In this DM, I wish to talk about Joy.
Why talk about Joy? Because joy is why we are here—at least in St. Thomas Aquinas’s perspective it is—the universe has invited us into existence because of joy. “Sheer Joy is God’s and this demands companionship.” And, “joy is the human’s noblest act.”
Traditionally, joy is one of the nine “fruits of the Spirit” along with love, peace, kindness, etc. When Jesus says, “by their fruits you will know them,” he is instructing us to test events and words and even people by the fruits. Jesus ends his discourse of how “good trees bear good fruit, and evil trees bear bad fruit” by telling us to test things by their fruit. (Mt. 16-20; Lk 6:43-45)
His very practical and down-to-earth instruction frequently works well.
Paul talks about the “fruits of the Spirit” in his letter to the Galatians (5:22f.) Joy is so strong that even in the midst of trouble, its presence is not overcome. Joy is bigger than woe—and deeper. It touches the inner sanctum and purpose of the vast universe. It brought us into existence. And it surrounds us daily.
Former labor secretary Robert Reich recently wrote a column “On Being a Warrior” about an activist friend who seems to have mastered the art of holding on to joy in the midst of ever more troubling news.* He introduces it with an admission that both national and international news are bringing “anguish” on a daily basis.
Lest we succumb to despair, he writes, a major part of not submitting to Trump’s tyranny is living our lives to the fullest—hopefully and cheerfully, in the face of him and his regime.
A breakfast with his friend who defends immigrants surprised him. “What gives? You seem almost, well, joyful?” he asked her. “Not exactly joyful,” she laughed. “But I’m in a good place.” Why? “Because I’m fighting on the front line…the very best place.”
Said Robert, “You’re a warrior!” She replied: “Yes. And I’m so thankful to be doing this now, at this moment in history.”
I am reminded of a gathering of Sierra Club a few years ago in Berkeley, California where I was invited to speak with a scientist and with Sailesh Rao author of Carbon Dharma on the environmental crisis. My assignment was to speak on Pope Francis’s encyclical about care for our common home, Laudato Sí (80% of which was written by a graduate of our ICCS Master’s program, which was shut down under pressure from Josef Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict).
Following our three 20-minute presentations and a lively discussion, Joanna Macy came into the room. She was 92 years old, she took the mike, and exclaimed: “Isn’t it a wonderful thing to be alive today at this critical moment in history and contribute what we can to righting the ship!” (Something like that.)
I was deeply moved by her energy and enthusiasm and her “Yes” to life and her joy in the midst of struggle. Everyone was.
This is no time to wallow in our misery, but it is a time to stand up, find allies, speak out, do what one can do to spread truth amidst the lies, Christ energy to combat antichrist energy, caring therefore and passion for justice and compassion and truth, more truth.
Stay rooted in joy, for out of it is born liberation, resurrection, redemption, rebirth and other fruits of the Spirit.
* Robert Reich, “Sunday thought: On being a warrior” – Democratic Underground Forums
And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 33-40.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
Banner Image: A protestor holds the famous Emma Goldman quote at a One Billion Rising march across the Golden Gate Bridge, 2013. Photo by Steve Rhodes on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Can you find joy in the bigger picture of the vastness and goodness and generosity of the universe that has brought forward the wondrous earth and ourselves? And empowered us with strength and conscience to make a better world, one like our ancestors hoped for and worked for? Are you in a good place? Let’s get to work.
Recommended Reading
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement 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 images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
