Returning from the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago

This past Saturday morning at 2:30 am, I returned from the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago where, among other things, I and a team of about 18 others led the celebration of a Cosmic Mass.  About 700 people filled a large ballroom at McCormick Center on Lake Michigan to dance and pray and open our hearts. 

I have a certain history with McCormick Center as many years ago, while a student in the Aquinas Institute of Philosophy in River Forest, Illinois—a suburb of Chicago—I remember attending a talk there by a new theologian named Hans Küng.  I remember to this day the theme of his talk where he compared the Roman Catholic Church of the time to the Politburo of Soviet Russia.  It was very early in the Second Vatican Council and needless to say it sort of shook up my image of the Catholic Church I was raised in.   

It was reading and publishing an article by M. D. Chenu in our magazine Listening, entitled “The End of the Constantinian Era,” a few years later, that gave me a context to understand the ecclesial, historical, and societal issues the Council was wrestling with.

Only years later, when I graduated from the Institut Catholique de Paris, did I learn that Hans Küng also graduated from that University.  And that Chenu taught there.  

We young Dominicans also attended an event at McCormick Center with Bishop Sheen where our Dominican choir sang and we all shook hands with the smiling Bishop.

The cosmos is very much on my mind lately—and I hope on yours also.  After all, the cosmos is another name for Nature, Creation, Existence, Isness (Eckhart says “isness is God”), Ecology, Evolution, and Relationship.  

Eckhart says, “Relation is the essence of everything that exists.”  Which is very close to what today’s quantum physics teaches us also.  

To be continued.

See Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance 

And Fox, Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart.

Banner Image: The Cosmic Mass at the Parliament of World Religions, 2023, with wildlife lanterns sculpted by University of Creation Spirituality graduate Mary Plaster, D.Min. Photo by Mary Plaster, published with permission.

Queries for Contemplation

What does “creation” mean to you?  And “cosmos”?

Recommended Reading

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance

In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
 “This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.

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.