With Meister Eckhart, we are asking in this Christmas season, “When do we give birth to Christ?” Whenever we create from the depths of ourselves. In this way we imitate Mary and undergo a parallel process that she underwent in birthing the Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit.
“God is always needing to be born,” Eckhart reminds us and he is explicit in relating our powers of imagination and creativity to the work of the Holy Spirit that came over Mary to bring her to conceive Jesus as we saw in yesterday’s DM.
Eckhart repeats this theme often, for example when he says: “This is the fullness of time, when the Son of God is begotten in you.” The “fullness of time” means eternity for Eckhart and is also a reference to the messianic times that begin now, when humans get real about birthing God, the prince of peace, rendering compassion and justice incarnate.
Eckhart tells us, “when the time was fulfilled, grace was born.” Indeed, “the Father begets his only begotten Son in a present now, and the soul is born again in God.”
Our Lady said: ‘How can it be that I should become the Mother of God?’ Then the angel said: ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee from above.’ David said: ‘This day have I begotten thee.’ What is today? Eternity….
Today is eternity. And eternity is among us. Presence. “Kingdom/queendom of God.” Now is the hour and this is the place for birthing the Son as Mary once did. And birthing the Cosmic Christ.
Eckhart asks: What help is it to me that the Father gives birth to his Son unless I too give birth to him? It is for this reason that God gives birth to his Son in a perfect soul and lies in the maternity bed so that he can give birth to him again in all his works.
The phrase in all his works is profoundly telling. The Cosmic Christ is being born in all God’s works and all human works–in all creation. The Cosmic Christ is present in all beings (as is the Buddha and the image of God, Tselem). All shine with divine light inside.
Thomas Merton put it this way: We do not see the Blinding One in black emptiness. He speaks to us gently in ten thousand things….He shines not on them but from within them.
To be continued.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, “Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, pp. 336, 334.
And Fox, A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, p. 232.
And Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, pp. 65-88.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: And the light shone in the darkness: “Ukraine – Angels And Mothers of Courage.” Image by Daniel Arrhakis on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Is it your experience that the Blinding One speaks to you and us gently in ten thousand things? And that he/she shines not on things but from within them? Do you think this what Mary Oliver means by defining prayer as “paying attention?”
Recommended Reading
Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
Matthew Fox’s comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart’s sermons is a meeting of true prophets across centuries, resulting in a spirituality for the new millennium. The holiness of creation, the divine life in each person and the divine power of our creativity, our call to do justice and practice compassion–these are among Eckhart’s themes, brilliantly interpreted and explained for today’s reader.
“The most important book on mysticism in 500 years.” — Madonna Kolbenschlag, author of Kissing Sleeping Beauty Goodbye.
A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his essential teachings on mixing contemplation and action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey.
“This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism
Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book
A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.
8 thoughts on “Our Giving Birth to the Christ, continued”
Matthew, In answering the question you start off with today, namely, “When do we give birth to Christ?” You reply, “Whenever we create from the depths of ourselves. In this way we imitate Mary and undergo a parallel process that she underwent in birthing the Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit.” You share two relevant quotations: 1) “This is the fullness of time, when the Son of God is begotten in you” and 2) “the Father begets his only begotten Son in a present now, and the soul is born again in God.” The Cosmic Christ is being born in all God’s works and all human works–in all creation. The Cosmic Christ is present in all beings. All shine with divine light inside! And now for your questions for us: 1) Is it your experience that the Blinding One speaks to you and us gently in ten thousand things?–Yes, Merton’s “Blinding One” or G-d of light speaks to me of G-d being within all things, which is part of the meaning of “panentheism.” 2) and that he/she/it shines not on, but from within. 3) Yes, I believe what Mary Oliver means by defining prayer as “paying attention?”–paying attention can be like mindfulness meditation, or it can be paying attention to our thoughts. I think this is important because at Unity, where I go sometimes with my wife, they sing a song that goes: “Our thoughts are prayers, and we are always praying; Our thoughts are prayers, listen to what you’re saying…”
David said: ‘This day have I begotten thee.’ What is today? Eternity…. this day every day, this hour every hour.
Of all the beautifully empowering words within today’s DM, one inparticular word spoken within Mathew’s video, really grabbed hold of me, beckoning me into further ponderance. This was the word transparency. The Latin root of this word transparency means LIGHT SHINING THROUGH. God, the Holy Spirit and Christ have often been referred to as LIGHT.
Transparency is about learning, sharing, creating, communicating, expressing and manifesting openly this light shining through; which is embodied within ALL. This LIGHT in its transparency creates a sense of TRUST, invoking a willingness and risk of being vulnerably open to and reliant upon the benevolence and integrity of this Light and it’s desire to shine through, all that which it embodies.
As one learns to perceive this Light shining through, the quality of this Light then begins to unfold, evolve and emerge, becoming more accessible, transmitting secret messages, making things obvious and easier to understand, influencing our accountability with regards to being and living in relationship with this Light embodied within the all and the everything.
It is through this transparency that I have experienced the Blinding One speaking to me in ten thousand things.
My faith in the Holy Spirit inspires my human and eternal soul to always be open to giving birth/transformation to awareness/experience/consciousness of the Loving Presence of the Beloved Cosmic Christ within our hearts and among us in All of our ongoing co-Creation~Evolution in our multidimensional/multiverse Cosmos, especially with-in our Sacred Beautiful Mother Earth and All Her graceful abundances, things, creatures , and beings in Loving Compassionate Diverse Oneness… Cosmic Christ Consciousness….
🔥💜🌎🙏
I come from a Catholic family and have not had many friendly feelings for religion ever since. Obviously, they never told me about Meister Eckart. I really liked today’s writing about us, each and everyone of us, birthing the divine child, creating the divine by recognizing our connectedness. I also liked the idea that every time we have a negative, critical, judgmental thought, we reinforce our separateness. BUT, for whatever’s sake, can we have some more modern illustrations of mothers or fathers, or whatever, rather than people how we think they looked 2000 years ago? Or people who look like saints, gazing up into some kind of unearthly realms? Can’t we have people who look like us and stay on the earth? I don’t mean that they have to look like me–no, let’s have different races, nationalities, colors, etc., just people whom I am actually likely to encounter. It would be a little easier to relate to your message. Christmas should be a celebration of birth–of any birth!
Hello Bertina,
Thank you for your feedback, and yes, Christmas should celebrate the embodiment of the Cosmic Christ in any/all life!
I am….confused…however by your feedback on the art and media shown in the DMs…as one of the three DM curators, I can attest to the work we put into ensuring the images are diverse not only in the range of artwork but also the races, ages, genders, nationalities, abilities etc. of people included…and we seriously avoid the typical “agonized-saint” images gazing off into heaven! Granted, Christmas Eve’s DM did offer three variations on the biblical images, but this is not our norm.
So…to offer a resolution, I’ll alert the team to redouble our efforts, and invite you to ping us at Team@dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org when you see a DM that does not represent a range of the human experience…does that sound fair? Thank you!
Appreciation,
Phila Hoopes
Blog Coordinator
Yes, I believe that God/Christ/Source dwells within everything, and all we need to do is pay attention and watch for what is shining out. Today, for me it was a flock of little birds enjoying the birdbath, and the blessed face of a woman collecting signatures to thank a neighbor for her generosity.
Gerard Manley Hopkins says it so much better than I can in “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”, with these closing verses: “I say more: the just man justices; Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces; Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—Christ—for Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44389/as-kingfishers-catch-fire
I look forward to the beautiful and diverse art, readings, videos in these daily meditations. Thank you Phila Hoopes for your careful curations.
Thank you, Marcella….and appreciation also goes to co-curators Jerry Maynard and Cindy Greb!
Gratefully,
Phila Hoopes
Blog Coordinator