Christian Catholic Mystic Hermit: Sifting Through in Present, the Past Considerations on Hermit This or That

The reason those of us who are Christian Hermits, Catholics, and the lot, have chosen not to be "Diocese" or "Canonical" or 1983's human-devised "Canon Law 603" hermits has little to do with being more hidden or small, although these are valid points as to why not be the other.  

The real reason we choose not to be that which humans have created and perpetuate, is that we prefer to be "God's Hermits."  This means more in depth than I wish to write, for I've written and written about this over the past 23 years, with 17 years of the writing including blogs.

I just felt it good to set the fact out there, and being "God's Hermit" my self, has become so intimately deeply inculcated and immersed as my ontological, spiritual, mystical being, that there is no need to explain further.  It is as it is; and being God's hermit rather than a diocese or CL603 or canonical hermit, all being interchangeable terms for that format and choice, is a beautiful choice for those of us who are chosen by God to be God's hermits and not the other fairly recent designation.  And those who chose that other designation and feel God has called them to that designation I am sure have their heartfelt reasons for doing so.  

Just wanted to clarify.  Yes, God's hermits are hidden and small amidst many other facets spiritual, interior, and bits of human exterior as well tossed in. But being small and hidden is not the defining term; God''s hermit is the definitive descriptor/s or term, if one even needed.  I'm at a point in my spiritual life and vocation that I do not need to think of myself with a term, label, or descriptor/s.  It is, after all, a pathway God has chosen for me and it seems many others over the centuries, for this life, not for eternity.  I have learned that not being the other, I really do not know why they chose the diocese/canonical/1983 CL603 designation. It does not matter, whichever, other than to the persons' own sense of calling and choice made. 

God bless His Real Presence in us.  Let us love in His Love!

Catholic Hermit's Thoughts on Conquering the World

Jesus said these Living Words, as well....

"But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world."

Sometimes it helps to just take the Word of God and mull sections.  Yes, we can read what is written before and after and have an idea of the context; or we can also simply lift His Words that touch us deeply in some way, that make His Perfect Sense in our imperfect lives.  

How can any of us ever think or say that God does not speak to us, relevantly, personally, and particularly to our daily circumstances?

It did not take long at all for this hermit to have browsed through the artistic yet very temporal mode of escape and pain reliever--the afore-blogpost-mentioned mild, British mystery videos.  Flat on the mattress with knees raised under pillow and a medicated topical pain relieving patch on the upper back, this hermit is weary with pain but needing less distraction and more union with His Real Presence.  

Looking out upon the landscape when the hermit rose painfully to get a cup of tea and more water, there is the diminutive, ornamental tree as well as the Peony that this hermit brought  two years ago now, to this hermitage.  These are Fr. Vincent's prayer tree and flower--that which he chose from the hermit's previous locale.  With the reminder in sight of the two beauties, the hermit prayed for him doing his work in another continent, and under difficult conditions.  His words, also, emailed recently to this hermit, suffering more than usual, came to mind.

All is meant in the flow of the Order of the Present Moment.  He had reminded the hermit to always unite the painful sufferings with Jesus on His Cross.  And so the hermit is doing so, right now.  Sometimes the distractions from pain must cease, and the reality of intense pain can be deeply felt and embraced, and His Real Presence considered, and all this shift of daily life through added suffering, becomes a prayer and a loving embrace--both.

There is no room for panic in the moment of a loving embrace and no point in panic in the communion of prayer.

It is a matter of waiting now, and not waiting alone.  The reality of His being here in this tiny cell of a room--unfinished and rough, mattress on the floor and amazingly comfortable in the cocoon simplicity:  this hermit rests--hibernates--awaiting for the metamorphosis.  Jesus is not alone; the Father is with Him.  And we are not alone because He is here, with us, in us, and we are in Him.

So it is fine just now, to consider the peace that we might have in Him.  And we can consider the troubles of the world.  Even a rather bucolic and quaint British murder mystery with wrongs righted and justice served, and good winning over evil, touches upon the troubles of the world.  

The troubles of the world, after all, comprise the embryo of the plot by which the fictionalized characters--the actors--ply their creative art in playing the roles of the one perpetrating evil, sometimes by a slip into temptation, and the others who conquer the evil and bring a temporary, temporal calm and temporal peace.

Yes, Jesus tells us the truth.  In the world we will have troubles.  (And we don't always know what troubles or when the troubles will befall us, or how we will get out of the troubles or if we will get out of them, or when, if when.)

Jesus tells us to take courage.

Why?  Because He says He has conquered the world.

And this is very important for us to remember and to trust totally and fully.  (We may need to pray for that courage and that trust.  This hermit does, often enough, for just this morning in the wee hours when awakened with the unexpected recent added pain, courage was not taken.  Concern crept in.)

He has conquered the world.  What does this mean?  Well, it is something to ponder and unravel, to discover what He means by this for each of us in our particular circumstances whether in temporal, physical pain, or not.  What does Jesus mean spiritually--and temporally, too--by having conquered the world.  Has He conquered the temporal world and all its troubles, and has He also conquered the spiritual world with its eternal heaven?

We each will find answers to whatever questions we may have, thinking about Jesus' Living Words.  The mystery will unfold with truth, and with solutions as to how to proceed and when, such as now with the spiritual for there is never anything holding us from spiritual progress.  

The temporal--well, the temporal can hold us back physically, mentally, emotionally and also can hinder our spirits if we let the troubles conquer us.  If we do not follow Jesus' lead and trust that He is with us and we are with Him--in Him--then we will not be part of His having conquered the world, conquered the temporal troubles.

But if we watch this mystery play out, and we remain aware and in love and in faith, believing and trusting His Words--He is with us, we are not alone, we will have troubles in the world, but He has conquered the world--all will be well, all will be well.  The temporal is only temporary, after all! What is the worst that can happen?  What, really, is the worst when He has conquered the world?

Jesus provides the clues and the answers.  It can be our unknowing yet of specific answers--temporal answers--that inhibit the courage.  But spiritually and by the Spirit, we conquer the world, we will conquer the world.  We have in Him, with Him, through Him, been given the Spirit of salvation and successful overcoming.  Simply wait in His Living Words and Living Reality.  Keep carrying whatever crosses step by step up the Stairway to Heaven.

Easter Blessings

Easter blessings, everyone!


This Easter Sunday, the nothing Catholic hermit spent in the tomb.  In essence, this is how and where every living being spends Easter.  We exist in the tomb--this life on earth, this place wherever it may be--and we do what it is that we do in our bodies in our world, as children of God, as brothers and sisters, as spouses of Christ Jesus.  

And we wait.  We breathe, think, pray, praise, do and exist among each other and all creation, while we wait.  We wait through, with, and in His Real Presence.  We wait in varying degrees of mortal suffering...wait for our deaths and wait for our resurrection.  We wait to be eternally one with the One Trinity:  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

So yesterday (Easter Sunday), the nothing Catholic hermit waited along with all Creation waiting in our created existence.  

And the hermit "did."  It praised God, prayed with supplications, worshipped and received the Eucharist several times in spiritual communion with God and His Body, the Church.  It spent the day in spirit with the family of man and all creation all about in sentient and non-sentient being.  It spent the day in earthly doing, as well.

Raphael had unexpectedly stopped by the hermitage on Holy Saturday.  He had news.  Jorge had decided to help out.  (Perhaps work in civilization was slow, or else God touched his heart and mind, as he now agreed to come to this place of exile and help the hermit make better progress in the heavier tasks remaining here.)  And Juanito will come, also, to continue hanging the heavy sheets of sheetrock.  And the hermit is to get some aspects completed so that they can begin work early Monday.  

While here, Raphael mentions with emphasis that Jorge is a very good Catholic.  Ah, Raphael has come to grasp that the hermit (who he does not know is a consecrated Catholic hermit but knows is Catholic, as he is Catholic) is very Catholic.  Marvelous to consider that over time, one's devotion and essence seeps through to others, somehow--by the grace of God, of course.

So in the tomb, on Easter (and actually every day, for the tomb is ours while we exist on earth), the nothing Catholic hermit had some earthly tasks needing physical tending.  And in the process of these tasks, it noticed the water pressure low, and then no cold water at all!  The hermit descended into the underworld of this tomb, this hermitage, and discovered that the week prior, it had made a ridiculous error in connecting and routing a main cold water line--well, had not connected it to what it needed to be connected with and thus the line had run dry.

There is always cause and effect, in the temporal realm and, of course, in the spiritual realm of the One reality.  And the effect of having erred in how and to what the hermit had connected a main cold water line, was quickly eventual in the lack of cold water.  (The hot water lines are correct and positively effective.)  

There are always root causes to every effect.  The root cause of the error in the cold water line is simple enough.  The hermit was fresh off the severe pain siege when the son-in-law helped from above while the hermit worked below, and its mind was yet too distracted by yet too much pain to think through the maze of pipes...then.  But on Easter Sunday, under the house, the hermit readily saw the problem and knew it would need to leave the private tomb and make a trip to the public tomb of the greater tomb of the world-at-large.

So off to civilization and to Lowe's.  Additional plumbing parts are needed for the fix, and there was no time to waste with Jorge and Juanito coming.  Humans appreciate having water, and in our day and age, many of us are unused to not being able to turn a faucet to receive water in abundance.  This is simply a temporal effect; the spiritual is that of always having the Living Water:  Jesus Christ--not that we think of Him and His Effect, when we use a water faucet and see and feel and utilize the water that pours forth.  But we could, and we ought--think of and praise His Living Water so available to us...unless we make an error in our spiritual plumbing and our pipes run dry.

Well, fix it.  And even the fixing requires the grace and goodness of His Real Presence, of Jesus, of His Living Water.  We all need water for survival, tangibly and spiritually, with the spiritual being the One reality, the eternal effect of the spiritual cause.

When at Lowe's, the hermit noticed a skeleton crew. But what it learned is that the very best and most competent of employees manned the store.  Why?  They are the ones who can handle more than their own departments, thus allowing the bulk of workers to not need to work on the holiday, the holy day (not that it is considered as such by many in the world, these days).

Rusty was in plumbing, and we discussed Ray again.  Ray no longer works because cancer represented itself in his body.  And Rusty and his wife invited Ray to live with them in his final time on earth, not knowing for sure how long that might be.  Ray has no one else, it seems, and Rusty and his wife are giving of themselves, offering to share their earthly tomb with a man who is sick, suffering, and dying.  They are offering Ray cups of Christ's Living Water.  

Yes, Rusty seems an expert at plumbing, both of the temporal cause and effect and of the spiritual--refreshingly not even realizing the depth and flow of this fact.  He is humble, and he and his wife know how to utilize His Living Water, which might also be called Christ Love.

Regardless all this, Easter this year took Christ's cause to meaningful, Christ effect.  The causes and effects abound in the tomb and rise beyond it.  Love covers a multitude of sins.  That is enough to ponder, in itself, when in the tomb, waiting in, with, and through His Real Presence, and water abundant.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Let us love one another, little children of the Living Water!  Easter blessings!

Catholic Hermit Correspondence: Suffering and the One Reality

Someone has sought information on what does a Catholic hermit "do".  Amidst various tangible and intangible activities or doing, this consecrated Catholic hermit corresponds with others from time to time.  The topics run the gamut of all aspects of our lives, yet always delving into the spiritual questions and understandings we gain over time and life experiences--trials and joys.  We learn, grow, pray for, support one another, and also we reflect upon God's reaching into our lives, and deep into our souls.  

Here is an example of this Catholic hermit's correspondence, shared as a sample mainly because the recipient though it quite helpful.  A good aspect, though, about thoughts, insights, ponderings that we set into written format, is that farther on in our life's pilgrimage, there arise other or additional insights, further understandings.  It is part of the holy spiral, with alterations in growth as prolific as the tiny, new threadling roots beneath the soil, or as the numerous branchings of fresh shootlings of tree limbs.

Dear K,

It was rather a grace to awaken at exactly 6 a.m. this morning.  Usually do not sleep that well to not wake up at 2 or 3 or 4 a.m. with pain issues.  So figure God is giving a grace so that I would be in prayer and rejoicing with you, in your time with M, to start at 9 a.m. for you, there, where you are.

Was it the chapter on the Cross--12--in the Second Book of The Imitation of Christ that you commented upon being difficult to embrace or accept, understand?  It is on suffering.  Find it to be so very accurate--yet difficult to embrace or want to accept because it goes so contrary to how we might want it otherwise.  But the fact does remain that Jesus said the very same things, in fewer words, and also by His life.  I need to remember how He surely must have felt--the human part of  him--when his own family thought He was crazy, and also in His grief in the Garden of Gethsemane--broken by treachery and so much suffering, weeping, and feeling abandoned.  Yet he endured it all.  Even on the cross He complained to the Father, in a way--asking "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?"  

My God!  My God!  We can cry this out, with Him.  I do, often enough.

I marvel at the saints having voluntarily taken on sufferings, though.  But it made sense when the author of The Imitation wrote that there is no escaping--that we try to run from one bad situation but the next can and likely will be worse.  That has been the case here; and I suppose some day looking back, whether on earth or not, I will see how very valuable this experience has been--if for nothing else, the great humiliation and humbling it has brought.

When the pain is not so intense, not as intense as a siege, I tend to be able to handle matters better--even the one who continues to try to demean and strip me of human dignity or credibility, temporally or spiritually, and of suggesting no place as a Catholic.  I can see it as very good, in fact, and so true as to what a twist in perspective can wring out of someone's mind to that which is actually the case, the truth. And also I realize that none of it matters, what is said or we may be judged by some, and can see the foolishness of being by some action of others, or thinking ourselves "approved" or "valid" when in fact, a person may not be (and likely not be) any more than anyone else, in God's Reality.

I do see the great divergence in the Church, though, and it seems no different than what the Jewish priests and people tended to dig themselves into, with their laws and their judging of others.  They so judged Jesus and had judged John the Baptist--other than some who admired him a lot, and of course, many more quiet ones loved Jesus and followed Him--causing the insecure others to get all the more riled.

So it seems that the world and the laws that people make up, sincerely hoping to help the worship or to keep things right and strict, only end up being abused and interpreted in whatever way suits the views of people and their wishes.  And that then causes more discord and takes the very rule makers and rule seekers and those thinking they are abiding by their rules, farther away from Christ and His teachings and life, than what was before.

Today is the feast of St. Francis of Paoli, a hermit.  He was in exile in an extreme way for six years or more.  He was not a priest but founded an order upon his way of life, which was also rather extreme but quite simple and thus freed him to be in Christ more fully.  Eventually, he did ask a bishop or pope or someone like that, to approve his rule of life--one that he wrote later on.  He had many gifts and graces bestowed by God; and for this, I marvel at how then, others can so question and judge anyone's life and circumstances.  

I realize how I have judged so much in the past, when I thought I was securely living out properly every temporal aspect in the Church, before I came to grasp the two worlds of the Church.  I remember Bishop X arguing the point that there is but one "reality"--even if he agreed to concede there are very much the two worlds.  Perhaps it is a problem to consider them all as one; for how can the temporal which is always passing away, truly be one with the eternal, which is of those aspects that are "above", as St. Paul asks us to think--that which is above and not below...or that Jesus said He did not belong to this world below but came from above.

Truly, it is when I get slogged down with the below and the things of the temporal, that the virtues tend to get weakened if not even lost--shot down by the temporal realities.  Then it is the grace of God and that which is of His Real Presence and not of this temporal world, that lifts up, once again.

So perhaps we fool ourselves.  Yes, we do enjoy the temporal beauty of a lovely church building and the temporal aspects of the Mass, or so we think.  We like a good priest and homilist, and the aesthetic qualities that are so beautiful in this world, and that are incorporated in worship.  But if it were not for the reality of the spiritual, the purity of the Holy Essence of the Mass, the one reality of the One, the Being, the Truth, the Way, the Life, the Living Word, His Real Presence--all the other would not have any kind of worth or usefulness.  

The passing temporalities are stepping stones if even that.  But when they become the emphasis, misconstrued as the One Reality, then the actual or One Reality gets skewed and our lives--our souls--falter.  There really seems to be only the One Reality, and that is God.  And the temporal is not a reality but is a means to and aspect of the one reality.  Seems like that, and when I forget that reality of the One Reality, the body, mind, heart, and spirit then gets messed up and side-tracked.

When I can view the intricacies of fitting plumbing ABS pipe and elbows in order to achieve the proper venting for flow of sewer off-gas, to rise eventually out the roof, as stepping stones or a passing temporal process, then I can have peace and a kind of joy in plumbing as the process points to the one reality, for there really is just One, and that is:  God Is All.  And that Reality, His Real Presence, is single and solo yet in Three-ness.  The temporal is an aspect of the One, a symbol in tangibles for us when we are not yet capable of the fullness of the One Reality, of the spiritual, the mystical essence and substance of the humanly, unfathomable reality in His Real Presence. 

Perhaps rather than fearing and not being comfortable with the way my mind leaves and blacks out from the temporal when the pain becomes so intense, I should consider it more a participation in the One Reality, His Real Presence, in His Spirit, or as an ecstasy wrought of pain, of sorts, for I am no longer then tied to the temporal which is passing away, not the eternal, ever Present One Reality.  

There is nothing spiritual about pain and suffering in itself.  But there is everything good and spiritual about it as a stepping stone or a temporal aspect of the One Reality which is God.  And no matter how hard we try, we cannot ever accurately name or create any temporal description of God.

In that sense, we can place suffering very close to God.  In the many temporal ways we try to make rules and laws in order to control matters of God, or create medications to try to manage or control temporal pain, they only keep us farther from His reality--a reality we really cannot temporally control or name.

Oh well.

Praying you and M are having a wholly and holy spiritual love together, today!

God bless His Real Presence in us, and Love in His LOVE,

And His Own Did Not Accept Him

Have been pondering this verse from Scripture.  It is a good one, for it clearly expresses how it is when one is different from others, even family members.

There is a contradiction when some Christians die to the world, but somehow think or try to serve two masters.  Can we really live two lives successfully?  It all may depend upon the depth and degree of our calling from His Real Presence.  And that can often depend upon life circumstances, for He does seem to lay out a defined path if and when we give ourselves over to Him--and this, also, in varying degree and depth.

These variations among souls and their spiritual calling--and also their accepting the calling--can be a beautiful symphony.  Symphonies can also have clashing and strident tones, depending upon the compositions.

What seems so painful in accepting our calling, especially if a strong degree and depth of the spiritual, through, with, and in His Real Presence, is that those closest may not value or appreciate those called (or culled) out of the more temporal aspects of this beautiful, varied gift from God, the good of the world.

Many cannot appreciate nor value those different ones.  What they have to offer seems not pertinent to the daily life and functions of the temporal world, of society, of careers and active life, active interests.  The result of the more deeply spiritual, the more contemplative souls, with the more active and temporal--and this among Christians, too--is the lesser spiritual not seeing a purpose or value in the more spiritual.

Being critical is a gift when it assists in one's understanding of externals.  It is helpful in knowing ourselves and others.  But when criticism attacks the inner of who we are, particularly of a good aspect such as the spiritual, of the love-of-God essence of being, something dies in those who are criticized.  The spiritual soul who is criticized turns all the more to His Real Presence, for in Him there is acceptance by the One whose own did not accept Him.

Often, those who criticize the externals are simply discovering that there are aspects of the external, of the temporal, that can be or should be improved.  Or, there is a discovery that one is seeking more of something other, something greater, something divine:  God.  Thus, it is then best to leave off from what it is that stirs the critical observation and determine to love more those things "above".

When we find ourselves criticizing others or the temporal aspects that seemingly clash with that which is above, the divine--including the divine that is in all aspects of earth and people--it shows that we are growing beyond the temporal, in whatever way or degree.

But when we criticize a human for or of his essence, of his desire and love of God and how that is portrayed in his daily life and perspective--this is not love.  It is an inability to accept those who perhaps remind us of that which we may be resisting in our own souls for any number of reasons.  We are resisting becoming more spiritual ourselves.  We want the other to be where we think we are in seemingly temporal comfort zones.  We fear the unknown realms.  We don't want to feel alone.  We want to fit into the images of the world as created by people in society, of which many have contributed these images.

Criticizing due to not being comfortable with the spiritual essence and being of a soul, and the ways in which that soul perceives and is, severs the cord of a deep love that links souls to souls.  We must strive to keep criticism for temporal aspects that will help us or others grow.  We must resist criticizing the heart and soul of others, even if we do not realize our criticism is at those levels.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  For where His Real Presence makes His Abode in a soul is love. When a person is criticized beneath the surface, the criticism is criticizing Who Is within, God-Is-Love.   Little children, let us love one another!

Hermit Vocation Emphasis, Perspective

Do hermits have emphasis on their eremitic "vocation" at the forefront of their daily lives?  In other words, do they identify consciously with the temporal trappings of what is or is not a "hermit"?

This nothing Catholic hermit wonders.  Probably not in the majority of consecrated religious eremitics out there, and definitely not in this hermit.  The posts that it dislikes the most, in writing, actually, are those dealing with hermit-this and hermit-that--wrangling and hair-splitting over temporal rules, status, titles, designations.

Yearly in this nothing's life, there is the renewal of the consecration as a religious eremitic, a Catholic one, at that. Some posts of the distant past explain all that, even give the vows this hermit made, and the setting.  And, there has been discussion of the more temporal aspects of hermit life, in the blog writing.

But the predominate desire of emphasis and perspective of this hermit--this soul--is what would be of any aspirant to union with His Real Presence.  We love and seek God; we strive in whatever ways and hope in all ways, to climb the stairway to heaven, to come to any closer grasp of spiritual perfection and union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The conscious awareness of hermit is more like an undercurrent, or the overcast of the sky.  It is there, but it is not the emphasis in temporal details of hermit this or that.  In fact, being a hermit rarely comes to conscious mind in this nothing Catholic hermit.

What comes to mind is the rule of life, which for this nothing is the Gospel Rule, with the Nine S' as platform and outflow of the Gospels. as applied to daily and nightly existence. Action, thought, words, being: Life in Christ.  

[Nine S': silence, solitude, slowness, suffering, selflessness, simplicity, stillness, stability, serenity.]

This soul's temporal and spiritual days and nights are filled with the trials, obstacles, joys, and  lessons--the interactions, loves, virtues, vices--that are part of the human condition. Hopefully increasingly numbers of souls actively engage with religious desire and spiritual aspiration of the sublime goal:  Love of God and love of others.  

This starkly simple goal has oodles of threads woven into the making, however.  And it is spinning and weaving those threads, working on the fabric of our existence with His Real Presence, God-Is-Love, as focus, which fills the present moments that unfold in making up a lifetime of being, no matter how short or long that earthly lifetime may be.

Only God is forever; and aspiring souls recognize that this temporal lifetime is our soul school, with extended coursework available in what may be termed "purgatory." Our goal, our emphasis, our perspective as souls (more than vocation designation) for those of us desiring God is not best served by much attachment to the title of a vocation.  Nor do numerous, conscious considerations that can distract or lead into vices such as pride, envy, or even gluttony help us in the temporal-spiritual ascent (eg. glut on legalisms and tedium of details not necessary for the freedom of soul to ascend the spiritual).

Whatever, but this soul here, this nothing-I-and-He-Is-All, does not much consciously dwell on being a "hermit."  It just lives as any soul would live out his or her existence in Christ, knowing the emphasis and perspective is that of being a soul in love with His Real Presence--breathing, functioning, and aspiring along with all the souls in the Body of Christ.  We are embraced by and abide in His Love.  Remain in My Love, Jesus tells us.

True, there is a certain ennui and yet conflict, having a blog titled A Catholic Hermit, and of being nothing and yet titling the writing effort with the clarifiers Catholic and Hermit.   Seems like this is about the only time this nothing sees the labels.  Hopefully not often does it dip back into the conscious and temporal debate of what makes a valid or invalid hermit in the eyes of society or the Church.  May the writing be Christ and our souls' spiritual work and progression lived out in this beautiful life and world we are given to learn to love God and others.  And may the writing include thoughts of other souls who happened to live and share in writing or otherwise, who happened to also be consecrated eremitics, Catholic or Orthodox or whatever branch of His Real Presence as Head of the Body, the Church.  
Yes, it is all right to have interest in and learn from souls who shared and share a calling, a path.  Writing about the earthly titles, designations, status of hermit in the eyes of man does not need on-going explanation or debate.  For the temporal is always passing away, and there are as many types of hermits as hermits themselves.  We cannot lasso or type-cast, and that is why the Church's designation of such as the eremitic vocation is clearly simple and vast, both.  Beyond temporal, it is spiritual--even mystical--in the vastness.  

It is of souls in bodies, growing into and through the spiritual vastness by ascending the temporal to the divine, that is of interest to this hermit, a catholic hermit, a consecrated religious, a soul, a nothing-in-God-Is-All.

This nothing's heart sings when the thoughts, readings, writings, and living go above and beyond the debate over what well-intentioned and even Godly people have decided over the years as to rules and protocols of a vocational designation.  

The fundamentals are in the Catechism; the Canon Laws contain additional words which may be revised in later years by those who determine such matters desire and decide.  None of that will determine if a soul will have union with God, however, or will ensure the hermit soul or whoever will attain to purity of love of God and love others.  (Marriage vows are straightforward even if people now distort the natural purpose and order.)  

Stripped before God or man, we are all "just" souls. Now, marvel on that, for instance!  Souls~! Souls created by our Heavenly Father who loves us beyond our comprehension, who forgives us and has mercy without measure!

Have mercy on us all.  God bless His Real Presence in us, dear children, and let us love God and love one another.

Hermit (and Anyone's) Perspectives, Thought Processes

Finished a book detailing some lives of early desert mothers, circa 5th and 6th centuries.  They mostly were penitents who had major conversions causing them to turn totally from their previous lives and go out literally into the desert to pray and live out their lives loving and seeking God.

One of the contributors (think it was with the life of Maria, the niece of a hermit desert father named Abraham) mentioned that the early Christians gained in faith and progressed spiritually beyond others due to their ability to think and perceive the spiritual.  They did not get caught in the literal, nor legalism, nor in linear, concrete, temporal-type thinking.

The distinction of the early Christians and their flights to spiritual heights and glorious encounter with God, was due to their ability to appreciate metaphor, symbolism, and deeper meaning of various levels in Scripture and in the preaching and teaching of the early church.

It was presented that otherwise, if we do not have this ability to perceive, appreciate, ponder, and plumb the various layers and levels of spiritual thought and teaching, we remain prisoners to concretism, hair-splitting, and bondage to that which is not going to lift us to the heights and depths beyond the temporal realities and into the spiritual realms.

The whole thing reminded this nothing Catholic hermit of its paradigm of the floaters and the dockers.  But, it had never read nor considered that in another time period, early on in our Christian roots, indeed there were mostly if not all Christians who could perceive and think metaphorically and spiritually, rather than literally and dogmatically.  Thus, floaters abounded then and rose to Tabor and could see and grasp the transfiguration of Christ's life, teachings, death, resurrection and on-going abiding within our souls--our Savior in all details as well as broad sweeps of existence.

In our time period, however, there is more of a divergence, or at least a solid contingency of dockers, of those who have lost the foremost ability float with the Spirit.  Rather, the weight of canon laws and fund raising and status and designation and dualities has pervaded, causing disunion among believers who believe with humble, hope-filled hearts and those who believe because they think with determined, detail-filled heads.

Anyway, had never read from one of an early century make the point about Christians' lives and message being unique and blessed due to their ability to avoid the chains that Jesus came to break and set us prisoners free.  Yet today, many Christians seem to have the chains wound about their lives in temporal Catholic world debate over details that dim in the fullness of His Real Presence...His Real Presence: Father, Son, Holy Spirit
.

Where Is the Freedom and the Joy?

How appropriate for this blog post is today's Scripture from 1 Corinthians 12:12-21!~

 "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
  
"Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispens- able, and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.
  
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way,"

 

Where is the freedom and the joy?  What is the still more excellent way?  What are the greater gifts for which we are to strive?

Where is the freedom and the joy? was a question recently asked of a dear friend.  She had admitted that she and her husband (both elderly and life-long Catholics) had been shunned and treated coldly, and their son and his wife mistreated, in their town's two parishes.  She assumed it was due to their having moved there (now years ago) from another state.  Outsiders, she said. 

The situation came to a point in which she had more upset being among the other parishioners than good for the soul.  She and her husband have not been back.  But she said when they visit their adult daughters who live in different cities, they are welcomed and find parishes with healthy and vibrant priests and parishioners who are loving and charitable.  She also commented that she and her husband now pray together and have devotions more than they ever had, together, daily.

She repeated how horribly this "nothing" had been treated in those same two parishes in the hometown.  But as a convert, it seemed more reasonable (if that is the correct word to explain lack of charity) that parishioners would react negatively to someone new in their midst.  "Nothing" was and yet is horrified that this deeply Christian, warm and loving older woman was put through the grinder. 

Man's inhumanity to man is alive and thriving within the Church.

However, the woman is heartened by the fact that she and her husband can attend Mass in loving parishes with active and focused priests, when they visit their daughters.  And she recalls the parish and priest where they lived prior to moving to the new location 20 or more years ago.  This woman always repeats, when we talk on occasion, that "nothing" was the only person who approached her and spoke and included in a couple of outreach ministries that "nothing" was inspired by the Lord to develop.  Ah, yes, those little efforts were met with eventual ousting.  This woman commented how vicious in particular, was one of the priests toward "nothing."  She said she always felt the people's issues had to do with their envy.  Not sure of that, personally, but this was her assessment.

So it goes.  And the wondrous aspect of it all, is that this woman is touched.  She has always stood out as charitable and spiritual, as warm and especially anointed, spiritually.  Surely this is part of why the fearful ones have reacted negatively.  It is difficult for people of a certain mindset and way of being, to accept the occasional "feathers on the breath of God" who sometimes float into their midst.

In the history of the Church, such people are dotted through the centuries and through the parishes and monasteries.  Names come to mind, one after another, of those who were called to something more and in different ways.  As the old spiritual father used to tell "nothing", it is as if the farmer has put a marker on one of the chicks, and the others do all they can to peck it to death because they sense it is "different."

However, this aspect of humanity sensing and fearing what is different or "touched", can sometimes unfold in positive ways.  Consider Joseph whose brothers were envious and found him to be the dreamer and different. They sold him into slavery.  In a different location and in different circumstances, Joseph was desirable and useful to the Pharoah.  It all worked out for good and in God's will and ultimate purposes.  Joseph had a certain vocation.

And that leads to the current situation of discerning God's will in "nothing's" continued seeking to fit in to parishes in a viable and giving way.  Just is not going to unfold, and this was foretold many years ago when in the first parish.  In a dream, nothing was desperately trying to catch up with, to join in, the parishioners who were off in the distance, entering a "plane".  Nothing tried in vain to reach them, but exhaustion, pain, and eventually getting stuck in mud resulted in a collapse on the edge of a beautiful expanse of green meadow.  Off in the distance could be seen the parishioners as a large and cohesive group, boarding the plane, and "nothing" had not a chance left to reach them.

Three ancient-looking desert fathers came along, drifting more than walking, across the lush, green grass in the meadow, not far from where "nothing" knelt, mud-covered and depleted from fruitless efforts in joining the parishioners.  The three men, dressed in flowing, off-white tunics, their long, white beards flowing also, rather windswept but all about only stillness, pointed and spoke.

They turned their heads back toward the distant plane with the parishioners boarding it, and they said, "You do not belong with them.  You are to remain here with us, and we will teach you."

This same message was given several years later, again in a dream, in which Mary and Martha beckoned "nothing" to enter a room which mystically appeared off a corridor of a school building.  It was a room that was not visible to others, in general.  They spoke, also.  "Stay here with us, and we will teach you."  (It was rather amazing to note that both Mary and Martha were contemplatives, which makes sense, because both are now on the other side, in heaven, and there is no "being busy or concerned about many things" in heaven.  We will all be contemplatives then and there.)

Regarding the conversation the other day with the parish employee, and reflecting upon previous reactions of wariness to what "nothing" would offer to assist or do, it is not so much a matter of priests and parishioners being fearful and wary of someone who they perceive as different, or to topics that are beyond the more safely temporal topics, including more basic books being read for discussion groups, or more secular programs--all safe and accommodating to the common denominator.  Perhaps that is the best for parishes in some ways, at least safe and not going to rock any boats or stir coals.  It suits the desires, perhaps, of the general populace of Catholics.

What is significant is to grasp when one does not fit into such a scenario.  It simply means one fits into some other scenario.  And in the night, when reminded of the three desert fathers, and reminded of Mary and Martha, and also of a visit from an earthly dad after he was on the other side but came to give three messages, the messages of each and all were the same content.  "You don't belong in that world, with the others.  You belong in a different setting.

This is all about the eremitic vocation, the hermit existence, whether termed hermit or something other, such as St. Joseph LaBre called himself a wandering pilgrim.  In essence and substance, he was a hermit who wandered until he settled in Rome and lived as a homeless man, yet a very religious and spiritual homeless man.  He lived as Jesus lived, no pillow for his head nor place to call "home."

Not all hermits (in fact, probably not many) have interactive lives with parishes.  Those who do, well and good.  It must be God's will for the unfolding of their vocations. But for most hermits and also for mystics, historically and realistically, they were not embraced by nor accepted in parishes. They just don't belong to "that world."  They don't fit in, and there are many reasons for it, and good reasons.

It is not a negative--nothing to berate the parishioners or priests for being unyielding.  It is a positive for the person who does not fit neatly into that paradigm or structure.  Jesus certainly did not fit into the temple world of His days on earth.  Yet others did fit, and that is positive and good.

Yes, it has to do with vocation, and what is God's will and purpose and the means and ways of how He wishes a soul in a person on this earth to grow and bloom.

We will each and all be utilized spiritually if we desire to please God, to be in His will, and to love God and others as He loves us.

As for "nothing" and parishes, or for any of those who did not fit in, they were always utilized by God for His good purposes.  There is nothing wrong about parish employees and priests being wary or in having set ways of wanting things to be.  Much of that has to do with leadership and management styles. Much has to do with individual temperaments and personalities, and a lot has to do with faith and risk-taking, and also what the person in charge of others experiences in his or her own spiritual lives.  It has a lot to do with comfort zones and comfort levels.  None of this is wrong or bad.

But for those who are floaters, not dockers, who are more like "feathers on the breath of God" than stones set in concrete for a lovely mosaic, the former belong to the freedom and joy of His Real Presence's stairway to heaven than in any active aspect of a parish setting.

Up high, painting the shingle siding, tediously brushing in between each crevice between shingles, so much gets worked out in reasonable fashion, with the Holy Spirit.  All makes sense, and no one person or way is better or worse than another.  They are just different, with different purposes and different ways of being and different outcomes.

There is freedom and joy in different settings and circumstances.  The hermit life allows for variation and depth of spiritual seeking, and in spiritual finding.  There is freedom and joy in this vocation, and God knows what He is doing when He calls a relatively few to the hermit life.  Yet the relatively few who have this vocation regardless of designation in church terms, understand the necessary discernment regarding parishes and parish life, and whether or not his or her hermit vocation has much or little or no active or visible involvement.

In this "nothing" Catholic hermit's current unfolding, there is to be no active or visible involvement in parishes.  All the utilization will be done in a hidden, spiritual and prayerful existence.  This is Patmos, after all, and for whatever time or for the rest of "nothing's" earthly time, the "parish" will be with the three desert fathers, or with Mary and Martha, or not of that world, but of this other world in which the freedom and joy is unmistakable.

Mystically, of course, and in essence, there is a parish connection, very much so.  We are all connected as souls in the Body of Christ:  through, with and in Him.  This is where there is freedom, joy, and the peace that passes all understanding and is Christ's peace bequeathed upon us.

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

Catholic Hermit's Thoughts on the Good of What Seems Bad

Today's Gospel reading renders from Luke and Jesus' speaking the Beatitudes.

"'....Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.  Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets....'"

Consider our calling in life, and the seeming inconsistencies of what the world views and what God views.  To remain in God's will is the utmost endeavor, for all else flows from His will, unfolding our present moments as He wills.  

In faith, we hold this assurance that no matter what, He is allowing and providing; and we must endeavor to grasp what lesson or good we can devolve from any given circumstance.

It is cheery and easy to grasp when matters are pleasant and uplifting and go in our favor.  

When recently visiting a family member (we are helping with manual labor, one with the other, now and then), we played a game of Monopoly for their "family game night."  The little boy did well at first, landing on some board squares that allowed his purchasing some property.  This nothing Catholic hermit had no such "luck" from the onset.  The parents playing did quite well, and as is said, were "on a roll."  

Before long, those who had good luck with the dice, were able to purchase token properties and build up income from the boy and this nothing hermit's landing on their spaces.  The boy became discouraged and upset, not wanting to continue.  But we did continue, and when the winner became obvious, we discussed chance and winning and losing, and how to react.

Yes, it seems all wind-in-the-sails when aspects of life are going well, and we can be easily uplifted and cheerful.  But we also can sail along, deceived by our seeming "good fortune" that we are on the right track and pleasing to God and man, alike.  

However, Jesus gives us a different reality of this life and its temporal goods.  Those who laugh now, will weep later.  Those who are rich now will be poor.  "‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.....'" 

As the Apostle Paul reminds in 1 Corinthians, the present form of this world is passing away.

There is truth in what was told this nothing Catholic hermit by Teresa of Avila, years ago before even being a Catholic: "Pain at other levels and dimensions is sheer joy."  Yes, we do receive help and wisdom from those souls on the other side; they are with us and for us, especially when asked but also when God sends them to help us.  We do receive communications from Jesus, Mary, angels, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.  Part of the process is to discern the communication; and wisdom and love and peace over time confirm the good.

Envy, discrediting, earthly acclaim in pride and arrogance, confirm the not-so-good.   Whenever we think we are something, we have lost our nothingness.  Those who do have temporal wealth and success, have not some of the opportunities of those who do not.  And by opportunities, we consider that of the spiritual growth that comes from suffering and humility and the effort to not succumb to despair but to endure despite seemingly having one raw deal after another.

In that sense, life on earth can seem as a game, and we must strive to be loving and understanding, good losers.  It is in giving of ourselves in love and in keeping faith and hope in God alive in our souls and for the sharing with others, that we play the game well.  We become quiet and humble winners of another sort, of another level and phase.

In the last major dream vision in which God showed this nothing is most definitely a Catholic hermit, the message was rich.  "Nothing" was shown and deemed by God to be a Catholic hermit, existing on one side of a street, that side being of the other world of the Spirit in which all was lush and fresh and heavenly, as on the most pristine, leafing-green, early spring day.   

Then "nothing" was lifted up into the air and taken across the street to a side displaying the temporal world as we sense and experience it.  This "nothing" was held, suspended, about 20 feet in the air with face 8-10 inches from the exterior, yellow-tan bricks and mortar of a church building.

While suspended aloft, another view was given, as if seeing through the bricks and mortar of the structure to a bishop dressed in much finery of ecclesiastic garments of which he delighted.  Off to the side was a view of a younger woman, kneeling and dressed in a brown habit, and shown to be a hermit approved by the bishop.  Between them stood an immense stack of canon law books.

Then God asked this nothing Catholic hermit: "Why would you want that when you can have Me more directly now?"

In that state, there was absolutely no hesitation as to what one would want.  There was no doubt, no desire to have anything of the other, for the glory and blessing of the direct and insightful assurance of the question brought a peace and joy that surpasses human understanding.

For two years now, to this week and month, nothing Catholic hermit has pondered this last major dream vision and locution. (Jesus had said previously there would not be many  messages for awhile.)  That has been so, but this one has held firm and obvious, that there is no desire for anything other in vocational terms.  Shared with "nothing's" spiritual father, the response was, "Well, there you have it!  The answer--and what could be better?"  A closest friend of over 50 years said, "God couldn't make it any more clear."

Yes, and what a relief.  Although it is well to note that what God chooses for some is not what is chosen for others.  And one is not better than the other, just different.  It may make no sense to us, or it may make perfect sense.  

By earthly example, it is difficult to grasp why the work here in this fixer-upper seems to bring one calamity and cost upon another, and fair and decent workers hard to come by.  The finances are dwindling all the more, and it seems all will be lost of what could have been a more comfortable existence temporally.  The faith and hope it takes to have courage to forge ahead with plumbing and other skills totally new, seems on par with what some may struggle with in faith that God is Who He Is.

What a blessing for those of us who know His Real Presence in a very real, tangible, and yet also spiritual way.  It becomes easier to have faith and hope and love in His Real Presence than in our temporal lives of which so much can seem like a game of chance.  We know it is not, however.  

God chooses all for those of us who desire to exist within His will.  What initially may have seemed topsy-turvy meanings of Jesus' Living Word in the Beatitudes, take on a right-side-up reality in both the temporal and spiritual views.

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

---

Catherine of Siena a Pal

This nothing Catholic hermit is reading more of an obscure biography of Catherine of Siena.  It is helpful to find older volumes which are well-researched and filled with details. These provide more accurate and in depth knowledge of the times and lives of people who can be great friends and guides along the spiritual journey.

She had a state occur during Mass, for example.  She would lose her faculties, and people resented it.  Some would pinch her repeatedly trying to "awaken" her from what they assumed rude sleeping or fake experience.  She was also shoved plenty of times.  The other women in the secular Dominican group she joined and wore the Third-order habit, did not appreciate her being in their group. She was younger, very spiritual, and fresh in her devotion.

One time during Mass when she was in her state, unable to move or react, two men lifted her up, hauled her out of the church, and dumped her outside along the street.  Others came along and kicked her seeming lifeless form.  She did have a priest  who was also a relative as someone she could talk with, and she had later a spiritual director who wrote the most prevalent biography of her life, still in print.

She lived like a hermit in her parents' home after having been punished by them in an attempt to get her to agree to marrying.  They also wanted her to give up religious practices which seemed to them quite severe.  They treated her as a slave for a time period, but her father witnessed a spiritual phenomenon and realized she truly was called by God to be His own.  It was then that her father announced to his wife and her siblings that she was to be allowed henceforth all leeway in her religious practices and devotions. 

Thus, she became like a hermit and spent hours in solitude and silence in a small room she took as her cell.  She had only a small couch upon which to sit or recline.  She ate her small meal portions there but increasingly honed her appetite to eating very little.  She communed with Jesus and other holy souls, including the Virgin Mary, and she lived with her visions and dreams and locutions.  She also detached greatly from family members as she realized Jesus' words in Scripture had a literal and spiritual impact, that of being willing to depart from others, even mother and father, in order to follow Jesus.  In her case, she detached emotionally more than physically, although she was rarely seen by household members during her hermit-type, solitary phase.

One message regarding suffering is quite helpful--besides the great statement Jesus made to her that she is nothing and He Is All.  As for pain, Jesus told her that it is not the pain that pleases Him, but rather it is the willingness of a soul to endure pain with fortitude, that pleases Him.

All these aspects and more, are so helpful in knowing one is not alone in the midst of trials, suffering, and adapting to one's vocation of the hermit life and of suffering.  Even Catherine's dealing with mystical phenomenon and the reactions of others, is most helpful to recognize and ponder in relationship to human interaction among those who have a distinct calling that requires stricter separation from the temporal aspects of the secular and church world.

Another interesting fact is that the author of this particular volume on Catherine's life, points out several others in the history of the church who were given glimpses of the two worlds--the temporal and the mystical.  Some referred to them as the two cities, or the two realms, or the two loves, or the two paths.  They are the reality of the two ways within our spiritual lives which are actualities of temporal and spiritual, and that the temporal is always passing away.  

The temporal can become a hindrance to the spiritual growth of the soul; however we are temporal beings and spiritual beings, both.  The admonitions of Jesus, though, are to seek to find and exist in the spiritual and not succumb to the temporal as dominate, for it is passing, and we are called to heaven on earth.  We are called to the spiritual forever.

Thus, the two worlds:  the temporal Catholic world and the mystical Catholic world are nothing more than the realities of which others all through the centuries have been given insight and called by various terms, by those who the Church has elevated and deemed saints.  These realities and terms designating the two aspects of our lives and our spirits, and of which we are to not succumb and that of which we are to seek, is nothing new.  The temporal exists and yet should always yield and flow into the spiritual, which should predominate.

As for vocations, it always seems best when one is called by God and answers His call.  Catherine did struggle with her vocation and had great temptations to the married life, within herself.  Yet she overcame the thoughts and the desires.  She was adamant to her parents that she did not want any other spouse than Jesus; but the devil did torment her, and she often had desires for husband and children up to a certain point in her spiritual journey.  She did much violence to herself in order to conquer many distractions and temporal desires she did experience, even if not publicized much.

Digging deeper into the lived temporal and spiritual lives of people who have since been considered holy souls, provides us with greater understanding.  The puzzle pieces of our own lives can better fall into place.  We have consolation and encouragement to persevere and not doubt.  We gain fortitude in pressing on.  We place ourselves all the more in His Real Presence and away from the scrutiny of others who are also yet struggling with their own spiritual journeys and who are not within our bodies, minds, hearts or spirits to begin to grasp or make judgments.

Catherine and others who have lived, struggled, doubted, and yet endured with fortitude the sufferings and the criticisms, and died leaving details enough to encourage those of us called in our distinctive spiritual journeys, are inspired friends speaking to us in the Order of the Present Moment.

Now, this nothing, this nothing Catholic hermit, must rise and bundle, for the desert chill has increased each night and morning, and the manual labor must progress along with a hermit's prayers and loving devotion to His Real Presence.

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

What Kind of a House?

 I had another phone conversation with my spiritual Father.  I reminded him that the last time we spoke, he asked with some exasperated emotion, "What kind of a house did you buy, anyway?"  He has been concerned about the living conditions, and he well knows how the outer aspects covered over much that was wrong with this poor, old farmhouse.  Plus, he understands how people can deceive out in the big world.

But I had an answer for him.  I had asked His Real Presence the same question my spiritual Father had asked me.  Immediately came the response:  You have bought the Church.

This caused me to smile, but I also suggested that this house is also my soul.

Yes, I am finding out all kinds of things that need repair or that others did not do correctly, not to the laws of building codes, not to contractor licensing laws, infested with critters doing what is instinctual, not insulated against the weather, and with messes at every level.  There have been people in here not to be trusted, some immoral users and takers, and also, now, a good soul with his workers.  I've had to give in and ask back one who started out with good effort but slacked some.  He brings too much of the world in here, but I will guard against such and keep praying for his good.

However, the foundation is now good, and the structure is intact.  Yes, it is just that once I started to do some cosmetic repair, I discovered aspects under the surface that needed to be rid out, corrected, improved, or rebuilt.

My spiritual Father laughed and said, "Yes, that is it!  It is kind of like St. Francis rebuilding the Church, of sorts."  And I reminded him this house also represents my soul--not just the Church.

So we discussed the points expressed above, and I have my work cut out for me regarding my soul and the Church, in all that I do to try to "make all things new" in Christ in here.  It is all a marvelous but accurate metaphor.  This house represents a conglomeration of all of us in the Church, for it is people who reflect by thought, word and deed, and sometimes the reflection is too much of the world and our sins rather than of His Real Presence Who Is in us.

We just forget, I suppose, or have not yet had that nuptial kiss of God.  Once we experience the reality of His Real Presence and that we are in Him and He is in us, the picture grows clearer, brighter, lighter, more faithful, hopeful and charitable.

Yes, I have bought the Church, essentially, and such as today, my own temporal body has too much pain to be able to do much tangibly to hang drywall.  I need to either figure out some kind of brace to help hold pieces of wallboard in position on a wall so that I can secure with screws, or to pray that Francesco or Raphael might stop by and lend physical  hand, briefly.  I have all the pieces measured and ca ut.  I have noted some causes and news out in the world for which to pray and continue with my usual, inner conversation as as well as the absence of other than resting in His Real Presence.  There is much suffering but also much holy hope.

I have planted some scented, colorful perennials to beautify  and honor Te Deum:  You, God.  I watered the blueberry patch and pray they grow and develop in order to yield good fruit.  Once the afternoon heat abates and the back is rested, I will attempt pre-drilling so that a critical support partial wall, holding the ceiling joists, can be secured by 6" screws.  A worker last fall neglected that necessary detail.  I also will shoot nails into the opposite ceiling joists, as he neglected to nail those, too.  They are resting on the header plate of an exterior wall.

So, we see how to make the metaphor extend from this house to God's house to the Body of Christ, His Church, of which we are Her members.  I suppose the hiring of the worker who neglected to do some of his job relates with the local priest who avoids much to do with pastoral and spiritual involvement.  I suppose my own neglect at times of His Real Presence in me--whether it be when frustrated or feeling despair, or in spiritual or temporal acedia--finds its equivalent in the metaphor.

This is the house, and I am in it, and you are in it; and all within and without are affected for good or ill.  It is a temporal place yet also a spiritual place.  It represents all aspects of God's creation; it contains the hindrance of all manner and levels of sin.  It also has hope and faith and love of that which is seen and unseen, of God and of God-in-others.  It is His Church and we are the Body--somehow, someday to be made whole and perfect, subsumed and in union with all facets of His Real Presence.

I am here, and I am in the process of making all things new through, with and in His Real Presence.   This house and my soul, the Church and all souls, are purposeful realities in temporal and mystical connectedness.  This house is God's, yours, mine.  We remain in His love, and His Real Presence makes His abode in us.