February 10: T.S. Eliot on the Mystics as Drugs for Despair
“The mystics — or else despair,” mentioned T.S. Eliot. The writings and actions of the mystics (and the mystic inside all of us) deliver hope and medication to fight the despair that tempts us to simply quit when confronted with oppression too nice to bear. The mystic ignites “the hearth, the hearth inside,” as St. John of the Cross wrote in his poem in regards to the Darkish Night time. That fireplace, as Meister Ekhart wrote, can be the religious warrior in us, who fights for justice and love. For Rumi, that fireside is “the ruler of all hearts.”
February 11: Mystics, Lovers, Warriors, Group, Work as Love
One other theme from the poems of John of the Cross, is “toda sciencia tracendiendo,” “burst the thoughts’s barrier.” Which means, mystical love breaks by the rational mind to the intuitive or mystical mind which ignites the hearth of affection and justice that refuses to yield to despair. Be aware how the Spanish phrase “tracendiendo” is much like the By way of Transformativa. Eco-philosopher David Orr describes hope as “a verb with the sleeves rolled up.” The By way of Transformativa gathers allies, speaks the reality and does the reality, within the title of compassion and justice. Even Julian of Norwich, within the midst of the bubonic plague, may write, “God will refill what’s missing and restore us with the motion of mercy and style.”
February 12: As we speak: The twentieth Anniversary of Non secular Warrior Sr. Dot’s Martyrdom
Matthew honors Sister Dorothy Stang’s 40 years of working with the peasants within the Amazon area, serving to them construct faculties and defend the rainforest from grasping landowners who needed to chop it down for lumber or cattle ranches. She lobbied lawmakers, and helped construct sustainable companies like rising cacao and different forest-friendly crops. Her devotion to the works of Hildegard of Bingen helped strengthen her resistance to highly effective forces. For this she was gunned down. February 12, 2025 is the twentieth anniversary of her martyrdom. Her life and sacrifice continues to be honored in Latin America and all over the world.
the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur interview Cirlene, one in every of her college students.
February 13: On Praying the Information in Occasions of Hazard and Darkness
Matthew shares a prayer from Rabbi Irwin Keller as a approach of defending oneself from an excessive amount of doomscrolling: My God, the soul you may have positioned in my is pure and weak. I’m afraid that taking a look at right this moment’s information might be painful. Encircle me in a gown of sunshine, in order that I can witness the injuries of the world with out being wounded myself. Let me be taught what I have to know with the intention to be of my best use, with out being overwhelmed by despair. I really feel your protecting mild now as I open myself to the world’s struggling and the world’s joys. Amen. This prayer acknowledges each the By way of Negativa (consciousness of the world’s struggling) and the By way of Positiva (pleasure in seeing good individuals doing good issues).
February 14: Love & Justice, J.D. Vance and Pope Francis
Matthew makes the case for persevering with to make use of the time period “religious warrior” despite the fact that it comprises the phrase “struggle:” There’s a huge distinction between a soldier and a warrior. Somewhat, a larger hazard lurks within the splitting of “love” from “justice.” We’ve got seen the hazard of this in J.D. Vance’s latest dispute with Pope Francis, wherein Vance misquoted Thomas Aquinas to assert that the people who find themselves in a single’s inside circle are extra deserving of affection than struggling peoples in far-distant poor nations. Such an perspective sacrifices justice, which ought to embody love, and love ought to embody justice, as Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan exhibits.
February 15: Honoring the Braveness of These Who Sacrifice & Comply with Conscience
When the peasants of the rainforest buried martyred Sr. Dorothy Stang, they mentioned, “We aren’t burying you. We’re planting you.” Which means, that the forest and justice would develop fruit elsewhere. Different modern-day prophets, akin to Rabbi Heschel and Pema Chodrin, emulate the brave approach of Jesus,, who braved “nice risks for excellent issues,” as Aquinas mentioned. This week, we witnessed US Legal professional Danielle Sasson and a number of other different prosecutors refuse to adjust to an order to drop her prosecution of corruption costs in opposition to New York Mayor Eric Adams, selecting as an alternative to resign and stroll away from their jobs. It’s value nothing that Ms. Sasson is herself Republican, however couldn’t in good conscience adjust to a directive from her Republican superiors.
Banner Picture: The “Warrior 2” pose from yoga is without doubt one of the strongest stances for stoking inside power and braveness. Photograph by Charles Wills on Flickr.
Really useful Studying
One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from World 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 an inventory of theological place papers however a brand new approach to pray—to meditate in a worldwide religious context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which might be foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world religious traditions provide knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like coming 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 specific my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to modern spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Remodeling Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling writer Matthew Fox affords a brand new theology of evil that essentially adjustments the normal notion of excellent and evil and factors the way in which to a extra enlightened therapy 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 will 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 Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he reveals ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historical 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 lady who desires to grasp the struggles, usually unconscious, that form the lads they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God
Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Imaginative and prescient of Love and Motion
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug
Within the midst of world hearth, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct day by day and nationwide and world economies totter – the planet doesn’t want one other church or faith. What it wants is a brand new Order, grounded within the Knowledge traditions of each East and West, together with science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in a single sacred vow: “I promise to be one of the best lover and defender of the Earth that I might be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a ahead by David Korten, this assortment of essays by 21 religious visionaries together with Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the various and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a group now evolving all over the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not solely calls us house to our true nature as Earth, but additionally affords us invaluable steering and firm on the way in which.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and writer of Energetic Hope.
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 usually used to unfold management and concern. Nevertheless, given right this moment’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 rapid 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.
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