Christian Cathlic Hermit Mystic: God's Law of Love Supersedes and Excels Over Laws and Love Created By and of Humankind

There may be not only an obsession with temporal laws, but also an obsession with some intent on twisting what I write.  Promoting temporal church laws (created by humankind), is in truth, not the best path to promote or to take in making a stand for oneself or in any one's personal, spiritual growth.

The reality remains that God's Law of Love is the Law  excels and exceeds over any other law, according to Jesus Christ.  In my preceding post, this point is made, but it is best to simply read the Scriptures and learn what Jesus and the apostles have to say about Loving God Above All Things, and loving others as one's self (or, as Bernard of Clairvaux explains, the love of God is the supernal love, and by loving God, learning to love in God and as God loves, one thus does begin to love in God's Love.  This means that one loves others (and self) as God loves others and ourselves. We become lovers in God's way of love, and through God's love, we thus learn to love, and we then do love--as God loves.

This way of loving as God loves is a grace.  But we must be giving up our way of love in order to even begin to approach being open to receiving such a grace.  To learn to love and to love in in the way of God's love, to love according to God's Law of Love which the Apostle Paul and the other apostles, and Jesus Himself explains is the law above all other laws, is well worth the humbling of ourselves to see and embrace the truth of this reality.

A person who thinks he or she is that entrusted by God to be the one to make the laws or who cannot grasp that such as a recent canon or church law made up by human beings is equivalent to or is necessary to commit to or embrace will miss out on the grace that is free to every human soul, and that is the grace to learn to love as God loves, and to love then, in God's love, as a participant in God's love, and to love thusly as God loves.

I hightly recommend those who take issue with what I write--or anyone--to read for themselves Bernard of Clairvaux's  On Loving God.  Also, read and re-read the Scriptures in which Jesus speaks of the greatest commandment, and also those Scriptures in which the Apostle Paul writes of the love of God, of God's Law of Love.  A full and solid grasp of God's Law of Love is necessary for the spiritual development and progression of all Christians, as well as is basic to anyone who aspires to be or has avowed him- or herself to the hermit vocation within the Catholic Church--or for anyone who is embracing and living the hermit vocation who may not be Catholic but are aspiring Christians and lovers of God--who have given themselves in full commitment and avowal to God as one living the eremitic life.

I also can recommend reading and getting to know the various Christian Catholic hermits over the centuries, all of whom are not hermits per a canon law created by humankind be it a bishop or promoter of creating a type of hermit dedicated to a canon law and approved by a cleric, but rather are avowed to and consecrted by God, and called by God to their eremitic vocation. Some of these hermits have been of the highest order of love of God and love of others such as St. Xenia of Petersburg, as to have given up the temporal to the point that they are referred to as "Fools of God" or "Fools of Christ" or in Bl. Ramon Lull's case referred to as "A Fool of Love."  This "Love" is that of God Is Love--a life avowed and consecrated to giving oneself fully away from the temporal and offering onself totus tuus to God and living fully God's Law of Love.

As for books, try to access out of print and older books.  Reading of, for example, St. Bruno and of Carthusian history from books closer or to the original time period provides accurate information of Bruno, such as why he left Cologne and removed himself to the French Alps.  Gain accuate information, not that of what some online invent or interpret inaccurately.   Go back in history, including with rare and old books written as primary source research, otherwise will not have accuracy.

Of course, any and all Christians are invited in by Christ to "remain" in His Love.  And all Christians and indeed all human beings with souls--are invited into embracing and learning to live by God's Law of Love--the only law necessary in reality and truth, to love as God loves, and thus to love others as God loves, including the love of self, as God loves the self.  By grace we may enter into God's love and thus learn to love as God loves.  All temporal civil and temporal church laws, then, are rendered moot if one truly lives God's Law of Love, of one truly remains in Christ's Love.

Pray and think about it.  Test it by considering the supremacy of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit compared to that of humankind's capacity to love or even create laws that can reach any depth or height of God's Law of Love--that of coming to being able to love in God's Love, to love as God Loves.  Open not only the strictures of the human way of thinking, but open the heart to Christ's Word and His Reality in what is His Love.

I'm striving to adapt to and accept further calling from His Real Presence, and this calls me all the farther from the temporalized and more recent developments of humankind, for whatever the motivations and intentions.  I all the more follow God's Law in something the Lord has asked of me which is beautiful challenge in holy perspective and spiritual death and rebirth, as well asl in far greater suffering of all levels and types.  Am finding the Lord's guidance in beautiful ways, in tangible yet spiritual as well as in mystical insights and loving interactions.  

My prayer is that the ladies who write about and who enjoy hermit life as diocese and canon law hermits come to a peace about their decisions and way of living their vocations.  We have differed for at least 16 years in our paths as hermits, both paths  in keeping with the Church and our respective bishops.  May God help them accept the realities of the allowed differences, and proceed in what they find fulfilling in their vocational choices.  

We each may write of our spiritual journeys, and it is hopefully a positive means of providing each of our readership with  considerations and suggestions that help them, along with their own thoughts and ways of living their hermit lives or in determining their vocational paths.  What I do find discouraging and "old" is the ladies' bitterness toward my writings, ask if my voice and lived, consecrated, avowed, God and Church approved eremitic vocation is somehow "wrong" and should not be allowed and valid, or given considerate respect of expression as a Christian Catholic Hermit Mystic and viable member of the Body of Christ--and of the Roman Catholic Church--in these present times.

I wrote of the Love of God and the Law of God, the Law of Love, the greatest commandment, as being the way forward, in essence, for anyone's spiritual progression and eventual union with God, in Love.  I don't need my readership to grow exponentially, which is what happens when the one lady has a comrade write her a "question" regarding what I wrote, quoting something I wrote, but most often taken out of context or clipped.  Or, my content is not quoted but is misconstrued to fit the one lady's agenda of seemingly needing to "win."  The consecrated life of hermits in the Catholic Church is not meant by God to be a competition.  We consecrated Catholic hermits each simply have valid yet different, approved, ways and means of living our eremitic vocations.

The value of sharing one's spiritual journey with others is to do just that.  Of course, despite the ladies' resentment that I write and share to an audience of readers who choose to read what I have to share now and then, I will continue to do so, but my content will vary from the other blogger and her following because our writing styles and content will always vary.  That's the spice and beauty of the spiritual journey and the love and consideration of the Living Word of God, for one...with many other and varied aspects to share with others, as well,

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

Catholic Hermit Considers What Is Greater

 Jesus said:  "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here." 

Then He continues to explain that He desires not sacrifice, but mercy.

For a couple days or so I've been mulling this Scripture.  Then yesterday came a forwarded email of one bishop responding to a "famous" priest; their views differ greatly on morals and church law, both.  One is what some would call conservative or orthodox (sticks with Scripture and also canon law), and the other would be considered liberal or progressive (is heavy on love of all types and bending--I guess we could call it--canon law.

I found myself not that interested in the situation or debate, back and forth. 

By now, most Christians who have read Scripture and strive in the Christian life, know right from wrong, know pretty much what Jesus says in the Gospels and also what God has set forth in the Pentateuch (first five books of Bible, Old Testament), as well as the preaching and lives of the prophets, the Psalmists, and the books and letters written by the apostles.

The temporal aspects of how increasingly laws have been created in attempts to further clarify right from wrong, do weary me.  So many canon laws, and truly very difficult to enforce them; and more laws created to try to help enforce, only compound the ridiculous aspect of the temporal intrusion and the sadness that we simply cannot live out what God wants and decrees as best.

I return to John of the Cross and others who floated above the temporal, for the most part, although they existed on earth and rode the daily life through to the end.  As for the spiritual life--that is where they floated and kept with God in love and mercy.

The scripture mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, has to do with Jesus' reaction to the flack His disciples received for crushing heads of grain to eat on the sabbath.  They were hungry; they used energy to take action to make the grain edible; and they ate.  Jesus lumped the legalism in with the Temple, for that is where many priests and others had developed increasing amounts of laws prescribing various actions to be taken, of the right and wrong ways of living and thinking.  It became very detailed, and some were so caught up in trying to live the details and also keep track of how others lived or did not live the details of the proscribed laws--well, much judging and such a mess, and far from the loving union with God Himself.

We have Jesus.  We have His teachings and life example.  What is it that we each and all cannot grasp of it, and live it out in daily life?  It does rather come down to each of us as individual souls, for we cannot do much about famous priests and renowned bishops who disagree on what is right and what is wrong, and how to administer sacraments and such, and not even with the oodles of canon laws we have "in the books."

Well, there is something greater that we have, and He is Jesus.  And Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, and He said to love God above all things and others as ourselves, and that He desires mercy more than sacrifice.

This past week the Lord allowed the devil to hit at me hard and repeatedly.  Aspects of the temporal were utilized to try to discourage:  additional pain, incompetence of workers resulting in attempts to overcharge as well as a mortgage company that neglected to pay a large property tax bill, putting the gears of foreclosure into motion.  Then there was fatigue and further financial set backs, and facing the reality that I will not be able to finish and sell anytime soon.

Heat so affects this body of pain and damaged nerves along the spine, so progress is slow; yet there is progress.  And I had also offered as prayer, whatever sufferings for another person who is in a severe setback of the worst rheumatoid arthritis flare of the person's life.  When we offer our sufferings or daily encounters as prayer, we must also be prepared to suffer whatever may come.  And then, of course, we must not resent that we made the offer as prayer for the other!

What ended up being the best antidote was to begin praising God for all the good things that occur. Consider all the times a mortgage company has functioned properly.  Consider all the times that pain was not increased, or how many days of lovely temperatures, or how many people have not taken advantage nor tried to cheat.  Consider that the Lord has a reason for a slower conclusion to this phase of housing and financial insecurity.  

One reason is to increase faith and trust in His Providence.  Another is that perhaps He does not will me to move to where I have been considering might be a practical choice--or that He does not want me to think ahead beyond the present moment, to not make plans or imagine what next.  Or, that He desires me to keep on working slowly, and perhaps not be able to finish, and to experience what it is to totally run out of funds, to have to bail out rapidly.  Or perhaps not, but to continue on slowly and slowly get to a point of patience and trust in Him, and somehow He will keep providing in little ways, along the way of losses.

None of it matters--the reasons.  What matters is to keep going with love and prayerfulness, offering all to God, for God, for His glory.  

Ultimately, it is a time of greater detachment as well as greater faith in He Who Is greater than all else-greater than the "temple", greater than any theologian or priest or bishop or canon laws or civil laws or any one of us or any of our items or careers or illnesses or properties or whatever.

God in Three Persons Is greater than great.  He Is Greatest.

So it is humbling, all this, and to consider that mercy is what He desires--love and mercy, not sacrifice.  Being with Jesus--I love Him.  So tired, but He matters.  As long as I am with Him, knowing He is in me, filling with love and peace and His forgiveness--what can lengthy articles of debate fulfill that steering us to Jesus and Scripture and the ways of the spiritual life could not do so much better and effectively?

I cast my cares upon the Lord.  He instructs my heart.  He fills my soul with His love and mercy.  I go and follow Him--yes, as best I humanly can. But with God, all things are possible, right?  And in God a thousand days can seem as one day or a day can seem as a thousand.  Those going against canon laws and those going with canon laws cannot fulfill a whiff of what Jesus fulfills in our very human and spiritual lives.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Today when the couple brought me Holy Communion, we talked.  They brought mercy, in love, with Jesus.

Catholic Hermit Considers Jesus' Request: "Learn from Me"

It is so simple yet profound.  Think of it!  Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."

There is so much to learn from Jesus!  Today's thoughts will center around all and anything Jesus chooses to teach this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit.  The very thought itself--the truth of it--excites this hermit!  Just consider the unfathomable and limitless lessons Jesus will teach! Some might be difficult, painful; some might be review of previous teachings; all will be a joy to learn.

Now, for some incredibly uplifting news for this hermit, personally.  The hermit's helper returns this morning for three hours of manual labor and the bits of discussion while hopefully finishing the porch.  (Porches are a marvelous "place"--which could be a topic with many spiritual insights in the thinking and writing.  What aspect of a porch coincides with a soul's relationship with God?)

The incredibly uplifting news is that the helper's mother happens to be an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister, and she has asked the priest if she can bring this hermit His Real Presence in Holy Communion, and he willingly agreed.  So today, when she picks up the hermit's helper (her son), this desirous consecrated Catholic hermit will receive the Body and Blood, soul and divinity, of our Lord, Jesus Christ, present and living in the sacred Host!

Glory be to God!

The hermit will send off a letter to its spiritual director this afternoon, sharing the marvelous news, plus an email to Fr. Vincent who will be overjoyed.  These holy priests have been praying for the hermit for a long time; they will receive thanks and assurance that their prayers are being answered.

All is a matter of God's will, His allowance, His bequeathing, and His timing--even though God is outside and beyond and within "time", all at once.

On another note, the hermit has noticed an influx of readers interested in the Catholic hermit's blog post of March 9, on CL 603.  It never ceases to cause consideration as to why some readers tend to prefer reading about temporal Catholic Church laws more than the spiritual insights of saintly writers who climbed the spiritual ladder and left illumination and helps for the spiritual life, along with greater understanding of the Trinity:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

This hermit (and surely do many of you readers) thrives on the Living Word of God and the writings of the likes of the saints, and such as those of the early centuries of the Church when the distractions were few and the timeline proximity to Jesus' days on earth much closer than the many centuries since. Yes, there are some readers who prefer the spiritual writings over the laws.  Both types of writings are part of our Christian lives, in our times.  Perhaps it comes down to priority of what we desire most to pass through our eyes and into our souls.

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

Whom God Has Consecrated

The following incident in the life of Jesus Christ, and His words and His accuser's reaction, hits the nail on the head.

From John 10:31-42:

"Jesus answered them,
'Is it not written in your law, I said, 'You are gods'"?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and the Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, "I am the Son of God"?
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.'"

How appropriate!  What an answer!

Notice the words:  whom the Father has consecrated.  Apply this situation and Jesus' answer to that of today's church and its accumulated laws as well as their interpretation.  Consider all in relationship to those who discern a call to live a life devoted to and intimate with God, attempting to follow Jesus more closely, with professing obedience to Him, poverty of spirit and worldly tangibles, and chastity in order to step in His footsteps of a chaste and celibate life.

In today's church, this profession distinguishes the consecrated life.  Plus, we must consider the performance of the Father's works.  What are the Father's works?  Are they not the lived efforts and resultant signs of a life lived in beauty, truth, and goodness?  Are the Father's works His will lived out in our own lives, daily, in imitation of Jesus' earthly life and fulfilling God's commandments--highlighted by lived example by Jesus Christ?

By what means and reality is a person consecrated?  Who consecrates a hermit, for example?  Is it a human being who consecrates a hermit?  Is it a church law that consecrates a hermit?  Is it the person him- or herself who consecrates him- or herself?

It is none of these.  God consecrates those whom He calls.  And the consecration is distinguished and validated by the works that the consecrated one performs.

Does the consecrated hermit (or consecrated virgin, widow, religious, member of secular institute or society of apostolic life) perform works in accordance with God the Father?  Are the works inconsistent with the teachings and life example of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father?  Are the works performed  inconsistent with the commandments of God--the pinnacle being to love the Lord your God with all your strength, all your mind, all your heart and soul--and to love your neighbor as yourself?

Yesterday received a short note from the spiritual father, written and mailed from far away.  Or, is it that he writes to a consecrated Catholic hermit who is far away?  There is that reality of perspective, always. And perspective, if only of self, can confuse and hinder our works.  If that perspective is of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, then love will illuminate our works.

This hermit then called him.  It shared some of its recent thoughts as well as the physical struggles.  It shared the considerations of the temporal Catholic church--what some term the secular church--and the sorrow and concerns therein.  As in the time of Jesus and the religion of His upbringing, the temple laws had accumulated over hundreds of years.  And there were people who became intent upon these laws as well as distracted by them to the point of using them to test other people and to judge other people.  

And also, then, they used the laws as a means of meting out consequences if they decided that these other people were not living the laws according to their interpretations of the laws. And the interpretation of these laws included not only the temporal aspects but the spiritual, theological aspects, as well.

The hermit shared with the spiritual father, some of the recent considerations and being judged by others according to their interpretations of the temporal Catholic Church's laws, specifically regarding consecration of those who received calls by God and professed according to those laws, and were striving to live in accordance with the professed avowal, a life of intimacy and with determination and desire in living out a closer, purposeful following of Jesus Christ.  

The hermit made the comment that just as in Jesus' time and life, the laws have seemingly caused division and temptation for some to fall into the wrong kind of judging of others even to the point of writing that others have blasphemed, or will face the torments of hell, or that they have made false claims regarding being consecrated.

The spiritual father responded that Christianity has been lost in such cases, and that this hermit is not dealing with people acting as Christians, as followers of Jesus.  "Where is the charity?" he asked.  "What are their motives for trying to demean others and publicly detract them, and judge and declare them to not be consecrated?"

No one really has the answers to his questions.  Perhaps when and if we act like those questioning Jesus and preparing to stone Him, do not question their own motives nor have answers for themselves.  But they think they have the answers regarding others, even the Son of God.  And in honesty, we can change the pronoun to "we":  We think we have the answers regarding others.  Often enough, we slip into the similar judging.  There were many Jews ready to stone Jesus for what they judged and concluded was His blasphemy.  In their eyes and minds, He was not the one who God consecrated and sent into the world.

This nothing hermit told the spiritual father how it grieves for the problems that canon laws have obviously created in the Church today and perhaps in past centuries.  It noted the inconsistencies of interpretation, the hypocrisies, the personal conflicts that arise as a result, and the temptation to use the laws as a means to elevate oneself over others, or at minimum the distraction that the focus by some upon the laws causes in our losing the pearl of great price.  

The hermit mentioned the Catholic high school as reported in the news, of which the school administrators are requiring the girls to bring in photographs of the dresses they plan to wear to the school prom (dance) so that they may be approved.  The consequences of not wearing an approved dress is to be turned away from the dance upon arrival.  

There are obstacles that the new rule is already facing.  Parents and students alike are in division over it.  The school is merely trying to enforce the moral decency so that dresses are in keeping with a standard of modesty, in line with chastity.  But it is becoming a nightmare of strife.  The process is taking time and focus away from other aspects of education.  People are essentially picking up stones, readying to throw them at the administrators and at each other.  What if a girl takes in a photo of a dress she'd like to wear, and by the time it is approved, the store has sold the dress?  

This and several other tangible problems are popping up.  What difficulties will those trying to enforce the rule encounter, the night of the prom, trying to match photos of approved dresses with what the girls are actually wearing?  And, what if those making the decisions to approve or disapprove, in the offset have different values in judging, or from one day to the next have personally different feelings regarding what dress passes and what does not?  It can happen. We are but contrary and fallible humans.

So we see just in this example, the trouble with human laws, even if the intentions are good in wanting to stop what are or could be abuses and inconsistencies with Christian values.  But it seems, as in the larger example and "picture", that the solution resides within each of us:  Are we performing the works of God?  Are we living the commandments?  Can we or others believe in the works themselves, or are the works gone awry, counter to Jesus' teachings and life, counter to God's commandments?  In the situation above, if the parents and the girls themselves, live in accordance with God, there will not be the problem of dressing immodestly.  But the problem remains that not all who say they are following Christ, are; or they may not be following consistently or in truth, beauty, and goodness.

There has been a loss of the humble and sincere following in Christ's footsteps, of trying with each step each day and night, to place our feet into the imprints of His feet, exactly as he stepped out His life on earth.  There has been a loss of focusing on His teachings, His laws of love, obedience to God's will, of poverty to our tendency to pride and lust and selfishness, His laws of living in purity of body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Who consecrates us--any of us?  Who confirms us as Christians?  How do we know we are consecrated?  How do we know we are Christians?  

We (and others) will know by our works.  If we do not believe that God consecrates us and that God is in us and we are in God, we and others will know by our works.  Works that are in keeping with Christ's teachings and the commandments of God--and of these love is the greatest--are the proof of the fulfillment of God's laws.

Yes, they (and we) will know that we are Christians by our love, by our love....  It is God Who consecrates us, not laws, not even laws created by church leaders.  They might write out what seems to be the consensus of how hermits have lived, based upon the holy prophet eremites cited in Scripture and noted by their works, and the life-traits and spirituality of holy hermits in the past two thousand years, evidenced by performing God's works.  But it is God Who consecrates, and it His commands and His Son's life example that form the benchmark of what is the performance of God's works.

God bless His Real Presence, and may our bodies, minds, hearts and spirits be Christ-open and Christ-worthy abodes of His indwelling.  Love one another, and remain in His Love!