The Creation
Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
“Mothering Air”: A Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins By Matthew Fox 3/31/2026 |
It was a special grace for me to reconnect a week ago with David Abram, whose book The Spell of the Sensuous was a groundbreaker for me and others 30 years ago. He and I interacted last Tuesday in my current class on the Common Good sponsored by Cameron Trimble and her organization, Convergence. Our session was entitled, “The More-Than-Human World and the Recovery of
Belonging.” |
During the class, David shared a marvelous poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, which was deeply cosmic and celebrates Mary, the mother of Jesus, and compares her to the common air we breathe. He devoted a chapter in his |
Matthew Fox’s class, “Visions for the Common Good,” is ongoing and ends April 7. Register HERE. |
book to “The forgetting and remembering of air,” and I treated the same topic about the sacredness of air in two daily meditations a
week ago. I reproduce the entire poem here. It rocks with the implications of what is at stake when we finally recover the preciousness of air, and the reality of the divine feminine and a cosmic awareness, such as the new creation story from science elicits, the story of cosmogenesis. I believe there is deep nourishment here for Passover and for Holy Week. Because of its length, we will offer the poem in today’s and tomorrow’s DM with a modest exegesis in the latter. The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe
by Gerard Manley Hopkins |
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| Wild air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles; goes home betwixt
The
fleeciest, frailest-flixed
Snowflake; that’s fairly mixed
With, riddles, and is rife
In every least thing’s life;
This needful, never
spent,
And nursing element;
My more than meat and drink,
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life’s law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only |
Gave God’s infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each
new grace
That does now reach our race—
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power
is |
Great as no goddess’s
Was deemèd, dreamèd; who
This one work has to do— Let all God’s glory through,
God’s glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so. I say that we are
wound
With mercy round and round
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms’ self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.
If I have understood, |
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She holds high
motherhood
Towards all our ghostly good
And plays in grace her part
About man’s beating heart,
Laying, like air’s fine flood The deathdance in his blood; |
The Three Marys at the Tomb by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1890. Public domain, on Wikimedia Commons. | Yet no part but what will Be Christ our Saviour still.
Of her flesh he took flesh: He does take fresh and fresh,
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvelous!
New
Nazareths in us,
Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlems, and he born
There, evening, noon, and
morn—
Bethlem or Nazareth,
Men here may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death;
Who, born so, comes to be
New self and nobler me
In each one and each one
More makes, when all is done,
Both God’s and Mary’s Son. |
Banner Image: “The Assumption of the Virgin Mary.” Silk painting by Guido Reni, 1638. Wikimedia Commons |
Queries for Contemplation Do you recognize in yourself a new Bethlehem or Nazareth where the Christ is
born anew and a new son or daughter of God and Mary? Are you “wound with mercy/compassion round and round”? |
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 |
Matthew Fox offers a keynote at the Unity Earth Symposium V on The Future of
Interspirituality: From Awareness to Action, exploring the maturation of interspirituality and how shared spiritual awareness becomes structured, embodied action in the world. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Matthew Fox joins David Abram, Lynn Twist, and Randy Woodley as Cameron Trimble of Convergence CoLab hosts “Vision for the Common Good,” a four-session Conversation Series. Tuesdays, March 17, 24, 31, and April 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT Register HERE. |
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| Join Matthew Fox, Nancy Abrams, Brian Thomas Swimme and Robert Nicastro for this 3-part series bridge the gap between
modern science and creation spirituality, uncovering how each can enrich and inspire the other. hosted by WisdomFeed/BetterListen. Wednesdays, April 8, 15, 22, 4:00pm – 5:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Matthew Fox offers a lecture, “A Christianity for All Creation” as part of “For All Creation: A Day with Matthew Fox, Kelly Sherman-Conroy and Will Allen,” an On-site and Virtual Event presented by the Center for Ecological Regeneration, Hennepin Ave. UMC, and Garrett
Evangelical Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, April 18, 9:00am – 3:00pm 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. |
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