The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
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Eco-Martyr Sister Dot &
the Sacred Masculine 06/14/2024 |
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: 5/29/2019] Let us explore more fully the story of Sister Dot and her martyrdom on behalf of Mother Earth. At Sister Dot’s funeral one of the indigenous farmers she had served stood up and declared: “Sister Dot, we are not burying you; we are planting
you.” |
When she knew her life was in danger she was advised by many to leave the country but she refused to. She wrote: I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire
to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.” Among her astute teachings is that the death of the forest is the end of our lives. |
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It was my privilege to know Sister Dot since she came to my Master’s program to study Creation Spirituality. Family and friends reported that following her study of CS and returning to Brazil she began to talk about God as “Mother,” or as “Father/Mother,” and related more to the feminine side of God on her return to Brazil. They found her a more playful, passionate, creative Dorothy who had been hidden for a while under the weight of so many violent, sorrowful
experiences from her years of struggle in Brazil. Dot told her brothers that Creation Spirituality helped her to support her courage to live her vocation. She told her friend, Sister Barbara English, that being at ICCS was a tremendous moment for me, a highlight. It really helped me deepen in
relation to ecology, which I had embraced very much in my heart for years, even when I was in Arizona in the desert. The ICCS program, she testified, opened up another dimension of my faith.…It was a tremendous lift!* |
A “Dorothy doodle” from Dorothy Stang’s copy of Hildegard of Bingen’s writings. Used with permission. | She is a martyr who united the Sacred Masculine with the Divine Feminine living out a creation spirituality commitment. She has so much to teach us about art as meditation, joy, feminism, courage. Deep lessons we all need to learn and relearn. She was also a lover and student of Hildegard of Bingen. Indeed, next to her bed was a copy of the book Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen by Franciscan Sister Gabriel Uhlein. Sister Dot’s brother David |
was
so kind as to give me her book and it is marked up with pictures that demonstrate the fun she was having interacting with Hildegard in the book. Sister Dot, like Saint Hildegard, is living proof of the power of art as meditation to feed and nurture prophets and spiritual warriors. Art as meditation is the “way of
the prophets,” according to psychologist Claudio Naranjo. |
* Cited in Roseanne Murphy, Martyr of the Amazon: The Life of Sister Dorothy Stang (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007),
97.
See Gabriele Uhlein, Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen (preface by Matthew Fox).
Also see Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest.
Banner Image: Sister Dorothy Stang, Memorial, photo by Roberto de
Vasconcelos on Wikimedia Commons.
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See Matthew's original YouTube reflection on this topic HERE
(scroll to the bottom of the essay).
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Queries for Contemplation |
Lectio Divina, or “Divine Reading,” is the ancient practice of meditatively and prayerfully reading the words of Scripture or other sacred texts, asking Spirit what your proper response might be to the truths they lay bare. In this spirit, take a phrase or word from this meditation and be still with it, letting it wash over you and through and through you. Repeat it as a mantra. Be with the silence that follows. Be with, be with….
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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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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. "Matthew Fox has created a narrative, for every parent and grandparent, both spiritual and
scientific, that is a gift for all elders who recognize their responsibility in initiating the young ones into the grandeur of existence." Cosmologist Brian Swimme, Author of Cosmogenesis and The Universe Story "Matthew Fox has given all of us, children included, a wondrous and enchanting view of creation
and all that humanity should aspire to." - Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and A Time for Grace |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a new, live, 7-week video course hosted by the Shift Network, Cultivating Compassion in Spirituality: What Meister Eckhart & Other World Mystics Can Teach Us About Navigating Collective Turmoil. Tuesdays, May 7 – June 25, 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and 11 other speakers for a 6-week course on Cosmic Water: The Radical Roots of Mystical Christianity hosted by Advaya.Life (Matthew speaks on June 18). Tuesdays, May 28 - Thursday, July 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT Register HERE (for 10% discount use code
FOX-WOW) |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Preserving Things in the Good" at the Unity of Walnut Creek Earth Day worship service held on April 21, 2024. |
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