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Week of 1/15-20/2024: MLK, the Black Madonna, Mary Oliver, & Christian
Right01/21/2024 |
January 15, 2024: On Martin Luther King Jr., His Movement & His Mentors
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had at least three mentors who inspired him to use civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means toward ending injustice. They were Jesus, Howard Thurman, and Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was inspired by the Sermon on the Mount and used the principles Jesus taught in order to nonviolently challenge the British Empire. Eventually, Gandhi’s use of nonviolence succeeded in toppling the English without firing a single shot. MLK took these
tools and inspired the masses to march, eventually resulting in both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Sixty years later, racism is rearing its head again and calling us to resist anew. |
January 16, 2024: The Black Madonna and MLK Jr.’s Holiday
Matthew draws the parallels between the Black Madonna and MLK: What the Black Madonna stands for is what MLK Jr. stood for: Justice in the face of injustice;
attention to the anawim, those without a voice; love, not hatred; peace, not war; forgiveness, not retribution. An appreciation of darkness and blackness. And so much more. She represents Africa, our place of origin. And, in the version of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, she appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous teenager. She helps us remember to fight for those without a voice.
January 17, 2024: Gifts Given: In Gratitude to Mary Oliver
On this fourth anniversary of Mary Oliver’s death, we celebrate her glorious poetry, what she called her
“prayer.” She is a prime example of a creation-centered mystic and artist, a lover and observer of life and nature’s great fecundity and holiness. When she spoke, shortly before her death, she had three pieces of advice to offer, especially to the young: “1. Pay attention. 2. Be astonished 3. Share your astonishment.” |
January 18, 2024: “Resounding Melody”: Hildegard, Mary Oliver, and Word Made Flesh
For Hildegard, words are alive, and take many forms. Word is music, a “resounding melody” inherent in every being and
found in every corner of the universe. She says, “God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.” One poem of Mary Oliver's begins this way: The spirit/ likes to dress up like this:/ ten fingers,/ ten toes,/ shoulders, and all the rest… Another poem, “At the River Clarion,” relates how divinity dwells in all things. It begins with this humble sentence, “I don’t know who God is exactly.” How refreshing, distinguishing her wonderfully from the
preachers and politicians who self-righteously claim to know God. January 19, 2024: Billionaire Buyer Turning Another American Newspaper
Rightward?
Matthew received distressing news from a friend in Baltimore that the Baltimore Sun had been bought by a local right-wing activist billionaire. This friend and her mother both had articles published in the Sun. She knew reporters and photographers for the paper, and they'd written her mother's obituary and her father's epitaph. She was "sick at heart" that
this "187-year-old newspaper" would turn into a far-rightwing "echo of Fox News." Fox News is, of course, the same corporation which was fined almost $800 million for having spread manifold lies about the 2020 election. |
January 20, 2024: The Christian Right & Thomas Merton on American Idolatry
We reflect on the rise of billionaire media moguls with their agendas for a post-democracy America and
evangelical voters' idolatry of a certain Republican frontrunner. Journalist Amanda Marcotte says, That Iowa evangelicals turned out to back Trump isn’t a betrayal of their values. It reveals the values that always fueled their movement: values of racism and sexism. Meanwhile, in a current New York Times article entitled “The Deification of Donald Trump,” we learn that Trump is called “the chosen one” and depicted as Moses parting the Red Sea in the “God
Made Trump” video, which is part of his presidential campaign.* The late Catholic monk Thomas Merton had words for what we are seeing today: Religion of “half religious people” constitutes “the greatest orgy of idolatry the world has ever known, and it is not generally thought by believers that idolatry is the greatest and fundamental sin.” |
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The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an
ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael
Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God |
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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 |
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical,
cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "This delicious book for children of all ages celebrates joy as the essential truth of
reality." - Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope and Radical Regeneration "I absolutely LOVED reading this beautiful, creative, stirring story." - Robert Holden, author of Happiness NOW! and Higher Purpose Receive a 20% discount when you buy this and one other book from Matthew Fox’s store! Use Promo Code 20% at checkout. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
SPECIAL EVENT: 5-DAY WORKSHOP IN AQUINAS’ HOMETOWN OF ORVIETO, ITALY
WITH MATTHEW FOX, MESHI CHAVEZ, AND CLAUDIA PICARDI
JUNE 9-14, 2024
LEARN MORE HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book “The Lotus & The Rose” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, February 15, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox’s episode on the Take Back Your Mind with Michael B. Beckwith
Podcast, Mysticism & The Modern Age, is available on the Take Back Your Mind YouTube channel. To listen, play at right. |
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