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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

12/22/2024

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. 

Antiochus’ decree to the Jews, which led to the Maccabees’ rebellion to preserve Jewish religion and culture. Painting by Wojciech Stattler, from the National Museum in Kraków. Wikimedia Commons. 

December 17, 2024: Having Faith in Nights — Even Dark Nights
Before all the celebrations of Light, and the arrival of enlightenment (Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa), comes a period of darkness. Advent honors the darkness, the nothingness that precedes our existence, and how we come from non-being — even as the universe itself is birthed from dark matter and black holes. Currently, all humanity is experiencing a "dark night of our species," which ought to bring alive in us a wild fierceness that refuses to succumb to despair, and births a new reality. "I have faith in nights," says Rainer Maria Rilke.   

December 18, 2024: How the Dark Night of Society Meets Earth and Advent
The Via Negativa dominates this season of Advent. Looming political darkness (not only in this country but around the world) threatens to overwhelm democracy, dismantle laws, deport millions of people, and assault Mother Earth herself in the name of profits. In the face of this, we must find light even in the blackest darkness, as Howard Thurman did in Psalm 139. 

“Hold Me Fast” (Psalm 139). Aaron Shust. 

December 19, 2024: Susan Griffin, Eckhart, Gandhi: Lessons from the Dark Night
The Dark Night has much to teach us. Susan Griffin: Nothingness spreads around us. But in this nothingness we find what we did not know existed. Eckhart: What is this darkness? .... Call it: a rich sensitivity which will make you whole. Gandhi: To make any progress we must not make speeches and organize mass meetings but be prepared for mountains of suffering. That "suffering" and "sensitivity" includes sensitivity to the suffering of others, so that moral imagination (the Vias Creativa and Transformativa) may activate, as Griffin implies, to change structures, institutions, and thought habits that have contributed to the suffering of others. 

December 20, 2024: Avignon, Aboriginals, Washington DC: Patriarchy On Trial
"The trial that shook France" ended today with the conviction and jail sentencing of 51 men (including her own husband) who raped Gisèle Pelicot. She had asked for an open trial, not only so the world would know what was done to her, but so other oppressed women can know they are not alone, and so men can learn that patriarchy is neither manly nor right. Throughout the trial, she wore a scarf made for her by aboriginal women in Australia, to express their solidarity. True manliness has no need to slip sleeping pills into the minds of citizens so that oligarchs can rape the very world they live in. True virility is about virtue ("vir" means man in Latin).  

“I am Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing.” A marcher quotes Audre Lorde at the 2018 Vancouver Women’s March. Photo by Sally T. Buck on Flickr. 

December 21, 2024: Mechtild of Magdeburg on the Dark Night 
Resuming our meditations on the Dark Night, we call upon Mechtild of Magdeburg of the Beguines, the 13th-century women's movement. At such a time I pray to God: ‘Lord, this burden is too heavy for me!’ And God replies: ‘I will take this burden first and clasp it close to Myself and that way you may more easily bear it.’ But still I feel that I can bear no longer the wounds God has given me. Many people feel this way, in the wake of the November 5 election. Mechtild says, Only one without great guilt or sin suffers pain, and advises that the only way through is to free those who are bound, give exhortation to the free. In this way you shall kindle the fire of love with the match of perseverance.   

Banner image: A dark night over Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Photo by František Lukas on Flickr. 

A Caring Note from the DM Team:

• For more resources:  https://www.apa.org/topics/crisis-hotlines

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Recommended Reading

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance

In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
 “This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book

A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died. 
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.

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

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.

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 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

Hear  a conversation between Matthew and Ana Otero of The Desert Rose Mystery School in "Mystical Pathways. A Sacred Talk with Matthew Fox, founder of the Creation Spirituality Movement."

View this post, video, and more on our website

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