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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

09/18/2024

With the days ticking down to 11/5, learn the deeper stakes in this year's election. Get your copy of Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election today! Choose your format in the book block below. 

Her music is original and outstanding. Her interest in science was persistent and unending. Her courage in standing up to people and forces of power was on display regularly as she confronted emperors, abbots, bishops, archbishops and even popes. You might call her the patron saint of those who speak truth to power.

Her willingness to put her thoughts and visions to painting and imaging as well as writing is a great gift to us all. Many of her poems and visions were sublime and amazingly fit for our day.  For example, consider her 

Illumination from Hildegard’s Scivias (1151) showing her receiving a vision and dictating to her teacher Volmar. Wikimedia Commons.

teaching that a young woman named Love who “has her tent in eternity” appeared to her and instructed her that love “was the source of this creation in the beginning when God said: ‘Let it be!’ And it was.” Indeed, “the whole creation was formed through love.”

Notice how interested she is in “the whole creation”—in cosmology therefore. Indeed, her psychology is modeled on microcosm and macrocosm, humans being the microcosm of the whole. How thrilled she would be with today’s cosmological discoveries and new creation story and with the findings of the Webb Telescope itself!

“Hildegard of Bingen: Caritas abundant in Omnia – Love Aboundeth In All Things.” zevnikov

“The whole of creation” emerged from this “Lady” called “Love” in Hildegard’s understanding. Love was the first. She made everything…Love was in eternity and brought forth, in the beginning of all holiness, all creatures without any admixture of 

evil. Adam and Eve, as well, were produced by love from the pure nature of the Earth.  

Hildegard plays prominently in my new book on the Antichrist because she painted both a powerful picture of Christ as the archetype of compassion and a powerful image (actually a series of images) about the Antichrist as its opposite and commented on it.

In it she points out the power of greed and the chaos and unraveling of order that accompanies the antichrist. She addresses the antichrist with venom and moral outrage and also paints patriarchy as belching out lies upon lies: O you cave of injustice… your works seek the pit of hell. You will live absorbed in your gluttony there and that hellish place will vomit forth stink. The world will recognize in this stench the bitterness of death in the destroyer of destructions.

She accuses the antichrist, the “son of injustices, the cursed one of the cursed ones,” of “tearing institutions of the church in pieces with the crudest greediness.” But she expects the demonic forces to yield to Christ who is “a very strong warrior” who will “break the head of injustice.”

There is fury and moral outrage in her picturing the story of the antichrist and injustice he brings in his wake.  All this seems quite relevant to today’s attempts 

Images of the antichrist by Hildegard of Bingen. Found in Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen by Matthew Fox

to tear institutions of democracy in pieces including SCOTUS, the election process itself, and lies about Haitian refugees that create distractions, spread discord, fulminate racism and more.

Also, in contrast to those who practice misogyny, Hildegard celebrates the divine feminine: Mary is “Mother of all joy, ground of all being, a glowing, most green, verdant sprout.” We all participate in the “greening power” of creativity that is the Holy Spirit at work.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, Trump & MAGA as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 81-84.

And Fox, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times, pp. xiii, 120.

And Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, plates 5, 6, 7, 18, and pp. 122-126.

See also: Fox, ed., Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works with Letters and Songs.

Statement of Solidarity with Israel/Palestine.

Banner Image: “Viriditas” (Hildegard’s term for the “greening power” of creation in all life). Photo by Nick Thompson on Flickr.

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

Who is Hildegard for you and what role does she play in your way of living deeply in the world?

Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century

Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her.
In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice.
“This book gives strong, sterling, and unvarnished evidence that everything – everything – we ourselves become will affect what women after us may also become….This is a truly marvelous, useful, profound, and creative book.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism.

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Tradition.  At the age of 42, she began to have visions; these were captured as 36 illuminations–24 of which are recorded in this book along with her commentaries on them.
“If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox.”  – Dr Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices.

Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs

Today there are many websites and Hildegard groups that celebrate and honor Hildegard’s teachings, philosophy, art, and music. Author Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her. In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice. A sixteenth century follower of Martin Luther called her “the first Protestant” because of her appeals to reform the church. As a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, healer, artist, feminist, and student of science, Hildegard was a pioneer in many fields in her day.

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 does it again, here for our young ones, who so need a positive, cosmic vision to thrive, or even survive, in a sad time." - Father Richard Rohr, Author of The Universal Christ

"Matthew Fox offers a resounding affirmation of what our souls have always suspected: we are made for joy."  - Mirabai Starr, Author of God of Love and Wild Mercy

UPCOMING EVENTS

See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE

MONTHLY: Join Matthew Fox, Mariko Middleton, and Skylar Wilson of the Order of the Sacred Earth in a free virtual meeting for connection and networking with other mystic warriors. Last Tuesday of every month, 4:00-5:00pm PT. 
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478  
Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478

Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org

Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, September 19, 4:00-5:30 pm PT. 
Register HERE.

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