Catholic Hermit: People Who Inspire

They may not live in our neighborhoods or even in our lifetimes, but those who are within His Real Presence, relating within His abode in our souls, find souls who inspire.

One such soul belongs to a woman who lived on earth from 1198-1279.  This soul was a female in gender, and she was and is known to humankind by the name of Hildegard of Bingen.  In her earthly name, we gain her earthly location--as was customary in that century to give locale of birth along with one's name.

A young spiritual friend who calls herself at times this hermit's spiritual daughter, suggested we next read a book about this soul named Hildegard.  Given the fact that many in the movement currently termed "new age" have gummed onto Hildegard and somewhat skewed her soul's message and mission, we settled on the edition published by Classics in Western Spirituality.

I have read the preface and part of the introduction and am already being inspired.  Having previously read other books about her life--one tainted with new age ideologies before I had researched the authoress and another that is out-of-print and solidly researched with her Christian base--I am fascinated all over again with what stamina and substance such a soul reveals to us, to our souls.

In the preface, I am struck repeatedly with reminders as to why this human woman's soul and earthly experiences when here, resonate and inspire my soul and earthly experiences.  Her existence as a person as well as a soul who yet exists and even more powerfully so can affect my life by her friendship, guidance, and prayers is downright helpful and more--is hopeful.

I cite this one example, although the short preface is filled with many others--and the introduction yet more, and what awaits in her own words, of her visions has my soul all eyes and ears.

"Atypical as we may find her moderate Benedictinism, her assumption of quasi-clerical roles and her exegetical rather than experiential stance toward her visions, the act of writing that wrenched her from depression into leadership reminds us of the stunning personal integration and religious creativity of Beatrice of Nazareth, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa of Avila in similar acts."

I found this assessment to be quite encouraging, at a personal level.  I also had forgotten in previous reading of her life, that she was chronically ill.  She also was outspoken against the weaknesses in the clerics of her time; and preached in written and verbal modalities, rallying people--souls!--to not succumb to blind following and lukewarm Christianity. 

But it is that the act of writing wrenched her from depression into leadership--that somehow touched my soul's heart profoundly.  To realize that the act of writing can do so much not only for those who may read what is written--or not--is what gives me encouragement and hope.  And what is written from the inner abode wherein His Real Presence reigns and rules those souls who desire His full consummation of our souls, has such power not so much for those who read, if they do, but powers us from stagnation into leadership.

Does leadership need to be of the external, earthly variety?  No.  Leadership can be such as the inner world reveals--the world of souls.  The soul's inner sight, inner sensing, inner conversation and thought-flashing, inner hearing, inner breathing, inner communion with God Who Is Love.

So perhaps some of you may grasp the same kind of excitement and hope or at least glimpse a bit if you've read my blogs and know of or can relate with the trials, the suffering, and the spiritual journey thus far.  There is movement forward today with the comaraderie of yet another soul-friend, leading by example of her soul's journey when on earth--and of course, in fact, with what her soul will reveal of its existence in the earth-time since her stepping beyond the stairway to heaven.

I think Hildegard's soul will be with me very much in the creative endeavor, albeit manual and mundane, of tiling the tub surround today, here in this place where my body with soul encompassing it, exists for now.  I am interested in what her soul has to show me, has to say, and not only in the extant writings her soul mind and heart penned centuries ago.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Love God above all things, and love one another as ourselves.

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.