Here we are in the first week of a New Year, and the news is indeed heavy. All the more reason to call on our deepest reserves of faith, hope, and love to see our way through it and to keep on keeping on.
The news was rarely positive in Jesus’ day, either, living as he did under the whip of the Roman Empire. Yet still he spoke of “Good News” and the presence of “the Kingdom of God” in our midst.
Our trust and faith can be born from the same Source that he derived his: The Creator of this world—all two trillion galaxies of it—and of this Earth, with all of its problems and human-initiated horrors, takes delight in his/her creation (see Genesis one)…and we can too.
Even in the darkness, the Via Positiva is there to be seen and appreciated and remembered. Our gratitude for the gifts of existence, beauty, our breath, bodies, minds and imaginations, love and relationships, and children, our time, and many choices we can make about how we live and why and for whom and with what values we choose to live out as best we can–these no one can take from us.
The very loss of an innocent and caring 37-year-old mother and poet named Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis is so disturbing because she 1) did exist, and 2) chose to be a loving and caring and responsible citizen, and 3) fearing for her life, moved her car away when ICE tried to remove her forcibly from it.
And a lying president, along with his vice president, and ICE head Kristi Noem, instead of offering concern, painted her as “deranged” and a “terrorist.”
One person wrote me this response to the ugly event: If you’re as upset about the point-blank killing of an American citizen by federal agents in broad daylight as I am, as well as the horrible escalation of violence in our streets, here is a link to a massive organized response.* With love for you, our country, and our world.
This story will not go away. ICE invites violence wherever it goes, and especially when governors do not want to see it in their states. California Governor Newsom called the Minneapolis incident “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Other headlines this week reminded us of what has happened to the American media world in just the first year of Trump’s new administration, beginning here: “Corporation for Public Broadcasting is officially shutting down months after GOP funding cuts.” CPB was founded in 1967 to support public broadcasting, such as PBS and NPR, and many small rural stations in particular.**
Meanwhile:
Top Trump donors Larry and David Ellison now control Paramount, CBS News, Pluto TV, and TikTok.
Mark Zuckerberg, who gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, controls Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, and Messenger, which operate algorithmically and reward “outrage, disinformation, and right-wing political content.”
The Sinclair family “push coordinated right-wing talking points across CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox.”
Jeff Bezos owns Amazon, the Washington Post and more.
Elon Musk owns X and uses it “to actively boost Trump” and MAGA.***
And, of course, Fox News, carrying right-wing propaganda wherever it goes, has filled countless top spots in the current administration with its figureheads, including, of course, its part-time weekend broadcaster who now heads the defense department, which just invaded Venezuela—an act 2/3 of Americans disagree with. And the president promises to “run” that country indefinitely.
The release of all the Epstein Files was mandated to have happened several weeks ago, but contrary to the law of the land, only 1% of the total amount has been released.
Plenty to worry about and plenty to follow in the news. And plenty to pray about and deepen one’s heart and soul to absorb all the chaos and negativity while keeping alive one’s love of life. Our love of love and truth and justice is always so much larger than the smallness of soul.
Let us grow our hearts and souls in times like these and ask: “What can I contribute to biophilia? And how best can I stand up to forces of necrophilia?” And find allies and community in the process of resisting.
To be continued.
*Learn about the Indivisible Mobilization against ICE HERE.
**Mycah Puno, “Is PBS Shutting Down? Everything We Know and What Happens Next”
***“Courier Newsroom, Jan. 7: “Right-wing billionaires control the media. The list is staggering.”
Banner Image: Demanding “ICE Out in Justice for Renee Good.” Image from the January 8 protest, “From DC to Minneapolis: Stop ICE Terrorism” organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation – DC. Photo by Geoff Livingston on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
How do you keep your heart and soul alive and fresh, young, green and inspired, even when the news is bleak and painful? How do you exercise your moral imagination and pray by resisting?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Stations of the Cosmic Christ
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond
6 thoughts on “Keeping the Heart Bright in Times of Heavy News”
WE living by Grace in this present moment of NOW ,sending loving thoughts and prayers globally into God’s Universe of PERFECT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
They do arrive where they are meant to, even though we never see. Doesnt matter. Send them . Amor Vincit Omnia LOVE CONQUERS ALL .
LIGHT IS STRONGER THAN DARKNESS.
BE NOT AFRAID
AMEN! Our Co-CREATOR~SOURCE’S SPIRIT of DIVINE LOVE~WISDOM… IS PRESENT within and among Us in the physical and nonphysical subtle spiritual realms of LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS in the DIVINE FLOW of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT….
Stop funding the terrorist state with your tax dollars.
Ed, I wish I had the courage for that. I’m not ready to be jailed. Of course, if enough of us did that, MAGA couldn’t jail us all. (Hah! Maybe they could.) To answer the question, I’m NOT able to keep my mind alive and fresh, young, green, and inspired. I am able to breathe, make love, attend spiritual retreats, spend time with girlfriends, write, plan play productions, stream fiction, cook, and (rarely) smile or laugh. I exercise. I carve out time to revise current plays and consider new ones. I use every spiritual practice I know to reach for peace and some semblance of hope. Daily, I meditate and repeat John Philip Newell and Buddhist chants, often counting phrases with a mala or chanting online with Buddha Weekly. I serve as a peacekeeper for pro-democracy rallies. I remember, as Matthew reminds us, that times were rough in Jesus’ time and that they have always been this hard in the U.S. for people of color with the exception, perhaps, of a few recent, hopeful decades. Perhaps of greatest support are the weekly Substack writings of Anne Lamott. She understands our pain and writes with such humor. Here’s one: https://open.substack.com/pub/annelamott/p/a-bad-week?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
I am convicted by the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.” Probably the most difficult words to live by. I confess, I seldom do. I don’t believe it means we stand by when we see injustice, hatred and persecution taking place, but rather, we must try to avoid responding with the same anger, vituperation and hatred that is aimed at us or others.
Daily meditations sound like a solid way to stay grounded. How do you choose which topics to focus on each day?