Catholic Hermit Soul-Shift, Soul-Shake

The soul-shift and soul-shake of which this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit is being called requires some action on my part.  Today's Living Word of God, read at Masses all over the world, give me reminder, instruction, and courage to "step up" the spiritual life progression process.

From Hebrews 12: 11-13:

"So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed."

Even the verse from John 14:6 that is proclaimed prior to the Gospel reading this day, the Queenship of Mary, reminds and instructs us as to the only One by Whom we come to God:

"I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father, except through me."

And with the Gospel reading from Luke 13, these Words of Christ answer any question remaining as to our salvation and the means and way we must enact in order to have eternal life with His Real Presence:

"Jesus pass through many towns and villages,
teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
'Lord, will only a few people be saved?'
He answered them,
'Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.'"

Today is a pivotal date in my own life.  On this day, 21 years ago, I was confirmed at age 44, as a Catholic.  Eleven years prior my life was totally altered by a drunk teen careening his car into ours, causing a crucifixion of sorts, when I was 33.  Eleven years following my confirmation, my youngest child left for college.

This day continues to be pivotal, this Queenship of Mary.  An adult daughter begins a new job today.  And everyone in the world has some special life situation occurring on this day, truly!  

We are experiencing on this day (and veritably this is so on any and every day) the opportunity to grow in faith, hope, and love.  We are given opportunity, if we choose to embrace it and take personal action, to be strong in our resolve and in our actions to enter into an increasingly narrowing gate.

Why is it increasingly narrowing?  The gate narrows moment-by-moment when we see the excess in our lives--not necessarily tangible excesses of temporal things, but more importantly the excess of our own thoughts, actions, accumulation of distractions of the temporal.  

We must sift out in an on-going effort to slim down our bodies, in effect--the temporal glut of things, ideas, disease of relationships, clutter of distractions.  We must sift out our thoughts that we increasingly realize are excessive or non-essential.  We must temper our emotions and to thin our emotions to what is not unhealthy and prohibiting to our emotional as well as spiritual functioning.

We must see the gate as narrow and also as narrowing.  We can cooperate with the process by praying for strength--and also by taking mental, emotional, and tangible action to be strong in stepping away from all that keeps us "fat" with excesses of temporal, mental, emotional, tangible distractions from an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Without walking through the narrow gate, and then a more narrow gate, and then yet another and another narrow gate--the narrowing gates of our living souls' spiritual progression, we remain stuck in glut of suffocating, deadening soul (and often times tangibly temporal) distractions.

When we walk through the narrow gate that we recognize before us this very day, we stake steps of strength into Christ.  Yes, there will be more gates, each a bit narrower than the former.  Our souls are like rubber cones which move as if through space toward a centrifugal light, all the while convoluting in metamorphoses of spiritual progression.  

Souls are all spread throughout the universe of God's creation, flowing in varying positions of movement to the center, passing in narrowing funneling toward the Light; for we do not progress through existence as isolated creation.  
No soul in spiritual process is physically, tangibly touching, holding back, nor interfering with the progression of any other soul.  Our souls progress individually, convoluting while moving slowly, steadily--yet in universal unison toward the Light of Christ in the center of beingness, in the center of God-Is-Love.

If we introduce or hold onto aspects of our lives and selves that do affect our souls' progressions and convolutions of constant motion in narrowing focus toward and upon Christ, we cannot expect to pass through.  Rather, we remain, for example, under the power of self, others, and the law of minds when the law of God beckons us to freedom in eternal salvation.

We must be strong and accept that when we shift and shake, when our souls go through a convolution in progression, aspects in our daily lives and among others will necessarily shift and shake.  And that is a most positive development for ourselves, for our souls, and for our relationships.

All this is part of embracing the artistry of the soul seeking God, regardless of vocation.  However, vocations provide varying guidelines and opportunities that assist the soul within the vehicle of vocation.  We must not expect to progress through the narrow gate in the same ways, timing, and details as other souls--not even of those souls who share our particular life vocations.

Pray for strength!  Pray for courage!  And simply be strong!  Break the bonds, strip the bulk of whatever hinders.  Pass through the narrow gate.  Pass through again and again in increasing lightness and narrowing through, with, and in Christ, toward God!

Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is within us.  And Jesus explains in a parable, the kingdom of God in ways that we can grasp.

Luke 13:18-21 

 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ 

Within us is the kingdom of God, for He and the Father and the Holy Spirit have entered in and made their abode.  He is in us and we are in His Real Presence.  This seems to be the reason why what seems small or uniquely individual, can grow to immense proportions, and thus can hold all things, all thoughts, all essence, within it. 

This hermit is pondering these matters of the kingdom of God.  All is within, and from within, without.  God and His kingdom encompass all of Him, all of His creation, all of His wisdom, power and might.  So much is within us, if we view it from our inner perspective.  But when we view from the perspective that we are within His Real Presence Who Is, and we are within Him, we can begin to grasp the fathomless kingdom and how it grows, love upon love.

Today the lungs are feeling stuffy.  The heat pump man did not show up yesterday even though he said he was on his way.  Always must consider that an accident could happen, or illness.  However, this morning he did come after calling him, and he had no valid reason for yesterday.  

But yesterday does not matter.  Did not ask, did not mention the untruth told that he was "on his way" and would be here shortly.  No, the past does not matter.  Just the present moment in this case, particularly, for one cannot force others to do when they say or to even be honest when in a sales pitch mode.

He took various aspects of the heat pump apart and consulted via phone to techs and electricians.  The end result is that the circuit board was "blown" and the fan burned out in a power surge.  This hermit will have to pay for labor costs, and that will be substantial, for out in the desert, the folks charge immense fees for hourly labor.  And, the heat pump, after all, is now not such a good investment for staying warm or cool, if it can go out in a major way, with a storm.  When the warranty is over, the costs will be substantial for the parts in addition to the labor.

Such are the effects of the 21st century for a hermit with a hermitage.  When a hermit intersects with people in the world, the results can be rather problematic, for the world can be quite a treacherous place with people who do not share the moral values that a consecrated religious ought embrace.  

And, as this hermit has discovered, in various areas, even the Catholic faithful can be problematic.  Some of that depends upon the priestly leadership, but much depends upon the individual souls as well as their group mentality, when not particularly inclined to the spiritual or Scripture but more to the social aspects of being a Catholic.  Some call it "Catholic in name only."

The hermit monk up the road said they had come to this area as a means to try to evangelize or be a statement of Christ in the midst of pagans.  They include Roman Catholics as those who have lost their way, and perhaps in all honesty, they may have a point in some aspects.  

This hermit thinks of Bl. Charles de Foucald who went into the Sahara and lived among the Muslims, far from any Christians, and without knowing the language.  He wanted to live his life as a mirror of Christ among them, and to evangelize without words but through his lived example.

He was shot and killed after a few short years of his hermit life.  Some Muslims thought he was helping the French, providing them with guns in the battles of World War One--although they were not the Muslims of his area.  He had lived peaceably and lovingly among them, on the outskirts of their village, without incident.  But he was betrayed to these others.

The example of Christ this hermit can provide here, is mostly external.  A handful over the last 18 months have commented if they pass and speak, that the gardens are looking beautiful.  The Catholic deputy sheriff noticed the religious statues outside.  Other than that, the example of Christianity must come with one-to-one interactions with the few workers who have been here, and in some of the cases, the workers had to be let go, or the main contractor had to be confronted for over-charging and not doing proper work--not that telling him did any good to change the outcome.

So mostly, this hermit prays.  And this hermit strives to increase love of God and to learn and grow, perhaps like the mustard seed.  It strives to increase, to simply increase, in little ways.  Today it has determined to practice the S of Serenity.  This hermit stayed jovial and patient when a circuit "blew" when plugging in a space heater to try to keep the downstairs a bit warmer so as to work on insulation.  That caused two phone calls to the electrician, who was dumbfounded with why the outlets then would not work.  

Ended up being a simple communication difference, concerning the GFI outlets.  In these particular outlets, when the light is "on", the power is not flowing through the outlet.  When the light is off but has been reset, there is power.  He was describing the opposite, but such details for an electrician can sometimes be lost in the rendering over the phone, as they are so used to simply doing this or that without thinking about it. 

The heat pump man finally figured out the problem with the heat pump, and he does not know how long to get parts in.  The other outlet issues are solved, and the hermit remains calm despite facing financial ruination in a matter of two or three months, unless God provides in some unexpected way.  

In other words, there will be no more monetary outlay for materials or hired help after two or three months, and the hermit will need to either try to continue existing in here with whatever work is done from materials in hand, or at least try to survive until better weather to finish painting the house.  Whatever can be done, must be done, by the hermit, in order to hopefully be able to sell a place that most likely will not be nearly salable other than a cash offer, and grossly discounted price.

The daughter called and offered the hermit to come to their place far away in civilization, until the heat pump is operable, but this hermit said it must remain steady and in faith, and to keep working on the insulation and cutting pieces of wood to fit between studs in areas where the rats can come up from the crawlspace.  Yesterday there was progress, and today there is.  That is the plan, anyway, to stay with the "ship", for even a week away will be a week into colder desert days and nights.

Serenity rules.  And there is the determination (surely of God because this hermit could easily despair!) to keep working and praying.  The spiritual communions will continue, the practice of the Nine S will continue, the rest breaks and whatever else will continue, for the kingdom of God is within this hermit because this hermit is within His Real Presence Who Is the Kingdom of God.  Despite temporal losses and so many glitches that friends and family are starting to notice it is not normal, but we have the Book of Job and so many examples of obstacles in the path for those who desire union with His Real Presence above all else.

The soul must be purified, and this soul here certainly has so many rough edges that an unusual amount of obstacles are needed to file the roughness, to help the hermit learn and grow and grasp the immensity of the kingdom of God within.  Faith, hope, and love, and especially love, are the nutrients to help the growth.  Since God Is Love, love is the key to the kingdom of God and our abiding within His Real Presence, for truly we are in Him even though He is so sweet to word it that He has come to make His abode in us.

Jesus is always the gentleman.  He is the perfect Beloved.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Or, rather, God bless us in His Real Presence, and God bless His Real Presence for allowing us to be in Him!  And of course, let us all love one another, for God is love, and His kingdom exists due to love!