The following selection from The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2793) provides beautiful substance especially for a Catholic hermit's purposeful prayer life. When people--even Catholics who are not necessarily familiar with the eremitic vocation--have the misconception that hermits are recluses, do not "interact" with people, an answer resides within the first two words of The Lord's Prayer.
"The baptized cannot pray to 'our' Father without bringing before him all those for whom he gave his beloved Son. God's love has no bounds, neither should our prayer. Praying 'our' Father opens to us the dimensions of his love revealed in Christ: praying with and for all who do not yet know him, so that Christ may 'gather into one the children of God.' God's care for all men and for the whole creation has inspired all the great practitioners of prayer; it should extend our prayer to the full breadth of love whenever we dare to say 'our' Father.
I love how the above selection is worded! Just yesterday I asked the Lord to pour His abundant graces upon me that I might pray for others and praise God for and in others with that bountiful generosity that flows from His Real Presence and would allow me to become a "cheerful giver." I want to sow bountifully in my daily and nightly life as a consecrated Catholic hermit.
Last evening a spiritual friend called. There are many prayer concerns within that single conversation. After, I wondered if I would--or even could--pray with depth for those mentioned, some unknown to me other than through hearing of them over time through this spiritual friend. Then I considered the many people out there and all over the world who are experiencing some of the same trials in life as the persons mentioned who are in this friend's family and extended family.
In reading this selection just a bit ago, from The Catechism, the answer in part is before me. I still must give to the Lord my attention, my body, mind, heart, and spirit more fully this day. I awoke after a most blessed 8 hours of sleep! Yes, the body was on the verge of shaking with pain, but there is a strength, also. I decided upon this intangible strength to try to cut back another 25% of one of the pain meds. I will see how it goes. Perhaps cut back every other medication time.
I considered how yesterday the occupational therapist chided me, so necessarily, when I started to slightly turn at the waist. She was walking with me to see how I managed with walker to make a cup of coffee. When one stands at a counter, with a reach to the right or left, the automatic movement is to slightly turn at the waist to reach and grab. Well, I am no longer supposed to do that, for I am fused from tailbone through the lumbar. I must not at all twist at the waist.
Then she taught me how to do a shower "transfer," and the big lesson how to turn on the shower water with the hand sprayer not facing me, so that then I would remove the brace. But I made another error. I did not sit on the shower chair but rather trusted in standing to remove the brace without holding onto a shower grab bar. And once more, I started to twist ever so slightly in another task, without thinking. I am to think before movements I must always turn my feet to face whatever task and never turn at the waist to do so.
After I had "walkered" back to the bed, perched with walker in front of me and removed the brace, then log-rolled onto the bed, she discussed with me some of the future. I had not thought through in much detail, another change of movement I must learn. The OT (Occupational Therapist) said I will need to either learn to always squat with spine straight in order to pick up something from floor, or I will need to use the reacher-grabber tool--a stick-type mechanism with a claw at the end that opens and closes to pick up items so that a person does not bend at the waist.
During the day yesterday, I kind of let the reality sink in, that gardening and doing various projects and simple daily life tasks are going to require a major change in how this temporal body moves and operates. Doing a straight-spined squat at my age is going to require remarkable leg strength and body core strength. Older people tend to have difficulty just in standing up from being seated on a chair without using the arms of the chair to help shove upward. Arms of a chair or the seat itself are used to help the body into a sitting position. My, this is not going to be easy!
I considered how in the past couple or so years when doing so much manual labor at the previous hermitage, that I began to notice I could work hard one day (climbing ladders, mowing 2/3 acre with walk behind mower) and my legs would be so sore! But I'd do more manual labor using the legs the next day or after, and I'd be just as sore. The nurse who'd come yesterday told me it has to do with "muscle memory" not as good the older we get.
All the more, then, this morning's Catechism selection is an answer for my desire to fulfill my mission in life, of which my vocation plays an important part, of course. And a main aspect of my vocation is prayer and praising God. I'd been pondering 2 Cor 9:6-10 [see recent blog posts]; and I know my prayer life is always in need of improvement.
The Lord is now providing me with a transition from being able to be active in tasks about the hermitage to being mostly bed-ridden during recovery from the spine surgery. After three weeks post-op, the reality is settling in as to the depth and breadth of how incrementally slow is this recovery. And now I am realizing the importance of changing some basic aspects of otherwise automatic body movements.
And with that transition, the Lord is also teaching me the importance of some basic aspects of otherwise automatic prayer "movements." How beautiful is that? I had wondered last night how the Lord would provide for me the abundance of all necessary to sow bountifully in my hermit life. Here's a first start of what He is providing. The value of praying the "Our Father" is extended and expanded in meaning and purpose. The "our" in "our Father" opens up new dimensions as to who and what is included in the "our" of God.
I'm quite excited. There is nothing more exciting than when we recognize God pouring in graces, and quite quickly in response to our communicating with Him that we need His help, need those graces to better fulfill our vocations and ultimately fulfill the purpose for which He has us here on earth.
(And I have no doubt that God will also help me learn to change life-long, ingrained, body movements that now are necessary to forget in order to accommodate a now unbendable and untwistable body at the waist. It is rather minor, that. The only problem if I do not learn the changes is the next levels of my spine will be impacted, requiring more levels to be fused and instrumentation extended. Truly, people around us have to forget and relearn far more than I do, in their temporal bodies after life-altering events occur.)
God bless His Real Presence in us!
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