Catholic Hermit: Wait for Christ's Mercy

From I Jude 17:21-23:

Build yourselves up in your most holy faith;
pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
On those who waver, have mercy;
save others by snatching them out of the fire;
on others have mercy with fear,
abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.

The other day this first reading from Mass Scriptures struck me as being packed concisely with wisdom.  Each line holds major tenets and advisements for body and soul, temporal and spiritual.

I'm here on my sleeping bag on the floor, stiff and sore from a hard fall in a store.  Happened Saturday late afternoon and was in ER getting body x-rayed until released in evening--no broken bones on what was x-rayed!  Praise God! 

But that does not free me for much mobility as the entire body smacked concrete after foot caught on an errant, loopy hose in garden section.  Of course, I did not see it.  I was in fast-pace mode after picking up some plumbing supplies and a potted dahlia to help brighten the front porch of the hermitage, readying it for selling.  So my body propelled with force and smacked the cement. 

Was quite a spectacle with customers gasping and gathering around, clerk calling for crisis management over store intercom:  Customer down in Lawn and Garden!

Mercy.  Yes, that is the word I'm holding today from the apostle Jude's first letter:  Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As soon as I splatted on the concrete and thought my leg was broken (not, thankfully, but plenty sore as is remainder of this old Catholic hermit's body--bones, tendons, muscles, soft tissue), I realized I'd made an crucial error that morning. 

Having made great progress on the upstairs bathroom plumbing and other finishing work, I had set a mental time-goal that I might finish the hermitage in three weeks!

When will I learn?  Every time I set a time-related goal, something happens to slow me in the work efforts.  Stay in the Order of the Present Moment.  Do not leap forward with plans connected with time frames.  Just keep myself in the love of God and wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It leads to eternal life--not the time-frame of finishing some project minor or major, or starting or ending some life event, job, vacation, relationship, or otherwise.

Even now, I have no idea how long I will be "stoved up".  When the shock wore off and adrenalin dropped to more normal level, it is a matter of WAITING to heal and feel up to manual labor again.  Gotta wait for awhile to see if left shoulder affected.  After such impacts, soft tissue injuries can take awhile to see if they will simmer down or be an on-going problem.

Don't I know from the right shoulder surgeries as well as the low back of which years ago an accident changed the course of my earthly existence.  However, with this, I think the stiffness, pain, and aches will be temporary.  At least I hope and pray so.

My cousin happened to call yesterday and asked when I think I will finish the house. I said I must not ever project and explained why.  God does not will it!  I am to learn to remain strictly with and in the Order of the Present Moment, down to the detail of time-limits and time-goals.

Build myself up in the faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.

Now, that is something to ponder.  Pray in the Holy Spirit.  I honestly have no idea if I am "doing" that, but I guess I must assume so considering the Paraclete came yet again on Pentecost in celebratory and mystical commemoration of the reality of His being bequeathed us centuries ago, upon the will and action of the Father and the Son.

Just last week we celebrated Trinity Sunday, after all, and my smackdown in the store was on the vigil of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi--Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus upon whose mercy I wait.  So all the right reminders are about me, and Jude's contribution to the Living Word of God do have reality and actual, lived meaning.

As to mercy, I am to have mercy on those who waver.  Yes, I can do that.  But to save them and snatch them from the fire?  It surely must be through prayer at this point, that yes, I can pray for their salvation.  I have a relative or two in mind--one in particular who is unhealthy and affecting her ill, teenage daughter's progression in healing from a dire medical crisis.  And another has totally turned from God, saying not a believer but of course I do not know deep down in the person's soul. 

But I will have mercy and hope to help save them from the fire, by the grace of God.  There is always hope in Christ, in waiting for His mercy, in remaining in God's love, in praying in the Holy Spirit.

So I pray.  That is my hope in fulfilling the advice from Jude.  Well, it is written with import and impact more than seemingly advice.  It is truth, power, might, and necessity for us Christians--and especially perhaps for a consecrated Catholic hermit.

Oddly, in the store when splayed on the concrete floor, the crisis manager who was called was concerned but also thinking managerial style.  By instinct, I held up the crucifix I wear, and said, "I am a Christian; I am not a type of person to malinger nor deceive."  Now, that must have come from the Holy Spirit--words I'd not logically come up with under the shock of the unexpected hard fall.

I must trust that since the Holy Spirit has been given, and I have accepted and desire to be in the Holy Spirit as in His Real Presence--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--that my praying is done in the Holy Spirit.  Remaining in God's love and waiting on Christ's mercy--yes, that is my desire and hope, and in faith, it is so.

May it always be so.

As for my having mercy--with fear--on those who are abhorrent by their sins, yes, I will be merciful with a wariness, a fulsome fear that I not touch nor take in the stain of their outer garments, tainted by sin of their flesh.  Of course, I'd better beg the Lord and my fellow humans to offer me mercy with fear lest I taint them with my sins and vices, of which I nor anyone is without sins of some sort or other.

That is why it is best and even safest, to build up our faith, remain in the love of God, wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray in the Holy Spirit--leading to eternal life.

And praise God--thankful for His Real Presence in us!