October 2, 2023: Further Stories and Meaning Regarding the Green Man
In this meditation, we learn that the Green Man is not just a European archetype. For instance, at a lecture Matthew was giving in Hawaii, a Native Hawaiian told him that they have a Green Man who wears a cape of tea leaves. He is known as “the One Who Manages the Forest.” In addition, Green Men can display different states and emotions: playfulness, introspection, fierceness, etc. He is also connected with male sexuality, and he celebrates it, especially in the sense of creativity, regeneration, and new life.
October 3, 2023: Men and Christ as Stags according to Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen created a painting in which Christ was depicted as a stag. The stag was upon the torso of a woman representing Constancy. The deer, Hildegard says, is the Son of God about whom the psalmist writes: “I thirst for you as a deer after running waters.” The stag is also linked symbolically with the Tree of Life and with regeneration since its antlers are renewed regularly.
October 4, 2023: Authoritarianism and Fascism as Faux Masculinity
We see in our world the rise of fascism, and men strutting around on the world stage surrounded by people who treat them as idols. There is plenty of evidence of toxic masculinity in our time. In addition, there is so much violence–toward others and self–among men. (Ninety-five percent of mass shooters are men, and mostly young men. And suicide among men is four times that of women.) It is time to recover the healthy masculine.
October 5, 2023: Francis Balancing Masculine & Feminine in Father Sky, Mother Earth
Today is the Feast Day of St. Francis, beloved the world over. Medieval scholar Père Chenu reminds us that Francis’s vow of poverty was part of a “social evolution” that turned its back on an “obsolete” monastic sense of economics that was thoroughly tied up with the dying feudal regime. Chenu also tells us that Francis’s sense of Joy changed a civilization more than the kings and power brokers of the time.
Auxilium Christianorum
October 6, 2023: Francis Balancing the Masculine & Feminine in Father Sky & Mother Earth
It is interesting that in his famous Cosmic Christ poem, St. Francis turns first to the sky, to “Lord Brother Sun,” and declares its splendor and radiance, words naming the doxa and glory that always accompany the Cosmic Christ. Francis shows an amazing balance of feminine along with the masculine in this poem, so revealing of his balanced soul, for following immediately on praising his “brother sun,” he turns to praising his sisters, “Sister Moon and Stars.” He continues by praising “Brother Wind and Air” and “Sister Water.” Finally, he praises the Mother: All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother. May this kind of grateful, balanced, loving masculinity return to the world.
October 7, 2023: Father Louis Vitale: Spiritual Warrior for Peace & Son of St. Francis
We have cause to celebrate another man who beautifully embodies the sacred masculine. Today in San Francisco there is a memorial Mass for Father Louis Vitale, a Franciscan brother and a devoted activist for peace and justice. He went to jail over 400 times protesting against war and injustice. He said he was inspired by Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. St. Francis translated the beatitude “Blessed are the peacemakers” this way: All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy are those who endure in peace. By you, Most High, they will be crowned. We salute you and honor you, Louis Vitale.
Banner image: St. Francis altar carving, New York church. Photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons.
Recommended Reading
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
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.
1 thought on “Week of 10/2-7/2023: The Sacred Masculine in the Green Man, St. Francis & Louis Vitale”
In response to this past week of daily DMs about the Sacred Masculine, I want to again recommend the importance of Matthew’s book “The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine” by quoting from its Introduction:
“The history of the distorted masculine goes back thousands of years to around 4500 B.C. with the overthrow of matriarchy and the triumph of patriarchy… The male soul has been profoundly wounded by this history — as has the female soul (and consequently so has humanity and Mother Earth/Nature). Today, the stakes for finding a Sacred Marriage of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine have never been higher. Our survival hangs in the balance.” (pp. xxvi-xxvii)