Holy Door Update

Well, the elderly friend emailed the latest.  The monsignor of their cathedral has once more changed his decision as to which door is to be holy.  They had a ceremony for the holy door, which he ended up changing back to be the doors facing the main thoroughfare, of which the friend adroitly pointed out are actually double doors of which few ever use.

But the ceremony was held; they declined to be in attendance which is wise this time of year considering weather, viruses, night venue, and age.

So two of the doors are now officially holy, and perhaps more technically so because few if any of us unholy humans pass through them.

The exhaustion from physical pain continues here with this hermit.  Today will attempt Chapter 2 of Hebrews, not that what I write will be of interest to anyone but God.  He is always interested in what we are about, what we do, think, speak, feel.

Even if what I write, as I was recently reminded, might be beautifully written and profound, the person informing me also added that it is not what most people grasp.  He mentioned some famous media types who with ghostwriters put out books that people buy and read, as well as they write some children's books.

Of course, the comment was meant to be for me to perhaps try to write something that actual people enjoy reading and can grasp, or that which is pleasing to others including children.

However, while I did write a children's book once and illustrated it, my life has shifted some over the years, and I see through situations with more reality, perhaps, and I seek all the more my purpose for being here in accordance to what God has in Mind.  The pain rivets me to deeper thoughts and to realism.

For example, when I read an article about the current pope a year ago excoriating the clerics in the Vatican curia for having embezzled, taken bribes, been immoral, lived in excess and gluttony--and this year was once more addressing them, but this time trying to get them to learn to be honest and moral, to live a couple of basic virtues--I had to ask myself why are these clerics, some of them having committed criminal acts, still in the curia?  

What is wrong with grown ups who had years ago been gifted with years of paid instruction and formation and then even more years of paid and glorified lived experience--supposed to be sons of God who were anointed with the oil of gladness, given the scepter of righteousness, told to love justice and hate wickedness?  Why are they not out working at some job more suited to their inability to have grasped what is simple honesty, years ago?  

If these alter Christi did not get the message from the pope a year ago, why still be trying to explain to them what is honesty and ask them to try living simple virtues, now?  If they did not grasp the simple definitions of virtues and to live good lives when children growing up in their mostly Catholic homes--taught simple right from wrong--why is the top leader of a major church in the world, still attempting to cajole them into trying on a bit of goodness, yet, a year later?

Would any owner of a dog put up with such disobedience after having trained the animal otherwise as a pup?

I can see how Jesus was perturbed with the high priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes--of the various hypocrisies of the Temple goers and doers.  He turned to the lowly people, then, through preaching and teaching. He knew their neediness as not having viable leaders for their souls.  

He gave His hope to their neediness, at least, and their lostness, their seeking a shepherd to guide them when the ones to whom was given by God the scepter of righteousness had either dropped the scepter or started to use it as a sword to fight for personal power, prestige, position, and possessions.  Or maybe the scepter had poked their eyes out.  Blind shepherds, then, trying to lead lost sheep.

We each and every one of us need to find our God-given purpose in life, our holy point for being here, and to take a realistic view of what it is that God asks of us. We need to grasp the scepter of righteousness even if not ceremonially ordained.  We must pray to be touched in our minds and hearts and souls by His oil of gladness, and to deeply love justice and to resolutely hate wickedness.  We must be noble in our purpose and never let go of what is right; we must listen to and follow Jesus.  Remain in His Love!

The others--those entangled in the nets just beneath the surface--we must let God touch them, deal with them, love and rescue them.  We must swim on out into the deep, not knowing where we are going but going in faith, yet not get entangled ourselves in humanly uncuttable nets.  Just keep swimming toward the depths of His Real Presence.  We must!

Does This Catholic Hermit Know the Father and the Son?

The following words of Jesus are found in the Gospel of John 15:

"I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
They will expel you from the synagogues;
in fact the hour is coming when everyone who kills you 
will think he is offering worship to God.
They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes
you may remember that I told you."

What we read, in faith and truth, of Jesus' words to us are helps along life's pathways.  As Christians, it is not easy to not fall away, just as it was difficult for those in Jesus' time to not be tempted to fall away.  They were Jews--his disciples--and Jesus was reared a Jewish boy and man, as well.  He also is the Son of God, the Messiah--bringing the Good News of salvation and securing our redemption:  His Real Presence.

But he was expelled from the synagogue which was, what would be our Catholic Christian equivalent today--expelled from parishes.  And He explains that those who kill not the body necessarily, but try to kill the thoughts, the emotions, the spirit within us and our very souls, do so because they think they know best, know what is right and legal in their worship and liturgy and rules and church laws.  

So by silencing or shunning or running out people from the synagogue-parishes-congregations--those who consider themselves leaders and the righteous ones think they are saving the church, saving the faith, upholding the correct processes of liturgy, protecting the laws and precepts (many of these simply made up by people thinking they are doing the right thing, over time).  They think by ridding out those who are enigmas to them, those who are different or perhaps simpler and in essence quite spiritual, they are doing God and the church a favor and are effectually protecting the correct worship of God.

We can save ourselves a lot of questions and wondering as to why people act this way, if we read and heed Jesus' reason and answer.  "They do this because they have not known either the Father or me."

 No wonder the Jewish rabbis, scholars, and everyday synagogue-goers despised Jesus.  How dare he say that they do not know God?  As for knowing him, yes, they surely thought they did.  Is he not the son of Joseph, that carpenter from Nazareth?  So what?  He blasphemes by suggesting he is God's son!  Probably some of the folks thought Jesus just a rabble-rouser, someone stirring up controversy to get attention or always going against the grain.

But the reality of what Jesus gives as the reason for the persecution runs true today as it did when He was alive as a human on this earth.  People (can be us!) who tend to persecute, criticize, demean and judge as not up to snuff according to the laws and rules of churches or of the way the majority or ones in leadership positions deem correct--the problem is, they (we!) do not know either the Father or Jesus.

So there is something more to knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son, than following the rules and laws made by humans in their attempts to clarify or better control and manage the growing church over the years.  Their intentions were no doubt honest and good--maybe even holy.  But over time, amidst the meddling and muddling, the simple commandments of the Father and the Son and the messages of love imparted by the Holy Spirit, got in the way of knowing His Real Presence.

There is that aspect of knowing someone on the outside and not the inside. Knowing runs deeper than externals.  Knowing is intimacy.  Knowing involves the soul, the heart, the mind, the body, in love with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

And there are degrees of love which come under the general categories of:  temporal love and spiritual love.  Or, some holy people have categorized the degrees of love in four categories beginning with eros or erotic, sensual love, and ending with agape, or deep, spiritual love of God and others.  Some begin with love of self and end with love of God in Himself.

Regardless the terminology and degrees delineated or the levels of love, knowing the Father and the Son is critical and key to remaining in His Love and His indwelling us.  Knowing the Father and the Son in the spiraling and entwining love of the Holy Spirit, has less to do with externals and all to do with the inner dispositions of our thoughts, emotions...our wills and our souls.

So if we find ourselves somewhat or a great lot estranged from the temporal aspects of church worship and rules and laws, and if we find ourselves not embraced by those Christians who genuinely strive to protect and uphold (or even add to) the laws and rules and rites and rituals but have somehow slipped into deprecating, persecuting, fearing, distancing from, or shunning those who seem oddly out of step or not abiding by the laws in the way some decipher and interpret them:  Do not be disheartened.   

Do not give up on an intimate, loving, following, knowing of the Father and the Son.  Keep praying to know His Real Presence, more and more!  Accept the suffering that is part and parcel of intimate, deep, and abiding love of and with and from and through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Remember that Jesus even explains why He tells us the reason for not quite fitting in with those who know a lot but do not know either the Father or Him, deep down in.  He says He is telling us so that we will know and remember that He told us, when their hour comes.  Hour of their judgment, hour of their death? And what seems so good about His telling us is that we can have compassion and mercy.   

These people (could be us!) who do not really know either the Father or the Son--think they do.  And they are only acting out persecuting others who know the Father and the Son more intimately, because those who do not know Him within but know the externals, truly think they are upholding God's laws and are protecting the Church (synagogue, congregation, parish) by trying to silence, rid out, or correct those who to them seem so very wrong.

We will remember Jesus explained all these realities to us, when (and He does not say "if" we will be killed, but that they will kill us) these others' hour comes.  Jesus lets us know that we all will have our hour--those who want to know the Father and Son and do know Him, and those who do not know either, not really.

Now, this nothing here has much to ponder in these Living Words of God.  How well does this Catholic hermit really know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?  To what level and degree of intimate, holy love does this nothing who is only anything at all when in His Real Presence, KNOW God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?  

Forget the piddling, temporal self-and-other-hurtled criticisms, doubts, detractions, put-downs, and ravings.  Not approved by others, not a with-it parent, not in the mainstream, not credible as a person, not valid as a consecrated hermit, not relatable as a parishioner?  Not a success with finances, not successful in pain management, not a success in career or vocation?  None of the barbs and snares of those in the world (as well as our own negative self-world and the secular church world) helps us KNOW either the Father or the Son. 

Focus on love of God above all else; focus on KNOWING His Real Presence in deep and abiding love that comes in every present moment of existing in the reality of God's intimate love of His creatures and creation, and especially His beloved, created souls--created in the image and likeness of Himself.

And accept all the suffering of picking up the crosses daily, and following Him, and notice that Jesus also says we will be expelled and even killed (and killed in all sorts of ways, not just the easy way of physical death which releases us from the trials of the temporal world and the more temporally-geared-but-well-meaning folks).  

But we are not to fall away.  Hang in with His Real Presence!  Do not lose our faith; do not lose our being Christians and members of His Church--the Body of Christ with His Real Presence as the Head.  Get to KNOW the Head of Christ, and then we will know and love the Body, too, no matter what they (us!) do because they (we!) do not KNOW the Father or the Son--not well enough, or so it seems most of the time.

Desiring and praying to KNOW the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit takes us nearly there.  What remains is remaining in His Love.  And that is a rather huge remainder.  By His grace and His Love, it is accomplished easily, in faith and love.  All things are possible to those who love God above all else.

God bless His Real Presence in us and us in Him!  Little followers of His Real Presence, let us know the Father and the Son.  Let us love Him intimately, deeply, and in Him love one another.

Learning from Jesus

If one could truly live by but a phrase of Jesus' Living Word, what a holy difference to our souls, to other souls around us, and to life and to the world!

This morning, the nothing Catholic hermit took to heart Jesus' three words:  learn from me.

What and how is it to learn from Jesus?

Listen, ponder, think with the heart.  Wait.  Seek.  Pray.  Praise.  Love.  Most of all, love.

 "‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’" Matthew 11: 28-30

In the recent days, the hermit has lived through additional physical and emotional hardship.  All of us have these phases of "additional" hardships to the daily trials that we all carry when we pick up our crosses daily and follow His Real Presence.

Yesterday, with a desire to do manual labor, much needed always here, instead the hermit remained reclining.  It distracted itself by nothing much holy.  Intellectually it knew that the distractions were nothing more than escapism, taking the mind to lovely scenery, fictional lives of active people, good people, doing good in the world, solving problems.  

It was not terrible escapism, but it did not elevate the soul, particularly.  It "bought" time, perhaps--time that belongs to God and not for us to purchase nor beneficially to take.  Yet, this hermit has learned in this vocation of stricter separation from the world, hidden from the eyes of men, lived assiduously in praise and prayer, the will is not strong enough yet to the discipline of one such as Mary of Egypt.  She was an early century penitent whose conversion led her to the desert where she lived for 30 years in a cave.  Her clothes wore out; her hair grew long and became her bodily covering.  

At year 31 of her solitude, prayer, penance and being blessed by God in spiritual unity on earth, a priest came upon what he thought to be a man.  She explained her life, her conversion, her gender, and she desired Holy Communion.  He went off, determined to return with some clothing.  He could not relocate her and learned she had passed from earth, having edified himself and a handful of others who knew of her existence and life of prayer, humility, and union with God.

While Mary of Egypt made an abrupt change in her life--a life that had known mortal and moral sin, we do not know the trials and the efforts and temptations endured in the process over the years.  We can assume she did not make an immediate leap from one way of existence into the physical desert, and yes, the outer and inner desert of silence, solitude, slowness, simplicity, stillness, stability, suffering, selflessness and serenity.

With that in mind, we may know that to learn from Jesus is a process.  Even if we were to give up our possessions, we would retain enough to survive, especially in our time period of temporal responsibilities, such as paying taxes, having our affairs in order for our death dues, being accessible to others who have need of us in some aspect or other that requires our compassion and selflessness in sacrificing some external aspect of our vocation, for a time.

What this hermit considers today one aspect to learn from Jesus, it is to learn His compassion.  Compassion includes understanding, of placing oneself in another person's body, mind, heart and spirit enough to suffer with, or to share with, that person's "passion."  This passion may be some intense feeling or desire, and can involve some aspect of the person suffering angst or pain.

When a friend emailed frustrations that her cleaning woman has now three times changed the day of her coming to clean her home, the hermit understood the friend's frustration.  It is all relative to the phase and personality and pace of spiritual growth, and the calling and place that we each and all have in our world and our lives.  What frustrates one person could seem superficial to others.  (This hermit's being cold for several days is superficial to the cold that the homeless or many of the world's poor experience.)  

Yet in humility, we can learn from Jesus:  understanding and compassion.  He has compassion for all life and beings, including us!

Learning compassion is part of the good of the little exercise this hermit has developed for itself.  Bend in understanding and to have compassion as to what and why others find 
irritating of this hermit and to try to remove the irritants.  It is just a small aspect of learning from Jesus understanding and compassion, of bearing with and for others.  

What frustrates or irritates others may not be in the full spectrum of life what we consider major; the problems or irritants may seem to us picayune.  However, in understanding and compassion, in learning the "s" of "selflessness", we learn from Jesus to relate and to love; and in that loving we can feel what others are enduring, at their levels and phases of living their lives.

And we learn in the process that Jesus in particular, but also other people, have had understanding and compassion for us in our levels and phases of living our lives.  What seems upsetting or frustrating to us, may be quite minor, if we take a realistic look at our crosses.  We learn from Jesus all about crosses--our own, others, and His--and pray to grow in lessons of understanding and compassion.

We may not learn high degrees or full understanding and compassion immediately.  But we learn, all the same, if even a little.  Any ounce or degree of understanding and compassion are gifts worth appreciating and sharing with others:  silently, humbly, lovingly, not judging their motives or outcomes.

There is an infinity of holiness to learn from Jesus.  Learning compassion is one wondrous lesson and gift.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love (and have compassion for) one another!