Christian Catholic Mystic Hermit: More Correspondence on Focus in Loving His Real Presence

 More correspondence to a friend whose interest or comfort level has been more in writing of persons in the canonization process or already canonized as saints in the Church.  I've been encouraging (maybe even badgering a bit!) trying to write of His Living Word and of His Real Presence, for His Real Presence is in His Living Word, of course.  I'm praying for the friend to be enlivened by His Real presence, the Holy Trinity, and might find writing on what ought be the love and life of our existences to come easier than it has thus far, and for the heart to be in it, rather than writing daily saint biographies.  

I suppose after awhile, if it continues to be not the captivating and enlivening topic that I find His Real Presence to be, the veritable Love of my life and soul's existence, then in I will need to stand down and suggest the friend return to what is more comfortable--and that is partly what I've found deterring in the elevation of holy souls through an involved canonical approval process called "canonization."  

People can get ensnared in these persons' lives without recognizing that these "saints" were not that interested in other than intense, magnanimous love of and for and in His Real Presence: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this includes then delight and love of and in any aspect of His Real Presence as he is in us and we are in Him. So His Living Word, Spiritual/Mystical Eucharist, and Prayer (love-talk, loving and praising conversation with HRP), take on a consuming delight and meaning, a purpose, such as to then love God above all else and love others and self and His Creation as God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit love.

Dear X,

I know writing about HIs Living Word is more difficult than writing of the saints.  As we know, today is the celebration of John Vianney, parish priest and amazing mystic.  I've read a fat book about him years ago, and another smaller one. I really like him, but it is personal and selfish, both, as he helped me accept some of the persecution.  Plus, earlier on in my spiritual life, I had more overt attacks by the devil, usually at night when I could more easily be taken off-guard, including some with fire and also being tormented in other ways; John Vianney had fire across his bed (and in his room), and I learned from him how to deal with it.  He learned to recognize immediately and not be fearful or upset, but would just laugh and speak aloud to the devil whom he called the Grappler, and would turn over and go back to sleep.  I think part of what I have found very difficult or did was to recognize that while God is so real, the devil is, also.  

However, as always, these people who are made into saints without their consent because it's after they've died, often are priests or religious or have something the temporal church wants or can use which is a good thing in many ways--some active or temporal good that they provide or the church can benefit from which is for good purpose even if to attract more people to Catholicism, to Christianity.  But I seem in an odd category of those who are rejected, which is not at all a rejection by His Real Presence, but by people in the temporal church and the temporal church itself.  And I consider that a very good thing because it is His Real Presence Who leads us to Himself, not a temporal church.  

The temporal church can help such as with education and a place to gather to worship, or not online worship, and there is much benefit for those who do not have HIs Real Presence in the Living Word except when they might listen to His Living Word in worship services, but they have His Real Presence in tangible Host, even if they might not realize or their minds not grasping yet that HIs Real Presence is in them at anytime and all the time, through a simple awareness and appreciation and spiritual communion.  Plus, that of prayer--and more can be taught if the priest preaches about His Real Presence in any or all of the Three Persons or of His Living Word in Masses that people can listen to with varying degrees of attention.  

And the other traditions and reading about such as saints or especially the writings of marvelous Christians particularly the early ones, brings a great deal of help to us Christians today. You read In Imitation of Christ--an earlier writer, they think Thomas a Kempis but not totally sure.  What a treasure, and thankfully he was not canonized and all that process, but what is emphasized is what he wrote--a tome of wisdom and practical living out our lives as Christ-like beings, or that is the goal.

I can tell your heart is maybe not yet enlivened and on fire with His Living Word, but the Holy Spirit is lighting it, and will help you find it easier and second nature to you because His Real Presence in in you.  One thing in these current readings that you point out is focusing on faith (trust/faith).  Yet something other that is the reason we have or learn to have more and more faith, and trust--and that is due to our love--of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit:  His Real Presence.  The more love we have for and of HRP, the greater our faith, and the greater our trust, and the greater our courage, and the more of these, then the more love.  

So love is our reason and purpose, love for HRP, and faith is a means of increase of love, and love is a cause of increase in faith, trust, courage, etc.  So I think if we consider love of His Real Presence or break it down to love of Jesus or Love of God or Love of the Holy Spirit separately but at some point bring them together as they are One Person, it is love that progresses us and love drives us to desire more of HRP and our faith increases, and at some time our love increases, and then more courage, more trust, more virtues. But it all seems to hinge upon and begin with love, and the depth of our love and focus of our love, as in Love the Lord God with all your mind, heart, and strength, or Love God above all things and others as ourselves, meaning love as God loves, which comes increasingly as we become more in love with His Real Presence and in love with learning to love.

That is the secret of those people (saints) of which the temporal church people were assigned to the task of making them into canonized saints.  That is really what we learn from these people who lived and died and the reason why they grew spiritually and were able to be courageous and be increasingly as Jesus said was possible.  They learned to love God more than all else and to love as God loves--loving all souls and all creation and all that is of His Real Presence.

It was for love of her daughter and having heard that Jesus had the ability to heal and to drive out demons, that the Canaanite woman begged Jesus to help her daughter.  Jesus did use that situation to demonstrate and teach about the coming time when the apostles would be bringing the good news of His Real Presence to all peoples of the earth--the Gentiles as they were called of those around them such as other than Jews.  And Jesus commends the faith of the woman and her humility, knowing she was not Jewish and viewed as but a dog of sorts, but her motive was great love, and Jesus responds to LOVE such as of others, also; and we can figure that when Jesus healed her daughter, the woman LOVED Jesus ever after, and her faith grew, and she knew in her heart and mind that Jesus is God or whatever the Creator of all would be termed in her culture.  She loved Him and her mother heart was surely touched deeply with His love.

I know when His Real Presence starts speaking to you freely in His Living Word, you will not find it difficult at all and in fact far easier than going through the two or three saint books and composing and writing out the biographical information.  Your mind and heart will have only to write what is being enlivened and ideas and understandings will come, and relate to your life and others' lives, or whatever, I'm convinced you will have a far easier time writing of this and your heart will be on fire in His Living Word more than in the written biographies of those in the canonization process or canonized.  When in love, what and who is the One a person thinks about and wants to talk about--I mean in love as in Divine Love.  

I guess we'll find out if you and I pray--ask His Real Presence to increase our love and converse and enlighten our minds, hearts, and souls in His Real Presence in His Living Word, in prayer, and in what can be come (as we can have HRP in praying always) having HRP always in on-going spiritual Eucharist, too.

The saints are of value for how they came to this love of His Real Presence and understood His Real Presence is in them always and in all ways: in His Living Word, in prayer/conversation with God, and in spiritual, mystical Eucharist,  and these sustain because His Real Presence is in these and thus in us and us in His Real Presence. These aspects  increase our love of HRP and thus increases our faith in HRP.

It's all very real.

I noticed Augustine's understanding and writing of Peter's love for Christ was what sustained him and gave him faith and courage to walk toward Jesus on the water.  Then there came Peter's taking his eyes and focus off Jesus and his love for Him, and distractions caused him to lose faith and falter.  Yet he calls out to Jesus, and Jesus of course pulls him up and to the boat in safety. His Real Presence is in us and the One to Whom we turn to in love and talk with in our love relationship, and HIs Real Presence responds to us whom He loves, always and in all ways.

Saint Augustine (354-430)

Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church

Appendix no. 192 , attributed sermon; PL 39, 2100

"Command me to come to you on the water"

       When Peter courageously moves across the sea, his feet are unsteady but his love grows strong (…); his feet sink down but he clings to the Christ's hand. Faith upholds him so long as he feels the waves making way. Troubled by the storm, he takes heart in his love for the Savior. Peter walks across the sea borne up more by love than by his feet. (…)        He pays no attention to what his feet are treading on; all he sees are the footprints of him whom he loves. He saw his Lord from his position of safety in the boat and, led by love, climbed down into the sea. He no longer sees the sea but Jesus alone.

Illegal Catholic Hermit: Hermit Watchfulness and Humility

From the Forty Texts on Watchfulness (nepsis) by St. Philotheos of Sinai, no. 39 and no. 40:

"39.  An unexpected event or misfortune considerably disrupts the mind's attentiveness; and, by dislodging the intellect from its concentration on higher realities and from its noble state of virtue, it diverts it towards sinful quarrelsomeness and wrangling.  The cause of this overthrow is assuredly our lack of attention to the enemy's attacks.

"40.  None of the painful things that happen to us every day will injure or distress us once we perceive and continually mediate on their purpose. It is in account of this that St. Paul says:  'I take delight in weakness, insults, and hardships' (2 Cor 12:10); and:  'All who seek to live a holy life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution' (2 Tim 3:12).  To Him be glory through the ages.  Amen."


My day today has been that of increased pain, but I am plowing through with having prayed and read more of Galatians and some commentaries and writings of saints and popes regarding the intent and meaning of what St. Paul exhorts and explains.  Was up in the night with too much pain, and that remains the effects of this day, thus far. I still hope in God to be able to dress and do a little bit of manual labor.

The sunshine is glorious, and I'm ever grateful for all the good God brings:  many blessings!  My delight in Scripture is noted; as I was praying the Divine Office and reviewing Paul's Letter to the Galatians, I realized just how alive does God's Living Word become within, and how much Scriptures delight me.  It is as God is explaining all, answering any and all of my wondering thoughts, and giving me great peace as well as courage.  Joy and peace are two of several fruit of Scriptures--even if we see an aspect of which we desire to improve our minds, hearts, and souls--and also bodies, for the Lord cares about all aspects of our lives.

The devil did up-end me some upon waking, for I must have been dreaming of some aspect of past, of a most happy time in life when children quite young, and time with them treasured in my heart and memories.  Such a blessing from God to have sent me back to rear my children and fulfill my mission (of which I continue to not know for certain, other than praying that somehow I am in some way fulfilling the mission He wills of me). 

Loving Him, being close in Him, writing of Him and sharing with Him of my life and innermost thoughts through writing and more so of all the other intimacies between myself and God throughout the day--surely that is part of my mission in this life.  My soul increasingly in love and focused on Christ Jesus, my Beloved Spouse, and of my loving God above all else and in Him, loving others as God loves us all: purpose and mission, could be!

As a convert to Catholicism years ago--after resisting for at least ten years prior to my Confirmation--I have always related extra-much with this Scripture selection from the Gospel of Matthew 15.  In writing out this excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's homilies on these Scriptures, especially do I love the fact that the woman is not put off but persists in her selfless request, born of love of her daughter and faith in Jesus to help rid the demon from her child.

"When she came up to Jesus, The Canaanite woman just said these words:  'Have pity on me' (Mt 15:22) and her repeated cries drew a large crowd of people. It was a touching sight to see this woman crying out with such great feeling, a mother pleading on behalf of her daughter, a child who was so severely possessed....  She didn't say:  'Have pity on my daughter' but 'Have pity on me.'  'My daughter is not aware of her plight, but I, I experience sufferings in profusion; it makes me ill to see her in such a state; I am almost out of my mind at seeing her like this.'

"Jesus answered her:  'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 15:24).  Now what did the Canaanite woman do when she heard these words?  Did she lose heart?  Not in the least!  She urged him even more.  This is not what we do when our prayers are not answered:  we turn away in discouragement whereas we ought to be pleading even more insistently.  Who, it is true, would not be discouraged by Jesus' response?  his silence would have been enough to take away all hope....  This woman, however, does not lose heart; to the contrary, she comes nearer to him and bows to the ground saying:  'Lord, help me (v.25)....  If I am a little dog in this house then I am no longer a foreigner.  I well know that food is necessary for children..., but it cannot be forbidden to give away crumbs.  They should not be refused me...because I am a little dog who cannot be pushed aside....'

"It was because he foresaw her answer that Christ delayed to grant her prayer....  His replies were not intended to cause this woman pain but to reveal this hidden treasure." 

Absolutely love the elements of humility and of abject nothingness in these Scriptures.  Jesus loves the lesser, the least of these:  the anawim.  I have been also reading St. Augustine's thoughts on Paul's Letter to the Galatians, as well as other saints and magisterium writers.  The answer within begins to take shape and form; the pleasure of His Real Presence in each of our lives unfolds when we seek and being to find in the silence and stillness within.  All is well and all shall be well; St. Julian of Norwich repeated this from the Holy Spirit.  Yes, all shall be well!

Going to light a candle by Our Lady of Solitude/Suffering here in Solus Deus Hermitage bedroom where I will renew the Vow of Consecration of Suffering I offered, with my late Spiritual Da receiving and witnessing, 20 years ago today.  The vows and offerings made from within our hearts and souls, and prompted in the mind by the Holy Spirit to formulate and then discern with spiritual father, do mean much to God and come from within our depths of intentions and love of Christ Jesus.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  

Catholic Hermit: Battling Discouragement

Having much fatigue from increased pain but also I am battling a spirit of discouragement.  

Rationally, there is no reason for feeling discouraged.  I am striving each day to keep going here, to try to do what manual labor I can in order to "finish the race" on this old farmhouse--my Te Deum Hermitage these past five-plus years.

I know well that discouragement is a "spirit" of the dark forces, sent by the devil to try to defeat from within the mind, heart, and soul.  These aspects of our beings (mind, heart, soul) can greatly affect our bodies.  All is connected--the temporal and the spiritual--while we are in our bodies on this earth.

I also know that praising God is a tremendous antidote against the spirit of darkness, which in effect is the disgrace of discouragement.

Yesterday I struggled with not allowing discouragement to affect the mind and emotions, yet the obstacles infiltrated all the same.  The devil can gain entrance through subtle cracks.  Fatigue is one of them--fatigue from pain as pain is quite tiring.  Upon waking, this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit's body is exhausted.  Pain does that.

The devil also can gain foothold through even the most fleeting thought of past or future.  Thus it is crucial to remain in the present moment.  However, a memory was introduced via a present moment event--a reminder of someone in the past who quite cruelly mistreated, causing quite difficult challenges not only for me but for others--children then, now grown. I found myself praying yet again for the person yet noticed that while years have passed, praying for the person remains in itself not easy in purity of loving concern for a soul.  But that is the goal in prayer--to have purity of loving concern for whomever we pray.

Then the devil tried to creep in (and got part-way through the cracked opening) through obstacles in the manual labor.  Raphael who had said he would come yesterday to help figure out how to get the screen out of a skylight his workers had installed (need to now clean the window after a couple years of dust accumulation--like the spirit of discouragement, subtly but increasingly noticeable build-up).  He was also going to screw in the 6" screws to secure stair newell posts, as my right hand and elbow are not up to the steady strength required to maintain power of drill on head of 6" screw in such a crucial stair post setting.

He did not come; and in the meantime I also could not finish the upstair's hall flooring at a threshold until I can remove the pocket door which needs trimming at bottom to clear the new floor height as well as is catching on something within the pocket construciton.

So I tried to switch to other tasks needing completion.  I decided to set the final door frame in opening to upstair's bathroom.  Got it shimmed, plumb, and level--screwed into doorway--only to realize that I needed to saw off a half-inch at bottom of frame.  So I removed the screws and shims that took quite awhile to get just-so in order to have the frame as perfect as possible to hold the door itself.  Went to pole barn to retrieve the hand saw, set the removed door frame on the floor with padding so would not scratch floor, and sawed off the half-inch.  Reinstalled the door frame--re-shimmed, put in setting screws, and decided to paint final coat on door laid out on sawhorses in living room.

Painted it but was distracted then in another task.  Later when I walked by the painted door, I noticed some paint had started to run in the door's inset panel.  It also had dried enough that I will need to sand and re-paint that door, at least in the three places the paint had left "run" marks.  Must wait 16 hours between coats of this trim paint, so more delay in this project, as well.

Amidst these various attempts for the spirit of discouragement to gain entry to within from without, a thought returned of which I'd been reminded for awhile now.  It was that of the elderly woman who passed in here six years ago.  She has made her presence known a few times, rather obviously; and her soul is not one that is settled nor at peace.  

I have been praying for her to be at peace and for the repose of her restless soul, well as to reassure that there will be others to live here when I'm no longer.  There has been confirmation through others, and some tangible aspects, that in earthly life she was dabbling in non-Christian beliefs and actions.  The devil uses all weakness to attack.  I have sensed that this soul has been disturbed by my effort to finish and to leave, thus I've experienced strange but real obstacles in addition to the more logical ones.

Despite the various ways the devil approaches and proceeds to try to gain entry into our daily lives, through spirit of discouragement or whatever other spirit of darkness, we must persevere in praise of God as well as in prayer for others and even ourselves.  Lord, have mercy on my soul!  Lord, save us!  Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.  Praise Him above and here below.  Remain in the Order of the Present Moment.  Keep going, simply keep going.  Even if the daily, temporal life events seem disjointed and haphazard--seeming without meaning or purpose in a spiritual way, or in our holy vocation or God-willed mission in life--these events and tasks are what God has allowed and of which are set before us to be tackled and from which we learn invaluable spiritual lessons.

Today is a new beginning, a metamorphosis from the night's dark cocoon of resting in some other realm, somewhere between temporal and mystical or combination therein.  Dawn brings new life, new hope, a new chance for increased faith, new conversations in prayer and new praising of God.
And today brings new challenges against spirits of darkness no matter the types.

We persevere for the love of God and strive to think, do, and be all for God, all for His glory,  all for His love.  The temporal outcomes (such as whatever occurs with finances, health, finishing (or not) but yet relocating (unless death precludes) do not matter nearly as much (or at all) as does the process in which we proceed and unfold in each present moment of life.

God bless His Real Presence in us!

Catholic Mystic Hermit: Done with Not-Niceness!

I appreciate this selection from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbered entry 1823.  The reminder of what Jesus teaches us as recorded by the Apostle John in his Gospel, helps me all the more each time I am reminded of the great commandment to love.

"Jesus makes charity the new commandment.  By loving his own 'to the end,' he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives.  By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive.  Whence Jesus says: 'As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.'  And again: 'This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.'"

The more I have pondered the events of the past few days, the more I recognize that I at least "feel" as if I've lost some "niceness" over time and as result of some life circumstances and encounters.  I have always been a very "nice" person, capable of and exuding much love.  However, I feel beaten back, and my reactions have been not-so-nice, or at least that is my realistic view of my thoughts and feelings, even of some responses.

It seems as if a person can get so ground down that the usual "filters" are not intact.

For example, I developed a kind of dread of the purported couple who would be calling to bring Holy Communion.  That dread derived from past encounters and even the conversation with the parish administrator a couple days ago.  (That the couple has not called and likely will not, is not unexpected on my part, of course, but the conversation with the parish woman stirred my thoughts and feelings afresh.)

There is a certain, unfiltered reaction that gets set into motion when I converse with those who have been not-so-nice, and this includes when they think they are being nice.  And my unfiltered reaction is not-so-nice, or at least to me it is not pleasant, not at the spiritual level that is within and without when I am being led and sustained by the Lord.

Rather, the other day I spoke and listened, and listened and commented, and the more I spoke the more information I gained that became even more outrageously not nice.  I said things true enough but in unfiltered light would be perceived very much as not nice.  

What the woman said is all very fine and well in details for a book I will be writing if I even live through this phase and episode of my existence in exile.  And the more details and instances of documentation of words, reactions, and treatment by Catholics to modern day Catholic mystics in this society and culture of the Western Church (and perhaps with some historical context of past treatment of mystics)--the more concrete examples, the better.

However, in information and data gathering, case study style, the more I must detach from the process and especially from the information.  The more I hear and experience as being the subject of case study in point, the more shocking to my thoughts.  The shock shudders and shutters the soul.  How sad and pathetic to realize the facts do not reveal much substantive improvement over the years and centuries regarding the topic: Catholics' treatment of Catholic mystics.

Upon waking this morning, the thought was on the mind: Catholic, but not Christian.

Well, that thought, sentiment, and/or reality can be an affliction of any of us in any Christian sect or denomination or rite within the Roman Catholic Church, or within the Orthodox Christian Church.  In other religions, it could be termed slightly otherwise.  We human beings are none of us perfect, and often enough we are not even that nice.

I had an urge which the Lord quickly quelled by some soul-checks as well as a phone call from the adult daughter who needed to discuss a teaching moment in parenting of their young son.  The urge I had was to call and leave a message on the parish priest's emergency line (for there is no other means of leaving him a direct message), and that it would be that I wish we could just start over.

My experiment of being honest and simply explaining what the ecstasy in Mass is, a simple phenomenon even if kind of rare, I'm told by priests, a bishop and his consulting bishops--the honest approach did not work out well at all.  People judge all the more, became more wary, fearful, and critical, shunning, unaccepting, and overall not nice.

I thought if we could start over and lie, and say I have narcolepsy, the situation would work out better.  As is said, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction; and Catholics and perhaps any group of church-goers or otherwise might in this case handle fiction better than truth.  Many live in fictionalized views of ourselves, anyway.  Or, if we take the filters off, we can say we live in self-deception often enough.

The parish administrator was deceiving herself with her transparent and silly blathering about her son's basketball schedule, convinced, it would seem, that I'd think he did not ever have 20 minutes to help carry drywall with his younger brother.  That fiction to her evidently seemed better than to simply say, "We are wary of you, think you are a nut-case, hysteric, [or could use less blunt terms], and don't want our sons to help you, not at any dollar price."  

But my daughter laughed at my notion, and said of course people want to try deception rather than such honesty; and I think it is because we want to keep up the fiction that we are very nice people, indeed.  Instead, we reveal ourselves as not nice, not living the law of God's love, and also as silly and unconvincing blatherers.  And that, then, can turn off those who want honesty in relationships and who hope for the ideal of truth, especially in a religious context, especially in Christianity in which truth is a major tenet of faith.

So it is that rather than attempting any re-do of what I had attempted in honesty about why I seem asleep or dead in Mass, that it is a mystical ecstasy and not to be concerned--nothing to worry about.  Somehow I thought people could just move on and relate otherwise normally with me who am normal as any of us are normal.  Just a mystic, and that is as normal as those who are not but who might be diabetic or homosexual or bipolar or autistic or narcoleptic.  

Somehow, the supernatural involved (although I think there is spiritual involved in all, but spiritual is perhaps slightly different from supernatural but not by much) causes especially Catholics to be undone to a point of not nice.

I have initiated just the beginnings of research on how the Eastern Church historically has reacted to and treated mystics.  Thus far--again in cursory glance--the Eastern mystics do not seem to be mistreated, not hidden away or put in house arrest, not burned alive nor even shunned.  They don't seem to have "anathema" declared nor are feared.  

But, I have a long way to go in research and reading more in depth.  Seems a bit naive for me to think there are people who are more Christian than Catholic or more Christian than Orthodox--no matter what branch or reformed denomination or non-denomination that evolved from the separated East and West Church.

My initial research already came upon how mystics of other cultures are treated, such as Native American mystics, Tibetan--Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Sufi mystics, et. al.  Thus far I find they are treated quite decently--even looked upon with having a value in their societies and groups.  

But thus far in broad reading of the Roman Catholic mystics--their lives have distinct elements of cruelty and abuse, even if for but a short time period in which others think they need to play the role, as a priest once told me he must--and call it, "the devil's advocate."

Lord, have mercy!  The devil certainly does not need priests or bishops or anyone else in the name of Christianity to be his advocate.  The devil does an excellent enough job with his legions of demons and those fallen humans who toddle right along in Satan's cloven-hoofed footprints.

Moreover, the Roman Catholic mystics' mistreatment by those of their own faith, has become a point of warped "proof" that if they suffer greatly as a result of being who and what they are--mystics--and even die as a result, they are all the more valid.  Sometimes they survive the abuse while yet alive, but often they are then in poor health and die earlier deaths.  

Or these dead mystic humans' main contribution to the Church and society ends up being that they endured the brutality of the devil's advocates, and thus are declared valid mystics, with the surviving onlookers delighting in the miracle of how they endured such ill-treatment.  What's this?  They were mystics after all--perhaps to be now-cherished saint trophies.  

And if these mystic human beings survived for long and with enough life left in them to write, or someone to write for them, their bit of writings remain as a little gift to those who might read them.  Although quite often their writings are altered by those not mystics but perhaps systematic theologians or even not, who think they need to correct what they deem improved upon by themselves....

Regardless of all that which in blunt honesty seems not so nice, I am again resolved to throw my body, mind, heart and soul into the Light of Christ's Love.  I will refrain from encounters with those who are not nice as much as is humanly possible to avoid.  The most crucial may be to avoid any not nice that is not nice in myself.  Stay clear of not nice reactions to not nice others and occasions!

I resolve to abide in His love and to imitate His love.  This means to not dally with being a Catholic-but-not-Christian.  I must be Christian and let the Lord decide if other labels ought precede or follow that of being a follower and lover of Christ, and a nice follower and lover, at that.  

I don't need to be, at this point of my grain-of-wheat-crushed-existence, to be distracted by emphasizing my group association.  Roman Catholic Christian or Maronite Catholic Christian? Greek Orthodox Christian or Church of Nazarene Christian or First Baptist Christian?  Or Byzantine Catholic Christian or Ukrainian Orthodox Christian or Coptic Catholic Christian or Evangelical Christian, etc.? 

I'd better just focus on being Christian, a follower and beloved of Christ and His Living Word,.  And to study and appreciate some very nice mystics such as Bernard of Clairvaux who lived just following the Great Schism of the Eastern and Western Catholic Church in mid-eleventh century.  Bernard's Sermons on the Song of Songs will reset my mind and heart in the proper perspective: Love of God and God's Love of His Creation.  

Then, I will also go back in time to those great mystics prior to the Schism, closer to the Lord in time and place and practice.  Or so this seems a wise plan as I desire instruction and inspiration regarding Christ and His Word--and how to live as a loving Christian, then, in my time and place.

I want to be nice again.  Very nice. I hope to be unimpeded in niceness, by which of course I mean charity: love!  I want to love again without such upsetting distractions, especially by my own slip-ups and from within my own Christian group designation. It also seems very much so that God is wanting to do some one-on-one tutorials with me in the silence of solitude, in my life of prayer and penance and praise of God.

Let love and mercy wash away any residual remnants of not-niceness from within me and all about me!  Let love and mercy fill me to overflowing so that love overflows from me!  

I pray to have my thoughts as those of Bernard of Clairvaux or Pseudo-Macarius or John Climacus or many others: Christ-thoughts and Christ-words, Christ-actions, Christ-life!  If this means staying clear of not-nice until I have niceness infused throughout, without stink coming back seven times more powerfully not nicely, then I will see if this plan is Wisdom that will be vindicated by her works in me.

Much love to all of you from an already more nice, more loving me, this Fourth Sunday in Advent!  God bless His Real Presence in us!

Catholic Hermit Deals with the Devil

Still trying to write with IPad, an old one at that.  Hard to make corrections, so please bear with, fill in the gaps and mishaps!  Thanks, dear readers!

The devil stops at nothing.  Since I dealt harshly but with much humor, with the devil, the more superficial obstacles ceased for the most part.  The devil then turns to more insidious and pathetic attempts.

What to do?

When dealing with the devil's tricks, these are some life-learned and studied tips.

1.  Recognize who is behind the obstacles and taunts, the hindrances.  As is spoken repeatedly in the current United States political battle, a first step is being able to identify and verbalize who is the enemy.  Then, recognize who the enemy enlists as part of his henchmen and/or naive or even well-intentioned pawns, wittingly or unwittingly doing the devil's bidding.  Be aware this can occur ultimately and most deceptively from within the ranks of Christianity.

2.  Declare aloud to the devil, that we are onto his tricks.  Call down the Precious Blood of Christ, shed on the cross for us.  Call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Put on the armor of God.

3.  Enlist the advice and prayers or our spiritual fathers/directors.

4.  Requests he powerful prayers of family and friends.

5.  Be confident in His Real Presence and in the power of being one with the Body of Christ.

6.  Do all with the Sacraments of the Church, of blessed objects, of the Holy Mass.

7.  If in the Consecrated Life of the Church--in a religious order, a consecrated virgin or widow/widower, or a consecrated eremitic (privately or publicly professed), call upon fellow consecrated members to pray and support in the battle.

8.  Look to the saints and mystics as to how they handled repeated assaults by the devil.  St. John Via new, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Padre Pio are excellent guides.

9.  Call upon our guardian Angels, ever at our sides.  Call upon St. Michael the Archangel.

10.  Keep a strong and courageous sense of humor.  Chuckle, smile, laugh!  Rejoice in whatever persecutions, detractions, mishaps, and even odd, extraneous phenomenon.

11.  Stick to our daily routine, horarium, prayer life, manual labor, and proceed to handle the problems devolved from whatever hindrances placed in our paths.

12.  Double, triple, quadruple down on our determination to pray and participate in the life of Holy Church, following Christ, steeped in His Living Word, subsumed in the Mass both physically and spiritually as often as possible, and live by the Spirit.

These are what seem to be the main points that have proven helpful and successful to this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit in years ongoing of navigating the temporal and spiritual realms, this far!

Praise God in all things!  Love one another as Jesus loves us!  Remain in His Love!

On Spiritual Direction for a Catholic Hermit

Yet another aspect of spiritual direction or spiritual counsel comes to mind, this morning.  This thought reflects upon the hermit him- or herself, seeking, needing, having spiritual direction.

Really, there are many factors involved in this topic, various conditions, numerous circumstances and considerations.

While adapting to the sad news (only a mystic or one who has had glorious death experience might understand this perspective) that this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit's lung and liver nodules and whatever the "splayed and frayed" quadrant of liver means--that no malignancy showed up on a PETScan, I had considered contacting a hermit monk/priest not too far away.  I thought it might be good to have a pep talk, of sorts.

But the days have dawned and dusked since that thought, and I have not made the contact nor traveled to visit Fr. P.  The body has had some increased pain, requiring more mattress time.  The remaining bodily energy has necessitated keeping the produce gardens watered.  The little roadside stand must be laden with God's best in vegetables and berries!

A primary inner response to my conversation with the Lord on the idea (probably my mind's thought, not His) of going for a pep talk from a fellow religious hermit, has been that it is unnecessary at this time.  I was asked, "What is the true need and motive?  What are you seeking from the visit?"

Good questions.  Also came the realities that with it soon being 16 years of commencement of my hermit vocation, postulancy, novitiate, and profession of private vows, that whatever pep talks I may think would make adaptations to increased pain and the disappointment of not soon dying of cancer, can be proffered by His Real Presence, solus Deus!

So true.  What were my motives for considering going to talk with Fr. P.?  Did I want someone to wave a magic wand and make somehow easier the refocusing on my hermit vocation and the daily life of prayer, praise, suffering, lectio Divina, manual labor, and living by the Spirit?

Do I really need to travel to talk with a fellow religious solitary?  Do I have some great turning point decision to make that I do not grasp nor that the Lord will show me and lead me through?  Am I on the verge of some major temptation to think or do something pivotally, mortally sinful?  Am I  having despair that His Real Presence is incapable of squelching, or am I assaulted by the devil in ways not recognizable, or in some dire self-deception that the Lord is not shining His Light upon?

To all these questions, the answer has been a simple "No."  Even the ups and downs and my own mind's deliberations on trying to get to Mass this weekend have been answered by the Lord's adding some weight to the physical cross of increased bodily pain.  Not able to drive and sit extra for participating in Mass--vigil last evening or Sunday, today.  Perhaps next week; the Lord will either allow the body to physically be able to go or not.  Must wait in the Order of the Present Moment, make the spiritual communions as often as His Real Presence suggests and that my subconscious and/or conscious mind responds.

(Now we can insert that if my mind were to be replaced by God's Mind, the spiritual communions would emanate and fructify spiritually regardless of my conscious or subconscious thoughts or agreements. Dear Lord, please--Thy Mind, not mine.  Am so excited about the prospects but recognize God rules time and all aspects of the temporal and spiritual!)

It is not that a consecrated Catholic hermit of the traditional, privately professed variety or of the more recently offered category of public profession received in the hands of a local ordinary (bishop) do not ever need spiritual direction or counsel by another person or superior after being a hermit "x" amount of years.  Far from that.  In fact, the publicly professed hermit (referred to by some as canonical hermit) are to be under the direct supervision of their diocese's bishop.

And for all hermits and indeed all Christians, Catholic or otherwise, it is excellent practice to have a spiritual mentor or for Catholics, a spiritual director, who can counsel, encourage, guide, suggest, and help motivate from time to time, in the soul's pilgrimage on earth.  The goal, after all, is union with God and to live by the Spirit in Christ Jesus, being freed from living under the law: to be as Christ, in Him, He in us.

Even spiritual directors--bishops, cardinals, the Pope himself--ought to have someone to turn to when need be.  A confessor, a guide, a spiritual mentor--all beneficial and in some cases, necessary.

The hermit, though, falls into a bit of a loophole depending upon how the Lord has unfolded the circumstances of his or her vocation.  We know for a fact that there have been and are today, some Catholic hermits whose vocations are more hidden than others, whose health or locale is such that traveling to a spiritual director is not always feasible.  Even confession may circumstantially need to be mostly (not always) done through begging God's mercy and asking His forgiveness for our sins that we pour out from our hearts to His Merciful and Sacred Heart.

So there is yet correspondence via surface mail as well as now the internet email as means of communicating with a spiritual counselor, mentor, guide.  Sometimes that is hindered, though.  For example this hermit's spiritual director does not now have access to direct phone lines and does not have a computer nor an email address.  I can leave a message, but more often than not, the message does not reach him.  I can send a letter, but his health is such that he does not respond often nor at length.

The other person I have relied upon for spiritual counsel has been a very spiritually adept order priest, but he is in Nigeria.  Internet services at his community's seminary and monastery are intermittent in functionality.  By the time he is able to read an email, the issues I have addressed are already unraveled and solved by His Real Presence, here in the silence of solitude of Te Deum Hermitage.

I do know that both priests pray for me root for me, and also have confidence that if I remain in His Love (as they each commend), all will go well and as God wills and desires.

There are the spiritual directors and mentors who have written tomes of wisdom and of all manner and types of spiritual obstacles and the means to overcome them in the temporal-mystical admixture of our earthly journeys and soul-seeking of union with His Real Presence.  We have the Catechism of the Catholic Church and access online to any Canon Law we may desire to consult.  But the latter is not usually the type of concern or obstacle to a consecrated hermit.

Mostly, our issues revolve around the inner life of which there can be any number of pitfalls.  The devil lurks always, hoping to cause mischief to outright chaos in order to distract us and uproot our vocations, our daily lives, our prayers, our very souls.

Yet for this hermit here, in the past several weeks, although there have been distractions and chaos, and my daily routine disrupted, and my mind definitely filled with lots of thoughts that were not God's Thoughts, there really has been nothing needing my seeking human guidance when His Real Presence and my guardian angel (Beth!) has been using temporal and spiritual circumstances to unfold according to God's Will and His Mind's Wisdom.

I know what I'm to be doing.  I know what I must ponder and pray about. I know what is required of me in my hermit vocation, my daily practices, my spiritual reading, my prayer life, my praise of God.  This is a phase in which, His Will having replaced my will, the main sticking point is that of my mind and ideas and thoughts needing to be subsumed and filled in with his Mind, His Insights, His Wisdom.  And that, I know, like all else in the temporal and especially the spiritual realms, requires a process that includes earth time and also some suffering, some dying such as death of my own intellect.

The Lord will let me know when I do need to have a visit with Fr. P. or even a parish priest, and He will allow me the physical health and capability to travel to that person, or the ability for that person to travel to my hermitage.  The time it was evidently necessary for the spiritual director to return a message and then to write a letter, he did so.  God had it all flow without obstacles.  And I got the message, and I am striving to fulfill the advice.  The recent email from Fr. V. in Nigeria contains some prayer requests on his end as well as the reminder to remain in His Love and all will be well, and God will lead and guide thoroughly, competently.

I suppose at a certain age in a hermit's chronology and after enough years of being a consecrated Catholic hermit of either type, there is a reality to the admonition to "go into your cell and your cell with teach you."  Particularly for a hermit, being called out of the world in a stricter separation from the world, the battles fought are mostly interior, of the mind, heart, spirit, soul.

And these require prayer, listening, perseverance, sticking to the daily routine, the Rule of Life, and adherence to His Living Word in faith, hope, and charity.  If one has been received into the Order of the Present Moment, in which St. Joseph is patron, the habit is whatever one happens to be wearing at any given moment, the Virgin Mary the novice mistress and His Real Presence the Superior and Spouse, when the devil is allowed to stir and confuse, the hermit is in very good Hands.

When His Real Presence desires a visit to or from a spiritual director, or a message sent and received, that will happen, of course.  God does all, provides all.

Above all, again, these reflections vary depending upon the individual hermit or anyone, actually, and upon the varying circumstances of each individual body, mind, heart, and soul.  Truly, a hermit does need consistent spiritual direction or some type of guided formation along the way, especially in the earlier years of the vocation.  

Yet also, the hermit always needs to be on the alert to the prowling of the devil no matter how old or how many years a hermit.  Thus, one should always have a holy priest or saintly hermit contact, to call upon in any present moment.  God will provide either Himself or a priest or spiritual guide, an angel or human, when necessary.  He knows!  He does not leave us to be devoured by the evil one!

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love God above all things and one another as Jesus love us!

Catholic Hermit's Heart Best Here

Yet today in upper echelons of physical pain.  The mind and emotions were dipping into the past, having regrets for choices that seem to have not brought blessings from God to the Catholic hermit, nor to others close at heart.  Such dark thoughts, spurred by the devil who is adept at moving in on bodily pain to create upset--vied for inner space.  

This all-the-more-nothing-reduced-by-pain Catholic hermit finally recognized the tricks of the evil one and turned to Him Who strengthens the heart:  Jesus Christ, the Beloved Spouse.  The words across the centuries, inspired by His Real Presence and penned by a man named Thomas a Kempis, seem apt today.  This particular selection, where the hermit had last left off reading, sets straight the mind's path and leads straight to the heart of God's matters. 

The hermit remains downed in bed but not now downcast in spirit. Separating the sentences in the selection below, helps the eyes and mind slow the speed of reading for better absorption of holy wisdom.  Any cares and trials of life--the past, the present, and future unknowns--are answered in the clear light of words that release and lift from deceptive snares.

This Catholic Hermit's heart is best when turned to His Real Presence and reminded of that which is of most importance on earth and in heaven, in all our lives no matter what.  Read the following from The Imitation of Christ, Book Two, Chapter One: Meditation.  Discover for yourselves if your heart is best here, as well. 


The kingdom of God is within you,” says the Lord. 

Turn, then, to God with all your heart.

Forsake this wretched world and your soul shall find rest.

Learn to despise external things, to devote yourself to those that are within, and you will see the kingdom of God come unto you, that kingdom which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, gifts not given to the impious.

Christ will come to you offering His consolation, if you prepare a fit dwelling for Him in your heart, whose beauty and glory, wherein He takes delight, are all from within. 

His visits with the  inward man are frequent, His communion sweet and full of consolation, His peace great, and His intimacy wonderful indeed.

Therefore, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this Bridegroom that He may come and dwell within you; He Himself says: “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him.”

Give place, then, to Christ, but deny entrance to all others, for when you have Christ you are rich and He is sufficient for you.

He will provide for you.

He will supply your every want, so that you need not trust in frail, changeable men.

Christ remains forever, standing firmly with us to the end.

Do not place much confidence in weak and mortal man, helpful and friendly though he be; and do not grieve too much if he sometimes opposes and contradicts you.

Those who are with us today may be against us tomorrow, and vice versa, for men change with the wind.

Place all your trust in God; let Him be your fear and your love.

He will answer for you; He will do what is best for you.

You have here no lasting home.

You are a stranger and a pilgrim wherever you may be, and you shall have no rest until you are wholly united with Christ.

Why do you look about here when this is not the place of your repose?

Dwell rather upon heaven and give but a passing glance to all earthly things.

They all pass away, and you together with them.

Take care, then, that you do not cling to them lest you be entrapped and perish.

Fix your mind on the Most High, and pray unceasingly to Christ.

If you do not know how to meditate on heavenly things, direct your thoughts to Christ's passion and willingly behold His sacred wounds.
  
If you turn devoutly to the wounds and precious stigmata of Christ, you will find great comfort in suffering, you will mind but little the scorn of men, and you will easily bear their slanderous talk. 

When Christ was in the world, He was despised by men; in the hour of need He was forsaken by acquaintances and left by friends to the depths of scorn. 

He was willing to suffer and to be despised; do you dare to complain of anything? 

He had enemies and defamers; do you want everyone to be your friend, your benefactor? 

How can your patience be rewarded if no adversity test it? 

How can you be a friend of Christ if you are not willing to suffer any hardship? 

Suffer with Christ and for Christ if you wish to reign with Him. 

Had you but once entered into perfect communion with Jesus or tasted a little of His ardent love, you would care nothing at all for your own comfort or discomfort but would rejoice in the reproach you suffer; for love of Him makes a man despise himself. 

A man who is a lover of Jesus and of truth, a truly interior man who is free from uncontrolled affections, can turn to God at will and rise above himself to enjoy spiritual peace. 

He who tastes life as it really is, not as men say or think it is, is indeed wise with the wisdom of God rather than of men. 

He who learns to live the interior life and to take little account of outward things, does not seek special places or times to perform devout exercises. 

A spiritual man quickly recollects himself because he has never wasted his attention upon externals. 

No outside work, no business that cannot wait stands in his way. 

He adjusts himself to things as they happen. 

He whose disposition is well ordered cares nothing about the strange, perverse behavior of others, for a man is upset and distracted only in proportion as he engrosses himself in externals. 

If all were well with you, therefore, and if you were purified from all sin, everything would tend to your good and be to your profit. 

But because you are as yet neither entirely dead to self nor free from all earthly affection, there is much that often displeases and disturbs you. 

Nothing so mars and defiles the heart of man as impure attachment to created things. 

But if you refuse external consolation, you will be able to contemplate heavenly things and often to experience interior joy.

Dealing Yet With Illness

Still very ill.  Have to get back to doctor.  Will see a different doctor; they are squeezing in the hermit to only slot left today.  The first antibiotic not effective, or not nearly enough.  On phone the previous doctor wants pricey x-ray, as she said is uncomfortable calling in another round of z-pack.

Devout Catholic, the deputy sheriff, just called. Had been in meetings all day.  Is trying to locate someone to drive sick nothing Catholic hermit to doctor. Otherwise, by the strength of God and the maternal care of Mary, will drive itself the distance to the clinic.

So many people are praying, the bulk the old friends who recall this nothing Catholic hermit from Protestant days. Good people, all of them--and all very upset when this nothing hermit converted to Catholicism nearly 20 years ago. The elderly aunt asked on phone today if surely someone from the hermit's church could help.  Did not want to report how sad a parish, how persecuting, how cold and cliquish. They have been unwilling to as much as help the hermit carry in five pieces of plywood.  Just a handful of devout Catholics in this remote area, says the deputy.  Thank God for him!

No, the Protestant aunt would not understand. It is our human condition and the devil's desire to disrupt.  The devil delights in infiltrating a Catholic parish, for sure, or any Christian church.   Anyway, all is forgiven the priest and parishioners in this far off place, at least from this nothing Catholic hermit's heart.  Must remain in exile, all the same, for now.

The aunt also would not understand the suffering this nothing Catholic hermit has promised to His Real Presence, and the sharing in just a small part of His sufferings.  Even when said to her the Lord is allowing this illness to strengthen and increase the hermit's faith, she said the hermit has plenty of faith, much faith, and so forth.  No, there is never enough faith.  This nothing Catholic hermit has been remiss in focus and discipline--distracted by the sneaky, tedious trials.

When was a Protestant, this now-Catholic-hermit did not understand nearly the depth and breadth of the spiritual realm, of the good of suffering, despite our knowing that Jesus died for us on the cross, and how the Father sacrificed His only Son for our salvation.  But the understanding of suffering is not there--not in the ways Catholics (or at least those Catholics who are plugged in with both prongs in the socket) understand.

It may be that the nothing Catholic hermit will need to get itself in the truck--Precious Blood, its name--and get there, and deal with the x-ray costs and whatever else.  The Lord will give the necessary strength and endurance.  Nothing has been through far worse.

Appreciate all and any and each and every prayer, though, dear readers!  This trial minor in the spectrum of life.  Far worse illnesses do others endure, and terrible accidents and murders and of course, the world terror situation.  But when we are ill and not improving enough, and there are daily, earthly duties, responsibilities, and financial concerns, of course we pray and do all possible to be able to continue to do as we ought--to right our errors and plights in this temporal realm.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another!  Remain in His Love!

If the World (or Person) Hates You

From 1 John 3 we have today in Mass Scripture readings:  Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

And later in this sequence we read that those who do not love from their hearts, who do not have love in their hearts, are murderers.  

This is the truth.

Lately, have pondered a relative whose relationship with a family member has ruled her for the bulk of her life, and it has been based upon resentment and personality clash that has grown into hatred for even the slightest nuances of speech or viewpoint that the family member makes.  The hater is 66 years old, and the hated is 91 years old.

The elder has reasons for her personality and outlook, for what she likes to do and discuss.  She, like the rest of us, is not perfect and knows it.  But she enjoys perfection or striving for it, and is an artist by profession, was an art teacher.  She grew up in a deprived household, her father passing when she was four, on the eve of the Great Depression.  With eight children in the family, the mother had quite a difficult life.  All the children grew to be successful, hard-working, and yes, with various but all strong and distinct personalities.  

The youngest, this woman now 91, has always desired to be socially acceptable, gracious, and tending to outer appearances in some aspects.  There are reasons for this.  A struggling childhood, for one, and recalling and so appreciating her mother's Saturday evening meal, using the good china, a lovely table cloth, and making what otherwise would have been a rather dark time of their lives, at least uplifted in those simple aspects.

Yes, perhaps there has been a bit much attention to personal appearance and desiring nice things.  But one can certainly understand why, in addition to the artistic proclivity and gifts.  Artists observe the outer appearances and appreciate color, style, design, and beautiful things.  There is nothing wrong with that.  But it is this aspect among many other small aspects, that have annoyed and grown into hatred in the reaction of the now 66-year-old.

Personality clash, yes, but the poison is seemingly beyond antidote in other than to pray for the person.  Talk and explanation, counsel and even being supportive in hopes of trying to get the poisoned one to then move into better mode, has not been effective.  The person poisoned has done self-harm, stuffing in feelings of anger toward other aspects of life and now lives with limitations of a physical sense in addition to the damaged emotions, the poison.

The 91-year-old has increasingly turned to God and prayer, yet still loves to enjoy what people wear, or their conversations, or lovely tables and details of delicious food and presentation, or gatherings of people for music or social time together.  And she loves the one who despises her, without realizing the depth of the anger the other has toward the elder, or else not allowing herself to realize it.  What difference would it make to know the extent of dislike, of hate?  The elder is now well-off, independent and has learned to hire others to assist her when her family cannot or does not.  But she appreciates when they can and do, and she chooses to love.

When the elder passes, which may be before the younger, although in this life we never know, she will leave the amass of money to the younger and to the younger's adult children.  She has already gifted the younger with a comfortable and lovely car, not causing a fuss in giving up that freedom in being able to drive, but rather passing through that phase with grace as opposed to many who instead need to be confronted and have the keys taken by strained family members.  She likewise, on her own, decided when to sell her home, then when to leave an apartment and enter an elder care facility.

Will the younger, the 66-year-old, even then, when the elder passes, be rid of the poison?  Is hate toward a living person alleviated when the person dies to this life, or is hate in the mind and emotions only quelled in and by forgiveness and grace of God, and in being able to then love the one who has been hated for nearly all of the person's life?  What difference does it make to change the word hate to resentment, personality clash, or trigger points?  It is none other than hate.

Yes, over the years the elder has said things of which the younger resented and felt hurt.  There were expectations of the younger as to how she wanted the elder to be.  (And there was rudeness from the younger to the elder, for sure.)  And true, others had difficulty sometimes relaxing in the presence of the perfections and plans of the elder, but they could understand and take it in stride.  

Having understanding of others and finding the good in them, and seeing the progress in their souls over the years, and realizing the love the person has for others--that washes over and ameliorates the bits of human flaws and irritants.

We all have them, these flaws and irritants.  But the reality is, that when we want to be good and to love, and when we strive toward His Real Presence and want to live a good as well as possible and be in light and as light--despite our human failings--those who resent or cannot forgive have a pall of darkness that distorts all the more, and suffocates their very soul.

All this is particularly highlighted when those who share the same faith--even the same Church--dislike others, criticize, try to discredit through words spoken or written or even thought and kept silent. Those who are stuck too much in the temporal Catholic world can be prone to this, and we must not be surprised when the temporal world aspects--society or church of any group or individuals--hates us.  

It is nothing new that the poison of disliking, of hating others, can creep into the Church.  St. Paul writes and warns of it in the Church of the first century.  Those who have hated, as he did, and been converted and healed, humbled, and forgiven, can tend to be able to love and forgive others, to have mercy for they have been given mercy and love.

But what a difference for a life and the lives of all involved, and for salvation, if we learn to love, if we live to love to learn to love.  Discord, anger, resentment, envy--it all boils down to the word that is so blatantly (and embarrassingly) strong but is the correct word to describe such:  hate.  

Those who have hate in them do not have God in them. Those who have darkness in them do not have the light.  Those who hate anyone (even if they describe it in less honest terms), are murderers.

And we must be reminded that those who dislike, resent, are rankled by, and hate, are not themselves but the darkness has crept in.  Yes, they were weak and open to darkness, but who of us has not been tricked and entered into by the author of darkness and hate?  So we cannot hate those who hate us, but rather have empathy and love, for we know what it is to be a host to poison even if quickly flushed out by the grace of God-Is-Love.

Little children, let us love one another!  Surely, if we see within ourselves that we are angered by others or dislike them, or are ruled by how they irritate us, have the poison of hate in us.  It is so unnecessary to love, especially among family, and that includes the family of the Church.  Darkness does not like Light.  Do we really want to be murderers?

Who will be judged harshly?  Who will advance to heaven? Will it be the one who is imperfect and yet loves, or is it the one who has let resentment and irritations build up in years of poison and hatred?  Will the death of the one heal the anger and hate of the other?  Will money gifted to the living, heal the hate?

God bless His Real Presence in us--if we have room for Him. Darkness does not like the Light. Clouds mask the sun as does the earth when night signals the obscuring of day.  Let us love one another.  Just love!  It ought to be simple, should it not?  Understand, empathize, encourage and see the good qualities and see hope in all souls (even our own)!  Be kind and merciful.  Pray for one another, and love one another!  Just love!