Catholic Hermit Exclaims: Lord, Have Mercy!

These words have been in my thoughts and at times uttered aloud.  Lord, have mercy!  

I do not intend the words or meaning to be a supplication of needs to be met, for the Lord has been meeting my temporal needs in marvelous ways.  I am so very grateful, and another exclamation I've been making lately is:  God provides!  Praise the Lord!

My helper, Daniel the Nazarene, came two days this past week.  As I write now, he is on his way driving to second semester of Bible college--a 16-hour drive.  I'm praying his vehicle hold up; he is concerned, and this young man's concerns are now my concerns.

The Lord, have mercy! exclamation is one of surprise and gratitude while at the same time marveling at how far this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit's body has been pushed in the manual labor this past three weeks or so since Daniel has been able to come help me with renovation and construction efforts.  He has come one day a week other than this past with two days (and maybe the week after Christmas two days).  

So in about six days' time of 6-7 hours including lunch and snack breaks, my helper and I were able to get tongue-in-groove ceilings installed upstairs and down the slanted ceiling wall in two bedrooms.  We put ceiling boards in a 24x14' living room, installed drywall up high in a stairwell, framed a stairwell wall, framed a pocket door, installed drywall on that wall and finished framing a closet door opening.  We finished hanging drywall in a couple high-up places downstairs, and we got the washer and dryer moved back into the laundry area (on other-and-underside of stairwell).

We've carried up the ladder several sheets of drywall, with Daniel taking the brunt of the lifting, thankfully so.  We nailed in 8 sheets of plywood beadboard into the attic gable "garret room".  We've had to empty out that attic space of boxes and bags of belongings stored these nearly four years so that we had space to work.

On days Daniel was not here--the bulk of days--this painful-bodied hermit hustled and pushed beyond what is truly feasible, or so it surely seems to me.  God provides!  Praise the Lord!  Others have mentioned they could never do it.  I respond, "Yes, you could and would if your existence depended upon it.   God would see you through, as He is seeing me through, at least to this very present moment."  

We never know the day or the hour.  But I am quite hopeful that I will be able to finish the hermitage in a few months, for the finances will totally be dried up and finished in a few months.  The generous assistance by Daniel the Nazarene and his willingness to drive from civilization to help an old hermit who paid an hourly wage that he appreciated and can use for college but also was not an unreasonable pay, has made all the difference.

No drugs, no foul language, a godly young man, responsible, on time, tolerant of working with an old person who is quite capable of making errors in figuring how to do carpentry work and forgetful when pain is high--God provided quite a gift in Daniel the Nazarene.

Each Sunday morning as the couple from the parish so kindly brings Communion to this hermit, they remark on the progress in this hermitage--an old farmhouse that probably could have been a tear-down to some prospective buyers who might have had a more honest and realistic realtor than had I.  The couple is seeing what a little bit of help--paid help--can do, what a little bit of charity can provide in results.  And the work is good work, for this dwelling will never be for others as it was for me.  Others will never have to undergo the hardships of living in rugged, rotten, rat-ridden, cold and nasty circumstances.

Now, that is good and holy!  And Daniel the Nazarene and next, a couple of his friends who are willing to come a day a month to help continue what help I need that I cannot do with God alone--these young people are stepping up in charity and kindness; and I am paying them more than they'd make and are so very grateful for their pay.  Loving kindness is a win-win.  When and if I live the next few months and God provides energy and strength to continue my God-alone work efforts in here, I hope to sell and gift these young people all the more with monetary assistance that I cannot give them right now.

It hopefully will all be a witness to the Catholic parishioners who could not so much as take five minutes to lift a microwave up on its metal holding strip, or those who could not let their son come for 10-15 minutes to help me lift up six sheets of drywall--with payment to them, of course.  It hopefully will be a witness to the Catholic parishioners who a priest said there were no men who could help me the first summer carry in six sheets of 1/2" plywood.  

Hopefully it can be a witness to the Catholic realtor and the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society who the realtor mentioned could help me that first cold winter when the roof was leaking like a sieve and I had no one to help with the most minor of tasks but requiring another set of hands now and then.  That Catholic realtor will not be selling the house, but she will surely be aware when another has the listing and will see that God provided through other Christians, such as Daniel the Nazarene and his friends, the little bit of help that made it feasible for this old and pained hermit to be able to progress toward completion.

Lord, have mercy!  As I read more of St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of Songs, in the introduction we are reminded of the ultimate goal and need to be united in God's love--to love God in Himself and to realize deeply that He loves us and it is His love by which we are able to love Him.  And, the saint reminds that once we love God in Himself and have union in His love, it is then that we are able to truly love others.  It is then that we are called to drop our love embrace in contemplation and to be charitable to the temporal needs of others.  

I hope to write more about what St. Bernard explains of God and His Love.  But for now, before more storms roll through, I must drop my desire to write of what Bernard shares and get the very pained and sore body off the mattress, dressed, and utilizing the compound miter saw set up outside on the deck.  I have more ceiling areas (shorter boards so can nail with God's help) to cut and install and some 2x4's to nail in here and there in various parts of the stairwell and attic garret so that there will be adequate surfaces to which to hang drywall.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Lord, have mercy!  God provides!  Praise the Lord!

Catholic Hermit Awakened

It has not happened in awhile, but it does now and then.  The Lord does speak to us in many ways; sometimes it is His Voice.  His Voice can be within, interior, or without, audible to the external senses.

In the wee hours, this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit was awakened by a distinctly audible voice saying, "Look at ME."

The voice was loud enough to abruptly shake the hermit from its sleep.  Immediate reaction: Who is in here?  Grab the flashlight and shine toward door opening, asking back, "What is it you want?"

In fact, the hermit was so taken back initially that it thought somehow perhaps it was at the daughter's home, and the grandson maybe called out, asking his grandmother to "look at" him.  But no, even before grabbing the flashlight to see who was there, the hermit was awake enough then to know it was on the mattress on the floor of the hermitage.  Was it an intruder, some imbalanced person asking the home owner to look at him?  

No one was in the doorway.  This hermit is well enough acquainted with locutions as well as with termporal reasons and answers, that this was easily recognized and discerned as God speaking.  (It was not a child's voice, although one cannot refute that Jesus can speak to us as He was as a Child.)  It could be God speaking through the hermit's angel, or God speaking through a saint, or God speaking through His Son.  Or, it could be God Himself, His Real Presence in oneness of the Trinity, by the power of the Holy Spirit, speaking, abjuring the hermit to look at HIM.

Regardless by Who or from whom the message was pronounced, audibly, firmly, loudly enough to awaken a mortal from a sound sleep (interrupted dream having no connection at all with the message spoken).  As soon as the hermit discerned the message to be not temporal but yet tangible, it knew the reason, the import.

"Look at ME."

This is easy enough to figure out.  This nothing consecrated Catholic hermit has been looking at all kinds of situations, people, things--distractions, all.  It has been following the political scene far too much and closely.  It has been internet researching with intent an appliance and other materials and ideas for use in the renovation tasks.  It has been distracted by grieving not being able to go to the parish closest, even though it is plenty far away.  It has been distracted by researching possible parishes with proactive and spiritually focused shepherd and flock.  Distractions!  Looking at all kinds of people, things, situations--when all that is asked of this hermit by God is to look at Him!

So in the darkness, the hermit began thinking of Jesus.  It looked at Jesus on the cross, at Jesus standing in the doorway, imploring the hermit, saying "Look at ME."  The hermit thought of Samuel when he heard the Voice call his name, audibly, distinctly, in the night so many centuries ago in another part of this world.  And it thought about Samuel's response once Eli the prophet explained to Samuel it was the Lord speaking, and how Samuel was to respond.

So this hermit responded likewise even if a few minutes after hearing the Voice, here, now.  "Here I am, Lord, I have come to do Your will.  I will look at YOU!  I am sorry that I have looked elsewhere far too much lately. I will stop looking so much at all else but will focus on looking at YOU."

After an hour or so of mulling and looking within at Jesus, within, and reading the Living Word of God for today's Mass readings, the hermit fell back asleep.  Upon awakening in the dawn, this time without being awakened by any voice, human or of God, the hermit at first started to think of various distractions, started to look at some news, then a product researched, and then yet another parish bulletin and Mapquest directions and length of time to drive to this one or that one which were notably vibrant and strong in the Catholic faith and spiritual life.

Then the hermit remembered:  Look at ME.

It shut off the distracting thoughts, and thought-flashed to the Lord, "Yes, Lord, I will look at YOU."

And so it is, and so it will, even though not perfectly, of course, for looking at distractions can be quite habit-forming.  But so can looking at Jesus be just as habit-forming--but a good habit, for sure.

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

Hermit Asks: Why Learn from Jesus?

While pondering Jesus' words in Matthew 11, "learn from me," this morning the nothing Catholic hermit asked Him, "Why and how?"

Then His words filled the silence:  "for I am meek and humble of heart."

Yes, those are very good reasons as to why we ought learn from Jesus.  Being meek and humble of heart proposes Himself to our minds and hearts.  He adds that if we learn from Him, for He is meek and humble of heart, we will find rest for ourselves.

This nothing Catholic hermit desires to learn, and it desires to find rest.  Does the rest Jesus say will be ours as a result of learning from Him as He is meek and humble of heart, mean the kind of rest that is peace of body, mind, heart, and spirit?

Surely.  It makes perfect sense, and Jesus is omniscient.  He knows all that we need, and He knows how to be the perfect teacher.  The apostles called Jesus "Master" and "Teacher" often enough, and "Lord."

Perhaps today one of the lessons Jesus is going to teach this nothing hermit, is the immensity and beauty of His meekness and humility of His heart.  Perhaps this hermit will experience the effects of Jesus' teaching, and there will be rest today, on many levels.

It all sounds and seems most positive.  Perhaps there is something of meekness and humility of heart that is so appealing, that anyone would desire learning not only whatever Jesus wishes to teach us, but that we desire to learn His meekness and humility of heart.  Yes, this hermit would love to learn His meekness and humility of heart and to offer others, as well, His rest.

Learning from Jesus fascinates!  His lessons are substantive and real!

God bless His Real Presence in us!  His Real Presence is in us, as is His meekness and humility of His heart and His peace!  Does it not make sense that we learn meekness and humility in our hearts, bequeathed by Jesus, along with His peace--in order to abide with Him, to be in His Real Presence?