The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Keeping the Heart Bright in Times of Heavy News By Matthew Fox 1/10/2025 |
Here we are in the first week of a New Year, and the news is indeed heavy. All the more reason to call on our deepest reserves of faith, hope, and love to see our way through it and to keep on keeping on. |
The news was rarely positive in Jesus’ day, either, living as he did under the whip of the Roman Empire. Yet still he spoke of “Good News” and the presence of “the Kingdom of God” in our midst. Our trust and faith can be born from the same Source that he derived his: The Creator of this world—all
two trillion galaxies of it—and of this Earth, with all of its problems and human-initiated horrors, takes delight in his/her creation (see Genesis one)…and we can too. Even in the darkness, the Via Positiva is there to be seen |
Building community behind prison walls: Dorothy Day, Co-Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, holding up her prison uniform, signed by all her fellow prisoners. Photo by Chris Payden-Travers, posted by Jim Forest on Flickr. |
and
appreciated and remembered. Our gratitude for the gifts of existence, beauty, our breath, bodies, minds and imaginations, love and relationships, and children, our time, and many choices we can make about how we live and why and for whom and with what values we choose to live out as best we can–these no one can take from us. The very loss of an innocent and
caring 37-year-old mother and poet named Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis is so disturbing because she 1) did exist, and 2) chose to be a loving and caring and responsible citizen, and 3) fearing for her life, moved her car away when ICE tried to remove her forcibly from it. |
Artist Noval Noir paints a live memorial portrait of Renee Good at the Portland Avenue site in Minneapolis where Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Wednesday. @fox9 | And a
lying president, along with his vice president, and ICE head Kristi Noem, instead of offering concern, painted her as “deranged” and a “terrorist.” One person wrote me this response to the ugly event: If you’re as upset about the point-blank killing of an
American |
citizen by federal agents in broad daylight as I am, as well as the horrible escalation of violence in our streets, here is a link to a massive organized response.* With love for you, our country, and our world. This story will not go away. ICE invites violence wherever it goes, and especially when governors do not want to see it in their states. California Governor Newsom called the Minneapolis incident “state-sponsored
terrorism.” Other headlines this week reminded us of what has happened to the American media world in just the first year of Trump’s new administration, beginning here: “Corporation for Public Broadcasting is officially shutting down months after GOP funding cuts.” CPB was founded in 1967 to support public broadcasting,
such as PBS and NPR, and many small rural stations in particular.** Meanwhile: Top Trump donors Larry and David Ellison now control Paramount, CBS
News, Pluto TV, and TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg, who gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, controls Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, and Messenger, which operate algorithmically and reward “outrage, disinformation, and right-wing political content.” |
The
Sinclair family “push coordinated right-wing talking points across CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox.” Jeff Bezos owns Amazon, the Washington Post and more. Elon Musk owns X and uses it “to actively boost Trump” and MAGA.*** And, of course, Fox News, |
Watchdog group Frequency Forward has petitioned for an FCC hearing on Trump-supporting Sinclair Broadcasting’s repeated use of shell companies to evade media ownership rules and
mislead regulators about its control over local TV stations. Sinclair Broadcasting owns 185 local television stations in 85 markets
across all major networks. NewsRamp |
carrying right-wing
propaganda wherever it goes, has filled countless top spots in the current administration with its figureheads, including, of course, its part-time weekend broadcaster who now heads the defense department, which just invaded Venezuela—an act 2/3 of Americans disagree with. And the president promises to “run” that country indefinitely. The release of all the Epstein Files was mandated to have happened several weeks ago, but contrary to the law of the land, only 1% of the total amount has been released. Plenty to worry about and plenty to follow in the news. And plenty to pray about and deepen one’s heart and soul to absorb all
the chaos and negativity while keeping alive one’s love of life. Our love of love and truth and justice is always so much larger than the smallness of soul. Let us grow our hearts and souls in times like these and ask: “What can I contribute to biophilia? And how best can I stand up to forces of necrophilia?” And find
allies and community in the process of resisting. To be continued. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you keep your heart and soul alive and fresh, young, green and
inspired, even when the news is bleak and painful? How do you exercise your moral imagination and pray by resisting? |
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. Books and More by Matthew and Friends! Be sure to check out Matthew's new store at MatthewFox.org, now offering books, recorded courses old and new, and special events... and don't miss our growing collection of books endorsed by Matthew on Bookshop.org! |
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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. |
UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a free 4-session Online Lecture/Discussion/Q&A event, “Creation Spirituality and the Celebrating & Healing of Mother Earth & Ourselves,” co-presented by the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin and Matthew Fox Legacy Project. Wednesdays, January 14, 21,28, February 4, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm
PT January 14 - Creation as an Original Blessing and the Springboard of Awe and Wonder January 21 - Sacred Mother Earth: The Holiness of Creation and Recovering the Cosmic Christ January 28 - The Cosmic Mass, and the Stations of the Cosmic Christ: Reinvigorating Liturgy and Rituals February 4 - Jesus as a Teacher of Democracy and the Renewal of Education and Values through the “10 Cs” 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 HERE, Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org |
Awakening the Divine Human: An Immersion in the Living Wisdom of Creation Spirituality …a week-long retreat in Sardinia, Italy, May 25-30, 2026 Join us on the sacred
island of Sardinia for a deeply immersive 6-day retreat rooted in the teachings of Matthew Fox, C.G. Jung, and the ancient wisdom of the land. Set along the turquoise shores and among the Neolithic sites of this timeless Mediterranean island, this retreat invites you into a transformative journey of reconnection—with Earth, Self, Gender, and the Divine. Learn more HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Join Matthew Fox in a 6-Class Course: The Great Christian Mystics, exploring some of the richest and most inspiring mystic-prophets in the Christian lineage, including Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Thomas Aquinas,
and Meister Eckhart. Course includes six modules of pre-recorded lessons. Sign up HERE. |
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