The Creation
Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Why Meditate on Sainthood in a Time of ICE, Epstein Files, & the Rest? By Matthew Fox 2/13/2026 |
We have been meditating on Leonard Cohen’s and then Ernest Becker’s understandings of holiness or saintliness. Why? Because evil is so present in our news every day that we have to entertain its opposite, that is, news of the holy. |
We hear daily of the “Epstein files” and how he and other uber-rich and uber-powerful people constituted a ring of pedophiles abusing girls as young as nine years old and getting away with it for decades. They are still being protected by the current DOJ and White |
Saint in action: House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D, MD) calls Attorney General Pam Bondi to account: “You’re running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the DOJ.” MS NOW |
House, and many in Congress who refuse to speak up. We see with our own eyes live on television the invasion of American cities by ICE, which is paid for by our government and is now richer than the FBI, thanks to a Republican Congress serving as lap dogs to a vengeful president. We hear a president of the United States showing a black president and first lady pictured as apes and refusing to apologize for it. Racism on the march. We witness the obliteration
of the EPA and efforts to obliterate safeguards for defending our endangered and sacred Mother Earth. And so much more. Saints—and this is meant to be all of us—are those who have a conscience and are not afraid to speak up and walk their talk about values that matter. Even if this means paying a price such as losing one’s
job. People for whom justice and compassion and caring for others actually matter. |
A makeshift memorial at the site of the death of Alex Pretti, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Image by Darth Stabro on Wikimedia Commons; reprinted in a Catholic Outlook article honoring Pretti as a martyr. | We see such courage and holiness playing out in the streets of Minneapolis these days by ordinary citizens, at least two of whom have been murdered and martyred by ICE, which is our government at work. Saints act on
their moral outrage. They find |
solidarity and community with others who have not totally abandoned their consciences. On living 85 years, I am convinced that today the number one sign of holiness is courage. One cannot be the mystic—that is, the lover—that we are all called to be without courage. And we cannot be the prophet—that is, the one who interferes with injustice (Heschel’s definition)—without courage. Courage means “big heart” in French. Our hearts
are rendered large by the Via Positiva, the love of life and existence that we imbibe. “Joy expands the heart,” says Thomas Aquinas. Suffering also expands the heart. As Buddhist scholar and activist Joanna Macy used to say, “when your heart breaks, the whole universe can pour through.” So too do contemplation and
meditation expand the heart. The Via Positiva and Negativa together render us big-hearted and generous and courageous and holy. Each of us is invited to the table of the Via Positiva and Via Negativa every day of our lives. |
Our meditation in yesterday’s DM with Ernest Becker about sainthood ended with his warning about “large-scale social lies” in our culture. What to do about such large-scale social lies? |
CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins presses on with questions in the face of attacks by the White House occupant. Inside Edition |
One way to confront the lies is to name them, and that is the journalist’s task. And to recognize how damaging it is to a democracy if lies go on unchallenged. After all, Satan is called “the father of lies” for a reason. There are other ways to go about challenging lies, also. That is through
laughing at the people and agendas peddling them. In Europe, it turns out, people are using satire to laugh at the false gods and carriers of lies dominating America and its MAGA presidential cult these days. We will consider this in tomorrow’s DM. |
Banner Image: An anti-ICE rally organized by Seattle-area educational unions, joined by health care and tech worker unions, February 2026. Photo by Michael Hanscom on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you expand your heart and thus develop your courage? How do you stand
up to evil with truth-telling and truth-acting? How do you practice the Via Positiva and Via Negativa? |
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. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for a Lecture, Discussion, and Q&A on “Manifesto! For a Global Civilization; & Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart’s Creation Spirituality, ” an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, February 19, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Matthew Fox joins the real-time Unity Earth Symposium V, “Spiraling Up: A New Energy for Planetary Consciousness,” to give a live-streamed lecture on “From Awareness to Action.” Sunday, February 22, 7:00am PT. Register HERE. Matthew Fox joins Unity Inspired Living to give an inspirational message at Sunday morning worship, also livestreamed on Facebook Live, March 8, 10:00am PT. Learn more 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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