Christian Catholic Mystic Hermit: Today's Psalm Ever Purposeful

 

I found the Psalm of today's liturgy to be quite meaningful, in vast and purposeful ways.

From Psalm 119 the following lines remind me that those with propensity to deceive themselves and thus attempt to deceive others, will eventually find their falsehoods gurgling to the surface. While truth always ends up being shown to such persons at final judgment, it behooves each of us to consider, absorb, and live the advice and wisdom of these lines from the following Psalm.

Though princes meet and talk against me,

Your servant mediates on your statutes.

Yes, Your decrees are my delight;

they are my counselors.

I declared my ways, and You answered me;

teach me Your statues.

Make me understand the way of Your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.

Remove from me the way of falsehood,

and favor me with Your law.

The way of truth I have chosen;

I have set your ordinances before me.

--Psalm 119: 23-24, 26-27, 29-30

Years ago in my vocation as a consecrated Catholic hermit, I prayed about the rule of life that God desires of me.   I knew immediately when reading a biography of a hermit of the Middle Ages, a holy, blessed man named Richard, that what he had determined to be the "perfect rule of life" is indeed what the Holy Spirit was showing me to be the perfect rule of life for my own hermit life and my life as a Christian religious solitary:  The Gospel Rule.

All the more, the above Psalm inspires in me today and now tonight, again, the favor of His Law:  God's Law of Love.  I have chosen the way of truth, in that Jesus repeats and exhibits and instills in us to live in truth, beauty, and goodness.  I have prayed to learn the meditations of Jesus' Heart, and to make them the meditations of Christ within me.

I'm so ever grateful for His Real Presence always through, with, and in me, each step of the way of life in the Triune God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

Let us love God above all things, and let us love others as God loves.  God bless His Real Presence in us, and love in His Love.  Amen.

Psalms 119(118),23-24.26-27.29-30.

Psalms 119(118),23-24.26-27.29-30.

Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.

I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.

Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.

Catholic Hermit Considers Desert Time and Dishonesty

There is a term the folk living in this desert have that is a misnomer, I suppose, of sorts.  They are quite proud of it and what it means to them in lived actuality.  They call it something akin to "desert time."

What it means is that they do not stick to any time frame, such as if they say they will be at work or pick up something being sold used, they do not show up on time or often enough, at all.  The lay and secular people find it to be stylish, and someone once tried to explain it to me--how wonderful it was to be so free--as I had put off doing some tasks so that I'd be free when someone had said he'd come to do an odd job for which he wanted a-plenty per hour.

I waited and waited and waited.  I called and called.  No show, no response.  A person who happened to be in my hermitage to help with some lifting (and had shown up, obviously, but delighted in explaining how "awesome" is "desert time" and that I must get with it!) explained that people in these parts just go with the flow and practically intentionally don't stick to the time frame they have chosen or said.  And, furthermore, everyone knows that and goes along with it--desert time!

This nothing consecrated Catholic hermit asked, "Isn't that sort of unkind to the person who is waiting and wondering for hours and sometimes for a day, or maybe forever in some cases?"

"Oh, no, it is actually very kind--the way desert time works.  Since the other people know that the person is on desert time and might show up a couple hours later or the next day, it gives them even more time to do whatever they might be doing."

I call it desert rude and desert irresponsible (but only in the silence of solitude, sharing my take on desert time with God).

Today a woman was to come between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to pick up some dirt-cheap windows I had listed for sale.  They would cost $140 or more, new, and these were excellent condition--just too small for the hermitage renovation, so had removed and replaced.

I hauled the windows from the pole barn around 10:30 a.m. and had them by the front gate, and waited.  I waited, and waited, and then needed a pain break and rest.  Around 2:30 p.m. I called to ask if she still wanted them.  "Definitely" she said, and would be over soon.

I waited, and waited, and waited, doing little tasks but not able to get started in anything of duration like painting a ceiling.  A man called, inquiring if I still had the windows as he really wanted them. I said someone else was supposedly coming but had not yet, and I'd call her, and give her an hour.  He was already wanting to come immediately and purchase--good deal that they were.

So I called the lady a third time and asked her if she was still coming, and that someone else wants them, and I told him to give her an hour.  If she still did not come, he could buy them.  The lady was put out a bit and mentioned she'd have to set aside what she was into, doing, and would come.  She made it barely within the hour.  I had started spreading more mulch out by the fence, keeping an eye out for her.

I then called the man back and said the woman did indeed come; the windows were sold.  I am not what anyone could diagnose as obsessive compulsive nor am I the saint of charity by a long shot. However, I do not want to ever catch this disease akin to desert time.

Then there is a point about dishonesty I'd like to make.  Granted, last week was rather chaotic with oddities occurring in just trying to get the proper scan scheduled in a place where there was a working phone number, and then also counting on the neighbor boy to come to work on the times agreed upon.  

Friday morning I had the scan at the hospital imaging center.  The lad called me, and I said I'd be back at the hermitage around 2:15 (but I do not call it that to others since I am hermit, hidden in that regard from the eyes of men, women, and children!).  If he could come over at 2:30, we'd get to work!  He agreed.  I said I'd call again to let him know for sure that I was back.  Seems a kind thing to do, in case something would happen--save him walking the distance to my little place.

I called.  No answer.  I left a message.  A couple hours later I called again.  No answer.  I left a message that since it is difficult to get in touch, or perhaps something had happened to them, I would leave it that I am here, now no need to be going anywhere into the distant future.  He can come whenever he wants to work, or he also can call and let me know his schedule.

The next day, the lad came over, apologized for not showing up the day before, said he'd forgotten.  He then said he could not work the next week because his grandparents were coming to visit.  How long?  He was not sure--maybe a week.  So I said to enjoy his grandparents, and let me know if he wants to work after they leave.

This afternoon when out mulching by the road, I happened to see the lad out riding his bike with another boy, backpacks, heading off.  Ironically, the neighbor lad turned around as he must have sensed me down the way, and I smiled and waved.  So much for having to be on hand for the grandparents.

Now, there may be excellent reasons for the dishonesty.  For one thing, it may seem odd to have an older person in much solitude, renovating a fixer-upper, tending gardens, being a goat on top of the pole barn painting the roof and slip-sliding along.  Also, with the recent health issue and my needing to go to a hospital emergency room, and then the subsequent PET Scan, they may not want to "be involved."  It was not as if they were, but they had decided that I was not an emergency and exclaimed that even the EMS would never take me.

Why?  I was able to stand and to verbalize.  Of course, a little over a day later amid more agony, the EMS was insistent I needed to ride in their vehicle.  And well I did need to go, as it turned out.  I would have called them sooner had I known it was free of charge due to the distance into civilization.  Tax dollars at work.

However, regarding my neighbor lad, it would have been as well and of course much better, had he just said he did not want to work, after all.  I would understand. He is young, and even though the pay on the high side (because young people in this area of the desert do not like to work, and this boy seemed an anomaly), they are a family quite well off. 

Still, dishonesty does not settle well with me, even when a kid or his mother are trying to seem kind or such.  Did they think simply saying, "I don't want to work this summer, after all"" would be unkind?

I'm praising God for the little touch of grace this afternoon, of the lad turning around while pedaling off, seeing me smile and wave.  Caught in the lie, he was, and I know he is a sensitive enough soul that he will realize a bit of sting.  And I, the hermit next door of whom they would never guess am a consecrated religious solitary nor know that I am Catholic, even, has been praying for this family.

And I am praying for this thing called something like "desert time" and the people who live by it.  One might think that it is akin to living in the Order of the Present Moment. But no, it is far from it.  For desert time, or whatever one wants to term it, involves rudeness and irresponsibility.  At root it is selfish, unfocused, uncharitable, and silly. 

As for this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit, once again I see that the Lord is asking of me to do the work here solus Deus, God alone, and to allow Him to help me in ways He chooses.  And for now that is quite at a snail's pace, and with increased bodily pain to which to adapt.  Call upon the Lord, and He will answer!  God is with us, always.

The Order of the Present Moment flows freely, yes.  But in the Order of the Present Moment, the Gospel Rule and the greatest of the command to love God above all else and others as Jesus loves us, is the operational condition.  And in the Order of the Present Moment, all is on God's time yet in respectful truth and goodness.

God Bless His Real Presence in us, little children!  We are all in this life together; let us consider love of one another as Christ loves us.  Ah, but that can be the rub:  we may not know of or grasp or think of or feel Christ's love, so we may not know how to love others as we are loved.  Always much to pray about, all the more!

Catholic Hermit: Soulbuster

Am right now too much in physical pain and fatigued to write about this mission of being a soulbuster, real and fascinating a mission as it is.

I've been at it with dealing with souls, after having gone along for month after month with the current caper, ongoing caper, until finally more and more truth gurgled to the surface from the murky, sledge-like cesspool.

On the surface, it has to do with cabinets.  Beneath the surface it has to do with souls--and now there are a couple souls in big trouble, one more dominantly in trouble than the other.  

And so it is that this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit once again has a mission to deal with.  Once again, I did not sense fully nor rightly the soul behind the facade of the person I've been dealing with for over two years.  Ah, yes, Lord--You duped me!

It is that way and has been in various capers requiring soul-busting efforts.  I don't realize what is going on, the Lord camouflages the situations and souls enough so that I do not see through initially and sometimes for awhile.  And why would He dupe me?  Well, He knows accurately enough that I would flee the situation if I saw the sick soul or souls involved.

The longer the interaction continues, the more energy, time, effort, and cost is involved, the more painful the outcomes--the greater the prayer and the reparation drawn out, the more heart and soul expended upon the soul or souls when their darkness vomits forth.

Then He dabs in some amazing encounters with some very good souls, letting me see right into them, into their largess, such as Kim at Home Depot who other people would immediately notice several front teeth missing.  Instead, I was shown her large and magnanimous soul.

Or the call at 3 a.m.--a misdial, and a woman's voice asking if I were awake.  Well, yes, now, but she has a wrong number.  I notice she is calling from the area code far away from whence I came three years ago.  Then she calls back a few minutes later.  Still wrong number, and she apologizes and says she must have gotten the number wrong again.  I don't mind, although once awake at 3 a.m., I cannot easily return to much-needed sleep.  The pain needs medicating, and it takes quite awhile to tame it.

So I see what the Lord wants, for it is the hour of mercy in the middle of the night--3 a.m.  And I marvel at this contact from a stranger, a woman, and consider the situation as a mission for souls.  Either she or the person she is trying to call, needs prayer!  So I begin praying then and there and mull it over as prayer, and consider the Lord's mercy, and even think through the simple refrain of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and that prayer of the pilgrim:  Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

In the morning, very tired (pain is fatiguing and often feels as if the body never gets rested) and on the way to civilization to a Home Depot where there is a certain size and type of tile, and enough of it in stock to tile a couple shower surrounds, the 3 a.m. phone call returns to mind.  There is a strong impulse to call that number and say that the person or whoever being called, is being bathed in prayer.

So I do this, and leave a voicemail, explaining while it may seem strange I just want the caller to know I was not at all bothered at being wakened (for I truly was not as I often waken from pain anyway), and say am no longer in that area but far away in a distant desert, but have a sense that she or the person she was trying to reach, needs prayer.  They are getting it!  And I'm happy to do so.

Then on to Home Depot where I encounter the marvelous soul, Kim.

A few hours later when in the Lowe's, dealing with the soulbusting mission which at that point was quite intense, my phone rings.  It is a man calling from that long distance number.  We talk, as I further explain why I felt compelled to call and leave that message.  Sure enough, it was his wife who had placed the call, trying to reach someone she knew as she was quite ill and could not go to work. He was kind of chuckling with amazement.  

Neither of us exchanged names.  No need to do that.  But he laughed and said it was quite something, and once again asked where I was and said where they were, and said his mom might think to pray like that.  Yes, it was something his mom might do, and he was pleased.  Well, his wife got the prayers; and I pray today she is well enough to continue on in her daily life.

These are the fun missions, the ones that leave this hermit with a joy that passes all understanding.  These are the occasions in which I can truly live my rather ironic name of Joyful Hermit.  For much of the time, with the work of souls and of soulbusting, there is so much pain and anguish, so much suffering, so much emotional wounding--that our view of "joy" or being "joyful" would seem as far away from this hermit as I am from getting this hermitage finished.

It is all the further away now, for the truth has gurgled up, finally, and by Jesus doing the work in exposing it after I was fully invested.  The cabinets are so very flawed, and the employees knew it all along, and one honest employee--once away from Don her cabinet partner and away from Keith the cabinet manager with their lies--admitted that this line of cabinets was discontinued because they were flawed, and she had many, many customers who had problems with these cabinets.

That truth does not change the attitude of my adult daughter and her husband who spent a lot of time and energy helping to install these cabinets that then began to have evolving issues.  No, the fact that I would get to the bottom of the deceptions and even start returning the bad cabinets, is not pleasing to them.  They view the world perhaps differently than does a consecrated Catholic hermit who is also in the mission field of soulbusting.  

Just keep them, cover over the issues, hope that a future buyer does not try pulling out the drawers nor looks inside nor notices the warped doors, nor the mismatched cabinet because of more lies and deceptions by the souls in big trouble, those store employees, especially the one whose visage has actually become gray in the last several months.  Grayer and grayer, like some cancer is growing and taking over...or else it is just that the field of my inner vision, the Lord has cleared now that I was fully invested with the clerk and praying for him.

No, the cabinets, at great cost, effort, and suffering on my part, are being returned.  Would my daughter and her husband like to be tricked in a home purchase?  And, above any of that aspect, how could a hermit, espoused to Christ, who has consecrated this hermitage with the name Te Deum House (You, God!), keep that which is filled with lies and deceptions?  Right is always right.

So the more I have to struggle, the longer I must be here, the more cost in paying to have the heavy counter top lifted and then later replaced, the more money spent with loan rising to get cabinets that are not discontinued and faulty--the better the prayers for the souls in big trouble.  

It just works that way, weird as it may seem.  No, me, the hermit, the consecrated soul and heart to Christ's heart and soul, does not like it!  I have wept!  I am tired and in many ways would like to give up.  I wept on the Sabbath when removing the cabinets from the bathroom that took me two days to install perfectly, leveling every which way with shims, bolting into studs and bolting each together at the sides.  

There was the memory of all the delays when the drawers would not function properly, and all the tales from the employees, and more tales from the factory rep, and even how they tried to blame me rather than admit the problems were not just ones I experienced. It was cruel!  I had been cabinet raped; and the pain of that awareness hurt all the more because I had so trusted the cabinet employee all these months and months and had prayed for those who he said were ill or whatever as part of his deception.  Yes, that employee is to me as Judas was to my Beloved.

So, the mission remains as a soulbuster, and this man's soul is now opened to this hermit's full vision,. And while it has taken some tears and some arguing with God about the seeming unfairness, and has taken a whole lot more acceptance of the damage the situation has done with family relationships (and who can blame them in a way, even if this situation was not my fault?)--I am taking it on for what it is, and there are some souls in big trouble, and now I must do all the work and cost and effort as prayer for these souls who are in such big trouble.

It reminds me of the late bishop whose soul was finally and fully shown to me for its deceptions and meanness.  I had then exclaimed to the Lord and to my spiritual father:  This is a soul in big trouble!  Pray for the bishop's soul, for he could be snatched at any time now!  His soul is in trouble!  Sure enough, he was snatched--quickly, surely, taken by surprise to him and others.  Was no surprise to this hermit, though, nor the spiritual father, and we pray for his soul still, wherever is his soul, nearly four years later.

I guess I have just written about the mission of soulbusting.  The Lord did give me the energy now to write about it and share it, for soulbusting is a fine mission--if a painful one, at that.  Few would understand it or believe it, or see how it works.  And most important of all is to recognize that the mission of soulbusting has to do with one's own soul, as well.  For every soul in big trouble out there, once the case is cracked and the reparation is in motion, there is the soulbuster's soul to be considered.  

Am I pleasant and rejoicing about doing all the work and paying the costs in body and finances and emotions and relationships in order to do all for God and for that soul?  Do I do so with faith and strength, and see it from the spiritual view?  Do I still love that soul--can I love that lying, deceptive, hurtful soul?  (He yet makes faces at me when in the store, and other employees circle their wagons around him--until the day I told him we must move forward, and that I have no hard feelings.  What was not right from the beginning was never going to be right.)

It is not easy being a soulbuster for the Lord, to be that type of instrument of God on earth.  I admit this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit is not a struggling soulbuster, for if I were totally agreeable and eager to the tasks, the Lord would not need to dupe me in order to get me fully into the situations with these souls--invested, so to speak, and caring and loving them enough to suffer enough when their souls are fully revealed.

This has happened over and over in my life.  It is kind of the answer to the death experience 28 years ago, between back surgeries, in which I died and was sent back--sent back to rear my children and "to fulfill the mission."  This is the mission part.  It is a painful one, as this hermit's body is filled with pain.  Yet the pain is love at other levels and dimensions, and the Lord gifts the love to the full so that the efforts and the mission may continue, soul after soul.

Today I wash the excess grout off the bathroom floor tile and start to build the box for the recessed shower niche.  True, I've never done these things before, but the Lord is with me, and I pray my way through, and if I get two hours of manual labor in, that is two hours in.  These days, it is offered for the current souls in big trouble with some praises for the great souls I meet along the way.  Gifts and encouragements to us soulbusters, are these large and luminous souls who we encounter from time to time, amidst the souls in big trouble.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another for God Is Love.  (And can we really love, anyway, unless it is God's Love doing the loving?)

Catholic Hermit, Severe Suffering, Confession

The severe spinal headache continues, off and on and mostly on.

There are life factors involved; the temporal and tangible does affect our bodies, our health.  We must try to cope as best we can when there is tremendous suffering.  Medication does not always work well, and then what?

For such times, when it seems desperate times require desperate measures, when it seems we can no longer pray, we simple "be."

Take whatever pain medications we are blessed to be given, try to continue on with whatever way we might distract ourselves from the intractable pain, and also consider that other aspects affecting our emotions--wounds to the heart--also can contribute.

In that, we remember that Jesus can heal all wounds.  Ask Him to do so.  Ask for strength, for fortitude.  Try to maintain the outer even if the inner is in total chaos and seems near to hopelessness.

Yes, it is quite difficult to take in much rejection, to face disappointments with those who say or do without realizing the effect it has on others.  We can quietly work through these issues, doing our best to seek justice, but also there is the aspect that we ourselves have possibly said or done what has created others to react.  We may not even know exactly; or it could be that our very lives somehow become (or at some point in the past became) too much for others to be able to cope with.

Then, of course, if consecrated to God, if Jesus has consecrated our hearts, we must factor in that this means our lives are not going to be lived via a more typical course.  The wounds are going to come and be felt, and we must let go of the struggle to try to self-correct the course, to try to veer onto some "normal" path--akin to those paths in lives we see around us.

For a consecrated hermit, this is particularly true.  And for a soul whose heart has been wounded by, has been consecrated by Jesus Himself, years ago, the reality of that supernatural experience that had physical and temporal "signs" with it, is well to remember.  It is an experience that is best to be held and turned and viewed in its various facets.

The reality, then, becomes that of "What can you expect?"  Of course there will be tremendous suffering to the point that the heart seems on the verge of breaking.  The physical pain will also throb, and one can wonder at such pain in the head--and then recall another time, perhaps, in which the Lord emphasized to "Think with the heart!"  It helps to make sense of the reality that the head is in such suffering, that it cannot think that well; the heart must think for it.

The world sometimes can present such challenges and obstacles that are so very painful in all their emotional and mental details.  And others can make such hardships and even create obstacles or rules all the more painful when one begs for leniency on some rule or other.  This may be the case, such as in a business entity in the secular world, that it becomes a temptation to do whatever, to say whatever, to simply have justice in some temporal aspect.

One thinks of Jesus and the guys, walking through a field of wheat on the Sabbath.  Hungry, tired (and tired of extreme rules of what one cannot "do" on the Sabbath), they pluck some heads of grain to eat.  Yet they do not involve others in any deception.  They do not fight evil with evil.  It is not evil to eat.  Do we need to fast when the bridegroom is present to us?  He says not.

What does a consecrated hermit, authentically living the life as God's hermit, do when a sin has been committed?  Even in desperation, even if the outcome is just, even if some person in some position in the "world" has caused a wrong, even if in need and something is terribly wrong with a policy and an exception ought to be made for justice's sake, what if an untruth is part of the means to obtain justice in the outcome?

To whom does a hermit turn to confess a sin committed?  If authentically living as a consecrated hermit, a religious eremite, existing in the silence of solitude--to whom is confession and contrition for a sin made?

We make confession to Jesus, to the Bridegroom, here in our presence, here in our cell.  The Lord already knows.  He knows the obstructions, the unyielding and unjustifiable rule that someone in the world made even more severe out of a certain pleasure of power.  The Lord knows the injustice of it, and the desperation and all aspects of the wounded heart and crown-of-thorns head that help derange the mind enough to consider and yield to fighting an evil with another evil.

But, for a consecrated soul, for one whose heart has been consecrated by Christ to Christ, that way of fighting for justice does not settle well.  What has it come to, to do a wrong against a wrong to achieve justice?  Of course, it is a rather minor thing in actuality, and the world is filled with far worse.  Yet a soul consecrated by Jesus Himself, years ago, will go to the Lord in the quiet and solitude of its cell, and will confess and ask for mercy.  

The Lord will determine the judgment, minor as it may be in some ways yet major to a conscientious soul and definitely wrong in the ways of the world's rules of minds no matter how unjustifiable in the particulars of this situation.  The Lord hears and will decide.  The soul's heart will know the decision.  The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and abiding in His love.

Confession for a consecrated hermit, authentically living his vows in silence and solitude, is a holy sacrament available in any present moment.  The confessional is the cell, and that "cell" also may be the consecrated heart which rules over the mind's will, given over in obedience to His Real Presence.  The high priest is Jesus Himself, and absolution and peace is His to bequeath, Sacred Heart to consecrated heart.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Let us love one another for love is of God!

Encouraging Message to Catholic Hermit

Recently someone sent an email message meant to encourage. It did do so, although what was pointed out does not make the every day reality of this hermit's earth life all that easier to plow.

But it made sense.

I had mentioned that seeing through the sledge of so much that goes on in life, having insights and dreams that depict the raw realities of self as well as of, sometimes, others--it is, as I explained, "an affliction."

This is how the person responded.  Perhaps if you tend to see through sledge and pray and ponder what is seen, and eventually speak or write truthfully the reality of what is seen which reaps the backlash, the following words will be of encouragement to you, as well.

"The affliction is a scandal because you and all the mystics are a slap in the face; a wake-up call to repent, change, and grow spiritually and people don't like that. Leaders (priest and parents like my mom) especially don't like that because they are forced to see the reality that we are all called to holiness. They are not ultimately in charge and those who used to look to them for guidance are now seeing that holiness is not only achievable but is their duty here on earth. We are less inclined to be blindly led when we have truth before us. And that is a mystic's greatest gift to the humanity. You reveal truth."

God bless His Real Presence in us! Little children, let us love God above all things and love others as ourselves.  And love of others includes loving to a point of toughness, that is, if we desire to be perfected by tough love, ourselves.  I tend to desire that love that will make me be as true a being as God wills me.

Catholic Hermit Shares Wise Advice from Dionysius

Such sound and wise advice of Pseudo-Dionysius from two of his letters:

"This is what you will do if you trust me.  You will cease from the denunciation of others and you will speak about truth in such a manner that everything you say will be irrefutable."

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"In my view, good men are satisfied to know and to proclaim as well as they can the truth itself as it really is.  As soon as anything has been manifested for what it assuredly is by the norm of truth and has been spotlessly established, anything else, anything even with the semblance of truth, will be refuted as alien to and unlike reality, as specious rather than authentic.  

"It is therefore superfluous for someone expounding the truth to enter into dispute with this one or that one, for each says that his own bit of money is the real thing when in face what he has may be a counterfeit copy of some part of the truth.  And if you refute this one, then another one and, again, someone else will eagerly argue about it.

"Once an argument has been properly established because of its own truth, once it stands firm and unrefuted against the counter-arguments of all others, then everything which is not completely in harmony with this will automatically be overthrown by the direct unshakable presence of truth.  

"This, I believe, is a sound principle and therefore I have never wished to embark on controversies with Greeks or with any others.  It is enough for me first to know about the truth and then to speak appropriately of what I know.  And may God grant me this."

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In our times, the denunciation of others has become rampant with the assistance of social media and the relative obscurity people begin to believe we have, hovering behind our technology screens.  Then it is but a short side-step to denouncing others in the few verbal conversations, whereas much of our communication (and temptation to denounce others) is done through texting, email, and online posting, and chat.

Dionysius makes an invaluable point (that we ought take to heart and put into action) to speak about truth as established truth.  Truth, then, is always truth and stands against those who try to argue against what always going to remain truth, no matter who argues or what is the content of their contentions.

Thus, it is pointless to involve ourselves in controversies of which others become entangled.  Seek the truth, know about it, and then speak appropriately, meaningfully, of what we know is truth.  And pray that God gives us the ability to know truth and speak it.

Of course, there will always be those who still desire argumentation, debate, denunciation, and it can become personal and tinged with anger.  Especially when argumentation takes a personal and negative tone, this is a sure sign that the person's argument is flawed.  Truth stands unmoved, unchanged, when challenged by what is not fully truth.

Dionysius mentions a man who reviles him and calls him a "parricide" [murderer of one's kinsmen].  The man angered accused Dionysius of unholy use of aspects in Greek culture and belief in order to attack those beliefs.  Rather, Dionysius considered the truth of God and divine reverence, and that the Greeks were making unholy use of godly things to attack God and the wisdom of God.

We can surely find examples in our own lives, cultures, societies to help us see the futility in arguing against what is truth which is well established and documented, and ultimately is manifested by and in God Himself: Truth.

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

Catholic Hermits: What Gives?

Yes, what gives?  Who do we really think we are?

This nothing consecrated Catholic hermit noticed and read the writings of a person who listed its own credentials and authority, evidently by virtue of a degree in canon law.  The writer wrote in authoritative mode about Catholic hermits even though the person is not a consecrated Catholic hermit, not a Catholic cleric or prelate; but the person is legitimately in another state of consecrated life in the Catholic Church.  

But many of us Catholic hermits are familiar with those who are in the various states of consecrated Catholic life, as well knowing other consecrated Catholic hermits who have professed their evangelical counsels--some publicly per CL603, and all who have professed them per the institutes of the Catholic Church.  All of these professed eremites are living their consecrated Catholic hermit lives to varying degrees.

What is so amazing is that a small few of people in consecrated life of the Catholic Church, take it upon themselves to write created stipulations and also pass judgment upon who they determine is valid and who is not. It has become sadly hilarious lately, the statements of a couple of these persons, written as if by authority.  A handful of these self-pronounced authorities lend written credibility to one another, back and forth.  Of course, we all realize that friends easily build up one another, but it boils down to personal proclivity and opinion among those of like views.

As to what gives with hermits, one of the persons states (with self-presumed authority) certain ways in which some Catholic hermits live their lives should be legitimate grounds to disqualify, invalidate, preclude them from actually being credible Catholic hermits.  And, in fact, the hermits who are adjudged--by the one who has somehow taken upon itself a presumed mantle as authoritative adjudicator--include also hermits who have professed the evangelical counsels per canon law and are recognized by church law, and their vows received by their diocesan bishop.

So again, what gives?  What are the supposed traits, lifestyles of these adjudged-flagrant Catholic hermits that this person deems would disqualify them from being valid and credible consecrated hermits--even to the point that they should be corrected, disavowed, removed, etc. by his or her bishop from this consecrated state of life as an eremite?

The disqualifying factors include (but by no means limited to, according to the person's estimations) the stipulation that of the hermit's working full time, notably with jobs that are interactive with people.  In fact, any work engaged in by a consecrated hermit that involves interaction with numerous people (according to this self-presumed authority who is not a hermit) obviously advertises that their lives are not being lived--somewhat or predominantly--in silence and solitude. Another aspect that this person states as necessary for living a proper, consecrated Catholic hermit life is to live alone.

And, perhaps some of the person's stipulations do seem reasonable enough, given what is written in Church documents on the institutes per eremitical life in the Church, or also by reflecting upon hermit tradition.  But the fact remains that no such specific listing or parameters of consecrated Catholic hermit life are specified in writing by the Church.  It should be unnecessary to do so, for what is so difficult about understanding the meaning "stricter separation from the world," to be "hidden from the eyes of men," to live a life of "praise of God" in "assiduous prayer and penance," and in "silence and solitude"?  

Stricter, separation, silence, solitude, assiduous, praise, prayer, penance, hidden--each of these words carry with them accessible dictionary definition, synonym, antonym, root word meaning, variations, and use in context with applied meaning.

CL603 hermits who would be, in these persons' self-presumed, esteemed and  credible estimation: not living a valid, proper, credible consecrated Catholic hermit life.  (And some of us, whether or not by Church-granted authority, might jump into the judging and agree.)  As a result, ironically, according to the person writing the specifics as to how a valid, credible, proper, consecrated Catholic hermit ought to live his or her daily life, the young writer-judge effectively invalidates by its own stipulations upon Catholic hermit lifestyle, that its own friend, a consecrated Catholic hermit, would consequentially not be living a proper, consecrated Catholic hermit life and thus ought to be remanded and removed by that hermit's archbishop.  

Why?  Too involved with people, an employee of an entity that has high numbers of people-interaction, is too involved in various external activities, goes out and about with many friends.  

Accordingly, in another example in another diocese, the CL603 hermit would, by the person's stipulations, be disqualified due to living in the family home with the hermit's parents.  (In this instance, other factors presumed by the person to be incongruous for proper hermit life, would include length of time a bishop knows the hermit candidate, the length of time the hermit candidate discerned and practiced the eremitical life prior to professing the counsels publicly, in addition to limited life experience (e.g. young age).

Another example of a hermit who would not live up to the created stipulations is a recently confirmed Catholic whose bishop suggested a Catholic enter consecrated life as a hermit in his diocese.  The person did so.  The bishop received the professed evangelical counsels, the person is recognized by church law, and presumably the archbishop is directing the hermit's proper plan of daily life.  

But putting the standards to actual case, the online-writing, non-hermit presuming to be an authority on the subject of these and other conditions for hermit life--would need to disqualify also this one, too.  This now approved-by-law, consecrated Catholic hermit (per CL603) would not be judged as living a proper hermit life and ought be withdrawn by the same bishop.  In this case, the consecrated Catholic hermit is employed as full-time chaplain at a highly populated college and is actively involved in that on-campus capacity, interacting with hundreds of students, daily.  

Another approved hermit in yet another diocese chooses not to participate in daily Mass.  (It is not known if the person attends Sunday liturgy.)  This has nothing to do with distance to the nearest parish nor with health considerations.  This particular Catholic hermit (who had been living a solitary, consecrated, eremitical life for several years prior to making the profession publicly per CL603 into the hands of the diocesan bishop) explains the reason, in an interview.   The now-publicly professed, consecrated Catholic hermit found it to be more intimate with God, more hidden, and more in keeping with what is spiritually meaningful in the hermit's personal situation and yet to be in union with the Church--by meditating upon the daily Mass Scriptures in solitude in the hermitage, as had been the hermit's practice for several years. The presumptions of one of the hermit-judges would put the validity of this approved Catholic hermit's program of life  in doubt, as well....

And yet there is another current example that ought to confound those presuming to be hermit judges and self-proclaimed determiners of what makes a hermit's life valid and who is valid or not.  This case example involves a hermit who happens to be a priest of many years.  He discerned the eremitical vocation over time and began living the hermit life in retirement.  He considers himself a priest who has a hermit vocation.  At times he is called upon to fill in at parishes, even long-term.  But according to created stipulations by the one self-presumed authority on such matters regarding hermit life, this priest who is living the hermit life, would not qualify, either.  

Should he, also, be remanded and withdrawn as a hermit, and by whom?  He is not living in the diocese of which he had been ordained a priest, many years ago.  Would his legitimate bishop of his diocese of record be the one to do so, or would the bishop of the diocese in which he has his hermitage be the one to disqualify him as a Catholic hermit?  For, the problem with this one would be, according to the self-authorized judge of hermits' stipulations of what is or is not a valid hermit lifestyle is that the priest was asked to step in as priest in a parish for an undesignated period of time.  That would be too much interaction with people, a full-time job--but maybe the judges would determine he was never a valid Catholic hermit to begin with?

So we hopefully can begin to see just how picayune, mind-boggling, distracting, pathetic, dizzy-busy-bodying and approaching scandalous, are the endeavors and outcomes of such negative and wrongly judgmental, Catholic hermit-hunts.  

What are the judges accomplishing in taking it upon themselves to be authorities--not just writing out conditions and specifications which can be a good exercise if done for their own consecrated life reminders, but in doing so with the intent and purpose of determining who is valid or not, who should be withdrawn from the vocation by his or her bishop, who is or is not credible or living the life of a consecrated Catholic hermit according to these very persons' own judgments--based a whole lot on personal opinions, not fact.

What if we fall into this category of Catholic stalkers and hunters, trappers and determiners of who is or is not, this or that, according to varied interpretations of documents and laws and by inventing stipulations if not finding the desired tidbit in the Church documents and laws?  Who do we think we are, effectively thus castigating that which various bishops and archbishops have interpreted and determined best for the consecrated Catholic hermits in their own dioceses and archdioceses?  What business is it of anyone else other than the hermit him-or herself and his or her bishop, superior, director and God?

What gives?  Seems to be a lack of wise discretion that gives... and maybe a load-full of self-pride and vainglory.  Or, perhaps we need to get back to the drawing board.  Do the bishops and archbishops, the cardinals, and the Pope need to agree upon and set forth in a detailed, written Church document what constitutes credible and licit plans of life for any number of various and possible situations by which Catholics who receive a call to hermit life and profess the counsels according to the eremitical consecrated life in the Church (not always per CL603)--to live their daily hermit lives?   

Yes, perhaps they should express the details in writing or make yet more laws that can somehow be indisputable and no possibility of tweaked interpretations.  This might at least cause some hesitation in those who are not actual authorities nor qualified, or who are out of the bounds of their own vocations, from the temptation to publicly state by their own notions who is or is not living a proper plan of consecrated, Catholic, hermit life--or who is or is not a valid consecrated Catholic hermit.  But perhaps not.  There seems to be something too-tempting-to-resist in Catholics--human beings at our fallible best--in wanting to make something other or in addition to:  written words, set laws.

Just in the few, actual scenarios shared above, the hermits' daily lives vary considerably.  True, there seems to be broad interpretations of "stricter" separation from the world, "hidden" from the eyes of men, in "silence and solitude".  But, after all, the consecrated Catholic hermit vocation is one of degrees and progression; and it is quite individualized. Canon law itself notes which of the several states or forms of consecrated life has more form and structure in certain instances and those others which are more uniquely and individually implemented. 

Part of the beauty and charity in the Catholic Church--we would hope and pray--is that of encouraging Catholics who receive calls to enter any of the various states of the consecrated life:  hermit, virgin/widow, religious (does require some set and formal stipulations), secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life.

Do we exhibit a spirit of charity and encouragement for more vocations--or do we succumb to a type of witch-hunt by a handful who have placed themselves as the keepers of what they have determined as proper and valid in consecrated Catholic life beyond even who and what bishops and archbishops have accepted and approved?  

Yes, what gives?  Why the nastiness in forums by one particular fistula of a self-presumed and pernicious few who set their minds and energies to attacking and trying to negate their fellow Catholics who are entering or are already professed in the Consecrated Life of the Church?  What are the intent and purpose of this actually small amount of diseased behavior? Perhaps they sincerely believe they are called by the Church or by God, or both, to keep pure--in their own views and their interpretation of law--the centuries-old Catholic hermit vocation.  

The love of Christ and the Body of Christ surely can rise above this most unkind and questionable behavior.  This nothing consecrated Catholic hermit here, has received emails by several who report the Pharisaical fistula has been on the hunt and attack of many others, going back not quite a decade.  The sad facts are evidenced on various forums-- others being attacked and harassed, not just those who are Catholic hermits but also those in other states of consecrated life of the Church who end up in their dragnet.  

Let us pray for those discouraged and detracted by these few who are seemingly scour the consecrated Catholic ranks like a posse ridding the Wild West of bandits.  Their passion seems to be that of trying, judging, and passing their own sentences upon those who are trying to humbly--and joyfully--live their consecrated Catholic hermit lives as deemed appropriate by their local ordinaries, superiors, and/or directors.  And not the least of all, the quiet, humble consecrated Catholics are hoping to faithfully, lovingly live their lives by, through, with, and in the Heart of His Real Presence.

God have mercy on all of us.

So what gives?  He is All.  We are nothing.  Another good question to ask, is:  What are the soul-effects of a blogpost with temporal externals such as this one, compared to that such as the previous post:  filled with holy insights, Godly wisdom, and spiritual truth?  Where do any of us want our bodies, minds, hearts and spirits to be:  now and in eternity? (That is perhaps a best question to ask ourselves.)

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us remain in His Love.

Catholic Hermit Profession, Plumbing, Poet-at-Heart

Ah, the nothing Catholic hermit has concluded its week-long review and "coagulation" of the blood and viscera of what one can term the "technicalities" of the also very beautiful, holy, consecrated, Catholic hermit life.

The review of Church institutes and canon law, plus of research, observations and procedures is an excellent and worthwhile endeavor, now and then.  This consecrated Catholic hermit appreciates the review, having professed the evangelical counsels over 14 years ago; and since then it has lived out the vocation to greater and lesser degrees:  praying, striving, learning, growing, all the while.

Periodically the hermit re-reads what the Church writes on the eremitic life in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Each time, something is learned and fuller understanding gained.  It is good! It is also good to review the wording of Canon Law 603, which is an option for Catholic hermits to pursue with their diocesan bishop (and at some point in the future may become the norm).  There is a good in having an avowal recognized by church law, via one's bishop.  

For those consecrated religious in Church approved communities and orders, it is yet another consideration as to how this would be effected in future, if CL603 was required of all Catholic hermits.  Would the consecrated religious' avowal of the evangelical counsels then need to be publicly professed into the hands of the diocese bishop in the locale of the religious brother's or sister's monastery?  Without the office of the bishop, there could otherwise be no recognition by law of the hermit.  Or would there be a law made to grant some authority in this instance, to an abbot or abbess?

But enough of it!  This excursion into thinking and writing about such matters reminds this nothing Catholic hermit of plumbing.  Finally, after a long haul of reading, researching and learning from the guys at Lowe's--all that seemingly could squeeze into one brain regarding plumbing seems to have finally "clicked."  The hermit finally "gets it"--and loves plumbing!  The flow-and-gravity has become clear.  

But, along the way there have been numerous licensed and practicing plumbers who have declared this or that was or was not code--not realizing the old, nothing hermit figured out awhile back that it needed to study the UPC (Universal Plumbing Code) used in this region.  Some of the licensed and practicing plumbers sought to take advantage with sky-high bids and said some area in the hermitage must be re-plumbed--not code, they'd say. They did not realize the old hermit figured out the game; it had researched and learned what is and is not "code."  Every pipe thus far in this hermitage is definitely code; and some exceeds code.

The sheer intricacy of fitting pipes of all sizes, which pipes of varying degrees to use for all kinds of functions, and the "fall" necessary--1/4" per linear foot--is just the tip-of-the-pipe-wrench as far as plumbing goes.  There are the hot and cold water lines to run, in copper or PEX, and then what fittings for PEX--crimped or "Sharkbite"?  How to install a p-trap is not as easy as some might think, until one gets the hang of it. Each pipe measurement in plumbing (not as in running electrical wire) must be exact.  The ABS pipe glue sets up in seconds; there are no "second chances."  The pipes must be marked for direction and depth to ensure all is in perfect place.  

Plumbing in old construction such as this humble, 1904 farmhouse has its own unique challenges.  Squeezing into the crawlspace and scooting on the side or back: not fun--especially when dead rat #54 was at first not recognized as partially decomposed and nearly grabbed by ungloved hand.

The details of laws, regulations and practices of plumbing abound.  Licensed plumbers themselves adapt code according to their interpretations, lived experience, and situational circumstances.  Plumbers differ among one another, insisting their way is the correct way...and sometimes the only way, regardless of code.  And codes tend to change over time, in precedents set, with new materials, by creative invention, and views of plumbing inspectors.  Codes vary in application according to differing counties, states, and countries around the world.  

All these and more aspects of plumbing do indeed remind this obscure Catholic hermit of the various views, and of the processes, stipulations, and even codes that are documented and undocumented, interpreted de facto and de jure  by a variety of bishops, religious superiors, priests, spiritual directors and diocesan vocation employees, in all the dioceses, regions, and countries of the world, and are then implemented by which a Catholic may become a consecrated hermit.  Even then, through time and tradition, seemingly set aspects can change.

The consecrated Catholic hermit is thus one who has, over all and through thick and thin, met the various Church stipulations and codes for such consecration, has avowed/professed (while not always publicly and thus not always recognized by church law) the three evangelical counsels, and is living a proper eremitic plan of life, accordingly.

Perhaps this is kind of like Rusty at Lowe's telling the hermit that now by plumber standards, it is a "journeyman"--whatever that means by whatever rules and whoever determines.  Am too tired to research that detail, don't need the classification, and is unnecessary at this phase because it won't be long until the plumbing here at Te Deum Hermitage, will be completed and wondrously functioning!

Also, the past week's writing from a review of the various, hermit-pertinent Church documents, has reminded the nothing Catholic hermit of writing its doctoral dissertation, years prior. The hermit's committee chair at USC sent a note in response to the submission of the fourth of five dissertation chapters. 

[Extraneous details....  The first chapter is to set the problem or thesis--what is to be studied with the goal being new findings in the field of study.  The second reviews current literature pertaining to the thesis.  The third lays out the plan of action in the study.  The fourth chapter states the research findings.  The fifth is the summary and outcome, with implications for future study and application of the findings.]

Anyway, the department chair made the observation that much of the dissertation writing is technical in nature, and that the then-non-Catholic, non-hermit is a "true poet-at-heart."  Yes, the contemplative nature and the writing gift--God-given from childhood on--is not at home in technical, temporal research and details, valuable as they are in certain applications. This soul's writing instincts exult in thoughts beyond the temporal, then and now. The spiritual view, the greater vision, truth, beauty, and goodness, creative application, love of God--these stir and implore the poet-at-heart.

So it is that the Catholic hermit, from early schooling through the doctoral level, has been trained in research and honed in seeking truth and facts.  For one thing, the home moral and Christian background was conservative and strict in attention to fact, honesty, and truth.  The educational practicum in research and attention to detail demands adherence to fact and truth.  One slip at the doctoral level, even if at the final defense of the dissertation, and the candidate can forfeit a hefty amount of money in university fees, the doctoral degree itself, professional standing, and most of all a career.

So it is, too, with plumbing.  Not seeking truth in code or not paying attention to detail, down to a quarter of an inch, results in dire failure.  Leaking pipes, sewer gas, water back-ups, pipe jams, not passing inspection nor selling a property until all is corrected--by then at great cost and far more work-are but some of the potential consequences.  

The nothing Catholic hermit, in the past, was content with the joys a flushing toilet, cold and hot water flowing from bath faucets or shower heads--with water draining without a second thought.  The hermit was blissfully ignorant of--and satisfied to know nothing of--codes and regulations.  Why stop up the brain with the detailed, technical knowledge of how many inches below the "flood rim" could a vent pipe be installed, how many inches out the roof required, how many inches off the finished floor must be a toilet supply line, or how many inches on center from stud wall should the toilet flange be set?

However, in life, we live amidst technical aspects of stipulations, provisions, and laws. These can be helpful in enjoying the conveniences--either of the tangibles such as running hot and cold water, or of a spiritual of a state of life that propels the body, mind, heart and soul toward God. Thereby much spiritual good flows into Christ's Church--His Divine Headship and His Body--Jesus and us.

So for now this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit has done the research, reviewed what it already knew, learned more from researching and reviewing what it had previously known and applied vocationally, and found emphasis in other aspects that will help it to live better its consecrated life as a Catholic hermit. Praise God Almighty!

Also marvelous, the nothing Catholic hermit can now return to enjoying this life in thoughts of things above--of His Real Presence and God-Is-Love, in praise of God and prayer for this world of souls in human bodies.  This is the poetry of the contemplative...and the joyful unexpecteds of the mystic.

Am back to reading a book selected by the young, spiritual friend and this hermit:  Pseudo-Dionysius, the Complete Works.  We thought this book of interest since the some reviews mention that these writings greatly influenced John of the Cross' thoughts and writing.  This is downright fun, so applicable, so uplifting!  To the nothing Catholic hermit, such works read like poetry and cause the heart to sing!

The other reading that thrills with its contemplative and ascetic thought--music to the inner ears--is The Imitation of Christ.  The older spiritual friend (we reading buddies live hundreds of miles apart) appreciates the Thomas a Kempis classic and has been patient while the Catholic hermit tended to the technical facts, truths, and considerations for the consecrated Catholic hermit in the Church today...and plumbing.

This Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare: rejoice!) is also the feast of St. John Climacus whose writings remind us of the various practical and spiritual steps in The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

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

More Thoughts on Humility

Thoughts continue on the treasure of humility.  This virtue is a continuous journey.  It eludes us right when we think we have grasped.

Humility and love live best with one another in the recesses of the soul.  They shine softly and silently.  It is said that humility detects and desists an oncoming argument.

Some wise thoughts read recently, on humility, include this jewel:  
Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements.

It is the admission that in all the world that one is the least important and also the greatest sinner.

It is the disposition of a contrite soul and the abdication of one's own will.

St. John Climacus proposed his own definition.  (It might be well for each of us to do likewise.  Yes, ponder within the stillness of our souls and allow His Real Presence inspire the facets of this virtue.)

"Humility is a grace in the soul with a name known only to those who have experience of it.  It is indescribable wealth, a name, and a gift from God.  'Learn from Me,' He said, that is, not from an angel, not from a man, not from a book, but 'from Me,' that is, from My dwelling within you, from My illumination and action within you, for I am gentle and meek of heart' [Matthew 11:29] in thought and in spirit, and your souls will find rest from conflicts and relief from evil thoughts."

Perhaps this definition is not as simple as some.  Certainly it is beautiful and full of truth.  In a recent discussion with the spiritual father, the point was made that if we write from our hearts and linked with His Living Word, the content will be beautiful and fresh and holy.  (The conversation was in conjunction of realizing that attempting to explain what saints have written in hopes of making their writings more easily understood, the result seems to be that of more confusion than had one read what the saints wrote to begin with.)

Today am going to pray and ask for His Real Presence's definition of humility.  Am sure such a definition can vary from soul to soul, as His Real Presence molds each and teaches and guides, impeccably to each to his or her own grasp, in any given moment or phase of the spiritual journey. 

And then will pray for the grace and gift of this stunning virtue.

As for yesterday's thoughts on hermit titles and humility, presumably there are temporal reasons that could be proffered, as to why have oneself identified in one way or another.  Just seems as if a title or identifying symbol or letters with one's name, could be in opposition to forgetfulness of one's achievements.  It would not be contrary to admitting to all the world that one is the least important and the greatest sinner.  Yet, the topic is not one to debate, for each hermit has his or her reasons for whatever he or she chooses at any given time or phase of the spiritual life progression.

There have been aspects of this nothing which defy purity of humility.  And, when recalled, this or that action occurred in times of persecution or of insecurity, of needing to feel justified or valued. Seems these reasons indicate lapses in humility.  They are very real, though, and at some point in learning from His Real Presence how to be meek and humble of heart, we will see that we do not need such reassurances in or of the world, even if it is the Catholic world, or the world of a group of types, such as consecrated religious eremitics.  

We will all falter from time to time in our grasp of pure humility, until we have holy humility and love, united within us, and us united within His Real Presence within us.  While on earth, we may have our lapses, for whatever reasons.  When we come to deeply know ourselves, we will find that our lapses from humility have excuses attached to each and every one.  Humility and love will draw us out of ourselves, if we ask and pray for inner clarity.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another, for God Is Love!  Ask for the grace and gift of holy humility.   It will come in bits and pieces.  No one ascends the stairway to heaven in one giant step.

Love St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians!

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

First Corinthians 4:1-5 

We always seek truth as stewards of the mysteries of God.  We must be trustworthy in our seeking and our stewardship.  One of the mysteries is the Spirit, and there is always the consideration of discernment of spirits compared and contrasted to the process and act of judgment.  

To discern and draw wise conclusions is helpful and actually necessary in order to avoid pitfalls, temptations, and wrongful situations.  It is necessary to discern right from wrong which includes filtering the gray areas.  In a sense, this seems like making judgments for discerning does involve decisions based upon what we discern as right and the will of God.   

In critical reading skills, a higher level on the hierarchy is making judgments based upon what we read, or drawing conclusions after filtering fact and fiction.  But this is probably technically more in the realm of discernment when reading.  Judging other people, is that which in Scriptures we are told to avoid.  St. Paul mentions he does not even pass judgment on himself.

However, discerning the spirits and discerning God's will for us, and discerning our thoughts and actions as well as discerning situations that do affect our lives, is a critical thinking skill most necessary in our temporal and spiritual lives.   But to take it to the next level and judge others, which includes drawing conclusions and passing edict in spiritual matters, is not in our job descriptions.

"Nothing" here, is trying to take St. Paul's advice, including not passing judgment on self.  It is well to learn to discern and make decisions personally based upon discernment of spirits within and without and all about. 

We make mistakes.  We have made mistakes.  We will make mistakes.  The better we discern ourselves and situations, the fewer the mistakes.  Yet it is not in the mistakes that we ought dwell.  Rather, it is in striving forth to being trustworthy stewards of the mysteries of God.

One such mystery is discovering in each moment, God's will for us and how to live out His will.  Sometimes the discernment process begins and yet does not produce fast results.  We may think we are doing His will, and the good Spirit of Truth seems to have given us peace, but over time we may discover that the evil spirit tricked us, and the situation reveals itself as not at all God's will.

Mostly, though, discernment unfolds predictably along the moral code of ethics as well as very much in His Living Word.  A well-formed conscience helps.  Praying and discussing with those trusted other stewards in our lives, helps.  Putting forth in action then usually proves or disproves our decision based upon the discernment.  Either good results or not so good.  Then we learn and adjust and try again.

Sometimes making a list of the pro's and con's is a means of discerning the spirits either before or during or after some thought or situation.

It seems as if in this "nothing's" life, there is a good amount of jumping in after having done what seemed to be reasonable research, only to find out that His Real Presence had other reasons for a door opening.  It seems as if He gives "assignments."  Wasn't it Jeremiah who accused the Lord of "duping" him?  He felt tricked into difficult situations in which God gave an assignment that involved reprimanding the people and reminding them to return to the path of greater good and of following God no matter what. 

Dear His Real Presence!  Please help us to learn discernment and never fear making mistakes as we learn, for it seems a life-long effort to learn this skill and gift.  It is like driving a car:  We never get to a point in which we are so sure and adept that we can ignore the process and are accident-proof.  Even if an accident occurs due to the fault of another, we must learn "defensive discernment" so as to avoid as many collisions as possible.  This helps others as well as ourselves.

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

[When the computer hard drive crashed a couple weeks ago, the garden photos were not retrievable.  They are on an external hard drive, somewhere buried in the boxes here at Te Deum House, very much yet in renovation mode.]