I promised in yesterday’s DM that Hildegard was providing us excellent news together with the dangerous as she paints her image of Evil and Devil at work on the earth.
The excellent news is that this: In the identical portray during which Hildegard paints Devil along with his “toxic arrows in his mouth,” she additionally paints him sure up in chains and being saved down by good individuals “trampling the identical serpent strongly below foot” who’re “not affected by “his flames or by his poison.” The truth is, they’re sitting on him and preserving him down.
She calls these individuals, “individuals of God,” and addresses them within the second particular person, “good individuals, most royal greening verdancy, rooted within the solar, you shine with radiant gentle.” They “shine in religion by way of their good works.” Folks of advantage and power, “they’re sturdy sufficient to withstand being befouled by the satan’s assault.…Residing justly, they grasp holiness.”
They put up battle. A golden mountain helps them and much more–they’re “the anointed mountain of God.” They turn into different Christs, different anointed mountains of God. The Kingdom of Heaven may be very, very close to. We’re the holy mountain which she paints as gold or doxa, containing the divine radiance of the Cosmic Christ. Hildegard urges us to meditate on that.
Those that succumb to evil “don’t have any happiness in God or in males,” however good individuals overcome weak point and dryness “by attending to the celestial gentle” and are dominated by “good issues and simply pondering.” She urges us to “stand up out of your sleep to justice.” Injustice can lead us to “get up to justice.”
Hildegard warns us that the fires, poisons and plagues of the demonic one discover a particular place within the market. There, “corruptible riches and useless glory” are on the market together with “deceitful mockery.” Every little thing is on the market “as a result of the satan deceitfully affords his crafts to the individuals. And people who want them, buy them.”
How? If they’re sellers “they relinquish their good conscience.” If patrons, they “eat the lethal wounds of their souls.”
How totally different that is, Hildegard shouts, to those that “obtain the wages of excellent working.” These are those who’re sturdy in resisting evil. Such individuals “do no enterprise. For they, realizing God, carry the treasure of excellent will and the aroma of virtues and it’s this stuff that they eat.”
I’m struck by how vividly and loudly Hildegard paints and preaches the ability of Evil in historical past.
In distinction, the trendy period, so desirous to throw out angels and demons, has typically been out of contact with naming the Sacred, and infrequently unbelievably out of contact with naming Evil for what it’s. This, regardless that we have interaction in wars towards Mom Earth, hatred towards each other, and threats of nuclear disaster.
See Matthew Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, pp. 132-135. And plate 20.
See Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm The place Science and Spirit Meet.
See Fox, Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Reworking Evil in Soul and Society.
And Fox, The Pope’s Battle: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Campaign Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.
And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Items for the Peoples of the World.
Banner picture: A 3D replica of a statue of the satan, present in each the crypt and on the roof of St. Bavo Cathedral, Haarlem, The Netherlands. Picture by Rob Oo on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you end up carrying and consuming “the treasure of excellent will and the aroma of virtues” whereas standing up and resisting Evil in its many kinds? Do you strive your greatest to “dwell justly, grasp holiness” and acknowledge your self as one other Christ and one other “anointed mountain of God” working to tame evil together with others?
Advisable Studying
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of many biggest feminine artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Custom. On the age of 42, she started to have visions; these had been captured as 36 illuminations–24 of that are recorded on this guide alongside along with her commentaries on them.
“If one particular person deserves credit score for the good Hildegard renaissance in our time, it’s Matthew Fox.” – Dr Mary Ford-Grabowsky, writer of Sacred Voices.
The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm The place Science & Spirit Meet
By Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake
When was the final time a scientist and a theologian mentioned angels collectively? What are angels? Many individuals consider in angels, however few can outline these enigmatic spirits. Now visionary theologian Matthew Fox and acclaimed biologist Rupert Sheldrake—pioneers in trendy spiritual pondering and scientific principle—launch a groundbreaking exploration into the traditional idea of the angel and restore dignity, which means, and pleasure to our time-honored perception in these heavenly beings.
Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had at all times 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 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 analyzing 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 pictures, 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.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Reworking Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling writer Matthew Fox affords a brand new theology of evil that basically adjustments the standard notion of excellent and evil and factors the way in which to a extra enlightened remedy of ourselves, each other, and all of nature. In evaluating the Japanese custom of the 7 chakras to the Western custom of the 7 capital sins, Fox permits us to assume creatively about our capability for private and institutional evil and what we are able to do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a greater imaginative and prescient and depth of notion far past the grasp of anyone single science. A breath-taking evaluation.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, writer of Quantum Theology: Non secular Implications of the New Physics
The Pope’s Battle affords a provocative take a look at three a long time of corruption within the Catholic Church, specializing in Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The closing part within the guide focuses on birthing a very catholic Christianity.
“This guide must be learn by all people, not just for its ferocious braveness, but additionally for its imaginative and prescient for what must be saved from the harmful forces that threaten genuine Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, writer of The Hope.
“Within the gripping The Pope’s Battle, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering take a look at the layers of corruption within the Catholic Church, holding ethical fact towards energy.” — Jason Berry, writer of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Energy within the Papacy of John Paul II
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 basic relationship with nature, to the Non secular Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their larger calling to connect with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this guide — to not point out each girl who needs to grasp the struggles, typically unconscious, that form the lads they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Items 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 spiritual and political persuasion to unite in a brand new imaginative and prescient by way of which we study to honor the earth and the individuals who inhabit it because the present of and simply Creator.
“A watershed theological work that provides a typical floor for spiritual seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Follow.
“I’m studying Liberating Items for the Folks of the Earth by Matt Fox. He’s one which fills my coronary heart and thoughts for brand spanking new life regardless of a lot that’s violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
