Moral Outrage & Fasting from Billionaires

Creation Spirituality; Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox

Week of 3/3-8/2025:

Moral Outrage & Fasting from Billionaires

March 3, 2025: Anti-Christ Strikes Again: Putin, Trump, Vance vs. Zelenskyy

In light of what’s going on in the current regime in Washington, use of the word antichrist feels more appropriate than ever. The archetype was further concretized when we witnessed the spectacle in the Oval Office as Trump and Vance verbally attacked Zelenskyy, a man braver than either of them could ever hope to be.

For the first time in history, the U.S. sided with the dictators. America voted in the UN, alongside Putin, North Korea and Sudan, to not criticize Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Clearly, our traitorous president continues to be under Putin’s thumb.

The United Nations condemns the Russian Federation’s annexation of four eastern Ukraine regions, October 12, 2022. Photo by Rick Bajornas for the United Nations on Flickr.

March 4, 2025: Aquinas on Oligarchy, Democracy & American Politics Today

In light of the despicable bullying of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday, Aquinas’s words about tyranny seem especially prescient. The disregard of the common good is greater under an oligarchy than under a democracy.

But worst of all is a tyranny where the advantage of one man is sought.…A tyrant is constrained to destroy good people’s confidence in one another, lest they gather together to throw off his yoke.

Therefore, he sows discord among them….(Avarice) gives rise to restlessness by hindering one with excessive anxiety and care, for ‘an avaricious man shall not be satisfied with money.’ (Ecclesiastes 5:9)

March 5, 2025: Lech Wałęsa Writes Trump about the “Horror” of His Attack on Zelenskyy

Lech Wałęsa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and first democratically elected president of Poland, sent a scathing letter to the President of the United States. He said: We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski with fear and distaste.…

Walesa said that expecting gratitude for material aid given to Ukraine is insulting. Instead, gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world….We remember President Reagan who… called the USSR the “Empire of Evil” and gave it a decisive fight.…Human life is priceless…. Gratitude is due to those who make the sacrifice of blood and freedom. It is obvious for us, the people of “Solidarity,” former political prisoners of the communist regime serving Soviet Russia.

Lech Wałęsa writes to Trump over Ukraine. Historian Alan Heath reads and comments on the letter sent by Lech Wałęsa and 38 other former political prisoners to the current White House tenant. History on YouTube

March 6, 2025: A Thank You to Rev. Dorsey Blake, Carrier of the Legacy of Howard Thurman

Matthew’s friend and colleague, the Reverend Dorsey Blake, who was vice president of the University of Creation Spirituality from its beginning to its closing, died this week. He was pastor at Howard Thurman’s Church of the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco for 31 years.

That church was the first consciously interfaith and interracial church in the United States. Matthew says that he owes Dorsey a lot, for he was the first to introduce Matthew to Howard Thurman.

At UCS, Dorsey taught a class each year on “King, Gandhi, and Thurman” and also a class on “Urban Spirituality.” Dorsey was a champion of justice and represented his community with grace and righteous anger.

March 7, 2025: Lent Reconsidered: Stardust vs Ashes, Fasting From Billionaires

At this time in our country and world, perhaps we can give up more than chocolate for Lent. Sister Emily TeKolste is the Grassroots Mobilization Organizer for Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, a social justice movement headed by Catholic Sisters (think: “Nuns on the Bus”). Sister Emily asks the question: “Have you thought of giving up billionaires for Lent? And not just for Lent but for after Lent, too?” She says: We’re committed to coming together to elect leaders who will make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes so that we can live in a world that looks more like the Kingdom of God: where everyone has clean water to drink, healthy food to eat, a safe place to live, and time to spend with our loved ones.

The billionaire boom in three charts

The world is on track to have its first trillionaire within a decade, while global poverty remains unchanged at 1990 levels. Context News: learn more HERE.

March 8, 2025: Further Fasts For Lent, 2025

In this Lenten season, we would be wise to listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah. Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6)

What if we also chose to fast from fascism? An organization called Faithful America is calling on Americans to fast from billionaires and corporations that are stoking hate, and to take a Lenten boycott pledge that shows solidarity with local businesses. They invite us to sign a pledge to this effect. To sign the pledge, click HERE.*

*SIGN THE PLEDGE: Boycott pro-Trump corporations for Lent this year. Faithful America.