The Republican tribe has now passed a budget that cuts $860 billion from Medicaid and $250 billion from SNAP. In other words, that devastates the poorest among us. Why?
Primarily because the ruling class—those who own most of the media and legislators and the largest corporations and many supreme court judges–want still more tax breaks. They are committed to getting them by slashing food for the hungry (SNAP) and health care for the poorest including the disabled and medicine for the sick, including AIDS medicine for 20 million Africans (see USAID cuts).
As Aquinas said in yesterday’s DM, “the greed for gain knows no limit and tends to infinity.”
Bernie Sanders, on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in the Midwest red states, reminded us that we are all familiar with the devastation that addictions can wreck on individuals and families whether drug or alcohol or sex or work addictions. But the most serious addiction problem we have in this country… is the uncontrollable greed of this billionaire class….They want more wealth. They want more power. And they just cannot stop themselves.
This is one reason democracy was born: To help the superrich tone down their addiction to power. Today, greed/avarice is off the charts and eager to displace democracy. Thus we see tRump and Musk, Vance and Thiel sidling up to Putin and his oligarchs and voting alongside them in the United Nations against democracies world over.
A horrible and wrenching thing to see, this deliberate abandonment of our European and other allies who favor democracy in favor of voting alongside autocratic nations like Russia, North Korea and China.
I recall how, many years ago I saw a live interview with Henry Ford II who was a millionaire many times over. Asked by a reporter: “When do you have enough money?” he replied, “When you always have a little bit more.”
I was struck by two points: First, this is addiction, one is never satisfied. And second, how sad it is that people condemn themselves to dissatisfaction. Being a millionaire doesn’t end the quest for more. More-itis can take over the soul.
Both Hildegard and Aquinas tell us that avarice/greed render the human heart cold and hard. Aquinas says: “The avaricious person hardens his or her heart so that he will not out of compassion come to the aid of anyone at the expense of his possessions.” Avarice is the opposite of compassion. Like the antichrist is the opposite of Christ.
Hildegard calls hard-heartedness the worst sin since it shows no mercy. Neither does it think that charity is necessary nor does it do any good works….Hard-heartedness should not be allowed to harden itself against God or man. For this is the worst evil of all evils. It spares no one and shows no mercy. It despises men and draws back from God. It does not rejoice with men, nor does it encourage humans to do good deeds.
Is an entire American party now cold and hard, despising others, withdrawing from God and enthralled by power?
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 301, 306.
And Fox, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times.
And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times.
And Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
Banner Image: Déjà vu: strongmen Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and 47 angle to determine the fate of the world. Digitally altered image by Appaloosa on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you see greed and heard-heartedness as a sign of our political times? What to do about it?
Recommended Reading
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her.
In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice.
“This book gives strong, sterling, and unvarnished evidence that everything – everything – we ourselves become will affect what women after us may also become….This is a truly marvelous, useful, profound, and creative book.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism.
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
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 teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
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
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
5 thoughts on “Hildegard & Aquinas Speak Truth to Power Re: Avarice & Greed”
We should not give ‘lip service’ to the Great Commission and the Glory of God and then eat from the trough of doom and gloom, because that is what we are being fed every day. What is the ‘fire of purification’ asking us to do as we rebuild, rebirth and transform? — BB.
DO THIS!!
February 28th action “DEI BOYCOTT PLAN.”
THE 24 HOUR BLACKOUT HAS BEEN SCHEDULED AS THE FIRST OF MULTIPLE COUNTER MEASURES TO THE ATTACK ON DEI
OUR FIRST OFFICIAL ACT:
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH. from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
• Do not make any purchases.
• Do not shop online, or in-store
• No Amazon
• No Walmart
• No Best Buy
Nowhere!
• No McDonalds
DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON FOOD:
• Fast Food
• Gas
• Major Retailers
• Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending.
WHAT YOU CAN DO IF NECESSARY:
• Plan ahead….do not do a major shopping on Feb. 27th to stock up
Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary items such as
Explain (when possible) that you are not purchasing because of the boycot If you must emergency supplies: (Food, Medicine, Emergency items) ONLY purchase from small local business
SPREAD THE MESSAGE
• Talk about it.
• Post about it.
• Document your actions that day!
WHY THIS MATTERS!
• Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.
• If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.
• If they don’t listen we make the next blackout longer.
• This is our first action.
• Our numbers are powerful.
• This is how we make history.
What to do about the greed and hard-heartedness? I am humiliated for Canada and our leaders, the sane ones, bending over backwards, appeasing, following orders from the Mad-Hatter who from his throne seems incapable of respectful dialogue and negotiation. What are the sane ones doing about the greed? They are encouraging and planning more trade elsewhere. Canadians are united as never before to “buy Canadian”, to care for one another, to hold fast to our sovereignty, to democracy, to be a world leader, to be an example to the world. Yes, I am humiliated for the way Canada is treated by the current republican administration and I am also a proud and hopeful Canadian who is counting on our American friends and neighbors who are sane, resilient and good-hearted.
Yes! Brilliant DM today about how we are all as humanity are being negatively affected personally, nationally, and internationally by evil spiritual forces such as egocentricity, greed, control, and power. The main responsibility personally/interpersonally is to maintain our Faith and spiritual contemplative/silent prayer-meditation practices so that we maintain Our intimate relationships with Our Source~Co-Creator’s Spirit of Divine Love~Wisdom within and among Us in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT within Our LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS….
I hope that all are taking part in the boycott today and will continue to act together in solidarity. Practices of contemplation, meditation, prayer and others that work for individuals will continue to fuel our loving work for justice, even and especially at times like this when evil is rampant. Contacting people in Congress who are supposed to represent us to remind them that they are abdicating their responsibilities may seem futile, but one never knows what seeds may be planted. Supporting organizations that work for human rights by contributing time or money is vital. And supporting independent media like The Guardian, the Florida Phoenix, the Contrarians and others can help. Can we fix this broken system? Probably not, but we can be there in every way possible to care for all those who are being injured. I think that we need to think big and realize that we are all being called to make radical changes in our lives, should the worst, such as another Depression, happen. I think that we need to ask ourselves how much we are willing to give up of our comfortable lives in order to serve those in need. All of the time, we need to keep our faith strong, because we are not responsible for outcomes, and discern what it is we are called to do in times like these. Sitting back is not an option IMO.