Holiness and The New Pope

Week of 5/5-10/2025:
Holiness and a New Pope

5/11/2025

Please note: While Matthew Fox completes the book he is currently writing, his colleague, Gianluigi Gugliermetto (aka GG), will be writing the Daily Meditations.

May 5, 2025: Holiness as Cosmic Hospitality
Sometimes we might get the impression that humanity is made of very defective individuals, because at some level we expect good people to be perfect. But Matthew explains how the ego quest for perfection is damaging to the individual and to society. He further says: Imperfection is not a sign of the absence of God. It is a sign that the ongoing creation is not an easy thing. We all bear scars from this rugged process.

But if holiness is not perfection, what is it then? And why should we look for such a thing? Matthew suggests that true holiness consists of cosmic hospitality. Gianluigi suggests we should be hospitable to everything. This includes being hospitable to one’s own imperfections and scars, as well as to those of other human beings. He says: “We should not let go of the quest for personal holiness, but transform it.”

The Deadly Impact of the Pursuit of Perfection in Modern Society

“The Deadly Impact of the Pursuit of Perfection in Modern Society.” Inspire Bytes

May 6, 2025: An Army of Camels
We celebrate the release of Moshen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student and Buddhist peacemaker, born and raised in the West Bank, who was detained by ICE for two weeks. He committed no crime other than protesting against the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli government. Mahdawi at his release was so iconic.

He exemplified beautifully Matthew Fox’s conviction that courage is the first virtue for the spiritual journey. So then, how do we battle these dark times? How do we rise above the necrophilia on this planet? Matthew suggests that To battle necrophilia, we must…become like camels who fill up at oases of biophilia and joy as we travel what is often a dry and demanding desert. GG exhorts: “We’ve got to become an army of camels together. There is just no other way.”

Columbia University’s Mohsen Mahdawi released from ICE detention

Columbia University’s Mohsen Mahdawi released from ICE detention. Video by CBS News.

May 7, 2025: Holy Trailblazers
It is good for us to share stories about people who act for the good of the whole in especially difficult circumstances. We can call them heroes, saints, ancestors, or perhaps, trailblazers—people who opened a road where there seemed to be no road. Jesus was one such trailblazer.

The apostle Paul called him “the first of many brothers” to open the path of resurrection for us all. Jesus in the 1st century preached the universal dignity of all. Meister Eckhart picked up that banner again in the 14th century. Sojourner Truth did the same in the 19th century. Jesus was tortured and killed, Eckhart was spared perhaps only because he died before the Inquisition caught up with him, and Truth miraculously survived.

Maximilian of Tebessa in the year 395 refused to serve in the imperial Roman army “because I am a Christian.” Franz Jägerstatter gave a similar reason when he refused to wear a Nazi uniform in 1943. Both men were beheaded. It’s not easy being a trailblazer! But in dark times, they shine like stars.

May 8, 2025: Catching the Wave
The archetype of the hero, which we explored yesterday, implies that the fight against evil can be won. However, from a wisdom perspective, evil will be here until the End Times. But fighting against evil is not connected to the certainty, nor even the probability, that evil will disappear. Fighting “the good fight” gives meaning to one’s life. These trying times will sharpen out souls. A cosmic voyage goes in ebbs and flows. Our job is to catch the wave.

May 9, 2025: We Have a New Pope
(Although GG has been authoring the DMs for the past two and a half weeks, he graciously invited Matthew to return to the helm for this historic moment of the appointment of a new pope.)

Says Matthew, “I was very surprised that he was elected as fast as he was, and that he is from the United States.” Having lived in the U.S. for a third of his life and served in a poor diocese in Peru for much of the rest of his life, Pope Leo offers a unique perspective of both North and South America, and of wealthy and poor citizens.

He was more recently a cardinal serving at the Vatican for two years, so he knows and understands the hierarchy while not being overly entrenched in it.

The following quotation from a recent interview, reveals well his leanings: “We are often worried about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to communicate the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.” People who know Pope Leo say he is very friendly, affable, and down-to-earth. In his first papal talk, he spoke of “building bridges” and of “peace,” and of how “God loves all.” We wish him well.

Trump TORCHED By New Pope In BRUTAL Public Takedown!

The new Pope wasted no time in calling-out cruel immigration policies in his first public address. Video by Jack Cocchiarella.

May 10, 2025: Evil and Grief
News of an enormous concentration camp being built in Gaza is difficult to fathom. We are called to act in all ways possible, but feelings of depression, rage, anxiety, etc. may affect our ability to act. GG says that the situation makes him think of the Gospel story in which the disciples are unable to perform an exorcism, despite having been charged by Jesus with the task.

Then Jesus tells them: “This kind of demon cannot be expelled except by prayer.” (Mark 9:29) Prayer may seem to us to be insufficient, but perhaps we can turn to Matthew’s definition of prayer: Prayer is a radical answer to life. Says GG: “When we realize that our life is steeped in the great mysteries of life and death, including the continued presence of evil, then we have the chance to enter into a life of prayer. Prayer is a process and a state of being.”

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Banner image: “Protect what you Love.” Sign at Hands Off! protest in small suburban Pennsylvanian town. Photo by Cynthia Greb. Used with permission.

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Recommended Reading

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer

Letters to Pope Francis

Matthew Fox challenges the new Pope to live up to the promise of his namesake St. Francis and reshape a church that has been mired in corruption and bereft of authentic spirituality and rigorous theological debate. Former Dominican priest Matthew Fox presents a series of heartfelt letters to his brother in Christ about the great challenges facing the church today, drawing from the deep spiritual and theological sources that have been suppressed since Vatican II, and implores him to restore the sensus fidelium (the sense of the faithful) and reshape a church with justice and compassion.