Honoring the Courage of Those Who Sacrifice & Follow Conscience

Three days ago, we honored the 20^th anniversary of Sister Dorothy Stang’s martyrdom among the peasant farmers living in the rainforest, and committed to defending it against forces of greed that are trying to kill it in order to get rich quick by establishing cattle farms.

The peasants, when they buried Sister Dot, said “we are not burying you, we are planting you.” In other words, her love for them, the forest and justice, is growing fruit elsewhere.

In doing what she did and staying to do her work on behalf of the peasants and the rainforest, Sister Dot was imitating the courageous way of Jesus, who was called a “stern warrior” in the Scriptures and in the Liturgy. At Christmas, this text is used to speak of Christ:

When peaceful silence lay over all,
And night had run the half of her swift course,
Down from the heavens, from the royal throne,
leapt your all-powerful Word:
Into the heart of a doomed land the stern warrior leapt.

Such love and heroic sacrifice as Sister Dot’s takes spiritual warrior energy. As Aquinas says, we are to “brave great dangers for great things, for instance the common welfare, justice, divine worship, and so forth.” He frequently cited the prophet Jeremiah who said, “The Lord is with me like a brave warrior.”

Rabbi Heschel talks about “the urgency of justice,” and how “to do justice is what God demands of every person: it is the supreme commandment, and one that cannot be fulfilled vicariously.” To do justice takes inner strength or warrior/prophetic energy. 

Buddhist nun Pema Chodrin calls mindfulness practitioners “spiritual warriors.” Buddhist Joanna Macy tells us that “great courage—moral and physical—is required of the Shambhala warriors who carry the weapons of compassion and insight.”  

Yesterday, a long-time Republican and conservative and top federal prosecutor resigned, rather than comply with an order to dismiss corruption charges against New York City’s mayor. US Attorney Danielle Sasson, who once interned with conservative judge Anthony Scalia, was recently chosen by the Trump administration to lead the prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams. 

When she was ordered by deputy attorney general Emil Bove to dismiss the case on Monday, she refused to do so, and gave up her job rather than comply. It took “lion energy” and spiritual warrior conscience to leave her post rather than submit to a command to cease pursuing the corruption charges. Good for Ms. Sasson!

Five other prosecutors followed Ms. Sasson’s courageous act of conscience and defiance, and also walked away from their jobs. It is good to see some courageous and conscience-driven lawyers stand up. 

Would some congress people and senators would show the same commitment to conscience and to the greater good of our country, stand up and speak out against dangerous nominees for cabinet positions, for example. And risk losing their jobs while standing up for the common good.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 404, 411f, 408, 413f.

And Matthew Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.

Banner Image: Maa Durga, riding a tiger and holding a different weapon in each hand, is a Hindu archetype of the spiritual warrior. Photo by Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash.

Queries for Contemplation

Are you inspired by Sister Dot, Danielle Sessions, and the other five prosecution lawyers who put conscience ahead of their life and professional position to sacrifice for justice? Do you work and pray that politicians would do the same?

Recommended Reading

One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit

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

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