We at the moment are within the first days of Lent. As I write this, yesterday was Ash Wednesday when historically many Christians obtain a cross manufactured from ashes on their foreheads to remind them that “thou artwork mud and into mud thou shalt return.”
I acquired an e-mail, nevertheless, that jogged my memory that as we speak’s new cosmology presents a special perspective and message on Ash Wednesday if one cares to heed it. It went like this:
Matt ~ I would’ve shared this with you for Ash Wednesday, “Stardust thou artwork, and to the celebs thou shall return.” You taught me that we half & parcel are all descended from the entire universe. Love ~Randy (Randy is founding father of gladdeninglight.org.)
Would possibly this blessing, born of the brand new cosmology, present an empowering message for all of the work that awaits us at this pivotal time in human and planetary historical past?
A second tackle Lenten season comes from Sister Emily TeKolste, Grassroots Mobilization Organizer for Community Foyer for Catholic Social Justice, a social justice motion headed by Catholic Sisters (consider “Nuns on the Bus”). Sister Emily asks the query: “Have you ever considered giving up billionaires for Lent? And never only for Lent however for after Lent too!”
Sister Emily sees the very existence of billionaires as each a coverage failure and an ethical failure and factors out—and rightly so—that Catholic social instructing calls for that we tax billionaires.
Why? To guard entry to the fruits of creation for all individuals. When personal possession fails to do this, “Political authority has the fitting and obligation to manage the legit train of the fitting to possession for the sake of the frequent good” (Catechism, 2406).
The thought of the “frequent good” is a pesky factor if you wish to personal the planet or to run it. It’s long gone time that Congress makes billionaires pay their fair proportion in taxes.
Sister Emily tells us that this 12 months we’re giving up billionaires for Lent. Past Lent, we’re dedicated to coming collectively to elect leaders who will make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair proportion of taxes in order that we will stay in a world that appears extra just like the Kingdom of God: the place everybody has clear water to drink, wholesome meals to eat, a secure place to stay, and time to spend with our family members.
She is hoping that such a quick can “culminate with our Easter name to tax billionaires out of existence, so that each one of us can share within the fruits of creation!”*
To be continued.
*For extra data on Sister Emily TeKolste and Community Foyer, see Community Foyer for Catholic Social Justice.
See Matthew Fox, “Warriors for Ecological and Financial Justice: Meister Eckhart Meets Dorothy Stang, Karl Marx, David Korten, Serge Latouche, Anita Roddick, and Howard Thurman,” in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Instances, pp. 221-230.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Presents for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Authentic Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice.
Banner Picture: Community Foyer neighborhood organizers Christian Watkins and Sister Emily TeKolste take part in a mission motion in San Francisco. Photograph from the Community Foyer recordsdata, used with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
Ashes vs Stardust: Each blessings carry a message value listening to. How do you see them interacting? Which speaks most deeply to you as we speak? What are you giving up for Lent (if something)?
Beneficial Studying
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
Whereas Matthew Fox acknowledges that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers all through historical past, he additionally needs to introduce Eckhart to as we speak’s activists addressing modern crises. Towards that finish, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Wealthy, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and lots of others.
“Matthew Fox is maybe the best author on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has efficiently bridged a niche between Eckhart as a shamanistic character and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith motion, to disclose simply how cosmic Eckhart actually is, and the way remarkably related to as we speak’s non secular disaster! ” — Steven Herrmann, Creator of Non secular Democracy: The Knowledge of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Ahead
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Presents for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the therapeutic and liberation present in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of each non secular and political persuasion to unite in a brand new imaginative and prescient via which we be taught to honor the earth and the individuals who inhabit it because the present of an excellent and simply Creator.
“A watershed theological work that provides a typical floor for non secular seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Follow.
“I’m studying Liberating Presents for the Folks of the Earth by Matt Fox. He’s one which fills my coronary heart and thoughts for brand new life regardless of a lot that’s violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Authentic Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a complete new path for Christianity—a path that’s in actual fact very historical and really grounded in Jewish pondering (the truth that Jesus was a Jew is usually uncared for by Christian theology): the 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an prolonged and deeply developed approach.
“Authentic Blessing makes out there to the Christian world and to the human neighborhood a radical remedy for all darkish and derogatory views of the pure world wherever these could have originated.” –Thomas Berry, writer, The Dream of the Earth; The Nice Work; co-author, The Universe Story
Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had all the time shied away from utilizing the time period “Anti-Christ” as a result of it was so typically used to unfold management and worry. Nonetheless, given as we speak’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this guide using the archetype for the reason for justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a second, for inspecting the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this guide with an open thoughts. Good and evil are actual forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For fast entry to Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white photos, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To obtain a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for fast obtain.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the that means and apply of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the longer term that guarantees private, social, and world therapeutic, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, main the best way towards a gentler and extra ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate exercise.
“Properly value our deepest consideration…Places compassion into its correct focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
