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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Alexei Navalny: More Courage, Sacrifice, Conscience, Spiritual Warriorhood 2/17/2025 |
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. |
In Saturday’s DM, entitled “Honoring the Courage of Those Who Sacrifice & Follow Conscience,” we remembered the heroism of Sister Dorothy Stang, US attorney Danielle Sasson, and five other US attorneys who quit their jobs rather than submit to breaking their oaths. (Since that time a sixth US attorney has left his job out of conscience.) |
These displays of courage and conscience are needed and mean-ingful in this time of peril to our democracy our planet. It is spiritual warrior energy that imitates that of Christ, called a “stern warrior” in the Scriptures. And of all prophets. Indeed, to me the name spiritual warrior parallels that
of “prophet.” To “speak out” (pro pheto in Greek) about truth and justice when false- |
This monument is made of a boulder from the Solovetskiy penal colony—the first prison in the Gulag system. People gather here every year on the Day of Victims of the Repression (October 30). The caption means "For the fighters for freedom." Photo by Jennifer Boyer. Wikimedia Commons. |
hood, misinformation and disinformation reigns, is what prophets do. In that same DM I cited Rabbi Heschel: To do justice is what God demands of every person: it is the supreme commandment, and one that cannot be fulfilled vicariously. We are all called to be both prophets and mystics. The mystic is
the lover in us; the prophet is the defender of what one cherishes. The mystic says “Yes” to Life; the prophet says “No” to injustice which is the greatest threat to Life, love and community. |
One of the reasons why Navalny was jailed in 2021, was his exposé of Putin’s opulent compound near the Black Sea, built at taxpayers’ expense. Video by DW News. | In response to that DM and the teaching from Aquinas that we are to “brave great dangers for great things, for instance the common welfare, justice, divine worship, and so forth,” one reader wrote this: Serendipity. Just yesterday I finished reading Alexis’s
Navalny’s recent memoir. I am now convinced that |
Navalny will be remembered as a ‘Spiritual Warrior,’ perhaps akin to St. John of the Cross. Navalny records how he was tortured through the time of his incarceration by fellow Russians. Navalny sacrificed himself for Russia and the Russian people. His fight against Putin’s oligarchy robbing Russian citizens was unrelenting. And he never lost his sense of humor. No wonder Putin was so afraid of him. Aquinas: “A tyrant is more afraid of good people than of bad people.” As I write this Sunday morning, it is the first-year anniversary of the murder of Alexis Navalny. As you
read it, it is the day after that anniversary. Let us all remember his courage and his inner strength, and that of his wife and family also. Let us imitate it in our own way and in our own time and in our own land. |
Let us
remember Jesus’ words in his Beatitudes: Blessed are they which are persecuted for right-eousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In Aramaic, Jesus’ language: Tune to the Source are those persecuted for trying to right society’s balance; to them belongs the coming king- and queendom. |
Aerial photography of the Pokrovskaya colony, a two-hour drive east of Moscow, from the Dozhd TV channel's report on how Alexei Navalny was serving his sentence in 2021. He was later transferred to IK3, the maximum security prison above the Arctic Circle, where he died. Photo by Dozhd TV. Wikimedia Commons. |
Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. In Aramaic: Renewal when you are reproached and driven away by the clamor of evil on all sides, for my sake…. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward
in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. In Aramaic: It is the sign of the prophets and prophetesses to feel the disunity around them intensely.* |
*See Neil Douglas Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus, pp.
68-72. Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 404, 408, 411-414. And
Matthew Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104. And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice. See Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, p. ix.
Banner image: Mural in Kiryat HaMelacha (near Haifa in Israel) that was painted after the death of
Alexei Navalny in his memory and in solidarity with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo by Nissan Cohen. Wikimedia Commons. | For a list of organizations helping those affected by the devastating LA wildfires, please see this article from the LA Times HERE. |
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| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM. If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE. If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
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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 do you learn from the examples of Sister Dorothy, Alexis Navalny, the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Rabbi Heschel and Jesus in this DM? Hopefully they strengthen us in the struggle ahead. |
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more
than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully
express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit |
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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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A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew
Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our
deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register |
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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. |
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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. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice, in an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, February 20, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth, in an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, March 20, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. MONTHLY: Join Matthew Fox 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 |
Matthew was recently interviewed by Sandie Sedgbeer on her program “What is Going OM,” about his book, “Trump and the MAGA Movement as AntiChrist.” Watch or listen HERE. |
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on BlueSky, Instagram, Universeodon, or Facebook using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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