Catholic Hermit: When a Hermit Must Move

This nothing consecrated Catholic Hermit has not written a post in awhile.  Matters with the temporal responsibilities of being alive in this realm became hectic!  With the finances dwindling and efforts increasing to finish renovating the Te Deum Hermitage (old farmhouse that did not nearly have all its problems divulged when purchased it over five years ago), the day came rapidly in which this hermit needed to move.

Ah, the old place was made new!  It looked lovely, and indeed it was much to the credit of the gorgeous trees I'd hauled from previous location (when it came time, enforced, to leave that Agnus Dei Hermitage) as mostly quite tiny specimens that caused a youngish but established man to fall in love with the gardens and charming farm house. 

Yes, it all turned out so beautifully--creating something lovely out of what had been wretched--and made even more so by the deception of a realtor, the bad inspector she recommended, and a usurious and bad contractor she even more highly recommended.  I do love it when the Lord brings good from not good!

So I was quite lopsided for a few weeks there, not only in continuing the recovery from my serious head injury but also in finishing touches and details in all that is involved in selling a property in our current time period on this earth, in this culture, within our temporal laws.

There were many miracles of which I have praised the Lord; and at the last day or two or three, there was also another ugliness that erupted which had not needed to by human reckoning.  Yet, it was quite human, the ugliness, and I know that my own human self was part of it as we always are whenever there is something of the human involved!  

I had to become quite firm, insisting on a matter that I wanted the buyer to be fully satisfied, for he and his agent had over two weeks to express a concern over a minor issue that had been corrected and corrected by code and quite well.   Instead, like the devil tends to do, there was last-minute upset of which my response was to slow down the rushed process and make all matters right.

My agent forgot who he was representing, or so it seemed, and I had to remind him that I must thus protect myself, and I insisted I wanted the buyer pleased and assured, and thus we needed to prolong the closing.  Of course, the agents nor the buyer did not want that; so they decided they were content with the minor corrections made, after all.

For pity's sake....  I recognized the ploy of the devil to try to disrupt; and my hermit platform of Nine S' which includes slowness was the correct response.  Just slow all matters, even if to the point of stopping.  When threatened that if I slowed the process, there would be a law suit, the only correct response was that I supposed I'd need to get a lawyer, then.

Mercy, what one must do as a consecrated Catholic hermit in order to maintain rightness in the temporal world!  Within an hour my agent called back to say the buyer and his agent were quite satisfied with the correction completed (for it was, and done rightly); and I responded that then we could go forward, and I'd be on my way early the next morning.

Admittedly, I did not at all like having to be firm, having to deal with such matters.  Yet, even a religious solitary in the life of the Church also lives in the life of the world!  Always there is a juggling act with that world, yet rightness must be maintained.  It would have been quite difficult remaining on until spring due to how the storms of fall and winter affected my damaged spine, and I'd have had to go more into financial straits.  But this is the way of the poor who cannot pay but minimum on a credit card, or who are "under water" financially, who try to pick up odd jobs if and when their bodies can manage to do any type of work, or who accept money from a family member or such, to tide through tough times.

I was thankful for the opportunity to contemplate such a situation, to consider taking in a boarder, or to be humbled to do what the struggling people do who exist all around us--who file bankruptcy or end up in homeless shelters.  Why should I consider myself above any of the poorest in our culture and temporal climate today?  Jesus humbled Himself to scrounging, wandering, accepting not having a roof overhead, and ultimately accepting the death of the indigent criminal:  Crucifixion!

Rather than any of that, the Lord delivered me from what I had mentally and emotionally accepted should the need be.  Perhaps in much of our life experiences, the Lord is waiting to see how we will respond to any given trial.  That might be the point of many of our trials.  I don't know, of course, the Mind of God, but I know that He sees and thinks in ways not usual for our human thoughts and ways.

Regardless, I had quite the adventure on the road with losing my way due to a cell phone losing power unexpectedly, and a wrong road number given me.  It was a beautiful journey, reminding me of blind trust in God and seeing the back roads and beauty of nature in an entirely different terrain.  I noticed the clouds in the sky as I drove along; and I realized that I'd been so focused for these past few years on what was set before me, that I'd neglected the freedom of no responsibilities and no concerns of paying the next bill but rather to noticed the simple GRANDEUR of God's great earth and sky!

I even ran out of gas!  First times can be fun times, indeed.  I had just enough cell power left to call someone who then contacted the insurance man with whom I'd just gotten a new policy for my pick up truck, Precious Blood.  Before too long, a young man in a pick up truck parked behind me on a vast stretch of interstate, and filled the tank with enough gas for me to follow him back to a burg off the beaten track.  We laughed, as he said this was the "first time" he'd ever had a call from an insurance company to come rescue someone!  Ah, the humor and connectivity of "firsts"cannot go unappreciated.

The one-pump town had a convenience store in which kindly clerks charged my phone battery enough so that I could get to my next stop, using the GPS.  I was thrilled to be out from under such financial direness to make a monetary donation to the tiny town's food pantry.  For too long I've had to make prayers for others my donation.  While that is maybe better--who knows in God's view?--what a joy to add some money to their collection container in the convenience store.

Now I've been at a relative's home for ten days, living in a small but comfortable guest room.  All my whatever possessions (1000 or so religious books in boxes, bits of furniture and eating utensils and religious artwork, some clothing that was used in the phase prior to this last phase and to be sorted and got rid of) are in storage.  I've not used the stuff in the past five or so years other than the garden tools and construction tools which I kept--thinking prudently in case I need them for whatever next hermitage.  I sold off quite a bit of "stuff" before I left Te Deum--amazing my adult son who thought it all worthy for the dump.  I gifted St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop with oodles of salable items, as well, and the boys and couple from the parish who helped me load the truck for a final time, received whatever they desired from my "stuff".

Stuff seems to be the best word for my earthly detritus of this and that.  Yet I am not mocking nor inappreciative of "stuff."  For a hermit with severe pain and difficulty sitting or standing in one place for very long, it is stuff that helps me do manual labor or keep otherwise limber and creatively engaged in practical and artistic ways.  It is through the distraction from pain that my deepest praying of a meditative and often times contemplative nature takes place.

So it is, that now after an initial week or so of looking around for a new hermitage, I am realizing on this Sabbath that the adaptation is more severe than what I had anticipated.  Somehow the housing thus far is so different from the land and spacious views of this past phase, and even of the sense of space in the one prior to this past phase although in a subdivision--well, I am feeling non-plussed about having to re-engage in the temporal aspects of which hermits very much must engage.  

We have to find a place to plop our bodies and what little stuff (compared to what most folks accumulate) we bring with us for whatever purposes we have in our individual lives.  For someone without severe back pain and who can engage in activities, creative stuff is not so important.  I have noticed all the more in these past ten days, with my back pain burning high--that in this type of environment there is far more driving and thus sitting to do the typical functions at least initially of getting oneself set up in another hermitage in some location.

I'm not sure I am up for what I most likely will need to adapt to--not quite yet, anyway.

The family members who so graciously gave me a guest room, are off for a few days, leaving me to pet sit which is a means by which I can be of use to them, saving their pets from boarding in a kennel.  Yet I have spent the bulk of it on the floor in the guest room, other than driving about yesterday to find a post office to mail a little something special to my dear spiritual father--just a treat for him until I am able to visit next month--body able and God-willing.

Then there were last week the doctor and dentist appointments, and now I await a hopeful appointment with a pain doctor--as this is the way of our times now.  A general practitioner no longer will deal with a chronic pain patient.  And the pain doctor will not automatically take a pain patient.  No, they will look at whatever the family doctor sends in what scant records, and the pain doctor will decide if he or she wants one as a patient.  And if so, the pained person is advised that no medications will be prescribed in the first visit.

I remind myself that not finding another hermitage right away is God's way of letting me consider that I may be more or less "floor-ridden" in my next and final phases of life on earth. (I can no longer sleep on even the most firm mattress, so I must use the floor as bed and place to write, such as I am doing now.  I had also taken my simple fare meals on the floor at Te Deum House, but here sit on the only wooden chair they have, at table, to eat whatever served, of which I try to help with cooking and clean up to make myself useful.  It would be rude to eat in the guest room, on the floor, for I also would not want to accidentally spill on their carpet.

Someone where I lived prior, who was purchasing some of my used but temporally useful "stuff", had asked me how it was a hermit could live where there would be a child?  I said when in transition, one must go with God's flow.  I was offered a temporary room and can be of help with pet sitting and whatever else asked or desired, and I am a grateful hermit guest.

Such matters for a hermit call upon one to be flexible and gracious, to be sacrificing in that of course, having one's own hermitage and spiritual reading and manual labor and solitude is desirable and needful, but God decides all.  Yes, God decides; His will be done; and the hermit remains malleable in God's determinations.

In fact, if no pain doctor will have me, if no pain meds allowed, then I may not be having my own hermitage at all!  There will be no travel to visit the spiritual father, nor to see the elderly aunt again, nor having a little plot to garden, nor a place to name as a hermitage other than perhaps a room as a type of blessed and comfortable hermitage as long as it has a floor upon which to lay my body down.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  The past two Sundays I've been back to spiritual, mystical Communions, such as what the Lord provided me up until a year and a half ago when the couple from the parish where I used to live, started bringing His Real Presence each Sunday.  Either way, God provides quite amply and beautifully of Himself to those who desire and seek His Love and remain thus in His Love.

Catholic Hermit: Good Advice from St. Paul for Hermits or Anyone!

Read this Scripture the other day.  Think it was from 1 Thessalonians. [Found it!  1 Thessalonians 4: 9-11]

Brothers and sisters:
On the subject of fraternal charity
you have no need for anyone to write you,
for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia.
Nevertheless, we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more,
and to aspire to live a tranquil life,
to mind your own affairs,
and to work with your own hands,
as we instructed you.

A couple weeks ago, I received a letter from my spiritual father.  In it, he reminded of three aspects that carry us through life, in spiritual progression toward union with Christ.  He wrote:  Be simple.  Be wise.  Receive the Eucharist.

Of course, being simple and wise require our cooperation with the Holy Spirit, to pray for these graces, and to be patient and accepting in receiving these gifts.  There are ways in which we can help the process, too, in our desire to "be" simple and wise, and to promote these aspects within our daily lives.

As for receiving the Eucharist, the spiritual father reminded of the truth of John 6 in which Jesus explains that when we eat His Body and drink His blood, we will have eternal life....  Consuming Jesus' Real Presence in the consecrated Host and also partaking of Him in spiritual Communion at other times, we fulfill Jesus' incredible gift of Himself, tangibly, mystically, and partake of the Trinity in unfathomable immensity.

Life does not need to be complex.  I love the idea of aspiring to live a tranquil life, to mind my own affairs, and to work with my own hands.  Over the years I have rather wondered about some religious communities I have observed popping up on occasion, in which the members do not work with their own hands but rather expect hand outs as a means of trying to be akin to their perception of poverty and a kind of manipulated view of St. Francis' style.  The problem perhaps resides in that in our present moment, circumstances in society and culture are not the present moments of St. Francis' time.

Hermits can run amuck in this aspect, too, if attempting to imitate in daily life, habitat and other externals or as they informed some interior practices, hermits who lived in the desert or caves or huts in the woods.

It does seem that if we stick to the spiritual basics and apply these to our present moments and our current environments and culture, we can do well and progress beautifully if we love one another, aspire to a tranquil life, mind our own affairs, and work with our own hands.  On the latter, we can check ourselves if we desire or accept handouts from others rather than fending for ourselves.  For one thing, we should not promote the practice of essentially paying others or rewarding them for praying, as we all are called to pray for others, ourselves, and the world.

Add to the above suggestions of St. Paul which cover immense swaths of temporal and spiritual life existence--to be simple, be wise, and to receive the Eucharist rather promote positive progress without much complexity or distraction.  Yes, we can in a way, consume His Real Presence by taking in His Living Word into our minds, hearts, and spirits.  So in a certain aspect, as is in Scripture recorded of "eating" the scroll or consuming the Word, we do partake of His Real Presence when we read or take in the Word of God in metaphoric as well as literal form.

While not the same, of course, as Holy Communion, of the Bread and the Wine, the Body and the Blood--either in tangible or mystical form--the Living Word is something to truly ponder in light of its being also living and active, life-giving, and to be consumed.

These days, this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit is trying to keep at the efforts of working with my own hands.  There is so much work, and the bodily pain has been high; the mind and heart have to counteract temptations to work burn-out.  Balance is always blessed, yet in this circumstance, the balance is within the work and between the body's ability to keep at it and the mind's and heart's focus in present moment efforts and progress.

Any work, great or small, is better than no work at all.  And work can encompass many facets of active or inactive "effort."  I also remind myself that as is so true in the spiritual life, the race becomes far more challenging in the end-run.  The unknowns of being able to finish, to get across the final precipice or line or project or trial or to even surmise if one can begin another "race", another "phase" in life here on earth, require increased faith--a kind of blind faith, in fact.

In this thought, praying and striving to be simple and wise interact with playful interest to the follower of Christ.  Of course, wisdom is not as tangibly procured as is being simple, if we view being simple as actions in daily life of temporal surroundings and items with which we live in our present moments.  But there is something beneath the temporal surface in being simple.  And to that point, we verge into the intangibles of being wise, for being simple and wise have depths that beg exploration.

And that, my dear friends and readers, is what I intend to plumb today as I now will rise, dress, hook up more hoses to watering systems and either continue in pole barn work or fill a tray with drywall mud and have at some walls in the hermitage.

God bless His Real Presence in us, one way or another. 

Catholic Hermit, Interior Challenge, Reminders, Answers

Some answers are coming to this nothing consecrated Catholic Hermit.  It has been asking the Lord about the situation at Mass, of why such a profound experience of ecstasy, yet the horror of hell when some aspect of inappropriate temporal enters into the Mass, some type of intrusion that interrupts the bliss of the Holy Mass.

The last several days brought much prayer for a priest, as well as a seeking within as to why, then, this separation from the temporal, from various temporal aspects of the Catholic world including some tangible forms of the sacraments.

As for the priest, it is not him, per se.  It is the reality that some, including this hermit, do not fully grasp the holiness of the Mass and that His Real Presence suffers when we do not recognize and enter into the holiness of the Mass, when we alter some aspect or mostly, it seems, bring out own will into it, our own notion of self and performance, or misguided intention that is tainted by too much self.  This seems especially critical for priests and those at the altar, those at the lectern, during the Holy Mass.

But, what this hermit is garnering from the seeking and questioning, is that it needs to examine its own spiritual life, its being brought to the Stairway to Heaven some seven years ago this past August, and has it climbed a step or two or many?  Or has this hermit stepped backward in some way?

What the hermit has learned from the mystical ecstasies during Masses for over seven years, is that Mass is intended to be sheer bliss.  Even though, as the hermit's helper's mother said, "I don't feel what you feel [during Mass]", the hermit is shown the depth and purity, the love flowing, the bliss of utter darkness and unknowing when the Mass is celebrated by the priest in obedience and accordance to the Church's liturgical form, and when there is submission of will to God's will and not the projection of self into the Mass, by those at the altar or assisting.

During Mass when in the mystical ecstasy, it is true that when intrusions enter in, they are due to some aspect of self will and self and temporality intruding. And this can be on the part of the hermit, as well.  Sometimes, the hermit has some thoughts or concerns intruding--fleeting distractions.  At other times, and usually, it is that of the celebrant or others involved at the altar, or on occasion those in the vicinity in the pews, whose "self" and "self will" intrude.  When intrusions occur during Mass, bastardizing the holiness of the Mass and disrupting the blissful union with His Real Presence, it is a hell, a horror, of which the bliss is obliterated.  Chaos and dire desperation to flee results.

This is going on for everyone present at the Mass, in the Mass.  But they do not sense it, do not feel it.  This hermit has been given this experience of being subsumed into the Mass, but also to sense the reality of what hell occurs when some aspect of the holiness of the Mass takes place.  And insertion of self, of self-will, of disrespect, of distraction, of some disruption of grace by a priest or others at the altar, of some type of disobedience--these aspects bastardize the Holy Mass.

The word "bastardize" keeps coming to the hermit regarding what happens to a Mass when there is something not holy, not right, not pure input into the Mass.  The word comes so often and as the only word now that the hermit sees and hears within, to describe the situation, that it looked up the word even though the hermit had an idea of the force of "bastardize."

"Basterdize:  corrupt or debase (something such as a language or art form), typically by adding new elements.  Synonyms:  adulterate, corrupt, contaminate, weaken dilute, taint, pollute, debase, distort"

Ah, the definition explains exactly, why and how and under what circumstances a Mass can be bastardized.

As for what this hermit has gained in reflection as to why it is shown this in profoundly deep and painful ways, is to take more seriously:  souls.  If His Real Presence registers hellish effect when something that when conscious, the hermit would be able to shrug off or ignore, or pull out a prayer booklet to read silently so as to not pay attention to whatever element is bastardizing the Mass--then how does His Real Presence feel and respond to this hermit's daily progression, thoughts, activities, prayer life, and piety (love of God and all aspects pertaining thereof)?

The hermit has had a wake-up call.  It has been hit on not only the head and the heart, but in the soul.

As to parishes and being able to attend Mass, or not to attend in physical form, the Mass, some Scriptures this morning gave the answer, as well as reflection upon some past visions and locutions, repetitive in message, over the past 20 years.  Always, when shown parishes and shown the hermit desperately trying to be one of the parishioners, to participate and be one and alike, the message repeats:  "You do not belong to that world."  

This message has come from three early desert fathers, from Mary and her sister Martha, from the hermit's deceased father, and from God Himself, lifting up the hermit to see up close what it so thought it wanted and ought to be.  The question then was asked, "Why would you want that when you can have ME more directly now?  Each messenger and each message has been profoundly powerful, firm, clear, adamant.

Then this from the Living Word, from Hebrews 13, that made impact this morning:

"It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.  Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.  Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name."

This is not to say that we are not to go to Mass, not to receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion.  Rather, it offers a progression of the temporal to the mystical.  It is this temporal to the mystical that the priest is to teach and show, while standing at the altar, at the portal which is between this world and the heavenly realm.

There are seasons in our spiritual lives and understanding, in wisdom and knowledge.  This is a season for this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit.  It is called to go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore, and to look for the "city" that is to come.  (In fact, in one of the visions with the three desert fathers, this hermit saw the parish off in the distance, and the parishioners were represented as off in the city--skyline and all.  But the desert fathers stopped the hermit who was asking for help to get to the city and join the parishioners.  They pointed to the east, their off-white tunics and long, white beards flowing with a wind from the east, the city far off in the west.  They said, "No, you must stay with us here."

Yes, it was far outside the camp, far away from the city.  And the point is, that the city is good and has many wonderful aspects.  But there comes a time, a season, in which we must accept being outside the city, in the desert exile--which, ironically, was a long east-to-west valley of spring-green grass.

It is time to take the spiritual journey far more seriously, in the Order of the Present Moment.  It is time to let go of the desire to fit into a parish as well as the yearning to be physically present at Holy Mass, and to let go of many aspects, including that some Masses will be blissful and others hellish, and that we mortals can help make Mass holy or bastardized.

It is time to let His Real Presence deal with me more directly.  All this is in faith, trust, and hope, and remaining in His Love.  There may come a season in which there will be a return to the temporal and tangible Holy Mass, celebrated in a parish church, a monastery chapel--who knows but God?  It is time to discern these insights and follow them along for a season, for there is not a physical means to drive a long distance in this pained body, and there is no returning to the parish which for now, at the direction of the spiritual father, is off limits.

Peace flows.  The hermit grasps and understands as much as one can, when others will judge or not grasp, not understand.  Part of the gift of the Holy Spirit--understanding--is very much to accept the mysteries, the unknowns, and lean not unto our own understanding.  We must enter into the mystery of the Holy Spirit's understanding of matters.

How much faith will it take to understand and trust in spiritual communions, in spiritual confessions, in being as much or perhaps more, part of the Body of Christ, worshipping in the spirit with those who are off in the city, worshipping physically, tangibly, present?  One cannot measure faith.  It, too, is  a mystery of trust in God Who Is Love.

God bless His Real Presence in us!

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Takes So Much Faith!

The past couple of days have caused more challenges.  The power went off again, and this time for over 24 hours.  No space heater, thus.  Finally decided to make the long trip back to civilization, after trying to get to a neighbor's to see if the man would hold the generator on one end so this hermit could do the pulling on the other to try to start it.

Small detail, of course, when sold the generator a year ago.  Not easy for one older person to start.  Takes two or a very strong man.  Then, there is the main breaker to electric panel.  The contractor put one in that is too small, but that is beside the point.  A problem is that the main breaker takes a man's full strength to turn back on, and running the generator requires turning it off.  So need someone to come and push the very tight breaker back, if one is going to use the generator, if one has someone to hold one end of it while the other does the pull cord to start it.

So, we see that the area is not flush with people willing to assist another.  The neighbor who someone said was friendlier than the others, has blockade across their front entrance and a fence with gate to the back, and two dogs....

Headed back into civilization to get warm and to use Lowe's guest internet to check to see when power might be back on out in the remote desert.  Ended up spending the night at the daughter's, which is a way farther from the Lowe's, which is a distance to begin with.

 Can't express how difficult to desire to return to the austerities!  Called the financial adviser to see just what is the final straw?  Can try to endure another 2-3 months or perhaps until spring.  Try to keep working in here with what materials already purchased, and have purchased more insulation to at least try to keep the place warmer.

The daughter mentioned how the heat pump man certainly had a convincing sales pitch a year ago.  Yes, that is how it has turned out to be in this area.  Rather a ruthless environment, with people who seem so genuine and kindly, selling this and that and having others vouch for them.  They do mean well, probably, or so it seems.  But now to find out this area has many power outages and the circuit board can blow in power outages, does not leave this hermit with reliable heat.  The daughter reminded this hermit was told it would heat and cool the whole house, which of course it does not.

The financial adviser is a good and decent Catholic man.  The hermit pointed out the pleading phone calls and emails to the closest Catholic parish, where the priest does the least and doubtful he is consecrating the Host.  The head of the St. Vincent de Paul Society turned a deaf ear to a plea for just one man to come and help for one hour, to please help out this older female hermit with a task.  The priest has said he knows of no man who, when the hermit called asking for help, to assist carrying plywood 4x8 sheets from pole barn to house.  He also said he could not bring communion nor do a house blessing as he needed another person to come with him, and he said there was no one who would come with him.

The financial adviser, far away, said again that there will need to be a point in which this hermit is going to have to give up the efforts, abandon this rather sinking ship of an effort; but he admitted he'd not gone through such a process with any clients before. It is rather sad to think that the resources are dwindling, but that all good intentions, research and hope, faith and prayers went into this.  It is sad to think that all was set and comfortable in the previous hermitage, but the police advised needing to leave due to the threatening couple next door and the protective order running out.  Not to forget the adult children insisting this hermit leave and have a better and safer life, closer to where one lives.

The Catholic realtor did a good sales job, had an upbeat inspector check it over, recommended quite the contractor who she said was such a wonderful man and good contractor....  She even said she'd have the hermit over for dinner, but that never occurred.  The daughter has said she always thought the realtor very phony, but that this hermit always thinks Catholics are going to be so good and trustworthy, when they are not.

Well, that is true.  This hermit always tends to place hope in Catholics, for Catholics have the Eucharist, have His Real Presence.  However, it does not seem to be enough for many.  We can say we are all sinners, but that excuse wears thin, when countered with daily or weekly reception of His Real Presence in the Body and Blood.

The hermit needed a medical doctor, and the parish at a distance--the priest--said there were many doctors in the parish, he would talk with some, and give some names and numbers.  Then he backed away from that offer, and so he and others did from even giving recommendations for plumbers and other workers.  It was so strange, in a way, for people to say they will, and then not, on such simple matters.  The hermit this morning was pondering Matthew 25, and the validity of what Jesus says, and what will happen to people who turn a deaf ear and blind eye to their fellow man.

All this hermit can do, now back in this hermitage, is to try to lift up the spirits and place them before His Real Presence, pray for those who have been a disappointment, pray for wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and get to work.  Even though the place is still quite cold, there is at least a space heater in this small area upstairs, and the hermit will plug in a space heater in a small area downstairs...and start doing anything, just anything, such as bringing in some batts of insulation and fitting them between some studs.

The Psalms in the Office of Reading this morning brought comfort, and the Book of Wisdom in the daily Mass readings is helpful.  Having a downcast spirit, although it certainly could be understandable, is not going to help matters.

Had even mentioned to the daughter of perhaps living with them until spring, and that did not meet with any approval.  No, the Lord asks of this hermit to gut it out, and to keep the faith, and to praise and love and pray and persevere!  This has more to it than the temporal, that is obvious.  It is a matter of a soul striving to rise beyond the temporal, and to not lose faith, hope, and love, especially of those who for whatever reasons, are receiving His Body and Blood but seem stuck in some other world.

Scupoli, in the chapters read quite early this morning when still in civilization, mentioned turning the soul to receiving spiritual Communion each hour.  He writes that this is as effective as the tangible reception, and even more effective and worthwhile than to receive the tangible Body and Blood when the soul is not open or not in a worthy frame of mind.  So this hermit will pray to have a worthy frame of mind, and to desire with all its heart and soul, His Real Presence, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, and to receive Him fully each hour or even each present moment!

In faith, it is all very possible.  And this hermit must strive to be a possibility thinker...and do-er.

As for Catholics and parishes who cannot help someone who asks for a small assistance, once one summer and once the next summer, or cannot suggest names of good doctors or workers from among the faithful, then they are not those of whom the rubber meets the road (so to speak), no matter how marvelous the homilies or how well-attended the parish fund-raisers.  We must pray for the Church, the Body of Christ and all Members.  Surely we can do better, although the Book of Job comes to mind in this hermit's existence, the trials, the errors, and the need to have that total trust in God above all else and all others.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another, for God so loves us and wants us to love Him and all peoples, not just those who are nice or helpful.  Remain in His Love!