Praying with Queen Esther By Gianluigi Gugliermetto   8/21/2025

Meditating upon prayer and the four paths, I realize that in our historical moment it is especially the via negativa that must be made present to everybody’s consciousness. It is terribly offensive to see people dancing and having fun in TV commercials while an entire people is scheduled to be deported — or exterminated if they don’t accept deportation.

It is tragically ironic that in the biblical book of Esther we read the same identical story: the powerful decided a date by which all Jews must be gone from the Persian empire, or else they would be slaughtered (Esther 3:7). Queen Esther then immediately started fasting and foregoing all pleasures.

“What Is the Esther Fast? The Power of Absolute Fasting Explained” @DailyGraceReflections-u9n

This must be seen as an expression of awareness, a refusal to pretend that nothing is happening — even though she would not be affected personally by the impending events (Esther 4:16-17).   Substitute the word “Jews” in the previous paragraph with the word “Palestinians” and you get both what we are living through right now and what prayer in the via negativa means at the present time.   The story continues with Esther taking the situation in her own hands and risking her life by interfering with the king’s decision of expulsion/ extermination. By a mix of skillful diplomacy and sheer luck, she is pivotal in reversing the situation and saving all the Jews (Esther 5-8).   This is a clear expression of via creativa — her daring skillfullness — which results in a via transformativa action, i.e. a positive result of social change.

As thousands of Israelis protest the ongoing genocide in a general strike, Netanyahu pursues plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza. Channel 4 News.

But Queen Esther can obtain what she does largely because she is an insider/outsider. She is part of the ruling class, and yet she also belongs to the oppressed people. She is in the position to forget the last part, yet she places herself in deep solidarity with those

who suffer. I wonder if there is anybody today who can play such a part on the global stage. Is it, perhaps, the huge crowd of Israelis who have taken the streets in the last few days?   Empathy cannot just be words or mere feelings. The via negativa prayer practices are very important because they help us to get out of our stiffened mental schemes and experience what others are experiencing in naked, unfiltered reality. Fasting, imaginative meditations, deep listening to first-hand witnesses, wailing in community… at least some of these things seem to me unavoidable at this time as they help us involve all of our being.   But sorrow can swallow us up and thus become another trap at the service of the empire. Even more is required of us. Our via negativa practices must be followed by some via creativa efforts — just as Esther employed all her skills and powers, showing the heart of a lioness. Show up to a protest! Or do whatever you can do.

Our via negativa practices must also be preceded by some via positiva exercises. At the beginning of this meditation I expressed my disgust at watching commercials with people at ease which feel like scorn (see Psalm 123:4). But now I also say that unless our

Storing up for dry times ahead: camel trains pause to rest by the Nile in Egypt. Photo by Rab Lawrence on Flickr.

bodies are well-fed they cannot afford a fast; unless our minds are pleased by beauty, they cannot afford to hear stories of utter misery; unless our spirits are lifted up high, they cannot afford to descend to hell.   The lion’s courage which Matthew has been invoking in his DMs must both precede and follow our prayer exercises in the via negativa.   Personally — as the decree of utter misery on Palestinians has been signed by those evil people in Tel Aviv — I need the courage of a lion to wake up, do my physical exercises, remember to eat good food, and enjoy my walks.   As Matthew reminded us recently (see DM August 12) all prophets, all spiritual warriors, need to take care of themselves. This is the via positiva root of our spirituality that we should never forget, and yet is only the beginning of the whole path.