Yesterday, MLK Jr.’s feast day and holy day, we remembered him because the religious warrior he was, and we pray all of us develop our name to the identical vocation.
Yesterday the nation additionally swore in a brand new president who, surprisingly and for the primary time in 250 years, has confirmed himself to be above the legislation and, due to a totally corrupt SCOTUS, has been declared above the legislation whereas performing as president.
It’ll take all of the resilience and religious power we are able to muster—thus religious warriorhood–to develop into a sensible and worthy opposition each time the insurance policies of Venture 2025 come ahead.
Insurance policies whose very intention is to displace democracy with a authorities of the few and monied and subsequently highly effective—i.e. proudly owning the media and social media, the courts and now unsupreme court docket, the most important firms and lawmakers who assure that those that educate local weather change is just not actual and the first job of presidency is to chop taxes for billionaires and firms and let on a regular basis People pay for it.
And in addition slash social safety for the oldest amongst us, and training, and Medicaid, and Medicare, and different security nets for the various. And to erase the rights of ladies and minorities and immigrants.
In latest DMs, we have now held up the significance and universality of the religious warrior archetype taught in indigenous traditions, Judaism, Islam together with Sufism, and Christianity as exemplified by MLK, Jr, Sister Dorothy Stang, and others.
Jesus shares the Jewish lineage of the prophets and the poor had been particularly on his thoughts because it was theirs. Rabbi Heschel says that what was uppermost within the prophets’ minds was injustice—the presence of oppression and corruption. The urgency of justice was an urgency of aiding and saving the victims of oppression. So says Rabbi Heschel, creator of the long-lasting quantity on The Prophets.
The prophet Isaiah speaks:
The Lord enters into judgment
with the elders and princes of his individuals:
‘It’s you who’ve devoured the winery,
the spoil of the poor is in your homes.
What do you imply by crushing the individuals,
by grinding the face of the poor?’
So says the Lord of hosts.
Jesus invokes Isaiah in his first teachings recorded in Luke’s gospel.
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has despatched me to deliver the excellent news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s yr of favor.
Is 8.23-9.1. Lk 4. 16-18.
Rabbi Heschel reminds us that each one persons are to be prophets: To do justice is what God calls for of each individual: It’s the supreme commandment, and one that can’t be fulfilled vicariously.
Tailored from Matthew Fox, “Non secular Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from Religion Traditions, pp. 411f.
See additionally Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Presents for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Unique Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 257-306.
And Fox, “Non secular Warriors” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
Banner Picture: “We Struggle Again! Rally towards Donald Trump at San Francisco’s Civic Heart, January 19, 2025.” Photograph by BuddyL on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you settle for the truth that you’re known as to be a prophet and religious warrior to face up for justice in your individual means and that this can be a supreme commandment that can’t be fulfilled vicariously?
Advisable Studying
One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from International Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all of the world traditions for his or her knowledge and their inspiration in a piece that’s way over a listing of theological place papers however a brand new option to pray—to meditate in a worldwide religious context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which can be foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world religious traditions supply knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like getting into the wealthy silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you learn this textual content, you replicate, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Really no phrases can absolutely categorical my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to up to date spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, creator of Anatomy of the Spirit
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 and simply Creator.
“A watershed theological work that gives a standard floor for non secular seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Apply.
“I’m studying Liberating Presents for the Individuals 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.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the which means and observe of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the long run that guarantees private, social, and world therapeutic, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, main the way in which towards a gentler and extra ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate exercise.
“Nicely price our deepest consideration…Places compassion into its correct focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Unique Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out an entire new path for Christianity—a path that’s the truth is very historic and really grounded in Jewish considering (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 means.
“Unique Blessing makes obtainable to the Christian world and to the human group a radical remedy for all darkish and derogatory views of the pure world wherever these might have originated.” –Thomas Berry, creator, The Dream of the Earth; The Nice Work; co-author, The Universe Story
The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he finds ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historic pagan image of our elementary relationship with nature, to the Non secular Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their greater calling to hook up with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this e book — to not point out each lady who needs to grasp the struggles, typically unconscious, that form the lads they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, creator of The Left Hand of God
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. Nevertheless, given in the present day’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this e book 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 analyzing the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this e book with an open thoughts. Good and evil are actual forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, creator of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For quick 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 quick obtain.
