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Ash Wednesday, 2023: Should We All
Give Up Fox News for Lent? 02/23/2023 |
Today, the day I am writing this meditation, is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is an occasion, among other things, to meditate on death. Mortality. One’s
own. “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.” |
The forehead is the sixth chakra, the chakra signifying our minds and the need to purify our minds, that is, to use them for the
purpose for which they were intended. To seek Truth and to share it. Ash Wednesday ushers in Lent or a period of 40 days and 40 nights | Priests of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church officiate at an Ashes to Go station in Boca Raton, Florida, 2017. Wikimedia Commons. |
in
imitation of Jesus’ fasting in the desert for 40 days and nights following on his baptism as described in Mark’s gospel. It is a time like Ramadan in Islam or Yom Kippur in Judaism to take stock of one’s life, of one’s values, to ask: How
can I do better? How can I live out my values more authentically, more really in my work and relationships and daily life decisions? Accordingly, it is a time of practicing choosing detachment or letting go in order to deny our
ego for a period one or more of its incessant satisfactions in order to purify our choices in a fuller way. As children, we often gave up candy for 40 days or a program on television or going to the movies,
etc. Adults would give up smoking or drinking, etc. It reminds oneself that we are still in charge of our lives—we are capable of making choices. Sometimes they hurt a bit. |
A Lenten dinner of blackeyed peas and rice in solidarity with the nations suffering famine. Photo by Lilibenne on Flickr. | The image of the Cross is invoked to remind
Christians of what a drastic letting go and sacrifice Jesus underwent at the hands of the Roman empire whose values he rejected. This is why Lent is a preparation for Good Friday and for Easter, the Good News that sins
of |
empires that torture and kill and destroy do not have the last word. Speaking of empires, I find I have Rupert Murdoch on my mind this Ash Wednesday. After all, he holds sway over a vast and powerful media empire that delivers “news” to millions of viewers. He calls it “Fox News” and as we saw in yesterday’s DM, whether it wishes to or not, it is going through a certain public soul reflection at this
time. Maybe the rest of us would do well to give up Fox News for Lent this year while the truth and facts about it are rolling out. To be continued |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 333-358. And Fox, The Reinvention of Work. Banner Image: “Fox News: We Deceive/You Believe” Billboard banner of Change.org boycott of Fox News advertisers. Photo by Aaron Bassett on Flickr. Participate in the boycott HERE. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you propose spreading the word that giving up Fox News for Lent this year might be a very valuable act of purification? Including for its employees? How do you undergo the practice of purifying your sixth chakra at this time? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
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 | |
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of
Livelihood For Our Time 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.” “Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for a lecture and Q&A on “The Reinvention of Work – A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 16, 4:00-6:00 pm PT.
Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and Isa Gucciardi for a new Lecture & Q&A on “ Liberation and Salvation: Healing Teachings in Buddhism & Christianity” at Convergence Hosted by
Cameron Trimble, Tuesday, March 21, 4:00-6:00 pm PT Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Jung and Teilhard in Dialogue" to the Creation Spirituality Communities at their Global Kinship event in January 2023. | |
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