Catholic Hermit: Called to Be Holy

Today the universal church begins, together, proclaiming and pondering St. Paul's "Letter to the Romans."  These lines stand out, having awakened this morning remembering my mother's passing on this day 11 years ago.  I reflected upon her lovely life and her recommitment to Jesus Christ toward the end of her life after exploring a bit off the narrow path.  The Lord called her back, better then ever before!  

Last evening I watched a couple or so video clips of old "What's My Line" television programs.  I recall them from childhood and found myself laughing aloud in the hermitage--some much-needed laughter after some deep, inner questioning and praying for the Lord's guidance and will in various matters.  Yes, I saw Jesus in the laughter; I saw Him in the decorum of people, recalling the 50's and '60's before the yawing opening of our society to more an "anything goes" attitude.

It is not as if sin did not exist prior.  Of course not!  But people more attempted a refinement of loveliness and decency, at least externally.  And the external is a reflection of the internal, as the internal also illuminates through the external.

It is as if a weight has lifted from this hermit, a Catholic, a Catholic professed and avowed for this lifetime in the Consecrated Life of the Church--and more so, espoused and betrothed to Jesus Christ for now and all eternity.

The hermit's young helper's mother returned the call yesterday.

I was able to smooth things over, to apologize, to explain that when I am in Mass and in the very deep mystical state, that all is fresh, clear, raw, unfiltered truth.  In no way would I ever flee from Mass in horror if in the conscious, filtered, temporal state.  Like those before who shielded their inner problems (TV contestant Dorothy Kilgallen had a drinking and infidelity problem but masked it, as another side of her was decent, loving, warm, intelligent, and refined), I would have, during Mass if a priest or some other person did something that was distracting or off-point and off-kilter, simply ignored it and turned the thoughts to Scripture, to Jesus, until the disturbance had passed.

My spiritual father has ordered me not to return to the parish, nor to try to help or talk with the priest, nor to alert the diocese for they already know the situation and are handling it in the way that works best for them. (In God's will, He will take care of the priest and the parishioners over time, in His own way.  There is always opportunity for deeper conversions.)

And that is where this hermit's soul is, now, in the Order of the Present Moment.  I am at a point of deeper conversion.  My rule of life presents itself more than ever: to follow the Gospel Rule.  As a fellow Catholic hermit of yore discovered, the Gospel rule is the perfect rule of life for hermits and for anyone.  So within the Gospel Rule, within the Living Word of God, I am trying to live a life of love, utilizing the Nine S' to support and engage living the Gospel in the Order of the Present Moment.

Silence.  Solitude.  Slowness.  Suffering.  Selflessness.  Simplicity.  Stability.  Stillness.  Serenity.

There will be no more parishes in the foreseeable future.  I was able to explain to the helper's dear mother, that I do not desire to see through situations, through people.  Yes, if all is good, it is bliss.  If not, it is horrific hell to endure.  I have been trying very hard to do as the temporal Catholic rules and laws ask--and then a long-time friend who visited last week reminded me that for centuries, Catholics received Communion once a year....

I have been, with the help of priests and a specialist with the paranormal, trying to figure out what God wills with this rather rare mystical ecstasy at any and every Mass.  I have not so much considered that He wills me to a greater silence of solitude of being with Him.  I had ignored five visions and dreams with locutions (messages) directly advising me that I do not belong to the world of parishes anymore.  The first was within two years of becoming a Catholic!  Since it did not seem to jive with the norm, for I was not in the consecrated part of the Church as religious brothers and sisters, all along I have continued to try to go to Mass in parishes--with rather difficult outcomes.

No one is to blame other than me, I do agree!  I have been not paying attention to the signs, to the messages, to the dreams and visions.  And it was all right to do so because there is this gift called discernment that we must cooperate with fully--not lean unto our own understanding but seek the guidance of wise others and also then seek affirmation and confirmation from the Lord in His Living Word and in His guidance of our souls, in every present moment.

His ways are beyond our understanding and knowledge, for the most part.  What is asked of us it to have complete faith in Him, and to receive the peace He bequeaths.  The peace of the Holy Spirit is always a very good sign that nothing other can replicate--His abiding peace!  Abiding.

We can detect sin in ourselves and others when there is ugliness, envy, pride, vindictiveness, treachery, deception, bickering, detraction, wrong-judging.

I do not want to be in any of these categories.  That is not my nature and never has been.  This morning I feel a cleansing from my sins and a sense of light and love and being lifted out of what I had tried so hard to figure out, to go along with, to be a part of that which the Lord had me pass through, benefit, and then have my angel take me to the Stairway to Heaven.  The Mass is the Stairway, with all its beauty and wonder.  But what is in the Mass?

The Sacraments, all of them, and His Living Word are in the Mass.  The life, death, and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ are in the Mass.  The passageway between the temporal and into the eternal mystical, union with God, are in the Mass.  And the Mass goes beyond the time and place.  In the Mass, we are sent out to take His Real Presence into life and into lives temporally and mystically, now and forever.

Although not the norm according to the temporal rules which are very good indeed but Jesus is clear that no temporal rule is necessarily eternal, there is the Gospel Rule of Life, of abiding in Him and He abiding in us, that transcends.  Many canonized hermits and saints came to this, and usually through much persecution and with negative judging by others.  Yet they persevered.

Yesterday I was thinking again about John of the Cross and Padre Pio.  They did not leave off their vocations or their temporal names in religious life, nor no longer consider themselves to be Catholic.  Rather, they more deeply understood their vocations, their roles, their Catholicism and very much so their Christianity as followers of Jesus Christ.

So it is with this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit.  Yes, I could use the name I had in religious life, even if I did not remain in that community.  I could go by Pio of the Wounded Heart.  But that is so very temporal, and as a hermit, I am not the same as John of the Cross or Padre Pio.  I am called to be hidden, and to more know the name by which I will be called in heaven, a name told me by the Lord some 19 years ago this fall during a bit of a taste of heaven in the here and now.

But even that, remains a name for heaven, not for my hermit life.  No, I am simply a consecrated Catholic hermit. That is more than enough name.  It reminds me of my vows, of my life and place in the Catholic Church, and of my vocation as an eremite.  And my given name, thought of by my late mother before I was born and gifted on the day of birth, means "gift of God."  That is beautiful!

I thank my mother many times over today, for her lovely life and her loving me and nurturing, protecting, and holding out all kinds of hope in what I might accomplish in life, to do good, to love, to thrive.  She instilled in me a love of God, of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit!  I have already this morning apologized deeply for the bungles I made and still make!  But love transcends our errors when we are sorry, and when we so want to do much good in Christ.  To be holy--that is the desire of this heart!

Through Him we have received the grace of apostleship,
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of His name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
--from Romans 1

God bless His Real Presence in me, in you, in us!  Little children, let us love one another for God Is Love!  Accept, embrace, feel, reflect, and share His Love with Him and each other! 

Catholic Hermits: Obedience Professed, Obedience Learned from Suffering

Each and every Christian is called to obedience.  While those in the Catholic Church who are called by God, and accept His call, to the Consecrated Life of the Church, everyone who is a Christian is called to follow Jesus Christ.  The following Scripture from Hebrews--the second reading of this Fifth Sunday of Lent--helps us grasp the means and ways of obedience and to whom we ought obey.

From Hebrews 5:7-9:

"In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh,
He offered prayers and supplications 
with loud cries and tears to the 
One Who was able to save Him from death, 
and He was heard because of His reverence.
Son though He was, 
He learned obedience from what He suffered; 
and when He was made perfect, 
He became the source of eternal salvation 
for all who obey Him."

From what death do we beseech God in cries and tears?  Is it physical, bodily death?  Was that the death from which His Son prayed to be saved?  Or was it from eternal death, or the death of His Divine Soul?  Was it from the death that the world offers?  And He was heard by the Father--the One Who could save Him--because of His reverence.  This seems key: Reverence.

What is "reverence"?  The word "revere" appeared in the 14th century.  It means to feel or show a profound awe, respect and even love; to honor, such as the divine.  The Latin is re + vereri:  to fear, to respect.

How did Jesus learn obedience?  He learned obedience through suffering.  And it followed that when he was made perfect, he was made the source of salvation to all who obeyed Him, as well. Does this mean that we, also, learn obedience through suffering, and that it follows that through obedience from suffering, comes perfection in Christ when we follow Him and obey Him?  

This is much to grasp, and it is beyond description by words, just as we cannot adequately describe His Real Presence other than to know the effect and the affect, through knowing Jesus--no matter how many descriptors used in the Old and New Testaments, no matter the theology, poetry, artistry, and mystery of dreams, visions, and locutions.

In considering the profession of the evangelical counsels [chastity, poverty, obedience)] by which a Catholic hermit enters the state of Consecrated Life in the Church (although not always publicly professed), the canons, or laws, of the Catholic Church, state the following regarding obedience:

Canon 601. Obedience

Obedience, following Christ, obedient even unto death, obliges submission of one's will to lawful Superiors, acting in the place of God when they command according to the constitutions.  

There may be a list of what can be required. E.g.ministries that can be required.  There isn't a formula, but it should be clear and written for clarity.

The obedience stated in canon law is to that of following Christ.  One must be obedient even if faced with death.  Next, this obedience in following Christ, per canon law, then legally or morally binds [oblige] the will of the one consecrated, to lawful Superiors who act in God's place when they command according to the constitutions of the Church.

CL601 begs prayerful consideration.  There are specific conditions imbedded within it, requiring wise discretion in order for the obedience to be binding to a Superior in the church.  It requires further defining by law, who and what is a Superior, and it requires discerning if that Superior is acting in God's place--if their commands are according to the constitutions.  This latter also begs a prayerful, careful reading and knowledge of the Constitutions of the Catholic Church.

But the primary obedience in this canon is given to Christ, to following Christ, obedient even unto death.  The profundity of following Christ can take a Christian lifetime to prayerfully grasp and practice.  From Scripture--the Living Word of God--we learn that when Christ was in the flesh, He learned obedience through suffering.

Following Christ may be learned and effected by living the Gospels.  The Gospels remain the perfect Rule of Life for hermits--indeed, for any Christians regardless of state of life in the Church--hierarchy and laity, consecrated or not.

Learning obedience through suffering includes all forms of suffering: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.  Following Christ, being obedient unto death, can include bodily death from this earthly life as well as death to the temporal "world" in some aspect of body, mind, emotions, and spirit. This type of death is often termed "spiritual detachment" or "holy indifference."  The worlds "spiritual" and "holy" are key in being linked with "detachment" and "indifference."

It would seem, then, that the Living Word of God in Scriptures, is the ultimate and never-failing law of God in fulfilling a professed vow of obedience.  The church law adds to God's Word but does require discernment of the several conditions that do need to be met in order for one's will to be obliged in submission to a Superior--who must be lawful, acting in God's place, and whose commands are in accordance with the Institutes of the Church.

Even so, if each condition of a lawful Superior seem met, no one but God really knows or can judge if the one submitting his or her will to the lawful Superior and/or the Superior himself, are meeting the conditions, or to what degree or ideal.  Mortals--even the seemingly holiest of hermits (or anyone) and the wisest and most reverent of those in Holy Orders--are not foolproof in knowing and judging our souls and conditions.  Only the One Who saves us from death can do so: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

The individual soul may have some idea, depending upon his or her truthfulness and degree of spiritual progression, in knowing self and knowing God.  The individual soul's Superior by church law may have some idea--even a very good idea--depending upon various observed and inspired aspects.  But no one, mortal, lawful superior nor the most approved, seemingly holiest of individual souls can know for sure.

The seemingly simple freedom of the Christian call in Scripture--the Living Word of God--to following Jesus Christ, requires discernment and wise discretion as well.  The conditions of a soul in following Christ--obedient even unto death--are deep and wide.  No one but the One Who saves us from death knows or can judge if the Gospel tenets are being met, to what degree or ideal.  

It comes down to the reality of striving, to the best of our human abilities, acts of our free will, and by whatever undeserved but mercifully given divine graces of God, that we are able to follow Christ.  As to whatever degree of obedience, learning it through suffering, and to whatever progression being in Christ toward our soul's perfection, we will not have consistent, complete perfection during our earthly, mortal pilgrimages.  

Obedience learned from what is suffered...and when He was made perfect...He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. 

God bless His Real Presence in us, and our presence in Him. Let us love dearly one another as we love Christ and He loves us--little children--for we are in this life together.  Remain in His Love!

The Word from Jesus, and Touches of Elizabeth of the Trinity

Today's Gospel of daily Mass is Matthew 9:1-8.  How dare Jesus be so bold!  Yet He Is God, and God is All, and we are nothing.

"And after getting into a boat he crossed the water and came to his own town.

 "And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’ Then some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ 

"But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’ And he stood up and went to his home. 

"When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings." [Emphases mine]



 I love the reaction of the crowds in this audio-picture synapse of Jesus' life and work among us on earth.  There were those in the crowd who judged and accused Jesus of blaspheming.  There were those in the crowd who were filled with awe and glorified God; and some of the ones who first thought He was blaspheming, probably had their hearts and minds changed after seeing the miracle.  Jesus' touch of grace was not just imparted on the paralytic, healed, but also on the crowds.

This morning while doing more mowing and watering, and then some electrical wiring, I am going to ponder these word images of His Real Presence, deep within my soul.

I pray to be filled with awe and to glorify God.  To think that God gives such authority to human beings: perspective-altering!  

Earlier this morning I read again about St. Francis of Assisi's conversion and life after.  His soul continued to progress beyond, yet amidst his friar-brethren desiring more temporal structure within their spiritual.  St. Francis achieved union with God outside their temporal wishes.  God marked His and Francis' union with visible stigmata, on a mountain, when Francis had gone off awhile, alone, to pray.

And although I'd not considered this aspect of God giving authority to human beings, He certainly did repeatedly as evidenced in Scripture.  It has to be God's authority, though, and His giving it.  Love is the test, and sometimes it is quite difficult to discern love in a glimpse or by other than first-hand experience.

The other touch today is from an old, out-of-print book on the doctrines of Elizabeth of the Trinity.  I offer this excerpt, as it is a good one to ponder as to our being created uniquely-different, despite exterior commonalities.

"Yet among Carmelites, each one lives in her own manner the doctrine so dear to St. John of the Cross, the Mystical Doctor of Carmel:  the doctrine, namely, that the creature is nothing and that God is all.  One star differs from another not only by its size, but by its special light, its peculiar brilliance; God is multiform in His [followers].  It would be useless to try to force even two [Christians] of the same religious family into an identical mold, for unalterable differences are concealed beneath certain common features....To distinguish is to see better."

[Note:  I am not going to give citation for this quote due to my personal attempt to not be distracted by who and in what, but to appreciate persons' thoughts as simply being good and helpful.]