Christian Catholic Mystic Hermit: Question Asked of How to Become a Hermit

 I've had this question for quite awhile, and I pray that the person sees my encouragement and response to his or her question, as follows:

Hello, I am contemplating to be a Catholic hermit here in the Philippines.  How do I start?  Do I rent a place and beg for donations to survive, but the thought of being given to God every moment of life is simply spiritually fulfilling.

[This answer is not really the answer to how to become a Catholic hermit, per the questioner's interest and desire per se.  After 23 years as a consecrated Catholic hermit and an additional time prior, formally in a community of hermits, then under clerical direction, and then several years prior in gradually being formed by His Real Presence--I prefer not to go back over the temporal how-to's in much detail; my blog has those aspects.  I'm more interested in the questioner's seeking spiritual guidance via prayer and also in speaking with a spiritual guide as well as doing reading of early hermits--biographies and their own writings.  Prayer, though, is primordial in receiving answers from God on if He wills one to be a hermit, and then in what path and in what specifics.  His Real Presence is the best to teach and tell us the answers.]

My response has taken a long time due to my hoping the person has by now read back through more of my posts, or done a search of my posts for how to become a Catholic hermit or also Catholic Hermit.  But my simple answer is to discuss the vocational call and desire with one's priest, and to pray about the thought of the hermit vocation, and talk it over with His Real Presence, in prayer, within the mind, heart, and soul.

That is a start of which I am sure the person has been praying and contemplating, as contemplating being a Catholic hermit is within the question asked.  And per usual with all of us, we tend first to consider the temporal aspects, such as where do we live as hermits, and how do we survive as a hermit.

And along with the contemplation of becoming a Catholic hermit, we contemplate the beautiful longing to be close to God, to be living in essence, more freely from the world through, with, and in God every moment of life.  We desire spiritual fulfillment.  

All these thoughts and desires, and indeed, these can be God's will for all persons to have ourselves given to His Real Presence in a deep and unifying way while we exist yet in this temporal world--by withdrawing in some basic aspects from this temporal world.  One main aspect is as the questioner mentions--living apart, such as renting a place to live, presumably, of course alone, in solitude.  

But if readers dig around in my blog posts, a few years ago or more, to find out how to become a Catholic hermit, I am staunch in Scriptural guidance of the Apostle Paul, that if we want to eat, we must work for our sustenance.   Or, if disabled, to have disability pension, or if retired, to have retirement pension, or if our parents have passed on, we may have an inheritance of which if a substantial, then donate or bequeath the unneeded amounts to charity or heirs.  (Anthony of the Desert made sure his younger sister had a place to live and would be taken care of for life, financially, but then donated the rest of his late parents' money and possessions to the poor, as an example.). If the inheritance is modest, and our disability not enough to pay our bills monthly, then use that portion as savings upon with to draw, for in our times inflation and health care costs, end of life care, can be quite costly. 

I believe strongly and live accordingly, that anyone, including Catholic hermits, ought not beg from others nor accept from others, free services or items or accept money from anyone.  For one thing, I believe we ought remain fully anonymous as Catholic hermits to others around us, since most Catholic hermits in today's world (or anyone seeking solitude or a place to live) cannot simply go out into the desert and build a mud and straw hut, nor go out into a forest and build a wood hut, nor go up into the mountains and find a cave in which to live.  All lands are owned by someone, be it government, tax payers, or individuals.  Squatting is against the law in some places, and it is unconscionable morally to take advantage of others' property, anywhere.  I also do not believe in living with one's parents in the family home if a young person who wishes to become a Catholic hermit, as one young woman was approved to do when young and an eager bishop who was new to a diocese decided to give her the recently incurred canon law 603 diocese approval.   She quietly left within the year, having not at all lived in solitude nor out of the public spotlight, and decided instead she wanted to work with children yet still wanted to start some type of religious order in another country.  Being noticed and also have her way paid for, became a theme and underlying goal in this person's life.

If a hermit is to work to earn his or her way in life, to pay the bills, to pay the government taxes (which is quite Scriptural per Jesus' instructions to Peter to pay the taxes required for Peter and the Lord, each and both), then I find based on the aspects expressed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, under Consecrated Life and hermits or eremitic life, for privately or publicly (diocesan CL603 hermits), the work ought be that of hiddenness and quietly performed.  Working in a parish or hospital, while might seem delightful and worthwhile, does not qualify as hidden nor solitary nor silent.  Earning money by offering "spiritual direction" to others, being paid for that service, when hermits ought always consider ourselves humbly as perpetually students of Christ and never having arrived at a point of selling what spiritual insights we may have learned over the years of prayer, penance, silence, suffering, spiritual reading, contemplation, or lived experience in the hermit vocation.  

Freely given, freely give is another jewel of guidance from Scripture for a hermit new or old to the vocation.

For the questioner, my advice remains the same over the 23 years I have been a consecrated Catholic hermit, plus an added two years initially of prayerful consideration, and much reading and research of the lives of hermits through the ages, of which I consider the Old Testament prophets, some of them, hermits as well as prophets.  I'd read and study the lives of the early hermits including John the Baptist and on through the desert fathers and mothers, and beyond these into the lives of hermits, religious solitaries, from all the ensuing centuries.  Reading of their lives from primary source research, and then if cannot find primary source writings, read and study writings based on what others observed of these Catholic Christian hermits.  By reading of their full lives, not just a year or two in which they removed themselves and then decided to or were led to form a religious order or such of others joining them, does not give the accurate path forward.  

To live as a Catholic Christian hermit, the point is not to soon after or even while contemplating the vocation of hermit, to then want to be a leader or start a group or community of followers with the idea of living together. This includes even one other person--to live together as householders--such as two women or men living together in a house or apartment  despite lavras having developed in past time periods,  usually Middle Ages.  Living together or in close proximity as a group of hermits loses the basic premise of solus Deus, God Alone!  Living alone with no human to speak with other than an occasional helper or a medical doctor or occasional contact with a family member or some other as a matter of charitable need or procuring materials required, doing business with, arranging for some payment or work needed doing--this type of  solitude, from my experience, is necessary in order to truly be alone with God and to have the utter dependence upon Him in the darkest and loneliness times, as well as in the celebratory times of praise and thanksgiving with God Who is All and Only in the hermit's life.

I admit that my recently getting first one dog had become a necessity medically, given that my pain had progressed to a point that I was no longer able to get up by using mind over matter, mind over the pain.  Getting up and keeping mobile is the only means of delaying lower limb paralysis as well as bladder and intestinal paralysis, the latter which had already taken hold.  (Arachnoiditis was discovered by a neurosurgeon four years ago after three and a half decades of spine-related, intractable pain that permanently disabled me from gainful employment and consistent functioning.). So I decided to do what I'd read is a good idea to do:  get a dog that forces the Arachnoiditis afflicted to get up in the morning and several times a day.  (Dogs need to go outside for bathroom needs as well as to be fed and exercised.). My first pup was so compliant and quiet, that she'd let me stay in bed until after 11 a.m.  When the Arachnoiditis, which includes neurological symptoms and problems such as sinus infections becoming severe and lasting for weeks to over two months, would have me so ill I could barely do other than get the pup outside a few times and fed and otherwise I was laid out in bed for weeks on end, the dog became depressed.  It was suggested to me to get another so that they would play with and exercise each other in my bedroom.  The brother pup has a different temperament so insists on my being up and taking ithem out before 8 a.m., and otherwise when my health precluded activity, they do indeed play and exercise each other, so my responsibility is minimal.  I will note and advise, as far as having a pet or two, I'd not do it other than for medical reasons.  If I become paralyzed from lumbar down or intestines and bladder paralyzed, all three of which are givens if an arachnoniditis patient lives long enough, then my solitary life of silence and prayer, penance and praise of God, plus my financial situation being low income and inheritance draining monthly due to cost of living more than my disability income--all the markers and necessities of being as the hermit vocation provides, would be disrupted. I'd have to have a caretaker tend me or be in a care facility for low income persons, meaning in a ward or double room, having to exist with other people day and night.  It is the same if a hermit takes a job that is around people and involving people actively in conversation or services other than occasional and minimal speaking or interactions.

So the above gives examples of why I even discourage pets, and at some point I will need to rehome my two dogs, especially the one that kept growing despite being of the same parents as the first one which is small.  The large one can be problematic despite how loving he is, to my body which is aging as bodies do.  And for me with a knee needing replacing, when well enough I take them to a nearby dog park to run freely in a fenced area.  This includes, then, some brief and passing interactions with other dog owners.  I pray to make the interactions as meaningful as the Holy Spirit inspires or sets up for me to do so.  I always come away with many prayer needs of which I consider prayer to be, of course, a mainstay of a hermit's efforts and purpose here on earth.

And this stream of consciousness response to the person asking how to become a Catholic hermit has not delved into the most important aspects, which are that of the mind, heart, and soul's desire and being called by God to this eremitic (hermit) vocation as a Christian and in the Catholic church's tradition of hermits from the earliest time of Christianity.  (This is why John the Baptist is considered, also, a forerunner of the hermit vocation, for he was a hermit figure and type prior to being called by God into more public ministry as a herald of Christ, to proclaim the Messiah and identify Jesus as the Son of God Who has come to attain salvation for all.  The humility of John the Baptist, the way he fell back as nothing to Christ's preeminent all, as Son of God and savior of mankind--this humility is something any of us hermits, Christian and Catholic, ought contemplate and hold as a basic guide to our daily life decisions and way of being not only temporally, physically, but very much also as spiritual guide and substance and essence of our mind, heart, and soul's beingness.

Christ must increase; I/we must decrease.

This truth guides the hermit's vocation, the hermit's daily way of life and being all through until our hidden and quiet temporal deaths.  In the meantime, we die daily to ourselves, and at the same instance raise up Christ Alive and His Teachings as well as raise up Christ Crucified, humbled and sacrificed, died and buried, then to rise

I promise to pray for this desiring person in the Philippines, and any such desiring person who is drawn to further discover God's will with the potential of living life as a Christian religious solitary, as a Christian Catholic hermit, either privately professed or publicly through the process known colloquially as "canonical approval" for hermits who want to be thus associated and linked to a specific diocese.  Or, do as I and most others historically have been called, and that is to private profession of vows and the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience to God.  At first and for awhile, it is wise to have a holy priest or mature spiritual teacher to guide the newly consecrated hermit as well as, of course, to recognize and trust fully in His Real Presence, the Triune 

God in Three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy spirit) will always be the penultimate guide to form and lead the Christian Catholic consecrated hermit into the silence of solitude, hidden from the eyes of humankind, in poverty and humility outwardly and inwardly, in prayer and penance, in praise of God and in the trials that come with such an austere life style due to the solitary and silent nature of living one's life for God with no fanfare nor notice, and omnia pro Deo, all for God, and through, with, and in Solus Deus, God Alone.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Love in His Love!  Prayers and loving support for all those who are contemplating an eremitic vocation in the Church--the Body of Christ of which Christ is Head.  Private or publicly profession of vows and evangelical counsels is but a small beginning of what is a vast and ever-flowing, widening, deepening growth in closeness and increasing union with God who consecrates the hermit to Himself when and how God deigns to do so.

And keep in mind, all hermits are human and vacillate in living the vocation, depending on our living the bases of hermit life but also according to our obedience to and in His Real Presence's guiding of us in each detail of our lives, as is true of any Christian. Live the Gospel as the perfect rule of life; live and follow the teachings and lived example of Jesus Christ, and God will guide and bless the hermit through whatever ups and downs, strong times and weaker ones.  My prayers are with you and with all Christians, and with those called to the hermit vocation, also, in especial kinship and loving appreciation for your prayers for me, much needed, as well.  Thank you!

Catholic Hermit: The Silence of Solitude

As I alternatively write of variety of spiritual and temporal thoughts and occurrences in the life of  days unfolding in this my consecrated Catholic hermit existence, the current exercise is to better grasp and further instill within me what the Church sets forth for hermits.   I turn once more to The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which brings me to a hermit's means of achieving a life devoted to praise of God and salvation of the world...through previously pondered means, now to... the silence of solitude.

Let's refresh with section 920 in The Catechism. We read past 915 and 916, of note in describing the Evangelical Counsels so crucial to the hermit's profession, and come to the section titled: "Eremitic Life."  Offered below is the exact wording of section 915; I have emboldened the silence of solitude, the point of present pondering.

"920.  Without always professing the three evangelical counsels publicly, hermits 'devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.'"

Much of excellence has been written of silence, of solitude, and of the silence of solitude.  As a consecrated Catholic hermit, I've read various books on such topics--excellent writings of monks, priests, hermits, spiritual masters.  There are essays to be found online as well as within texts, such as writings of the desert fathers and mothers.  We can find statements on the eremitical need and even virtue, of silence and solitude, in the Scriptures. (I will attempt in separate post, a list of books in my personal library.  Very rough pain yet again today; how difficult it is to endure standing upright by bookcases to jot down titles--yet I'll try to do so even if tomorrow.)

Within the writings and the reality of the silence of solitude, we consider both exterior and interior of silence and of solitude.  Think on the truth that in our existences, we can be silent ourselves and experience silence around us, in external way.  

We can keep our voices silent, the environment in which we are at the moment or where we live can be without noise to greater or lesser degrees.  (Even if we silence ourselves as much as humanly possible, there is still noise around us--hum of earth, heart beating and blood coursing through bodily vessels, breath's inhale and exhale, breeze rustling nature, insect winging.

Solitude may be considered, likewise, as exterior and interior "positions" or "potentialities."  External solitude examples include the physical, the temporal, of a body, creature, or some types of things being alone, not having other persons, creature or types of things around, in vicinity.  We or someone or something other, is solitary in a way that is observed, seen, known.

On the other hand, interior silence and solitude have to do with our inner senses and inner essences, our inner dispositions whether or not we are consciously aware of our silence or our solitude.  This interior silence and solitude may occur despite external noise and despite other persons, creatures, or things visibly around us.  When we are in interior silence and interior solitude, what is intangible and non-temporal may or may not be silently or invisibly known to us.

Yet for a hermit, our silence is through, with, and in God; our solitude is through, with, and in God.  The experience of a silent, solitary soul uniting with the immensity of the seemingly silent omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God creates the ultimate in the silence of solitude.

Consider the prophet Ezekiel seeking God in the silence of solitude.  He listened with exterior and interior senses, he stood alone at the mouth of the cave.  When he became silent and removed from the presence of all around him, then it was he "heard" God; he became aware of God alone, solus Deus.

We may be aware in our conscious practicing or of positioning ourselves in the silence of solitude.  Over time in living the silence of solitude, we may not be consciously aware.  Or we may come to the experience of such a silent, solitary union with breath and voice of God and the reality of His presence in us or us in Him, that we are unknowing of such profound silence of solitude.

This brings to the fore the reality of the silence of solitude being a progression.  I consider the title of the filmed documentary, first time within a Carthusian charterhouse for such exposure:  Into Great Silence.  The title is not "In" Great Silence but rather "Into" Great Silence.  The silence of solitude involves movement and growth, of evolving silence, evolving solitude, and together a flow of one with the other and of one into the other.

The silence of solitude has not only the flow of progression, but there may be an ebb of progression--a receding or lessening of silence, solitude and the silence of solitude.  This ebb of the silence of solitude can occur off and on in the days, weeks, months, and years of a hermit's vocation and life.  There are situations and phases in which an eremitic might have more noise and less silence; the hermit's solitude may be intruded upon.  

The ebbing of silence of solitude can occur due to the hermit's own choices--a slippage in the hermit's vocational striving in stricter separation from the world in the silence of solitude.  God can allow challenges to the hermit's silence of solitude of which the hermit must respond in one way or other. 

The ebbing may be due to God's allowing (different than challenging) of unavoidable situations such as a hermit's health declining, permanent or temporary change in circumstance or locale.  In more rare situations God's will may be for the hermit (usually via director, priest, bishop, superior) to accept a shift in the living out of the hermit's vocation.  (St. Bruno and St. Colette are each examples of God's desiring, asking, willing such a change in these hermits' vocations.)

For it is God who leads us into silence and solitude; God is the One who keeps us in the embrace of silence and solitude. Thus we become one with God's own silence, in His own solitude, as much as our beings can comprehend and fathom the silence of solitude of God in Himself.  God wills the degree and the flow (and of what God-deigned ebb) of our silence of solitude within His silence of solitude.  We become God's own in His silence and of His solitude.

There are other more practical and indicative aspects of silence, solitude, and of the silence of solitude.  We do well to ponder suffering's silence, suffering's solitude, suffering's silence of solitude in actual, temporal aspects as well as in the reality of Christ's suffering in the silence of solitude.

We may take some moments or more to consider personality types and silence and of solitude.  Consider the marvelous ways in which God brings about the glory of silence of solitude in a person whose personality or learned socialization was that of highly interactive, social, and generously, purposely, interactively involved in a life in the world among many people.  Yet he can call such a person to His will and purposes as an eremitic in the life of His Church; and while the personality instilled by God in that person, that soul,  God effects all the graces necessary to mold the hermit to His desires in ways that mystify.

As God is love, the consideration of the hermit's increasing, holy formation within the silence of solitude ought also include that of the place of charity in silence, charity in solitude, and charity in the silence of solitude.  A hermit must discern when charity calls for the hermit to speak and to be presently, actively available to another or others.  This is particularly important in the hermit's relationships and possible vocation prior to being called by God to enter the eremitic life in the Church.  Charity must reign amidst practical and spiritual parameters, yet the silence of solitude is best broken when charity is the reason and purpose:  God is love.  

Yet charity also informs the hermit when the silence of solitude is threatened beyond what is necessary, holy, and of God's will in the various situations a hermit encounters throughout the vocation.  God in His mercy understands when a hermit ebbs too far or frequently from the silence of solitude; but the hermit must remain within God's heart of silence of solitude, even when called out of the silence of solitude for charitable reasons and purposes.  The ebb, even if brief, must be returned to the flow into great and greater silence of solitude.

These thoughts are my own, in this present moment of a deeper, more intense than ever before, silence of solitude in the reform of my lived, for better or worse, eremitic vocation of 20 years.  In self-examen on this very topic of a hermit's silence of solitude, I know the areas in which I feel or think I need less silence or less solitude.  I'm considering the role of internet, even if noiseless, or silently reading an article or a tangible book, in regard to what is silent noise, what is or is not solitude.  

When I watch such as the documentary Athos the other day, or last night watched a most intriguing film based on a true life couple of which the theme that of Christlike charity to lead one's enemy to a holy death--I can grasp that in a way, the persons in the film become company of sorts.  They enter into the solitude of my hermitage, of my external and internal senses as guests who speak with exterior voices and enter into the interior silence of my mind, heart, and soul.

In doing some internet searches of contemporary hermits in the life of the Church--Catholic and Orthodox--I find the degrees of each hermit of their progression in the silence of solitude.  There is no judgment on my part, nor should there be on anyone's part.  We hermits are in progress yet while in situ; God is our ultimate superior to Whom we have utter and full obedience; Jesus is our beloved savior, spouse, mentor ; the Holy Spirit is our guide and instructor.  At least, again, these are my thoughts.  

There are times in a hermit's vocational progression as well as in the make up of the hermit's on-going temporal and spiritual circumstances that cause the unique and individualized aspects that God knows, allows, and understands.  Yet we hermits still must strive in the progression, in faith and hope in God toward perfection in what God wills of us within our vocations, our lives in this world, and our eventual union in Him for eternity.

The silence of solitude is a spoke in the wheel of a hermit's journey.  The wheel rotates and propels this vehicle of vocation called the eremitic life in the consecrated life of the Church.  We hermits, as other followers of Christ, are consecrated by God and consecrated in Christ; we are baptized in the Holy Spirit.  And specifically as hermits, we are living out, to varying degrees and holiness, our lives in His Real Presence, yet one in the vast Body of Christ, His Church.

God bless His Presence in us!

Catholic Hermit: Calming from Catechism

I've read this selection from The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  I apply it to many aspects of life, and for me now, pinned like a bug to a specimen board, squirming in pain and not yet dead, perhaps the aspects of contemplative prayer are akin to how the Lord Jesus would like me to be suffering.

2717  Contemplative prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come" or "silent love."  Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love.  In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us His incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.

I don't need to explain to you readers who have far more wits about you than I do in my bug-squirming, pained body, my head more than half out of it and just typing away rampantly.  (It is a distraction but perhaps helpful one, better than a complaining tone to a neighbor when I tried to get up and go outside, using the trenching spade as a support pole.

Silence.  Silent love.  I do love Jesus so very much!  I do think I ought repeat my lengthy, wordy vow of suffering as a sort of penance, as a means of humbling myself for I know the silence of pain, of my stilling myself despite feeling as if I am going crazy from the suffering is likely better for God, for others, and for self.

Be still.  Be silent.  Smile.  Indeed, such silence when suffering so does seem unbearable to the "outer" man, to me.  It can be that way for us humans even when not suffering.  But at least a consecrated Catholic hermit--or hopefully so--finds silence not at all unbearable but quite sweet.  I love silence!  It is just that I have difficulty when in extreme pain not having distraction.  And distraction even if silent distraction, is not really, fully silent.

You know what I mean better than I can express.  I know you do!

It is a goal, a hope.  Something for which to try to be:  Silent in and out of suffering.

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord--well, used to be today the Holy Day of Obligation. 
The Church will celebrate Christ's Ascension into Heaven on Sunday.  Today it still is the Ascension.  My first Ascension that I knew that it was celebrated, after I began my private instruction to be confirmed a Catholic but yet not confirmed, I decided to burn all the hate letters from my temporal ex-spouse and included a letter or two from the ex-spouse's new spouse.  

Burned them in the back garden in the children's old hamster cage.  (The fire department approved an in-town burn if in a metal container; I'd told them it was old letters.)  As the ashes rose up into the sky, I prayed that all the hateful and untrue words written about me and to me, would be as ashes turned to graces, and would become holy as gifts given to God above.

Today, yes, perhaps I ought to offer this incessant and crazy-making pain, in the same way.  It is already burning!  It is burning from the nerves on fire, shooting flames in my body, simmering like coals in my lumbar spine.  These sufferings are my offerings, to have them ascend with Jesus to God the Father, by means of the love and action of the Holy Spirit Who on Pentecost will renew indwelling in us all.

Each of us will celebrate this Pentecost either on earth or in heaven--and pray not hell.

Pray for silence.  Pray in silence.  Breathe in silence.  Be stilled in silence.  Suffer in silence.  Jesus suffered, died, and rose.  So shall we some day, some hour, some moment.  Let us do so in silence of the kindling that can be pain, that will feed the fire of Christ's love.  Of our love for Christ and for others.  Let me love others as I love His Real Presence!

Catholic Hermit: Effect of Noise and Activity

For a consecrated Catholic hermit, the institutes of the Catholic Church stipulate a stricter separation or withdrawal from the world in silence and solitude, among some other specifications.  But to take the silence and solitude, as an example, a hermit can realize the effects of noise and activity after having lived the hermit life for several years.

Four days were spent in civilization.  Of the four, three were spent in quiet, with two family members.  The hermit remained mostly in their home, helping out with some manual labor and in loving rapport.  Three or four times the hermit assisted by running an errand, taking one of the family members to a couple activities, and joined in on a third activity.

The effect of the activities that placed the hermit among several others, even if in contained settings, is notable.  In each, the hermit found itself focusing on a book, or one of the family members, or in a conversation (cell phone) such as with the spiritual father, long-distance.  Without realizing, the hermit needed to eliminate the external stimuli of the temporal world.  The hermit is no longer used to the noise, the distractions, the outer activities, great numbers of souls embodied and busy with every day life.

The temporal world has its very good aspects.  It is marvelous to live an active life in the lay vocations of marriage and single life.  Families are blessed; the activities of a loving family are necessary for socialization, development of skills and talents, and to prepare for a career.  God's created world and all the lovely people in it, are cause for celebration and joy.  Live life to the full!

But for one called to the eremitic life, and for one who has been living that life for several years of praise of God, assiduous prayer and penance, of stricter separation from the world in silence and solitude--returning to the other is much like being dunked into icy-cold water when not conditioned to it.

This nothing Catholic hermit considers St. Bruno.  After a few years living what would later be known as the Carthusian life, as a hermit who had been a priest teaching at university in Cologne, Germany in 11th century--he was called to leave the silence and solitude of the Grande Chartreuse to assist the pope in Rome.  As soon as Bruno could, he finished what was requested by the pope.  Bruno established a charterhouse in Italy in similar format to the first charterhouse in France. There he lived out his hermit life, separated from the world in praise of God, prayer and penance, in silence and solitude.

For this Catholic hermit, the final day in civilization was spent in a skating arena.  A family member participated in speed skating races.  The hermit found itself focusing, of course, on the family member during his events, and otherwise observed a few people from time to time.  But mostly it withdrew silently into the soul, alone with God in thoughts of praise and love of the strangers all about.  It also pondered family members and friends, prayerfully and lovingly--those dotted throughout the country and around the world, past and present, living in the world and living in eternity.

Now and then, however, the noise and activity became such that the hermit's chronic pain increased so as to distract from the ability to be stilled within.  Then, the hermit would go to the truck to rest--even dozed for awhile.  One of the family members inside the skating arena signalled with cell phone when the skater began warm-ups for the next race.  A couple other times the hermit retreated to the out-of-doors, where traffic noise and people coming and going seemed minimal in comparison to the enclosed arena, where a couple hundred, kinetically charged people, were confined.

Therein were the racers, their families and friends, the announcers on loud speakers, and skating officials.  Four large screens mounted on the walls across from where onlookers stood and sat, displayed three different television cable stations' programs--national college basketball playoffs, a national skating event somewhere, a reality show.  Music blared constantly, as well.  Some in the gallery, watching skaters in the arena, also spoke on cell phones, texted, engaged with electronic tablets, or played tech games.  Little children played with toys or chased one another about; the snack bar had a constant line of hungry participants and observers, both.

Today the hermit is exhausted.  The pain level is high for various reasons.  A certain aspect of the increased pain and weariness is the shock in contrast to a life otherwise of praise and prayer:  of stricter separation from the world, in silence and solitude.

Amazing how the body, mind, heart, and soul adapt to a way of life.  Even a temporary change to the marvelous world with its people and noise and activities--nothing evil about it but busy!--can have quite an effect on a hermit.

Does the hermit have an effect on the persons busy in the world, doing what they do as part of their own vocations? Had not considered this aspect until just now while writing. Surely the presence of the hermit--not visible as a hermit by any external garb, items, or symbols--had some effect just as each and every soul has an effect upon its environment, people in their surroundings, and all of God's creation.

Even if alone in a hermitage, such as now, the bee that has come into the room via the attic space above, senses the hermit as does the hermit sense the bee.  At some point, the hermit will get its very pained body up and out of bed, open the window, and use a prod to guide the bee outside where it can better live its own vocation, its own purpose in life here on God's created earth.

A hermit who on occasion or for specific events, for charity's sake, re-enters the noise and activity of the world and the dear people in the world, ought keep in mind that its hermit life goes with it, despite the environmental altering.  The praise and prayer, the penance, continue yet are unnoticed outwardly.  The silence and solitude continues, despite being challenged.

This nothing Catholic hermit is reminded of the inspiration of--was it just two weeks ago?--to "Go with God's flow."  Yes, the noise and activity in the beautiful, busy aspects of the world affect the hermit's pain level and energy.  So today the hermit must rest and recover physically.  Physical pain affects the mind and emotions, and the mind and emotions affect the soul.  Time to go with God's flow:  through Him, with Him, in Him.

The work of making running water feasible in the hermitage is put off to another hour, or day.  Perhaps it will take all effort to carry in the 2x4's from the truck and to unload the pine tongue-in-groove ceiling boards.

First, though, to praise God for the bee and to pray for its careful and safe deliverance from inside the window to outside, where it can wing its way in the fresh air and fulfill its mission for which it is created and imbued by God.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another!  Remain in His Love, no matter where our bodies may find themselves!

Guidance from a Solitary Hermit and Bits on Exile

In reading more of John Climacus' The Ladder of Divine Ascent, this hermit is blessed with pertinent guidance in daily life here in the hermitage.

Returned from two days in civilization (all went well, allowing love to take over).  Learned that the one remaining family unit, although they live a distance already, may be moving.  This possibility reminds this hermit that the temporal passes easily, and the Lord allows changes which are all very good for those seeking Him in each detail.

John Climacus (6th c. solitary hermit) describes three levels or types of religious.  The first are those who live among many others, such as in a monastery.  (In our current times, this could include hermits who are more interactive in parishes, work in public jobs, and are generally known in and for their hermit vocations.)

The second are those who live with two or three others who are seeking God in a more focused, spiritual solitude.  (Today, this could include those who live together in a house, or in a small monastery with laura-type apartments or individual cabins.)

The third type or way is a hermit who is more isolated from others, and experiences vast amounts of silence and stillness.  Climacus himself was of this way of eremitic existence, and describes such a hermit as a solitary, one who lives alone, not with others. (Such a hermit in current times would embrace a more austere existence, face rigorous physical and spiritual trials, yielding growth, but who also may be more criticized by others in a world of increased and rapid communication, technology, and value placed in material and action-oriented success.)

Climacus ascribes the term hesychia to one who does not approach this third level of solitude but is more of the first two types.  He terms as a "solitary" or a "hermit", one who is of the third type--very much immersed in solitude and stillness to a higher degree than the other two categories.

_______________________
  

Climacus devotes the third step of the divine ascent to emphasizing the point and value of exile.  The solitary hermit must enter into this mode which Climacus describes as an irrevocable renunciation of all to which one has become comfortable, attached, used to, in one's familiar surroundings...and which hinders the soul from the ideal of holiness.  

Climacus is not one for extremism.  Although to some, including perhaps the first type of religious who lives among many people and interacts more frequently with what is familiar and in the world, if even the world of the church or monastery, his thoughts on exile might seem extreme. They are not, however, at least not to the degree of following Christ to which a solitary hermit type desires, and to that of union with God.  Climacus wisely states, though, that not every form of exile is good if taken to extremes in ways that are not led by God or without discretion.

The description of exile:  a separation from everything in order that one may hold on totally to God.  It is a chosen route of great grief.  An exile is a fugitive, running from all relationships with his own relatives and with strangers.  

Advice for the hermit solitary who desires the ideal comes, but he describes the traits of God's grace that come through the effort:  a disciplined heart, unheralded wisdom, an unpublicized understanding, a hidden life, masked ideals....

[Exile] is unseen meditation, the striving to be humble, a wish for poverty, longing for what is divine.  It is an outpouring of love, a denial of vainglory, a depth in silence.

As for advice to those who take the narrow path of exile:  Do not wait for souls [who are] enamored with the world when you are pressing on towards solitude and exile.  In any case, death [to self, to the world] comes when least expected.  Many set themselves the aim of rescuing the indifferent and the lazy--and end up lost themselves....Not all of us are summoned to rescue others.

And this, on detachment:  Detachment is good and its mother is exile.  Someone withdrawing from the world for the sake of the Lord is no longer attached to possessions that he should not be deceived by the passions.  If you have left the world, then do not begin to reach out for it.  Otherwise your passions will come back to you....

A true exile, despite his possession of knowledge, sits like someone of foreign speech among men of other tongues.

This gives a glimpse of but one small section of the thirty "rungs" or steps of the ladder to God.

What it evokes for this hermit is much assistance in what is currently being experienced in daily life.  It is not the withdrawal from relationships, as that has occurred quite naturally and without this hermit having to do the parting.  It is more the additional descriptions of the most solitary of the types of hermits, which are so very helpful. 

Climacus describes the throes of adaptation, quite aptly!  He writes of the pitfalls, of God allowing the devil to try to draw the soul back out into more active duty among men, even of the good works of active Christians, and appeals to pride in souls that would have them think they are something rather than nothing.

________________


There is so much more, but just today, when very cold in here, the body did not want to get out of what warmth the bed and a small space heater provide.  Yet, the inner spirits began seeking distractions, and it began to ponder just how solitary is the solitary life, and even a dream had dangled financial aspects of the world in a fantasy way.  

This hermit was just about to think itself back into what-if's of life in the outer world, even of the good aspects of the temporal church. But the grass was too high, and the days are numbered for weather good enough to mow it.  Just then, in another section of his guide, Climacus mentioned that solitaries needed to have a pile of palms nearby so that they would fight off temptations in thought, by working in weaving mats.

Two-and-a-half hours later, the grass here was mowed, and a silent, solitary, but stilled and thought-stabilized hermit came back to the warmer room in the hermitage, and thanked God for John Climacus who is evidently accepting this hermit's request that he be the spiritual guide for now.

The book is so good, that when the hermit received a rare phone call this evening from a friend, John Climacus' writing became a topic.  The woman and her husband live the second type of religious that Climacus describes, although they have not taken vows other than as oblates.  But their life circumstances have them as two monks living apart from the world other than her work editing a religious, online publication.   

She mentioned how, with her husband ill much of the time, that the silence gets to her, so she wears a headset with ear buds so that she can listen to some news or other programs. Yes, she said the silence becomes too intense for her, day in and day out, even though her husband may be in the next room, sleeping.  

This hermit admitted that it is a process, the adaptation to some of the pulling away in order to draw toward His Real Presence in a depth we'd never thought, through a narrow gate of which we'd read in Scripture but not fathomed how narrow it can be in the unfolding of actuality.

She would like the book.  Am going to send a copy to her.  They both will find help in their daily lives and spiritual lives, for they are seeking the ideal of holiness, as well, even if not consecrated religious of the eremitic life.

This hermit here has so much to learn, and most of it by hard experience.  Praise His Real Presence!  God bless His Real Presence in us, and let us love one another, little children.  Remain in His Love!

Fear Is the Flip-side of Faith

This wisdom was told the "nothing Catholic hermit" years ago.  Think it was John the Baptist who shared it in one of the first encounters, that Dr. H. taped at the suggestion of an angel or someone on the other side, entering this temporal realm to be of such great assistance in a time of learning and opening to the supernatural realities.  God Is Love!

Yes, fear is the flip-side of faith.

An example recently reminded this "nothing" of the great truth.  [John had also said one can learn much about faith in Luke 17.  Check it out.]

A dear one helping install cabinets has much physical strength and intellectual genius.  Working hard, there was much straining, intensity, and verbal noises and outcries associated with something very difficult to screw into place.  So "nothing Catholic hermit" assumed it had not the strength to screw in the cabinet bolts, especially after two right shoulder surgeries and given age and gender. 

Yes, by the groans and sighs and occasional shouts, and a few stripped screw heads, it seemed far beyond the capabilities of this hermit to even attempt bolting in a base cabinet.  Obviously, upper cabinets needed two people--one to hold up on the temporary horizontal support board, and another to pre-drill and then drive in the cabinet screws.

So when there still was work to be done on fine-tuning, and some could not return again for quite awhile due to work schedules, the electrician who has been helping with electrical agreed and was hired to help install the remaining cabinets and re-do a couple that had shifted.  He is a large and strong man, also.

Then when the evening arrived and there were still a couple more base cabinets to be finished, he said he was sure this old lady hermit could manage to bolt those plus build the base to which to screw into the floor and then secure the peninsula cabinets to that.  Yes, sawing and screwing to the floor was one thing, and shimming and leveling the base cabinets another--but there was much fear in attempting to bolt the cabinets to the wall and each other based upon how difficult it was assumed due to the sounds and brute force seemingly necessary.

Fearsome!  What if screw heads were stripped?  Had already had to remove a cabinet that another had bolted in, the head stripped.  Used the reciprocating metal saw blade, and the heat burned the cabinet finish. Fortunately had another cabinet that was gratis as cabinet man mistakenly ordered an extra.  God provides!

So into the mind comes the reminder from John the Baptist, the wisdom that fear is the flip side of faith, and to have faith!  To simply keep going, to simply keep going, and how simple that is, he also had said some 26 years ago.

With faith overcoming fear, the nothing Catholic hermit did the routine.  Pre-drill, then drive in the cabinet screw bolt.  First one bolt, then another, then another and another.  Went in quite easily.  Took out some screws that had been driven awhile ago by others and replaced with the proper screws.  (This was no one's fault; just had not been told what type of screws to use to bolt cabinets one to another.  Once we found out, it is a matter of removing and replacing the ones we can.)

Anyway, in a rather tedious and relatively unimportant task of the temporal realm, and one that will not matter to anyone else nor will be an issue again in this hermit's life as the kitchen cabinets are installed, the main if not only reason for this life experience is to have a reality experience in the great truth and wisdom that fear is the flip side of faith, and to overcome fear with faith.

Lots of extra tension and force and verbalizations don't necessarily assist us in tasks but rather are distractions and deplete the focus that silence and prayer can provide for a successful outcome.  Also, assuming something is too difficult based upon observations of how others may approach a project, and allowing fear to rule the mind and heart and thus the body, is giving into fear.  At least try, in faith, and pray, and then praise God regardless the temporal outcomes for all is a spiritual victory when faith overcomes fear.

Now, that is truly simple, is it not?  Yes, but learning it and practicing it takes some reminding and some practice, and how else to learn it than in the little details of daily life?

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

Adapting to Deeper Conversion

The soul breathes and exists in increments of depth.

It is quite something to adapt more and more to deeper conversion of mind, heart and spirit within one's vocation, no matter what category of calling.  His Real Presence calls each soul to some vocation or dual vocations, or shifts vocations--adding or deleting or adapting one to another--in the progression of our earthly journeys.

Each stroke out into the deeper waters requires more faith as we progress into the unknown; and it takes a bit of earth time to grasp and adapt.

Today was one such day.  Not only is there prayer for more graces to be a happy, positive, inside-out-joyful Catholic hermit and child of God in earthly pain management, the graces are asked also for more obedience and submission to whatever is God's will in any given present moment.

While covering 96 St. Bernard Love of God Bourbon Balls in gold, candy foil wrap, the prayers include the marvel at what a relief in so many ways (yet still a jolt in the shift) to recognize and accept:  this hermit, and probably most hermits, are not well-suited nor intended for parish interaction and acceptance.   In biographies of saintly Church hermits that this hermit has read over the past fourteen years, none come to mind who interacted as parishioners.

Why should this have been a surprise in this "nothing" Catholic hermit's life?  Why the 14 years or more of not recognizing this reality, and rather, pushing on parish doors that were not opening?  

Some of the situations one could not begin to invent.  Recently, when needing help from any strong man for an hour or two for the task removing some tight cabinet screws and drilling them back in, the local parish's St. Vincent de Paul leader did not even respond in email or phone to the plea for help.  A year ago, the priest said there was no one he could think of to help carry in six 4x8' pieces of plywood.  Even in the details, the Lord has not allowed parish interaction with minimal, manual assistance.

But now, the load is laid to rest; the time of adaptation is blessed.  Various aspects of this hermit's daily life need some adjustment and greater commitment.  There has been a leaching back into the world--or maybe treading water--perhaps the result of relocating and resettling.  All the ups and downs and physical hardships have been difficult on the body and emotions.  

A set horarium (hourly schedule) has flown the scene, for the most part.  Not having daily Mass has thrown off that spiritually tangible start of the day.  (It is not as if the historical hermits of the Church celebrated or participated in daily Mass, for many or most did not.  No church nearby, most were not priests, and some were women eremitics.)  Now, it is all the more Order of the Present Moment, and must exist solely and soulfully in His Real Presence for whatever is to be, within and without.  

The skies finally released some rain in this desert.  Now the gardens beg care.  But the bourbon ball order arrived; with income needed all the more now, the present moment requires obedience to whatever seeds God sows into each day.  (Today it is packaging the little love balls and resting this mortal body so as to manage physical pain.)  

All events and situations in our lives are gifts from His Real Presence.  This is another reality that can be too easily ignored in the distractions.  Somehow, in all various ways, "nothing Catholic hermit" has lapsed in spiritual discipline.

Energy spent in doubting one's vocation or in thinking it is not meant to be so challenging, is energy that now can be redirected.   Ask afresh:  What does His Real Presence will-- daily, nightly, hourly, moment-by-moment?  And then strive to answer Him without fretting if much tangible is not accomplished.  Practice listening to Him; desire His will; then desire and attempt obedience.  

Perhaps desire and attempt are more the point and please God than what is accomplished in actions:  spiritual reading, formal praying, manual outcomes in the temporal surroundings.  Even a smidgeon of effort expended in practicing listening and attempting obedience to God's will, this is positive energy of soul.

Distance swimming, particularly in uncharted waters and with no notion of depth, takes much endurance and is not considered a win or a loss situation.  Why?  The spiritual life, vocation, and soul progression are not a competitive race.

The hermit vocation specifically is not a competition with anyone in other walks of life nor with other hermits nor with oneself.  The earliest desert hermits also had to guard against wanting to compare themselves to other desert dwellers intent upon seeking and finding God.  There is no supreme authority in the hermit vocation (or any vocation) other than His Real Presence. 

So we adapt to deeper conversion within a vocation. God adjusts and fine-tunes each soul who has agreed to accept and submit to God's will, despite any agonizing aspects in the process.  

(Was it easy for the early desert fathers and mothers to make the transitions from the temporal world and the temporal church to the desert life?  And the this could be anywhere of body, mind, heart, soul:  removed, stilled, in seeking submission to, obedience in, and union with God.  Was it easy for Jesus during His forty days in the desert or in any living out of His earthly teaching, ministry and mission?  Did He not weep, show frustration, and agonize at times?)

Hermits (or any souls desirous of God) adapt to deeper conversion into His Real Presence in whatever and however He wills, moment by moment.  Each moment flows into the next and the next until we no longer are aware of moments or flow but are aware of His Real Presence.  Then, perhaps, we are deep in love.  Then, perhaps, love will be the breath of the soul, and each breath will be more and more loving.

Today is a good day:  silent, solitary, slow, suffering--not selfless (but not as selfish as yesterday)--simple, still, stable and serene.  All moments flow one to another, prayerfully.  What the body cannot accomplish physically, the soul breathes of love.  When the mind cannot focus much spiritually, the soul yet breathes love.

God bless His Real Presence in us, and may we ever, as little children, love one another!

Hermit Ponders Simplicity

A man stopped by the other morning.  There is a story to this.  I had spoken with him on the phone three times last spring, but he was always very busy, rushed, and not able to meet me, not even to say "hello."  I met one of the monk-priests of his monastery, though, one day at the bank.  He said there are the three of them at the monastery.  The monk priest said this man, the abbot, had gone to another state to lead a retreat.

We quipped about how he seems quite busy for a hermit priest and hermit abbot.  Yes, the monk-priest said he sometimes tells the abbot he needs to go off to another monastery for some quiet!

But the abbot stopped the other morning.  He was driving by and happened to see me outside.  He was quite rushed.  I think that is part of his energy level, perhaps, or his way of life.  He commented on the work I was doing to improve the old house.  He said I was welcome to visit his monastery.  I mentioned, as I must, the little situation during Mass, although it may not occur.  Only God is forever, after all.

He then was on his way to his van and was all the more rushed.  He commented he surely hoped I'd be awake for his homily.  Two priests have said that, now, half-joking, and yet not.  I assured him if I visit, and if the state occurs, I would be very deeply aware at another level.

But he was more rushed and not listening by then.  My words slipped away somewhere between the bustling of his full-length, black, orthodox garb about his legs (so as to not get the fabric caught in the door)--and the slamming car door.  I thanked him for stopping to introduce himself, but I think that, too, may have gone unheard.

I noticed a rather significant sign on his dashboard that he is chaplain to a couple of area groups, and he gave me his "business card", as he called it, with his title (the very reverend abbot so-and-so), and thrust into my hand a colorful brochure of his monastery.  It all happened in a rush, and after he sped off, I realized anew:  first impressions do make an impression.

It wearied me.  What I seek in this phase of life is more simply, God; and to aid the search, I seek aspects of the Nine S' as platforms to help me support the living out of the Gospel rule of life.  I lately have been pondering simplicity.  Yes, it seems to me all of the Nine S' do complement each other like threads interwoven in the warp and woof, creating a softly strong tapestry.

I'm not sure how I'd feel being an abbot of two in a monastery of which land was purchased years ago, following a shift from a previous career.  I'm not sure how it would be to be a hermit priest yet so rushed and busy.  It is nearly four months since my phone call suggesting I meet them, not knowing then how many monks there nor how busy the abbot in travel and the group tours they conduct.  One time I called, he was awaiting a busload to give a tour of their compound.  The next time he was leaving to give a retreat in a major city in another state.  The other time he was busy at his chaplaincy job.  Calling a fourth time was out of the question.  I was worn out by the third.

The brief visit the other morning left me exhausted yet with some humor about how quickly he fled--about as quickly as he appeared on the scene, having rushed down the drive.  I first noticed his head--the long, yellow-white hair and immense white beard.  I thought a drifter had come, or some recluse neighbor to complain about the work I am attempting here.  Then I noticed the full-length, heavy, black habit.  By then he was already introducing himself.

All is a blur of rapid-fire exchange.  But that does not mean it was hectic or a blur for him.  We are on different paces, different breath traces, different spaces and places.

Sometimes I can grasp aspects of simplicity when I encounter what seem not to be aspects of simplicity.  I am seeking God by way of simplicity and in the rest of the Nine S' that are interwoven:  Silence, Solitude, Slowness, Suffering, Selflessness, Stability, Stillness, Serenity. This makes for a smooth, strong fabric.

Not heavy black rayon, but just simple, natural, fiber fabric of some soft shade that is serene--that whispers simplicity.  Just simplicity, that is all I seek by God's help, in self and others.  Genuine, slow, still, serene simplicity--no need to seek further than peaceful simplicity--and God shows Himself.

I have not the need, desire nor energy to keep up with intensity.  Lord, let me find sublimity in the softness of the Nine S'.  They suffice to support daily and nightly practice of the Gospels.  Some day, if out on a walk, and I see either of the two monks or abbot about, I can offer a simple, loving "hello".  But I have not wandered that direction up the road in months.  I have ceased looking for, or perhaps expecting, others to bring me "home."  Religious life and positions can become rather a complex business. 

Perhaps Anthony of the Desert became busy and rushed, the more people came to his hut?  Did Benedict rue the day his hermit life became disrupted?  Wasn't it something like two short years before his life changed to that of being well on his way as abbot of a religious order, writing rules and being responsible for many followers?  (And the more the rules, the more are infractions, the more corrections are needed, and then more enforcement.) 

It seems thus, but none of that is for me.  I am not seeking in the rushed, the complicated, the busy, the organized--which might so easily become another form of temporal structure.  Too much of that type of energy dust has been shaken out of me.  Cannot people be inspired to God with simply simple simplicity?  I pray so.

Today, across the road, a tan mare and her likewise tan filly are newly arrived and grazing in the pasture.  I wonder if there will be five horses now, or if the two I do not see now, have been taken to a different farm for boarding.

These horses, grazing and meandering about the field, have become my daily view of simplicity.  With the break of dawn, I can make out their shapes across the road in the pasture.  Sometimes they are laid out on the grass.  Other times they take their usual position of neck craned forward, head down, silently nibbling, nibbling.  They slowly amble to another area of nibble-worthy grass.  Sometimes in inclement weather, I see someone has placed garments upon their backs to give protection.

The horses more state the appeal for the humble lessons of life.   They live sumptuously simple lives.   Their pace is softly gentle, their communication mostly silent, their existence sincerely serene.  They mostly pass unnoticed in their natural coats and habitat.

Hermit Reviews Eremitic Descriptors

921: "They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One."

Every so often I review the description of consecrated, eremitic life found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Just as the other day, I noticed anew the call to praise God (920).

Here, I highlight certain words.  They mean something more to me now, like learning a new star constellation--one that now stands out more than before.  Hermits are to manifest to everyone the interior aspect of personal intimacy with Christ.


I have explored doing this with more personal, intimate sharing of how His Real Pres- ence com- municates, loves, has mercy, guides, encourages and touches the soul in everyday life.  The writing brings me a sense of peace, especially those experiences that have universal appeal in whatever message for any of us.

But some people may be put off by the personal sharing.  It seems not the Catholic norm to share spiritual experiences of His Real Presence.  I've pondered possibilities as to when the precedent for keeping our spiritual lives very private.  Of course, it has not always been that way, or we'd not have the vast and detailed writings of others' spiritual experiences that inspire us in our spiritual journeys, generation by generation.

However, manifesting these is part of a hermit's job description--manifesting [making clear and obvious to the mind or eye] personal intimacy with Christ.  It is to be a silent preaching, which can include overall lifestyle as well as writings.  

Being hidden from the eyes of men presents some questions.  How hidden?  Should Catholic hermits not be part of a parish and not known as a hermit in a diocese or elsewhere, such as online?  Would this not preclude hermits from Mass?  What about the hermits of the early centuries and through the Middle Ages up to this time?  Obviously, they were not hidden from the eyes of men or we'd not know about them.  They would not have had "followers" nor would hermit-like religious orders have developed

Especially now, with public profession of vows as an option, hermits are rightly known as hermits in dioceses, and they are seen at Mass, just as privately professed hermits might be known to others as hermits, although that path of consecration can allow the option to not be known as a hermit to others.

I bring these questions to mind because I am praying to His Real Presence to enlighten me, and to do a little, hermit job-review.  Am I currently living and honoring the hermit life that God has chosen for me and values very much (as reminded by my angel over 7 years ago)?

I have noticed religious hermits and others in videos.  I tried it as a venue, but it has primarily allowed myself to be stripped and to see and hear as I really am.  But, I suppose it would be similar to hermits of yore speaking to those who visit.  In our time, people tend to visit through technology. 

I have wondered if hidden means anonymous to the eyes of men?  Technically, audible sharing is not silent preaching....  However, were not the early desert fathers and mothers ones who verbally shared and offered counsel when others asked them? 

Obviously, they did not preach silently, as lovely and poetic as that turn of phrase sounds.  Perhaps it is meant to emphasize the vital aspect of silence and solitude, so vital in a hermit's daily life and of which provides the stricter separation from the active life and the noisy world.

Yes, silence is a vital aspect of hermit life, and it ought to be a part of any Christian's life, for it is in listening to God in silence that we become aware, all the more, of His Real Presence having made his abode in us.

As for me, I am not so much inclined to continue the videos unless I have additional direction from my spiritual father or His Real Presence to do so.  I feel adequately stripped and humbled, and see myself raw and unedited.

But the writing, yes.  As for being more open in actual, face-to-face encounters with people, I think not.  No one needs to know who I am or that I am a hermit, in person, other than a handful of closest friends--and only then to establish for myself, really, a means to fulfill the silence aspect and a stricter separation from the world, and my rule.

Since my rule of life is the Gospel Rule with the Nine S' as the platform of Gospel living, whether or not I am a Catholic hermit is an unnecessary point of information to those around me.  In my writing it seems valid.  Manifesting personal intimacy in Christ includes aspects of the Nine S':  Silence, Solitude, Slowness, Suffering, Selflessness, Stability, Simplicity, Stillness and Serenity.

As for any Christian--not just hermits--we surrender all to Him for He means everything to us (or should!).  But key for the hermit is that this is a particular call in the desert--culled out and apart from much of the world--to find the glory of Christ crucified.  For a hermit, the call to this vocation as one in the "desert" is a defining aspect as opposed to how every Christian ought live.  As for finding the glory of the Crucified One, again, all Christians are called to this, not just hermits.

The desert can take various forms, literal, symbolic, metaphoric, yet has certain, common features.  But one can read elsewhere about that.