Sunday, November 17, 2019

Hidden from the Eyes of Men: More from a Catholic Hermit


I have a few more thoughts about the statement below, which is found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 921, regarding what the Church expects of her consecrated (privately or publicly professed) hermits.

"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."


I wrote previously in a post on "What a Hermit Is to Be and Do, cont." my lived experience of what I discovered rather destroys or at minimum, hinders a hermit's ability to remain "hidden", as in hidden from the eyes of men, effectually meaning: "others".

I shared that wearing clothing other than what blends in with all other people in our locales or situations, destroys the ability to be or remain "hidden" from others' sight.

I also shared that telling others, be it by a seemingly charitable intent to explain why we are not available socially or do not have a social support network such as when we are ill or in need of assistance, or why people in general are not coming and going from our dwellings [hermitage, but if we tell people that term instead of house, apartment, condominium, etc. we damage hiddenness, as well], we can inadvertently or intentionally remove our ability to be "hidden."

A week ago an older couple came to pick up the maple logs from the trees that were felled last spring.  They paid me a price that gave them a good buy which also helped me defray a bit of the tree cutters' fees.  God is good, gracious, kind, and merciful!

The woman evidently noticed the Catholic art work and statues inside my hermitage (house, to her), and brought up that she had been reared Catholic but had not gone to Mass in a long time.  She mentioned to me (she knew of my surgery due to brace and my inability to be up much nor to help them so much as lift or bend over to pick up a piece of bark) that surely there would be parishioners who would come take me to church or bring me Communion.

So we got into a brief conversation, in which she inquired more, and I answered; and I felt in making any sense to her, I needed to explain that my having thought I needed to explain to a couple parishioners and the parish nurse why I do not already have people who can run an occasional errand or why I could not sit during Mass, anyway--that it seems my mention of being a consecrated Catholic hermit is, as one of the priests had warned me, too much for parishioners to grasp and deal with.  Neither of the parishioners who had offered to help again if needed, were responding.

The woman buying the maple logs looked at me, and said, "I have no idea what you mean by what you just said about being a hermit."  So I decided to explain in a concise statement what is a consecrated Catholic hermit, what the Church asks of those of us in the hermit vocation.  I did so in a couple of sentences, which surprised even me.  She continued the sweeping up of wood chips (her husband had chainsawed some of the largest logs so they could be lifted--with the unexpected but wonderful help of the Mormon neighbor man and his older children.

The only other mention she made regarding my sharing that I am a hermit, and that it seems to have been off-putting or some connection to these parishioners skedaddling, and thus I was not reaching in further but waiting upon God to provide in whatever ways He wills. is that she said, "You must be by nature very introverted and meditative and like to contemplate."  

To that I explained that hermits have all types of personalities, and retain their personalities; but that yes, they devote their lives to praise of God and prayer for the salvation of the world, and meditate on Scripture and on God.  I also mentioned that everyone has the ability to be contemplative to whatever degree.

I was not sure if the hermit-talk was too much, but she ceased conversing; she and her husband finished up, and we spoke of what tremendous amount of manual labor they were doing, and how inspirational it is, positive, plus healthy for their bodies.  They heat their home solely by wood stove in winter.  The husband mentioned he is not sure how much longer they can do the wood splitting and stacking themselves, but they have this year's three cords which should last them through winter.

Since I've been pondering how it is, in our contemporary times, for a hermit to ensure being hidden from the notice or eyes of others, and the value of hiddenness for prayer, meditation, contemplation with the beneficial aspect of detachment from self and needful silence of solitude, I decided to text the woman and ask her to be honest in her reply, if she would, as to how my mentioning I am a consecrated Catholic hermit affected her.

To my surprise, she texted back that she was not put off by it, but rather thought I did a very good job of explaining what it is as she had not heard of it before.  Her closest notion was an aunt (I presume deceased) who lived as a cloistered nun in a convent in Italy.  The woman repeated that she thinks no one should judge how other people choose to live their lives.

And that brings up another aspect of which I might write in a post sometime.  I don't think people "choose" religious vocations.  Some may think they are choosing the vocation, but in actuality, people receive a call from God in one way, form, or another, to accept and agree to a religious vocation.

However, back to my thoughts on how in our times, a hermit must be creative and honest in how to bring about being and remaining to be "hidden from the eyes of men" [others], I only know what I've learned from experience and what indeed does destroy, or has for me, what I find to be invaluable in my vocation:  to be and remain hidden. 

This means not to draw attention to myself visually, as in my appearance; and not to mention to others that I am a Catholic hermit, in the consecrated life of the Catholic Church.  I realize that if I did not have such a pain and spine disability, it might be more difficult if I were more "out there," such as in a parish or needing to work in a job.  

But actually, even in other circumstances, I could ensure that I'd not find myself often if at all in situations in which I'd have to explain I am a Catholic hermit (other than perhaps closest friends or family members who should be told because I would be living the vocation day and night, yes, hidden from the eyes of men...!  They would need to know so as to understand my not being as socially available, other than in what charity requires.

And I've found over the years, that charity does not require much of a hermit.  Adult children and grandchildren are rightfully busy living their active lives; a hermit who is also a parent of adult children and a grandparent, can be available by phone and in person--but it really is not that often that the adults and children who quickly grow into teens and adults themselves, rely on much interaction.

The hermit who is also grandparent, can watch a grandchild in a sport without being noticed other than the grandchild who is pleased the grandparent is watching, if the child notices much.  We hermits must understand, as Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange so aptly reminds in The Three Ages of the Interior Life:  every person, young and old, are experiencing their lives from a standpoint of what they see, hear, think, and their conversations with others are from their perspectives, and the inner conversations are with themselves and with God whether or not they are aware of the God conversations, per se.

The love a hermit grandparent has for the adult children and grandchildren is the same or maybe even greater love than those without religious vocations.  A hermit is praising God and praying for the salvation of the world, and that praising and praying very much includes familial loved ones--perhaps more than, by far, due to the devoting of life to God in this way of stricter separation from the world and the silent preaching of the Lord.


Anyway, a hermit has ways of being and remaining hidden from the eyes of men, if we want this.  And wanting this is probably a personal matter that becomes a greater desire and understanding of how important it is, the more we live our hermit vocations, and the more we learn detachment from our "selves" and our egos, and our human, temporal inclinations to wanting an identity of some sort.  When we detach from being someone and accept we are nothing, and best off being nothing to God's all to whom we are to have surrendered our lives because He is everything to us, we then realize the prize of being hidden and remaining hidden.

The hermit vocation is, I think, the only vocation which has this advised and helpful, even spiritually practical and crucial condition of passing unknown to others, hidden from the eyes of men, in silence of solitude, in stricter separation from the world.  This means outwardly as well as inwardly.  We must lose ourselves in the Holy Trinity, in His Real Presence.  And this may be done exteriorly and interiorly, by our own efforts as well as by picking up on the ways in which God helps us through situations and circumstances.

And a situation and circumstance that I'm heeding, having started to notice that I do not need to explain anything to others, not mention hermit vocation, just as over 17 years ago I noticed and realized I drew attention and stood out like a sore thumb wearing a habit or even such simple and same clothing that people noticed and stood out as different and austerely so.  And this was a few years after God called me to hermit life and had told me in a locution during Mass, about the Order of the Present Moment, and in that "order" my habit to wear was whatever I happened to be wearing in the present moment!  Nothing special, nothing unique, nothing intentionally "simple" or trending after what the poor wore in other centuries, or the desert fathers and mothers wore, nothing with a veil or hood that no one else around me was wearing nor would ever wear.  Just blend in; be nothing, remain hidden from the eyes of men.

It is not part of what the church states under "Eremitic Life" in the "Consecrated Life of the Church,"  that our vocation asks us to preach to the world or to anyone at all, what is a hermit, or that we are a hermit and why and how it is we are living.  No, our preaching is to be a silent preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all else that I have been and will continue to explore of the Church's statements for we, Her hermits, in the consecrated life of the Church.

[Perhaps diocesan hermits and their bishops have some reason or other for exposing a hermit as such.  I would not be in that position, but if I were, I would request remaining hidden, since I've come to understand why being hidden from the eyes of others is beneficial for what I'm to do and be as a Catholic hermit.  While public profession means doing so in the hands of the diocesan bishop, there is no insistence on public exposure to others as a hermit, nor of wearing a habit or unusual garment.   It is important for a consecrated Catholic hermit's spiritual director to know, for obvious reasons, in helping guide the hermit in the spiritual life and in living the hermit vocation.]

In reminder, I have not come to this understanding except after trial and the incumbent errors, or perhaps better the hassles or obstacles that I've encountered from not doing all I could and can do, to be and remain hidden from notice of others and disclosure as a consecrated Catholic hermit.  I can live incognito and yet do all that the Church asks of me and even better, such as the silent preaching of the Lord, and manifesting to others the interior aspect of the mysteries of the Church, that is, the intimacies of Christ.

(I have explored videos, and I have come to recognize, again trial and error, that while I remain anonymous in some aspects, the visual is not intrinsically an aspect of "hidden" that is best.  I ceased this mode of communicating; written words yet seem silent enough and more hidden as long as anonymous.  But who knows in future but God as to anonymous writing? Thus far, between late spiritual father and what is within, the writing continues; but even that needed quite a shift recently.)

Being hidden from the eyes of others, like all else in what the Church asks Her hermits to be and do, requires on-going discernment.  Each hermit is in process, and each situation unfolds accordingly within and without each consecrated Catholic hermit.  We must not judge what others are doing or not doing, for they are progressing, are in process, as are we.  Who knows?  God may ask a hermit to leave that vocation as He did with St. Colette and some others in history?  St. Benedict is a prime example!  God's will for him did not include hiddenness for long.  But for most of us, being hidden is for the best and will remain thus.

By being and remaining hidden from the eyes of others, I am dying all the more to self and making myself available to the Holy Spirit to utilize me in ways far beyond myself or my revealed and outer vocational appearance.  I've come to totally grasp:  What good is there, what is the point, in a hermit exposing himself as such?  There is no need and no good use or point in others knowing that which in wisdom the Church mentions of our being "hidden from the eyes of men."  

But other hermits, of course, may do and be as they wish, for I'm sure a bishop would be open to the validity of what is stated for hermits, and understand probably more readily than how long it has taken me to grasp the why and wherefore of the importance of being and remaining hidden.  And that goes also for how when I give myself more in surrender to God, the "-er" in stricter separation from the world is increasing in actualities both exterior and interior.  Praise God!

God bless His Real Presence in us!

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