A number of years ago I was silenced for a year by the very corrupt papacy of John Paul II and his chief inquisitor, then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (they silenced 108 theologians from around the world whom I name in my book The Pope’s War).
In my year of silence, I received a letter from a woman who said, “I was a Catholic and left the church over its treatment of women. Then I read your work and felt there was some room for me in the church and returned to it. Now, when they silenced you, I felt they were silencing me all over again, for I have always felt, as a woman, silenced in the Catholic Church. I was so upset by this experience that it has taken me these eleven months just to be able to write you a letter of support.”
There is a lesson here about the feelings that arise when human beings silence other human beings.
My last week of silence I spent alone with my dog and spiritual director Tristan at Bodega Bay, where I was writing my book Sheer Joy: Conversation with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality. I was buried in Thomas Aquinas’s Latin tomes, specifically his commentary on the prophet Isaiah.
On the very eve of the end of my silencing, I was studying – very synchronistically as it turned out – his commentary on Isaiah 62, which says, “Do not keep silent in Zion.” He writes:
Take note of the saying In Isaiah, “On account of Sion I will not be silent.” The saints are not silent—first, because of their burning desire, as Jeremiah says (20). “And the word of the Lord was shut up in my heart, like a seething fire.” Second, on account of evident truth, as Acts says (4): “For we cannot speak of the things we do not see.” Third, because of required duty, as in 1 Cor. (9): “Necessity lies upon me: for woe is me if I do not preach the good news.” Fourth, because of an expected reward, as in Galatians (6:9): “Let us not be deficient in doing good, for if we do not give up, we shall have our harvest at the proper time.”
Our prophetic vocation is to listen from a deep place of silence and then to speak out. Sometimes it draws negative response and on certain occasions it results in enforced silence. I call it the “prophetic dance”–Silence; Speech, and Being Silenced.
The next morning Tristan and I rose at sunrise to walk the dunes. As we reached the top, a bird came swooping down at exactly my eye level. Then another. Then a third. Three blessings: eye to eye with the wild birds. Nourishment for the journey ahead.
See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest, pp. 226f.
See Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, pp. 280f.
Banner image: “Seabirds in flight” Photo by Eder Pozo Pérez on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
Aquinas offers four reasons for not keeping silent. Meditate deeply on them. Can you add more as well?
Birds came to bless me. Have you received blessings at hard times from the more-than-human world? What do you learn from that? Meditate on such occasions and be grateful.
Recommended Reading
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way. The result is exciting!
6 thoughts on “Thomas Aquinas on Prophetic Speaking Out and Being Silenced”
Thank you for today’s meditation Matthew Fox. It spoke deeply into my heart and renewed my courage.
As an ordained Roman Catholic WomanPriest since 2014 (in Cape Town, South Africa), I and the 3 other priests in South Africa and the many others in the US, Canada, Europe etc have all been excommunicated – but silenced we will not. We all continue to exercise our priestly ministries, to preach and teach, to welcome and bless, to consecrate at our open Eucharistic tables, to console, and to accompany. And what a joyful journey this has been.
Love and strength to you as you continue nourishing us in this column.
Mary Ryan RCWP(SA)
Dear Mary,
Thank you for sharing your story of silencing in response to Matthew’s story of his. You and your SisterPriests are prophets in action, preaching, teaching, consecrating the Eucharist. I wonder if you felt a rush of energy, determination, and creativity after the silencing. What if Matthew had stayed silent? Would we have these books, lectures and Daily Meditations from him? Would his words ring as true to so many people? Blessings on your courage, on your honesty, and on your ministry. May your work continue to thrive.
Gail Sofia Ransom
For the Daily Meditation Team
Your courage and your writing has been a great encouragement to my own journey and work. Thank you for this.
Dear John,
Thank you for writing and letting us know how these meditations support you in your work. May your journey bee blessed by all Four Paths of Creation Spirituality.
Gail Sofia Ransom
For the Daily Meditation Team
I greatly admire your courage in speaking out over the years, despite the cost. I believe that we all are called to speak truth to power in whatever way that we can. Some of us are limited in what we can do, but I believe we all share the responsibility to one another to work against injustice and suffering. I am unable to get out much or even get to church any more, but I do work from home for Amnesty International responding to “Urgent Action” e-mails by contacting government authorities on behalf of those whose human rights are violated.
Dear Sue,
Thank you for writing and for uplifting Matt’s courage over the years. I admire how you have found a way to speak for just even when you are unable to leave your home very often. Supporting the wrongly imprisoned, the silenced prophets, and the advocates for justice is a powerful act. Thinking about these people, saying their name, knowing their story and advocating for them is prophetic work. On behalf of all of us who have chosen other aspects of injustice to address, thank you for choosing this one.
Gail Sofia Ransom
For the Daily Meditation Team