Catholic Hermit: God Reveals Himself

"This day" the Lord yet again revealed Himself to this rather pain-pummeled, humbled down, nothing consecrated Catholic hermit.  The Lord reveals Himself in so many ways to each of us, day and night.  Psalm 43 (v. 1-2, 3, 4) of today's Mass readings greeted me upon waking before dawn.  His Real Presence sings to us, so especially through the psalms yet also in other hymns glorifying God.

"R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God.
Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight
against a faithless people;
from the deceitful and impious man rescue me.
R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God.
For you, O God, are my strength.
Why do you keep me so far away?
Why must I go about in mourning,
with the enemy oppressing me?
R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God.
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling place.
R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God."

Prior to awakening, my guardian angel was reminding me in a dream to get my glaucoma eye drops.  I'd neglected to get up (a painful process spine-wise, plus putting on the brace) for a fresh bottle, stored in the refrigerator until opening for a month or so of use.  In the dream I was in higher level pain; then I was awakened to this world of here and now (as we realistically call this temporal realm) and reminded to take the regular meds before pain out of control.

I made it through without the additional medication a second night, and this time without an hour of obscene pain taking every ounce of my temporal and spiritual life to get under control as had been the case the morning before.  God does reveal Himself to us and answers our calls for help; he reveals Himself in the little details of our daily, temporal lives.

After reading the daily Mass Scriptures and particularly exuberant with the Psalm selection, I fell back to sleep for another length of time, getting me rested until the next medication dose.  In that time period, somehow my phone registered that my aunt, age 96, had called.  I never heard a ring, and it turns out when I called her after what would be her lunch time in the assisted living facility, she said she'd not called.  Well, that could have quite a temporal explanation; cell phones are not exact in function.

However, she needed to express the frustration of the residents of this expensive retirement home, for they hired a dietary/meal company on a five-year contract, and in 10 months, five lead cooks as well as assistants have quit.  The current cook is as incompetent as the past ones.

I listened with much attention and commiseration, for it is an injustice, really.  The cheap white bread, the thin soups, the iceberg lettuce, the servings of canned green beans and peas--little variety in vegetables and not a healthy representation of the food groups, have become dismal to these elderly, ailing people who are paying out several thousand dollars a month for a room and basic care.

It upsets people who are old and unwell, to be taken advantage of financially and also to have disgusting meal fare when their meal times are often the only regular interaction, socialization, and earthly enjoyment of which to look forward.  

We talked over ideas.  The residents have several times complained; there have been meetings in which they gave their input and ideas, to no avail.  I did get my aunt to laugh by saying they could organize a protest, sit in wheel chairs and walkers with seats out by the trafficked road, placards decrying the terrible food and high price of living there.  (It is known as the most lovely facility of its kind in the area.)  Or, I said if the residents would be in agreement, they could threaten to withhold their monthly payment.

Another frustration became humorous in the hypocrisy of the facility providing a program for the residents in which they were told of all the healthy foods and snacks along with exercise that help an elderly person make the best of final phases in life.  My aunt had inquired, then, "Why aren't we given healthy snacks to eat, even at this program, instead of these white-flour sweet rolls dolloped with jelly?"

But of course, we came back to prayer.  I said this is something we must pray about--for God cares about the injustices and even the smallest of details in our daly lives!  God reveals Himself to us in real and actual ways.  He hears our plaints and moves in the bodies, minds, hearts, and souls of us human beings.  He also moves in our minds, hearts, and souls to reveal Himself in our spiritual needs and for our spiritual good, our spiritual growth.

My aunt and I encouraged one another to do our little exercises.  Although 28 years apart in age, we are each with our suffering, struggling to gain strength and stamina physically.  We ended our conversation with words of hope in God, of love for one another, and with determination that our next action would be to get up and do the minor exercises--grateful that we can mobilize our bodies at that much!  Oh, my!  How far more limited could we be!

I'm absolutely thrilled with "this day" in which I'm far more aware of the various ways in which God reveals Himself to us.  He is everywhere!  He is within and without my soul, my body, my heart, my mind.  He is All to my nothing.

I dare say, the phone call, I realize, is one of three in a week.  Each involved aspects of God revealing Himself, one way or another, without needing to delve into theology.  God's revealing to us is quite natural when we are seeking Him and increasingly knowing that He is revealing Himself to us in ways we can delight in discovering!

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Hope in God!  I will praise Him, my savior and my God!

Catholic Hermit: St. John Damascene Wisdom

I appreciate this reminder in some wisdom offered by St. John Damascene, Doctor of the Church, a monk and theologian of late 7th and early 8th century.  He wrote On the Orthodox Faith I, I:

"No one has ever seen God.  The only Son who is at the Father's side, has revealed him" (Jn 1:18).  Divinity is inexpressible and incomprehensible; "No one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Son except the Father" (Mt 11:27) and, similarly, the Holy Spirit knows what is of God.... But following this original, blessed divine knowledge, no one has ever known God except those to whom God has revealed himself...."

Now, some have "seen" Christ in visions, but seeing and knowing are different aspects of divine encounter.  Some have "seen" God in essence of some form in death experiences, but our "knowing" God and the Christ and the Holy Spirit come from God's revelation to us, and this revelation comes in many forms and formats.

That St. John Damascene emphasizes that it is God who reveals Himself to us, helps us understand the value of making ourselves available to God.  It is so easy to miss recognizing or being aware of God's revealing Himself to us.  We must understand that there are ways and means of us making ourselves available to God making Himself known to us, such as being at Mass, before the Tabernacle, in the lectio divina--the personal and holy reading and mediating of His Living Word, the Bible. 

We can avail ourselves of God's revelation of Himself to us by being with people of great faith--in person and in reading great writings of holy people who knew God while on earth because God revealed Himself to them.  We can make ourselves open to and accessible to the self-revelation of God to us by offering ourselves fully to Him--in the fullest abandonment possible for us at whatever phase of life we are in. 

We can repeat our offering of ourselves to God as many times as we desire, for the degree to which we are offering ourselves expands and grows greater with each offering.  In faith, we make ourselves available to God in love of God in Himself.  We wait, in faith, for His revealing Himself to us with increasing, loving anticipation.  Our hearts, minds, and souls desire knowing God; even our bodies yearn for God to make Himself known to us, more and more.

St. John Damascene continues:

"Nevertheless, God does not leave us in total ignorance since each one of us possesses the knowledge (sown by him) that God exists.  Creation itself, by its cohesiveness and direction, proclaims the splendor of the divine nature (Rm 1:20).  Then the Law and the prophets and, afterwards, his only Son, the Lord, 'our God and Savior Jesus Christ' (2Pt 1:1), have made known the knowledge of God according as we can understand it.  That is why we receive and understand and give ourselves to everything handed on to us by the Law and prophets the apostles and evangelists.  We fix our devotion on that and do not look beyond it."

Someone emailed of exasperation and righteous indignation at a spouse who asked about buying yet more broken down mopeds to repair (has not repaired even one, to date).  The person said no to the spouse; they are out of room in their garage and storage sheds, their house is stock-full of various items all about.  The thought comes, the reality is, that the spouse has not a relationship with Christ.  The spouse is not open to the faith and has not been. 

There is an emptiness within such minds, hearts, and souls of knowing God; rather their minds and hearts and souls have become filled with grasping after earthly items--such as broken mopeds.  The emptiness is filled in with a physical representation of our own broken lives, broken by temporal hoarding and gluttony that we hope will fill in what our soul senses is lacking but the mind and emotions cannot admit.

How can God reveal himself to our emptiness when we glut our mortal and spiritual emptiness with items of the world--be they worldly thoughts, images, or tangible items?  Yet, sometimes, on occasion, even then the Lord has revealed himself to such souls.  I think of St. Paul or a few other saints who were blessed and most fortunate that God chose to reveal himself to them despite their resistance or lack of desire or their ignorance.  They are the fortunate few, but what a risk to take!

I reminded the person who wrote of the sad situation of the spouse's choices of filling in with things--yes, the irony that they are broken things--and being staunchly yet resistant to accepting or wanting to know God.  It is the knowing of God that God desires and wills for us and why he chooses to reveal himself to us!  To know God then, is to love God. 

All the person can do, and any of us Christians can do, is to pray that God reveals Himself to us, to ask God to reveal himself to us more and more, and for those resistant and ignorant of the indwelling of God when He reveals Himself to us, is to live as an example to others and to pray for them: Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing."

This additional, inspired thought written by St. John Damascene is one which I find particularly uplifting yet also practical:

"God is good; he sees to it that all is well.... Since he knows everything and provides what is suitable for each, he has revealed to us what we need to know [and have, I add] and kept from us what we cannot bear.  Let us be content with that, then, and remain in it."

God bless His Real Presence in us!

May "this day" be one in which I renew my offering of self in full abandonment (as much as I am capable of abandoning of my self in this day) to God.  May "this day" be the one in which I pray all the more that the light of Christ shine in me so that I see what is in me to be discarded so as to be yet more open for God to reveal Himself to me; and may the light of Christ shine in me, then, in a way that others might have God reveal Himself to them, through His revelation of Himself in me.  Amen!

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.