Prayer and the Body – Part 3

In recent years, more and more frequently I have heard activists talking about putting one’s own body “on the line,” which these days might literally mean putting oneself in the line of fire.

Right now, as I am writing, it has been confirmed that the personnel of the two Christian communities in Gaza city — one Orthodox, the other Catholic — have resolved to disobey the order of evacuation and remain at their place, at the risk of dying under the Israeli bombs.

In the meantime, the Global Sumud Flotilla, a nonviolent fleet of small vessels, has just sailed from Italy and Spain with the stated aim of bringing aid to Gazans, interfering with the genocidal plans of the Israeli government and raising global consciousness and resistance. People from forty-four countries are participating in this symbolic and practical action, while the most powerful governments express consternation and keep sending weapons to the Israeli army.

The unions of workers of the Genoa port in Italy, a major site for containers, have declared that if their delegation, present aboard one of the vessels of the Sumud Flotilla, will be stopped or in any way harassed, “not one single nail” will be delivered to Israel anymore —they have already embargoed weapons, against the will of the Italian government.

All these people, believers and non-believers, are praying with their body, or rather they are bodies-in-prayer. If prayer is attention and openness to reality in the first place, these people have done that and more. They have crossed the line between intention and action.

They are “true workers” in the sense that their life work has brought them to a place of consciousness so refined that extreme risks have become acceptable to them. In yesterday’s DM, Matthew was speaking indeed of the heroism of those who are standing up in their places of work to speak truth to power and pay the consequences.

I am sure that when Matthew wrote The Reinvention of Work in the early 1990s he was not thinking of heroism or martyrdom. It was quite a different world back then. But the deep intersection of work and meaning and life and witness to the truth was all there in that book.

We have reached the tragic place where we live now largely because people do not do the work they are truly called to do. They accept to “serve” in armies. They are saddened and broken by jobs which feed the body but kill the soul. Thus, their level of consciousness sinks instead of rising.

All the more we should be thankful that — in our present dire situation— some members of our species are rising up and putting their bodies on the line.

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See Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

And Fox, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time

And Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation

And Mathew Fox & Charles Burack (Ed.), Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Banner image: Greta Thunberg speaks at the launching of the Global Sumud Flotilla of aid to Gaza from the city of Barcelona, Spain on August 31, 2025. Wikimedia Commons.

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Queries for Contemplation

What do you do with your body that you consider prayer?

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Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack

To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship.  His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM.

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