This is a summary of the previous week’s daily meditations. Some are written by Matthew Fox (MF) and some are written by his colleague, Gianluigi Gugliermetto. (GG) You can click on any title to view the DM in its entirety. Also, remember that each Monday DM continues to include a video teaching by Matthew Fox. Thank you for your loyal readership.
April 13, 2026: Chaos & Evil Under Trump & MAGA: Lessons From Hildegard (MF)
In this DM, we meditate on Hildegard of Bingen’s painting of the Antichrist and how it so accurately reflects Trump and his horrendous, foolhardy war in Iran. In her painting, each of the five animals depicted (which come from the Book of the Apocalypse) represent an aspect of today’s chaos and evil. The dog represents humans who “bite at their own conditions.” The lion stands for “warlike men,” the horse for those who put their own selfish pleasure above the needs of others. The pig represents that which is unclean, and the wolf represents stealing from others. The comparison with Trump is obvious: waging an unjust war, luxury living (golden toilets?), the constant grifting, etc.
April 14, 2026: Trump Plays the Antichrist Role—Time for the 25th Amendment? (MF)
This Sunday, Easter Sunday in the Orthodox tradition, Trump attacked Pope Leo for being “woke” and “weak” and also published on X an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus. The public outcry was great, even among some conservatives.* Former MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “more than blasphemy.” She also called it “an Antichrist Spirit.” The pope used the occasion to remind people that Jesus taught peace and not war, and the Gospel is about liberation for the poor. Is it time for the 25th Amendment yet?
April 15, 2026: Annihilation of a Civilization? Annihilation of ALL Civilizations! (MF)
Last Tuesday, Trump declared, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” The backlash was great, even among MAGA folk. MTG said: “President Trump has gone mad as he wages war against Iran, a broken campaign promise.” Candace Owens said: “It may be time to put Grandpa up in a home.” Calls for the invocation of the 25th Amendment increased. But there is another war that Trump is waging which doesn’t get as much publicity, and that is the war against Mother Earth. She is suffering. Take, for instance, this headline: “US had hottest March on record as nation faced ‘unprecedented’ heat.” In addition, “January through March period was the driest on record for the contiguous US. So not only was it hot, it was record dry as well.”** Trump’s response? Obliterating many environmental laws which have been in place since the original Earth Day in 1970.
April 16, 2026: Diary from the Italian Countryside – part 3 (GG)
Gianluigi currently lives in a paradise which is greening gloriously with the arrival of spring. He reports: The hills are so incredibly green! It’s a vital, shouting, joyful green that only the Hildegardian word viriditas (“verdancy”) can describe. Said she: “The grasses laugh with the joy of life! ” When her working relationship with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa turned sour due to his domineering nature, she wrote him heated letters, saying: When you lack the verdancy of justice, your soul is dry, totally without tender goodness, totally without illuminating virtue. GG reflects on the comparisons of Hildegard’s time with ours today. He tells us that while he cannot isolate himself “from the news of lunacy, hate, and destruction,” he is grateful to “breathe in as much viriditas as possible.”
April 17, 2026: Dancing as a Way of Life – part 1 (GG)
Recently, GG rediscovered an old book titled Danser sa vie (Dancing One’s Life). The first chapter speaks of the spirituality of dance. Here, for instance, is one sentence from that chapter: To dance means primarily to establish an active relation between the human and nature, it’s becoming part of the cosmic movement…. In Creation Spirituality, dance is found both in the via positiva and the via transformativa. At the beginning, in via positiva, dance gives to the person a real sense of bodily identity; at the end, in via transformativa, dance gifts the person a concrete sense of community. GG suggests that the latter kind of dancing can be free form or folk dance. It is in itself a whole ritual, symbolizing and making real in that very moment the unity of the human family, as well as the cosmic order.
April 18, 2026: Dancing as a Way of Life – part 2 (GG)
In the first chapter of his Danser sa vie, Roger Garaudy traces a spirituality of dance which is a spirituality of life. He quotes Ananda Coomaraswamy: Within this expression of the organic unity of human beings and nature, India made of Shiva’s dance the clearest image of God’s activity… Our God — an ancient sacred Indian hymn spells out — is a dancing God…. Shiva’s dance is cosmic as it expresses the five divine actions with relation to the universe: creation, conservation, destruction, rebirth (reincarnation), and ultimate freedom. Garaudy also writes that the “place” of the dance, the center of the universe, is the heart of each human being. Dance eroticizes our total relationship with the world and (gives) a style to our body’s movements and our life, awakening in us the desire that our whole being express itself by expressing the world.
*Catherine Bouris and Ewan Palmer, “Even MAGA Recoils at Trump Cosplaying as Christ in Deranged Post,” The Daily Beast, April 13, 2026
**Associated Press, “US had hottest March on record as nation faced ‘unprecedented’ heat,” The Guardian, April 9, 2026.
Banner image: Daisies in a sunlit field. Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash. “I have set before you life and death… Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Trump and the MAGA Movement as Antichrist.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance.
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation.
Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Listug, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings in Creation Spirituality.
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
WHEE! We, wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality
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1 thought on “Week of 4/13-28/2026: Chaos vs. Verdancy & Dancing”
Blessings of Love Wisdom Healing Peace Justice Freedom Compassion Creative-Life Oneness… to All Our sisters and brothers, physical and nonphysical spiritual beings, with-in Our Sacred Mother Earth and multidimensional/multiverse eternally evolving Beautiful Sacred Co-Creation Cosmos….