The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
God, Justice and Concern for the “Unregarded”
03/28/2023 |
Rabbi Heschel cautions that it is not enough to have a regard for the Ground of
Being. We must also have “concern for the unregarded.” This is another way of saying, “love your neighbor as yourself” and “love God with your whole mind and body and soul.” |
We are to be the hands of the divine compassion and it is our conscience that urges us. We respond to a divine challenge, what Heschel calls a “challenging transcendence,” to act out of love and concern for other beings. | |
Thus God is not only the ground of being but the ground of conscience that challenges us to be bigger and more aware and more generous and more steadfast in our commitment. “Conscience is more to be obeyed than authority imposed from the outside” Aquinas tells us. Being dictates our actions. Whether we are truthful and facing the truths of human suffering and searching for the causes—and the cures—to human suffering and the suffering of other beings has to do with having a lively and grounded conscience. |
“If You Are Neutral in Situations of Injustice, You Have Chosen the Side of the Oppressor.” Desmond Tutu quote on protestor’s sign at Black Lives
Matter protest, Manchester, England, 2020. Photo by Sushil Nash on Unsplash | If we are interdependent with all beings, then surely The Ground of Being challenges us to act on behalf of other beings by our caring deeply and by working fiercely for justice and compassion. Eckhart declares that “God is as it were justice itself” and |
“God and justice are completely one.” Furthermore, “compassion means justice” since the prophets of Israel make so clear that compassion and justice are interchangeable. “Compassion is where peace and justice kiss,” declares Eckhart. Eckhart applies this teaching to our practical work in the world when he observes that “for the just person as such to act justly is to live; indeed, justice is her life, her being alive, her being insofar as she is just.” |
This same teaching, that God is Justice, is found in Thomas Aquinas who says “to the extent that the just love justice, they will take pleasure in doing just deeds….No one will call that person just who does not rejoice in doing just deeds.” | “Climate Justice Now!” Art by Nissa Tzun, commissioned by
Vince Reinhart, portraying climate heroes Greta Thunberg, Quanna Chasing Horse Potts, and Isra Hirsi. On Flickr. |
And Julian of Norwich instructs us that “the working of compassion keeps us in love,” and justice is integral to compassion for “God is Justice.” |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God, pp. 50f. And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas, pp. 111, 117-120. And Fox, Julian of Norwich:
Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond, p. 103. Banner Image: Refugee camp on the Colombia-Venezuelan border. Photo by Mussi Katz on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation
Do you rejoice in doing just
deeds? Don’t you wish everybody did? How true is it that “peace and justice kiss”? |
| 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.
|
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and
Useful Names for God …Including the Unnameable God
Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin
where true spirituality begins: from experience.
“This book is timely, important and admirably brief; it is also open ended—there are always more names to come, and none can exhaust God’s nature.” -Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, author of Science Set Free and The Presence of the Past | |
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas:
Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action. Foreword by Ilia Delio. “What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.” –Caroline Myss, author
of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and
Beyond Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her
book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book. “What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of
Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.” –Caroline Myss Now also available as an audiobook HERE. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Karen Tate interviews Matthew on his latest book Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality to discuss religious vs. spiritual, the nature of evil and angels,
compassion vs pity, and wisdom vs knowledge. On Voices of the Sacred Feminine with Karen Tate, Wednesday, March 29, 11:00am PT. Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox online as he offers a Worship Service Inspirational Message - “Otto Rank, and Pere Chenu: Two 'Real, Raw and Radiant' Guides calling us to Deep Freedom” for
Brentwood Inspired Living Center, Sunday, April 16, 10:00 am PT. Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “Creativity – Where the Divine and the Human Meet” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, April 20, 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. | |
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
|
|
|
|
