The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Thoughts on All Saints' Day &
All Souls' Day11/02/2023 |
Today is All Saints' Day in the Christian tradition. Tomorrow, as you read it, will be All Souls' Day. |
Together they have lessons to teach us about our greatness and holiness as a species on the one hand; and about our relationship with ancestors who have gone before us, including their holiness and greatness, on the other. |
Ancestors honored with undying love: “All Saints’ Day at a cemetery in Gniezno, Poland – flowers and candles placed to honor deceased relatives (2017).” Wikimedia Commons. |
We can call this the communion of saints. Saints on earth and saints who have journeyed elsewhere. All Souls' Day
brings to mind the veil that is so thin at this endarkening time of year between the living and the deceased, between life and death. As the veil becomes more transparent and thinner, Spirit and spirits appear to be less invisible and more present among us. Today is a big day for me. It is the day I submit my just-finished Manuscript on Père Chenu to an editor, and after that to a publisher. I am struck by the synchronicity that I am completing the Manuscript on All Saints' Day and sending it on its way (no doubt more editing awaits me). |
“Marie-Dominique Chenu,” from biography in Backward View blog, 2/12/2012; photographer unknown | It is a much bigger project than I had envisioned, or even knew I had in me at my advanced age, but my love for Chenu and the richness of his writings kept me going and inspired
me. He named the Creation Spirituality tradition for me. |
I end the book on the topic of holiness, and how Chenu helped to redefine it for the 21st century by grounding spirit in history and in the “holiness of matter” (his words) and in the cosmos. About the latter, he reminds us that “the human person is entirely one with the cosmos.” What an important perspective this is in a time like ours when, on the one hand, the Webb Telescope is filling us with images of our 13.8-billion-year relationship to the cosmos; and on the other, images abound of our wars against one another and against Mother Earth herself. |
See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 40, 72-82, 97, 221, 276, 281, 285, 251, 311, 440, 451.
And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas.
Banner Image: “The Communion of Saints” by Fra Angelico, originally in the Church of San
Domenico (dedicated 1435), now in the National Gallery in London. Photo by Lawrence OP on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation What comes to mind for you on All Saints' Day? On All Souls' Day? Do you agree that being aware that the human person is entirely one with the cosmos matters and especially in times of war like ours? Why or why not? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
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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
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE Join Matthew Fox for two days of learning and practice as he speaks at the online Stanford Medicine Contemplation by Design Summit, Wednesday and Thursday, November 1-2, 2023. Wed 4:00pm-5:30pm PT – Lecture, Q&A – Grounding & Expanding, Psyche & Cosmos, Friendship with Self, Others, the Universe: Toward a “Cosmic Religion” (Einstein) and Human/Planetary Survival Thu 7:30am-8:15am – Guided Practice – Finding the Divine (the “I am”, the Christ, the Buddha Nature, the Tselem or Image of God) Within Thu 12:00pm-1:30pm – Workshop – Recovering the Sacred Masculine and the
Divine Feminine Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and seven other speakers at “Unleashing Otto Rank: The Creation of Modern Depth Therapy – An International Online Conference” hosted by the Existential-Humanistic Institute. Matthew Fox presents: “Otto Rank as a ‘New Personality Type’ Calling for the Unio Mystica: a Reunion of Psyche and Cosmos,” Saturday-Sunday, November 4-5, 9am – 1:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he delivers a Lecture and Q&A: “Towards a New Mythology: New & Ancient Names for God from Mystical Ancestors and Contemporary Science (& Fit for Some Atheists too)” as part of the Unitarian
Universalist of Berkeley Lawrence Lecture Series. Friday, November 10, 2023, 7:00pm-8:30pm PT. Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Hunger for Wholeness: What is Wholeness in the Midst of Crisis with Matthew Fox (Part 1) In the midst
of increased violence between Israel and Palestine, Ilia Delio and theologian Matthew Fox discuss the state of the world today and how to have courage in Part 1 of their conversation. Ilia and Matt discuss his mentor, Marie Dominique Chenu, the influence of liberation theology on social justice in the church today, and what can still be learned. |
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