviting you to return to a previous meditation which may call to you. |
November 14, 2022. Peter Gabel: His Writings, Part
III.
Peter Gabel, cofounder of Tikkun magazine, wrote about politics, justice, compassion, and reinventing his legal profession.. He urged us to embrace spiritual activism and to "think with our hearts." He called for a "respiritualization of every part of our world." His loving and wise presence will be missed in the world. | |
November 15, 2022. In Praise of Praise.
Quoting various mystics and poets, we explore the importance of praise, which is part of all faith traditions and which, along with joy, helps us get through the challenging times. We are reminded that praise is intrinsic to the Via Positiva. |
November 16, 2022. Let Us Praise the Air.
In this meditation, we are reminded that Air is sacred and it is equated with breath and spirit. One of the creation stories of Genesis tells us that Creator breathed the breath
of life into the first humans. His/Her breath literally enlivened us. In addition, when we breathe in, we are inhaling particles of everyone who ever lived. We are breathing in the breath of our ancestors. Talk about interconnectedness! | | | |
November 17, 2022. Let Us Praise the Air, Part II.
Scientists tell us that the air and Earth's
atmosphere is very complex and also very fragile. In fact, “we live inside a precariously thin shell of air, far less thick proportionally than the skin on an apple.” We are cautioned that the opposite of praising air is taking it for granted, polluting it, poisoning it, killing it. Let's be grateful for our air and keep it sacred so that we all may live. |
"The Thin Blue Line" is a photo taken from the International Space Station. Astronauts, when interviewed by Frank White, marvel at the "striking thinness of the atmosphere." Photo by NASA - NASA Image of the Day, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. |
November 18, 2022. A Festival of Faiths: Sacred Stories.
Matthew Fox shares about his experiences at the yearly Festival of Faiths, held in Louisville, Kentucky. The title this year was “Sacred Stories: Contemplation and Connection.” Matthew asked that the giant
puppets representing Earth, Air, Fire, and Water--and created by UCS graduate Mary Plaster--be on the stage with him during the morning rituals that he led. Matthew was also heartened by the great energy of younger activists dedicated to social justice. They beautifully exemplify the phrase "Hope is a verb with the sleeves rolled up." |
Matthew Fox onstage at the Festival of Faiths with the Four Element puppet family. Photo by Douglass Beechwood, used with permission. To see a recording of Matthew’s presentation on
spiritual practices, click HERE. |
November 19, 2022. Yeats on
Celebration, Praise, and Festivity.
We reflect on these beautiful words from Yeats: We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blessed by everything
Everything we
look upon is blessed. We also reflect on the many opportunities we have to celebrate through festivities. Truly this is all about joy and Original Blessing. |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian
world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society Visionary theologian and
best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the new Physics | |
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our
interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register | |
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Matthew Fox draws on a rich legacy of great mystics and philosophers East and West in laying out a profound spirituality of work in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work. Thomas Aquinas said, "To live well is to work well," and in this
bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony--a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic "soul work.” In The Reinvention of Work, Matthew Fox asks why of all the beings in the universe only the human being is out of work. He brings together the teachings of Eastern and Western mystics to propose a new paradigm for exploring the depths of the meaning
of work and the redefining of work. Citing Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas, Hildegard von Bingen, the Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, Studs Terkel, and progressive economists, Fox explores the concept of work and how it can be healthier socially, environmentally, and spiritually. All spiritual teachers agree that joy is the first purpose of work. Most people put their stamp on history by their work. Work is what we spend so much time and effort preparing for (education),
recovering from (weekends and vacations) and engaged in. Surely work lies at the heart of our spiritual lives and what we choose to leave behind. Fox recounts the stories of people who reinvent themselves through work, who are willing to sacrifice position and possessions to find a vocation that matters, like the man who gives up a high-paying position to become a fireman and who is ecstatic about the meaning his decision brings to his life and others. “A splendidly illuminated path to
meaning.” –Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Upcoming Events See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations.
Thursday, December 15, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT Register HERE. |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
