The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Culling Flowers on a
Bright Pathway? By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 11/13/2025 |
Dante’s scholars agree that the character of Matelda represents the “prelapsarian” human being, that is, the person not weighed down by original sin. In yesterday’s DM, I argued, following Matthew Fox, that among the peculiarities of women mystics of the Middle Ages, it’s easy to find a kind of disregard for the doctrine of original sin. In Mechtild of Magdeburg’s work, in particular, Love/God calls the soul “Queen” and desires only to embrace her, with no hint of any
need to purify it from any stain. |
It seems to me, therefore, that the identification of Dante’s character Matelda with Mechtild of Magdeburg is quite solid. This means that the essence of her spirituality was understood and praised at her time, at least a few decades after |
Matilda collecting flowers in a painting by George Dunlop Leslie, 1859. Dante, Virgil, and Statius can be seen in the background. Wikimedia Commons |
she died, when Dante composed his poem. In his voyage on the other side, Dante meets Matelda as a solitary lady who walks around the garden of Eden singing and culling flowers. And the bright colors of such flowers paint her whole path. When Dante asks about her joyful demeanour, she answers that
her smile comes from always contemplating the works of God in the universe. Can you get more via positiva than that? Then she sings a Psalm which begins with this verse: “Blessed are those whose sins are covered.” Granted that she guides Dante toward the top of the mountain of Purgatory, where souls abide for a time
in order to be cleansed of their vices — and Dante walks the same way — she is not somebody who had to do that. She is pure already. |
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| Yet she is not a Pollyanna, nor a person without a spine.
All of a sudden, she plunges the reluctant Dante into the waters of the river Lethe (= Forget), keeping his head under for a moment until he gulps some water — what a lady! — to win Dante’s reluctance not to be forgiven, but to forget his past sins. The whole point is reaching a place in which, whatever actual mistakes you
may have committed in your life, you don’t linger even for a second on them. You are free instead to live a life of gratitude and contemplation. |
Does this mean that we can spend our lives free of pain, tragedy, and suffering? That we can simply cull flowers on a bright pathway? Not at all. In Mechtild’s works, we find a whole via negativa side, which she experienced fully in her life. She talks about “sinking into the night”! But she does not linger in the via negativa. She does not enjoy her lament. She rather offers a way out of it, which is deep, costly, yet rewarding. “From suffering,”— she writes — “I have learned this: That whoever is sore or wounded by love will never be made whole unless she embrace the same love which wounded her.” |
We, of course, tend to think that it is other people who wound us. That is true, on a superficial level. And we should make them stop. But on a deeper level, experiencing suffering “for love” in its true sense — that is, for our deeper growth — is the only path to the wholeness and |
Solo dancer, Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival. Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash |
joy
for which we were created in the first place. A life of gratitude and awe and singing and dancing is our aim. Whenever we can, tenaciously, having walked through all the dark valleys. God says to Mechtild —and to each of us: “Woman, you ought to dance merrily, dance like my elected one! Dance like the noblest, loveliest, richest
Queen!” |
Queries for Contemplation What does it mean to you to be “wounded by love”? And does your path lead
you toward the Garden of Eden, or do you feel still excluded? |
Responses are welcomed. To add
your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialogue, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments
field. |
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| Counterpoint: A Response to Peter Thiel’s Antichrist An Important Conversation with Matthew Fox and Gil Duran Did you miss this two-session series with its powerful counter-narrative rooted in wisdom, justice, and |
authentic spirituality? This is your
chance to add it to your library of classics to be watched, re-watched, and contemplated. Fox explores the archetype of Christ and Antichrist as it plays out in our world today but also in artists of old. He draws from the teachings of Jesus and Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Carl Jung, and other mystics and visionaries, illuminating the stark contrast between life-giving and life-destroying spiritual energies. Purchase HERE. |
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Conception with spiritual theologian Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox joins award-winning singer/author Alessandra Belloni and music director John La Barbera in a 90-minute online event, “Honoring the Black Madonna as Our Lady of Freedom (Madonna della Libera),” in which they share the wisdom of the Black Madonna and her healing powers for our times when both democracy and Mother Earth are in peril. Alessandra will also talk about her book Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna and present a 10-minute excerpt of her movie Musical Journeys with the Black Madonna in Southern Italy, which premiered last February at NYU Casa Italiana and was voted winner of two festivals. Monday, December 8, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT Register: https://www.matthewfox.org/donation-store/honoring-the-black-madonna-as-our-lady-of-freedom |
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