The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Thomas Aquinas has something to say about ICE. He writes: “The first effect of Love is melting.” Let love win the day, we pray. Non-violence and not violence. |
ICE has unleashed in the streets of Minnesota not only violence, but what the saintly Brazilian Bishop Helder Camera called, “the spiral of violence.” Things are spiraling ever more dangerously–now Trump is talking of sending the military into the streets of blue cities in America–and only blue cities—people who did not vote |
The felonious White House occupant “is now threatening to put down the people of Minneapolis with military force as if they were rebels against the United States government,” says MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes. |
for him and MAGA.
Retribution is his god. I spent three hours yesterday in the emergency room at Kaiser Hospital because, two hours before I was to deliver a Zoom talk on my book, Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes, I slipped on a small puddle, both feet went up in the air, and I fell headfirst on the concrete. A retired doctor who hangs out at the pool daily was present and came to my rescue, helped me out, and told me I would need stitches and that there was no way I would be delivering my talk. That was too bad, as I definitely had something to say about that book of mine, which contained some wonderful articles by wonderful writers. An esteemed faculty member at UCS, Jeremy Taylor, who taught “Dreams as art as meditation” with us for years and was a UU minister, told me on several occasions that that was my most important book. “Why?” I would ask. “Because it demonstrates without a shadow of a doubt that creation spirituality is not something you invented
but is what you say it is—a tradition and lineage that has been forgotten.” |
Lake Itasca at Itasca State Park near Bemidji, Minnesota is the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Wikimedia Commons. | I have always had a soft spot for Minnesota. Growing up in Wisconsin, my state shared a border with Minnesota—and a river. Minnesota is the birthplace of the great Mississippi River that feeds the Midwest of |
the US right down to New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico. When I was a boy and my father was football coach at the University of Wisconsin, we would play Minnesota every year, and they always had excellent football teams. Sometimes my father would come home angry from losing a close game to
them, and I always respected them for their success. I attended my first two years of college in Dubuque, Iowa, where the Dominicans sent young men interested in entering the Order, and to get there by bus from Madison meant crossing the Mississippi River, for Dubuque was just on the other side of the bridge. And I spent my first year as a Dominican at the novitiate in Winona, Minnesota, where we learned the rudiments of community living and community prayer, rising early in the mornings and doing lots of meditation and rosaries and the Office and Mass and more. The cemetery for our deceased brothers was there, as well as rolling fields that we would hike and play ball on
during recreation respites. |
It is there that I underwent my initiatory rite of passage, and took on a new name, “Brother Matthew,” putting aside my street clothes and original name, “Tim.” At the end of the year, my sixteen classmates and I took our “simple” vows for three years and traveled |
The Holy Angels Novitiate in Winona, WI. Formerly owned by the Dominican Order, it is now run by the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. Publicity photo from the Novitiate website. |
by
train in clerical collars to River Forest, Illinois, for our three years of philosophical studies. Another soft spot I carry for Minnesota is that I met a number of fine people while conducting workshops and retreats there over the years. Mary Plaster, who oversees our Facebook page, resides in Duluth and it is she who creates the marvelous giant puppets for our Cosmic Masses that bring Hildegard of
Bingen, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, MLK, Jr., and other notables, along with handheld puppets of birds and beasts, to accompany our dancing and praying, including at our most recent masses at the World Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, Toronto and Chicago. |
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) honors the Minnesotans now exercising their rights and saying HELL NO to ICE and the wannabe dictator’s lust for military deployment. | Of course, I have a soft spot for Minnesota. But today, Minnesota is bleeding, and this morning at 4 AM the following response came to me in bed. Minnesota Bleeding,
Democracy
reeling,
Justice receding,
Necrophilia feeding, |
Fascism succeeding, SCOTUS achieving,
Antichrist seeding,
Reptilian brain achieving,
Patriarchy
preening,
Violence screaming,
Lies & untruths beaming,
Humanity needing.
Hearts cold?
Or
feeling? |
Banner Image: Minneapolis anti-ICE Protest, January 10, 2026: Thousands of people protested against ICE in Powderhorn Park, marched down Lake Street, and stopped at the spot where ICE killed Renee Good three days earlier. Photo by Fibonacci Blue on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation What are you feeling as you watch
Minnesota bleeding on television? How does this translate to resistance? |
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! CREATION SPIRITUALITY CONVERSATIONS |
Podcaster Jon Wilson speaks with Matthew Fox about Creation Spirituality: how Matthew became a Dominican priest; his studies in Paris, Original Blessing versus the Fall-Redemption tradition; the Four Paths; mystics Meister Eckhart, Carl Jung, and Otto Rank; Eros, ritual and how ‘this is wisdom to love life’. Listen 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 |
Join Matthew Fox for a Lecture, Discussion, and Q&A on “Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes,” an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat event, Thursday, January 22, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Learn more 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. |
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: |
|
|
|
