The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

11/06/2024

As the results of the election ripple out, learn the deeper stakes involved. 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. 

Today is also my father’s birthday.  Were he still living, he would be 110 years old today. I write this at my desk with his picture on it, actually a picture of him and myself standing side by side on a beach in Florida in the background. My hair is all brown, no white whatsoever. We both have smiles on our faces and the wind is blowing his jacket open. His hair 

Matthew Fox with his father. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox.

is all white. I have lit a candle to accompany the picture.

My father voted Republican most of his adult life (my mother, Democratic). But I don’t think he would recognize that party today with what Trump has made of it. I remember how disturbed he was by Watergate and how let down he felt by Nixon. After Watergate, he barely spoke of Nixon ever again. 

He would be appalled by the lack of character in the man Trump. His bullying of others, his put-down of women, his pettiness in not being able to admit he lost an election and his willingness to overthrow the government on January 6 (last night in his final talk of the election he used the “b” word to denounce Nancy Pelosi).

Matthew’s father George Fox as a young football player. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox.

My father was what they used to call a “man’s man.” He escaped poverty and the Irish ghetto by way of sports that got him a football scholarship to Villanova. Then on to coach at the University of Wisconsin. He had a strong sense of moral conscience and, as a football coach, a way to teach young men to

be men. One thing about sports—you learn to lose as well as win with dignity.

He died in late October, 1989, and I flew to Atlanta to lead his funeral which we held on November 5^th, his birthday. Six weeks later I went silent for a year as demanded by Cardinal Ratzinger then head of the Doctrine of the Faith. My family members and I felt it was a blessing that he passed not knowing that I was being silenced by the church. 

When I visited him on his death bed to say my goodbyes, I said to him, “I bet you wish I had just been an ordinary parish priest, don’t you?” He squeezed my hand tightly and said in a firm voice, “Yes, I do.” And I replied, “Well, Dad, I don’t think I could have done what I have done as a priest theologian without the courage you taught me.”

Dad was a very sincere and practicing Catholic. On the day of my first Mass he said to me, “this is the happiest day of my life." He respected women, including my strong-hearted mother and his three daughters. He loved nature and music and was pleased to have raised his

Matthew Fox’s parents with him and his siblings as children. From the Fox family photos.

family in Wisconsin.

I received this prayer from Pope Francis in the mail today and it seems fitting for this moment in (American) history. It is part of his important encyclical on saving the sacred Earth, Laudato Sí.

God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with our power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.

See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 54f., 60-62, 183, 373f.

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.

And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ; A Handbook to the 2024 Election.

And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

Banner Image: “The Peaceable Kingdom” woodcut by Fritz Eichenberg for The Catholic Worker, 1950. Image uploaded to Flickr by Jim Forest.

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

What memories do you hold of your father that inspire you?  What do you feel on reading Pope Francis’ poem about the sacredness of the earth and how it speaks to our current election?

Recommended Reading

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

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story

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.

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

The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages

The second book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series, The Return of Father Sky helps boys and girls to celebrate a new relationship with the masculine by way of Father Sky, whose return excites joy and wonder and possibility that enlarge the soul to welcome others and all creation. Written in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-like style, this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, written by world- renowned theologian Matthew Fox weaves together modern science and classic spirituality in a whimsical, entertaining format to illustrate important truths to readers aged 4 and up. 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.

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

Creation Spirituality Conversations

View this post, video, and more on our website

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox is made possible through the generosity of donors.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation. Thank you!

Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox

FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX:

Did you receive this email from a friend?
You can subscribe to our daily meditations via the opt-in box on the sidebar at DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.org