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When Joy Affects History and Cosmology Initiates Joy

05/12/2023

We are talking about Joy in the context of Evil and its remedies, one of which, in Rabbi Heschel’s understanding, is holiness.

But holiness, I maintain, has something to do with Joy (and courage and generosity and justice-making) at this time in history.  Joy is considered a “fruit of the spirit” after all and especially the fruit of our work including work for justice, healing and 

Trailer of Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story, reflecting on his prophetic life and legacy of speaking out against evil. Journey Films

compassion as we considered in yesterday’s DM.

We are moved to joy by the good work of others, work of courage and truth-telling for example that we saw from E. Jean Carroll.

Père Chenu, the great historian and theologian with whom I had the privilege of studying in 1968, writes about the impact that St. Francis of Assisi had on history by way of joy in his classic book, Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century.  In that moment, it was “thanks to the spread of culture and thanks even more to a sensational apostolic awakening,” that people “became collectively aware of their environment and sought to understand it.” 

St. Francis of Assisi changed the world as a man who lived the Gospel in a radical way. Aleteia – Spirituality and Inspiration

Francis, of course, was part of that “sensational” evangelical awakening—a return to the Gospels.  In fact, Chenu tells us, 

...the joy of St Francis had more influence than King John’s oath of fealty to the   

pope, not only upon the prosperity of the church but also upon men’s progress in the knowledge of Christ.*

This statement cannot be over exaggerated.  One person’s joy had a greater historical impact than pope’s and king’s peace treaties!  Spirit works at the grassroots and not just among the potentates.  Joy can burst in from all over and capture peoples’ attention.

Speaking of bursting in from all over, Joy can also come to us from the stars, from the “heavens,” from Father Sky, from the cosmos. 

Cosmogenesis brings on Joy because awe and wonder bring on Joy. Spirit often works overtime awakening new directions for humanity because of new insights into Nature and the Cosmos that excite and incite humans to new visions–consider the prophet Joel: 

The PaGaian Breath Meditation emerges out of the practice of PaGaian Cosmology, a sense of the whole Earth in every moment, and yet is known intimately in the self. By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

I will pour out my spirit upon all humankind, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

*M. D. Chenu, Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century, p. xvii.

See Matthew Fox, Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.  

And Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.

Banner Image: Oxfam’s performance art at Durban Climate Conference, South Africa, illustrates the devastating impact of climate change on the world’s poorest people. Photo by Oxfam International on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation
 

Do you know other historical examples besides St. Francis where Joy changed history?  And where a new view of nature and the cosmos awakened a people and birthed a renaissance?

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Recommended Reading

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality

Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him.  He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French).  He  gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way. 
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).

Upcoming Events

Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The Physics of Angels – Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, May 18, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. 

Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The A.W.E. Project – Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, June 15, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE.

Creation Spirituality Conversations

Phil Goldberg of Spirit Matters: Conversations on Contemporary Spirituality interviews Matthew Fox on Opening to Original Blessing. To listen to their conversation, click HERE

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