Solus Deus Hermit: A Diverging Hermit Vocation

I was asked a few days ago to write an article for a publication, I assume online magazine.  The topic was the hermit vocation and it's relevance or some such juxtaposition with the Church today.  Someone had asked me, who had contacted me several years ago for vocational discussion, remembered me, and appreciated whatever it was I'd mentioned in our email correspondence. I truly cannot recall; too much life and suffering has passed before us, over however many years.  

I was initially willing to write the article, no pay involved, to help out. Plus this latest major surgery has been a dark night of senses that turned into dark night of soul; the aftermath is more painful and far more slow a recovery than I anticipated or was prepared for physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I felt writing the article would fire my inner engines, as I've been seeking God's will on what to write next, as I have yet to fulfill my mission, which keeps coming back to being sharing in writing or verbally, the reality of God, and His ongoing and vital providence for and interactions with we, His created people, in every present moment of our lives.  

So I figured go ahead and write the article, of which I was told I could use previous writings or write what comes.  I admitted that the article that came, seemed to me a mess of ramblings.  I altered "person" in the structure and repeat, have my typical too-long sentences, and whatever else.  I submitted the article, and the contact person then wrote wanting an additional article for the level of junior readers.  Yes, I could do that, but of course would shorten the piece, as I was given a 2,000-4,000 word limit, of which I came in at just under 4,000 words.  Typical for my writing, I admit, and more length the more pain I am in!  Then came a message that the original had parts that he'd remove, and then another message of just writing the piece for the junior magazine.  

I realized amidst the shifting of ideas and articles, and of at one point the contact person wanting to edit sections and then publish the original article, to then turning more to a junior article more basic of hermits and hermit life, I felt misgivings I had so quickly agreed to this effort.  Granted, I am exhausted and on weak from the surgery effects, and the painful recovery is going to continue for several months.  But what I wrote came to me all the more from setting forth the two paths available to Cadolic hermits today, yet I am most definitely a hermit of the long-standing path, the traditional, historic vocation. In fact, my long-time priest and spiritual advisor had not even heard of the more recent CL602 hermit path.  

Only after a couple years did I hear of this canon law hermit option, and through testing the will of God, He continued to say in defined ways, "No."  Each time I was relieved, for I had begun to grasp the pitfalls and temptations that were befalling some of the diocese (CL603) hermits. In fact, I became an object of attack by one such who evidently felt I was a threat that needed to be silenced.  And while not silenced nor the facts unchanged, I have not written on this topic for a long time because I had no reason until asked to write this article, which of course would need to discuss both hermit vocational paths in today's Roman Church.

I've decided to bow out of the voluntary written offer for the publication, but am awaiting final word as to if the person wants still to use the sections he or perhaps an editor prefers from my article, or are agreeable to find someone else, and also what they plan for the shorter article for junior readers. I'd assume they would not use my writing without permission, of course, even if reworked or sections removed.  Regardless, I wrote what flowed out, and it expresses what is deeply held within, plus the reasoning and practicalities which undergird why God prefers the vocational path He continues to choose for me--and no, I will not ever test His decision again.  

By now this traditional path has all the elements of what the writers of The Catechism of the Catholic Church gleaned from documents and hermits of history, of the hermit vocation, as well as of the Consecrated Life--so that I do not consciously think in terms of my hermit path or even the vocational elements that create the means to the growth and usefulness of my life to God and His Church.  Rather, I simply live it, secure in the traditional structure and the many lives I've read of the saintly hermits of Christian history, including John the Baptist's life and being called out of the desert for the final fulfillment of his mission and purpose. I, too, am seeking in the end run of my earthly life, God's will and my assignment of mission and purpose.  

This article which I have decided was not really meant for that publication but more something I needed to write as a reminder to self of where I have lived and grown as a hermit over the past 23 years and another 14 years prior in which my mind was being warmed following a vision and locution in 1986, telling me how God wished me to live my life--a precursor of hermit vocation at a time I was not free to do so.  But the time came, and the other responsibilities and attachments have been met and detached.  

Now I will share what was to be an article that I wrote, with you my readers.  What was a warm-up call to loosen the fingers and tongue, and to open the mind to whatever the Holy Spirit desires, what I wrote is also a means of answering God with my YES and AMEN! I am ready to put what energy and breath, thought and heart, to sharing, writing, verbalizing--whatever it is that His Real Presence desires me to express for the good of my soul and the soul-lives of others, as well as to any aid it might be to Holy Mother Church and the Body of Christ.  

                                  On Being Hermit: A Diverging Vocation 

 For those who have read of or considered hermit life either historically or in today’s Church, the thoughts may have led to further research or may have remained at nuanced levels of just what is a hermit, a Catholic hermit, or the actuality of a Catholic hermit vocation then and now. Perhaps the thoughts included an inner yearning to become a hermit for any number of reasons, over the course of daily temporal life. 

I’d like to share with you, in part, some of my personal journey on becoming and being a Catholic hermit, including the diverging aspects of the hermit vocation in today’s Church. My own call to the hermit vocation began when yet a Protestant in 1986, before my conversion to Catholicism. I later professed hermit vows in 2000, in a chapel, before altar and tabernacle, officiated by an elder priest (my spiritual director)--myself as well, before and within the love of God Almighty. The priest had prepared a sermon; we each read various Scriptures; the ceremony modeled upon a Medieval Anchorite enclosure. 

 Rather than now discussing my own hermit path, I think it best to set forth the aspects of hermit life that have become basic requisites of religious solitaries from before the time of Christ to present times. These requisites that form religious hermits, and for this article, Catholic hermits, are currently stated in The Catechism of the Catholic Church under the section titled “The Consecrated Life,” and specifically stated in the subsection on “The eremitic life." 

 Let’s begin by examining these basics lived by hermits of God for centuries, and how the vocation has recently diverged into essentially two Church-allowed pathways of consecrated Catholic hermits today. Please let us consider the following excerpts from "The Catechism," bold-type emphases, mine: 

 III. THE CONSECRATED LIFE  914 "The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness."453 Evangelical counsels, consecrated life 

 915 Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God. 454 

 916  The state of consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. 455 In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.456 

 One great tree, with many branches....[These different vocations] have come into existence...for the progress in holiness of their members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ."457 

 918 From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved….458 

The eremitic life 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."460 

 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. 

From the above citations, we find that once a person has received a call from God, usually via the Holy Spirit who stirs the mind and heart, the discernment process begins. The call can be a nudging or curiosity within, or reading about some hermit of yore, a yearning for a life drawn apart for God alone, or even a direct locution in which one is told God wills the hermit life. Discernment progresses through prayer, inner listening to God, consulting with a wise and holy spiritual guide, preferably a wise, discerning, elder cleric. 

The individual ought ponder each facet written above of the hermit life and tradition. These describe the basics of what the Church asks of anyone desiring to become a Catholic hermit. In addition, the discerning person ought read as many books on the topic of hermits, and these primary sources--the writings of hermits themselves, hermit biographies by those who knew the hermits, and writings of hermits' spiritual directors, mentors, and guides. 

While the internet is convenient, the extant writings by hermits and original biographies are preferred to reading what current-day writers have extrapolated or opined on hermits, hermit life, and the hermit vocation. Locating old books online or from monastery libraries or used bookstores is an investment well-worth the time and cost; learning from the desert fathers and mothers and their writings, and any other hermit of centuries past, is invaluable in the discernment process. 

[Furthermore, stay clear basing a vocation upon current hermits' lives--myself included, other than for tips on how we came to the vocation or by sharing our efforts. We current Catholic hermits who are writers sharing our journeys, are still in situ, in process of our vocations, facing unknown trials and the temptations of the evil one; the eternal jury is still out as it pertains to our hermit lives. Some will falter and not remain, others may be called by God after a while to a different purpose, others may become enamored with being a known hermit of eager followers rather than being God's hermit known to but God and few others. Far better to read of a hermit, after a hermit's life is successfully fulfilled. Indeed the sting remains fresh from the example of the late Thomas Merton's brief hermit life a sham, later exposed in shame.] 

Returning to what The Catechism of the Catholic Church reveals of hermit basics, notice that all hermits from centuries past lived, even if not formally stated, the three evangelical counsels. Hermits avow to live chastely a celibate life, to live in poverty (of spirit but also of temporal means, reliant on no one other to exist). They live in obedience--obedience to God, to Christ, to the Holy Spirit. The obedience extends to Christ in Headship of His Church and Christ's Living Word. 

These evangelical counsels were embraced, essentially, by the Old Testament prophets, mostly eremitic (of the desert, or hermit) lives. John the Baptist is a hermit of Christ's time on earth, prior to his fulfilling his mission as precursor of Christ. Only then did he depart from a stricter separation of the world to begin preaching, baptizing, and proclaiming the Messiah, Christ among humankind. 

John the Baptist gained eternal reward through martyrdom, his mission on earth concluded. And this is a precious facet of the hermit vocation: Not all called to this vocation remain hermits for the duration of their lives. Many in history and yet today, are called by God to the hermit life for a certain time period, perhaps to learn more deeply of the interior life, or to fulfill some purpose of God's Holy will that requires being called back out into the world. Such is the case of Benedict who lived a hermit life for a time, but as so many came to the desert seeking his guidance and way of life, he instead became founder and father of the monasticism, of religious orders. Anthony of the Desert also was deluged with seekers. While he did mentor some, he remained steadfast as a hermit, removing himself repeatedly, increasingly hidden. 

Living the "silence of solitude" is a vibrant, vital gemstone of a hermit vocation. This solitude does not mean sharing an abode with another, or existing as a quasi religious order, or of hosting a retreat center, nor with harboring hopes founding an order of hermits. Solitude means alone, without others. While some had pets, domesticated or wild creatures, they are bidden by God's will and of His reasons. A fly became the pet of one hermit; it is said that when he'd doze or be called from reading his Hours, the fly would remain on the page, marking the line until the hermit continued. Generally, if a hermit had a pet, it was later on in the vocation. 

 There is no substitute for experiencing solitude, and thus, God Alone in the silence of solitude. As for hermit religious orders, Bruno the Carthusian refused to write statutes; he did not want a religious order of hermits. But following his death, another did so, and thus the Carthusian way of life became in essence another religious order. However, of hermit orders, the Carthusians live the hermit requisites rather remarkably, as much as a group could. Each Carthusian lives in separate cells, honors silence, eats in solitude other than after Sunday Mass, Christmas, and Easter; they celebrate Mass daily, but their only interchange with one another is a few hours of recreation one afternoon a week. 

This group type of hermit existence, however, comes at the cost of depending upon others, called “externs." These persons maintain the facility, prepare and deliver food to each cell, and handle all matters of temporal necessities so that the others may live their hermit lives, yet as a religious order. The prior or prioress maintain contact with the world, are administrators of the group as well as their financial responsibilities. 

What evolved into a group hermit experience, then under Guigo I, following Bruno's death, became The Order of Carthusians in the early 12th c,  The Order remains to this day although in declining vocations— a successful religious order which what was never intended to be a religious order. Bruno, a charismatic priest teaching in Cologne, Germany, simply wanted to remove himself from the temporal world,  An envious Bishop who caused him trials caused him, also, to remove himself from the temporalized aspects of the Church in his time period.  He answered a divine and profound call to draw close to God Alone. 

After some years of praying and planning, in 1070, Bruno chose to live the eremitic life in the farthest reaches of the Alps. Some companions of like desires accompanied him on this venture, but not as a fledgling religious order. Yet that is what the Carthusians became, and to their esteem, is the only religious order in the Western Church, per Pope John Paul II's mention, that has never needed to be reformed. The contribution of St. Bruno's seeking an eremitic life, with his friends joining in, left a major imprint of hermit functionality along with the spiritual call of those who yet today desire personal intimacy with Christ in the modus of the pith of consecrated life, and all that such divine union gifts humankind as well as the Body of Christ, the Church.

Thus more so, The Catechism highlights the importance of “a stricter separation from the world” and being “hidden from the eyes of men [humankind].” A hermit will evolve in separating from the temporal world; this is a process, thus the word “stricter” provides flow and movement, of gradations of letting go and dying to self and temporal world, while increasing in the inner life, a deepening, widening, “intimacy of Christ.” Enter the significance of a hermit’s outer appearance and abode. 

 I'll share personally here.  Fairly new to the hermit vocation, I learned these aspects not without pain. I quickly realized that if I wore a garment modeled after Medieval religious orders, or even a simple, gray garment day after day, people noticed me. If the garment reminded others of a religious habit, they came to me—strangers—and would pour out their lives and souls. I was stunned to think that my outer appearance, even in the very beginnings of my hermit vocation, had people deceived to think that I held some special holiness or wisdom, or that I was qualified to counsel them, or even that my prayers held special sway with God. Fortunately, I did have over half a doctorate in clinical psychology and many hours of counseling practicum, also a doctorate in leadership and administration. I was in my 50’s with much life experience behind me, fortunately was and am a person of lifelong prayer, loved God above all things, and had read of great spiritual books, as well as I love steeping in Scripture. 

But I was horrified to.consider:  What if I had none of this background, or if I had in pride thought I should take on this role they assumed of me? Indeed, I was not hidden at all! I stuck out like a sore thumb, and that included those who had negative experiences with religious persons from their early schooling or church interactions, and seeing me in a costume from another century, was not a positive reminder for them. Thus, combined with what the Scriptures state as to how we are to comport ourselves, 

I thankfully grasped that to remain hidden so as to silently “preaching Christ” (or present myself as one who had surrendered myself to the Lord), I needed to dress in whatever those around me wore, yet not needing much variety, but enough to not be noticed nor to stand out. I made sure even the hairs of my head blended in style. My person and clothing clean and appropriate, I donned what any ordinary person of my locale, age, and even background, would wear. This included altering my apparel somewhat when I needed to change locations. 

Remaining hidden is necessary for a hermit, and that includes not taking on some different name, or using a prefix such as Sister of Brother—or tagging on initials harkening to what religious order persons affix to their names. A hermit, publicly professed per the 1983 CL603, has set some of these precedents such as signing Erem.dio after names to designate they are diocese eremites. Immediately such designation stands out to others, bringing attention to the diocese hermits who adopt this practice. Is distinction and approval a hermit's due? Consider the Scripture of the humble man who remained in the back of the temple, remonstrating to God that he is not worthy, and then the proud man who wanted to be esteemed, and loudly declared his own worthiness. 

The same goes for where today’s hermit might choose to live. I soon realized that given my serious pain disabilities and age, that living out in a wooded property in a in an old abode, bearing the elements, and me with pain sieges that required strong medications and assistance from others now and then, I’d not be safe nor practical living in other than a simple yet comfortable neighborhood, close to what few needs I have of which one is on-going medical. Considering an apartment, not only did the constant pain make it very difficult with noise, apartment life for now would be too many people around. The more people in close quarters, the more they wonder and notice someone who is alone, quiet, without social life. In my current locale, rents are higher than my mortgage by double. 

Yet my main reason for an ordinary subdivision house, for now, is that my pain and low income, both, require that I try to keep my body active and mobile, otherwise I will be more quickly paralyzed as that is part of my ailment, Arachnoiditis. Thus I discovered the value of simple, humble labor which may be done in silence and solitude, or at least done in silence. It is also how I learned that the early desert fathers wore the typical garments of those who were poor in society, but also often flaxen color due to the heat of the desert as well as the type of cloth least costly. 

I took heed that they did not go out approaching others, nor did they work in parishes or hospitals, lovely as that work may be, but they worked in what they could sell, provided for their own food as much as they could by gardening, or in our times would have chosen tasks working for others to earn the money we require in our societies to pay our way in life—be it a mortgage, groceries, medications, heat, water, power, and internet which is becoming difficult to fulfill our duties without access, although could use library computer if going there seems better. 

Hermits can find employment cleaning buildings, working in an assembly line (despite being around others, the work is the focus, often machinery loud, so can retreat within to find the silence of solitude). Or, if the hermit has a profession, many now may be fulfilled by remote work, or if artistically inclined, by cottage industries in the abode. 

I live on a small retirement income after years of low income disability, with a modest share of my late parents' hard-earned savings. This is my final house that I have tried to renovate very slowly, amidst two major and three lesser surgeries in under four years. There is much good in ora et labora: pray and work. I pray to finish, then sell to develop savings for my end of life care should I not pass suddenly. Each month I pay off more of the low-interest mortgage. 

As my health has declined sooner than I anticipated, I, like many hermits in our later years, must accept some help such as after surgeries or with errands, or in other needs. Some people question or find odd, a lifestyle such as mine. Thus, if a hermit’s lifestyle becomes a matter of genuine curiosity, the hermit may choose to explain and request privacy. This happens usually if a person is going to be closer, needed to assist with on-going health needs. The Holy Spirit gives the hermit explanations. I find a less startling explanation is to say one is a “religious solitary” or simply needs to remain more alone and quiet due to life and health circumstances. 

There are many ways to remain hidden from curiosity, to retain the silence of solitude, to go without notice, and yet be a witness to the praise of God’s glory, to retain personal intimacy with Christ, to be silently preaching the Lord with ongoing surrender to the Crucified One Who Is a Hermit's All. As we note from familiarity with reading lives of great hermits of the Church, as well as the succinct guidance of The Catechism, a hermit’s life is to be devoted “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.” Over time, through prayer and reading, through asking the Holy Spirit for practical advice in living the hermit vocation, answers will come, as well as trials and errors. 

The hermit may go through various phases of adaptation, of advancing, regressing, doubting, increasing in faith, dark nights of senses and soul, and spiritual blessings. Through it all, at first and for a few years, it is important to seek spiritual guidance of a learned and experienced priest director, as well as of the Trinity, of the Living Word, of great spiritual guides through books, and also of praise and worship of His Real Presence. After years have passed, the need for a human spiritual director lessens. If there is need, a hermit may consult with one spiritual and advanced in life in Christ; but mostly the Trinity and the Living Word guide the hermit's temporal and spiritual lives. 

Worship and increasing intimacy with Christ as expressed in the spiritual life and value of the hermit vocation provide purposeful meaning. The hermit “manifest[s] to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Through years of living the hermit life, I came to understand that since my consecration as a Catholic hermit is by God, the Holy Spirit leads and guides, as well as Christ Who teaches and loves in and through me, God’s law of love and His love through me, of others. 

I participated in daily Mass to begin with, going and returning without much interaction unless in hospitality, someone had need of conversation. It is the hermit’s task to keep the conversation meaningful and purposeful to that person, and at times, interactive in sharing. A hermit is to be hospitable when appropriate and per the Divine Will. Over time, it became increasingly difficult for me to attend Mass. There are valuable reasons why not, but through prayer, discussion with my spiritual director--an elder priest, holy and wise--it became obvious God was hindering my being in a parish and being in a parish Mass. Once I realized that the hermits of history and tradition did not belong to parishes, nor did they attend daily Mass and rarely worshipped in group setting of Mass due to distance and if a priest happened along or was a hermit, I was able to let go of what had been my and sometimes a cleric’s lack of understanding the mysterious realities of hermit life as lived daily in past times and current times. 

The fact that the Trinity is guiding the hermit--and this is individualized guidance as the hermit vocation is an individualized calling--all matters settled into a peaceful and holy existence of truth, beauty, and goodness. I began to receive the Eucharist mystically. Once or twice it was through Jesus in a corporeal vision, on rare occasion someone from a parish would bring the Eucharist, but there were irrefutable situations as to why mystical and spiritual Communion became the norm. I had to stop thinking temporally, and grasp what God was doing that defies some of the temporal norms and suppositions. 

The Living Word sustains daily, and His Real Presence manifests in vast facets, very real as well as surreal. While daily life may seem basic and typical, one appreciates a glorious significance in the typical. There is a gentle. divine flow--despite the snares of the evil one attempting to disrupt--to try to bring the hermit to despair. All these aspects are part of the hermit's journey--and indeed, of any Christian's seeking and following Christ. The morning following my private profession of vows, my priest director suggested to me three words to strive to live in my hermit vocation: Silence, Solitude, and Slowness. The Holy Spirit added Suffering, Selflessness, Simplicity, Stillness, Stability. and Serenity. 

After nearly 23 years from my consecration by God and profession as a hermit of the Catholic Church, I yet ponder these words from time to time. But truly, the ebb and flow of the hermit vocation has fallen to the background fiber of my existence. His Real Presence has become the mind, heart, and soul of my everyday life, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I fulfill my temporal responsibilities, but my spirit and soul are in Christ to an extent of the actual hermit vocation or my “being a Catholic hermit” is not the focus. 

Rather, my soul in Christ and what I am to be and do for God—His will and purpose for my life of assiduous prayer and penance, for the salvation of all and the world—this has become the substance of my existence. I yearn for the passing from the temporal life, yet currently I am at a juncture point of which is another topic for hermits (and everyone) at some point to consider. Perhaps this is for further discussion, that of the element of family and friends in the life of a hermit--or many topics of what I consider mostly entry externals. 

At some point, when the words express without effort, much may be shared of spiritual progressions, lessons learned, sharing with the Body of Christ the spiritual benefits as well as practical, that come from living a consecrated life of which being consecrated to God is for everyone. Yet for me and some relatively few others, this life is as a consecrated Catholic hermit. 

I’d like to conclude by commenting on the two types of hermits currently available in the Roman Catholic Church to those who have a call by God, to be a hermit in the world today, a hermit of the Catholic Church. As we see from what is written in the Catechism, one may be a privately professed hermit, or one may become a publicly professed hermit, meaning has made vows by approval of a diocese Bishop, and has usually professed the vows in a public Mass, usually with a reception following, plus an article written in the diocese paper or other publications. 

Thus begins the hermit life of a newly approved diocese hermit, via the 1983 canon law 603. The hermit is known by others and usually takes on a title or new name, wears a habit of some sort designating his or her appearance as unique or similar to that of a religious sister or brother. They are seen participating in parish worship and sometimes other duties. Some are employed in a parish in some visible capacity, or as hospital chaplains. They may be approved to live together or have hopes to begin a Lara of hermits or some type of hermit religious order. Some may be installed on monastery grounds and participate in the religious order’s worship, provided housing and meals. 

Then there is yet the traditional, hermit vocational path—that of the earliest hermits and of which I have mostly shared, as this is my hermit path. There has been a growing trend by some including bishops who are only aware of or approached by persons desiring approval for the CL603 diocese hermit path. But it is important for the traditional, historic hermit path, the privately professed vocation, to not be forgotten as a valid and approved basis of the hermit vocation as it has successfully existed and contributed for centuries of Christ's Church. 

Twice in my having to change locations, I tested if the Lord wished of me to be a diocese hermit. I had felt pressure to do so by the increasing popularity of the publicly professed and vows received by the diocese bishop. Each time, the bishops in the two dioceses in which I lived, determined they found my hermit vocation as it is, to be the way to continue. In the first instance, the bishop did not know much about hermit vocations, nor did he want the responsibility of being, as the Canon Law 603 states, the one to direct and guide the hermit. 

Many bishops, busy with leading their dioceses, allow the diocese hermit to choose a spiritual guide including non-clerics, or the bishop assigns a priest to help oversee the diocese hermit. In my current situation and diocese, the bishop, to my surprise, advised me to continue in the privately professed hermit vocation to which God had called me so many years ago. I admire this bishop’s wisdom and perspective, as the traditional, historic hermit vocational path should not become divergent to a point of extinction, or of disapproval, even lacking validity. 

When we examine the now two Church-allowed hermit paths, we can see the challenges in each, but the greater challenge to me has remained that of living as a hermit unknown, unnoticed, non-acclaimed. Yet despite many trials and errors, I remain God’s beloved consecrated hermit--and a Catholic hermit. Indeed, some have stated that a privately professed hermit must not call him- or herself a “Catholic hermit” if not a diocese CL603 hermit. It does not matter, other than why cut off all the Church’s hermits who have lived and died living this more rare but special vocation, when until recent times, there was no created church law establishing other than what always had been? 

Perhaps if this discussion is to continue, there may be reasons why the diocese hermits came to be, as well as many other topics related to those who may wish to explore the hermit vocation for themselves. More importantly, out of sheer interest there's benefits and blessings in learning the realities as opposed to conjectures of a most beautiful, fascinating, and meaningful life God calls some to live of the mystery of His Church—and for others to adapt aspects of this vocation into their otherwise active life vocations. 

The beauty and depth of the spiritual life, no matter hermit or the many other vocations, the sharing that I prefer and have left off years ago describing what is a Catholic hermit and how to become one (usual questions asked while documenting my anonymous hermit spiritual journey), are the topics of the daily living in the Trinity, of navigating a temporal world of which I increasingly do not belong but of which I am placed by God to love to learn to love as God loves, to fulfill my mission, to write in my instance that of how God is so real and demonstratively yet subtly interacts in our every present moments. 

Moving beyond the relative externals of the structure of a hermit vocation, and delving into the living of life in Christ and His Church, seeking union with the Holy Trinity while also being a praise of God's Glory and living God's Law of Love. These are the sharing that intrigue and inspire us all--at least those who have come to a point of awareness that we are nothing in perspective to the reality of God Is All. 

God bless His Real Presence in us, and love in Christ's Love. 

 Solus Deus Hermitage, 8/2/2023

Catholic Hermit: Hermits in Consecrated Life of the Church

Once again, and this for final time other than now and then no doubt need to repeat what the Church states, Catholic hermits are either privately professed or publicly professed, and both are in the consecrated life of the Church.

Refer to §920, §921 in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  (I have also written about this in the past,  so please either look in past blog posts or simply Google the pertinent sections of the CCC.)  It seems to me the issue has become long since dealt with, but one hermit who is publicly professed compared to my private profession (we each have professed individual vows, as well) has continued to purport contrary information.  

To be clear, my spiritual director did by no means imply or state that somehow myself or all the hermits (saints, mystics, and unknown-to-us but Catholic hermits of the past two millennia) are not Catholic hermits in the consecrated life of the Church.   I am; we are.  Thus was another reason why he told me I have absolutely no need for adding on the more recent option of being a diocesan hermit, or "publicly professed."

This reality has been stated to me for the many years I've been a consecrated Catholic hermit--nearly 20 years, not including 15 months of discernment along with formation.  Until the Church changes the facts of both privately and publicly professed, the publicly professed may also be considered as in the Consecrated Life of the Church but must be under supervision by his or her Bishop or his designee (usually the designated supervisor/director is a priest in most dioceses).  The privately professed Catholic hermits for centuries are, of course, also in the Consecrated Life of the Church.  Catholic hermits, both privately and publicly professed, profess the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Also, there is no such term in the institutes of the Catholic church nor in canon law, as a fairly recent created one, namely that of lay hermit.  Perhaps the term was introduced by someone desiring to elevate or distinguish in form of exclusivity or status to the 1983 CL603 addition of hermits who must remain in their specific dioceses, and profess the three evangelical counsels "into the hands of their bishop".  Whatever or whomever was the relatively recent genesis of the term "lay hermit," while it may over time be repeated, it is not in Church description or nomenclature of the eremitic life. 

(In addition to "lay hermit", the label "dedicated hermit" and other similar terms seem only to be found in writings of but one Catholic hermit in one particular diocese, who has expressed fears of "fraud" and "counterfeit" hermits reducing to ruination the eremitic vocation that has been lived for centuries in the Catholic Church and could ostensibly include, if we persist in such unrealistic fear, to that of religious eremites and solitaries going back in history, such as with Christ's ancestors, or some of the prophets who lived as eremites, or as could include solitaries from the Jewish Essenes and possibly also the Therapeutae.  Eremitic life may be traced back centuries prior to the birth of Christ. There seems no extant data on who if any were fraud or "counterfeit" hermits, and obviously none have destroyed the Catholic Church's eremitic vocation of privately, and now including publicly, professed hermits in the consecrated life of the Church.) 

So yes, I am a consecrated Catholic hermit, privately professed, as is the diocese hermit, publicly professed, a consecrated Catholic hermit.  Another  publicly professed per CL603, diocese hermit, who has been a hermit not as long as I have but longer than most other diocese hermits, also has written of both publicly and privately professed Catholic hermits being all in the Consecrated Life of the Church.

Do just read §920, 921 of The Catechism. You will find it under The Consecrated Life of the Church, under the subsections on The Eremitic Life.  The words do not lie.  It's a shame that the nitpicking continues.  It is of this in particular to which my parish priest who used the word "rubbish" and the hermit-priest who used the terms "heavy baggage," plus "negative," and "the devil involved" were referring.  I had asked each to clarify, due to a diocesan hermit who has libeled, doxxed and detracted me for over 11 years on other issues, even personal attacks, as well. But for awhile now, the person's omphalos is that only publicly professed, diocese hermits be the only hermits included in the Consecrated Life of the Church.   Thus I had asked again recently, the confessor and the hermit-priest, as I want to be clear and correct; and personally I always want to be right with the Church.

But the wording is quite clear; and the holy reality is more so that the Church is not about to insist that all Her hermits belong to a certain diocese, and be publicly professed.  Nor, are they about to negate twenty centuries of privately professed, Catholic hermits as they all were and are yet very much in the Consecrated Life of the Church.  CL603 in 1983 provided for an additional option for those who choose or feel they need, desire, or are called by God to choose public profession of the evangelical counsels, requiring supervision by a diocese bishop or his designee, and provides a canon law sense of security. Perhaps in centuries to come, diocese hermits, publicly professed, may be the only form of hermits. The Church has not yet become exclusively litigious. Until then, both privately and the more recently publicly professed Catholic hermits are welcome in the long-standing Church's eremitic vocation, along with the various other vocations detailed in The Catechism, and under "Consecrated Life of the Church!  

Thus, all the Catholic hermits all these centuries, including those of us today, while "not always publicly professed," very much have been and are, and will be: in the Consecrated Life of the Church.  Also, per the more recently added provision of CL603 designation of publicly professed hermits who are in specific dioceses if Bishops desire to approve them--they, too, are included in the Consecrated Life of the Church.

Mercy, children!  Readers surely wonder why the one diocesan hermit takes such issue that such as myself and far many other anonymous, privately professed, consecrated Catholic hermits (who are and have been for centuries living marvelous eremitic vocations) are very much in the Consecrated Life of the Church.  It is such an obvious and provable fact.  One wonders if people other than the one hermit actually have ever questioned what is more of God than of man.  

I've long surmised, and others have suggested, that the publicly professed hermit is at root, bothered that another hermit, privately professed, is consistently writing, sharing thoughts on the spiritual journey and of the life of a Catholic hermit--yes, also very much within the Consecrated Life of the Church.  There's room enough on the world-wide web for everyone with a calling to write of the holy and good, of Christ, of the spiritual life.  This is also a good reminder of what we ought to be focusing.  Spiritual life over nitpicking; law of God over law of man.  Expansive, positive vision, seeking union with Christ and love of God and others--over myopic, exclusionary focus  which is more Pharisee than Christlike.  

Why not find it beneficial to whomever reads blog posts about the eremitic life by Catholic hermits living the vocation--to enjoy and appreciate both the privately professed, traditional, historical path as well as the publicly professed, diocesan, CL603, more recently included path.  But more so, to read reflections of spiritual growth, of the pitfalls and temptations in a hermit's daily life and spiritual progression--these aspects are not rubbish, not heavy baggage, not negative, not courting the devil's intrusion.

Seems like a win-win, to me!  I call out again in love and peace, to this other Catholic hermit, for a cease-fire.  I continue to pray for my fellow consecrated hermit, sincerely love the hermit's immortal soul.  Yet I am all the more focused into every aspect of my consecrated life as a Catholic hermit (privately professed).  I've been praising God that the devil's stirrings always inspire me, all the more, in my spiritual life.  All the more grows my love of the Holy Trinity and my desire to strive all the more for union with God through the gift of my eremitic vocation--of which I pray to live to the ideal as a Christian, Catholic eremite in the consecrated life of the Holy Catholic Church.  And, as we all should desire, to be above all else: ever consecrated in the Sacred Heart of Christ!

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


Postscript:  I have come to consider that this issue that has become a bugaboo for my hermit colleague, is one of restating facts and trying to then lift myself to a more spiritual level, at least in my own handling of the "rubbish."  I am striving to be obedient to my new spiritual director as well as my confessor, who advise to stay clear of this negative situation, as the devil is involved.  While this nasty distraction is an aspect to write about as far as the progression in the spiritual life of hermits, and honesty is of value, there is a positive point in that the Church's hermits--professed both privately and publicly--sharing in the responsibility of being in the Consecrated Life of the Catholic Church.  We are also all part of the Body of Christ even if hidden in our lives of praise and prayer and a silent witnessing of Christ and His Church.

Such a blessing and privilege--as we pray to absorb what a unified bonding of hermits in the consecrated life of the Church can mean, deeply within yet outspreading mystically in loving and positive ways unfathomable but to God.  The spiritual reality and richness supersedes what we consider ridiculous and demonic in unholy distraction, compared to what we consecrated Catholic hermits are to be for the Church and for the whole world.  

Our very beings are to be lived in praise of God, praying for salvation of world, for all souls on earth and beyond, to exist in stricter separation from the world, in the silence of solitude, hidden from eyes of others, to be as a silent preaching of Christ, a witness to the mystery of Christ and the Church...and so much more!  

Let us, dear hermits one and all, proceed in this light of Christ and His Church!  I'm under obedience to do so, not only from alter Christi but very much from the Holy Trinity to be in the Divine Will.  Be positive, recognize the great movement His Real Presence is having in our souls and lives!  Remain in Christ's Love!  Uplift one another in prayer and sincere kindness and love! 

"I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.... Is Christ divided?....For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning."  ~ 1 Corinthians 1:10, 17



[Postscript: I will not be writing of this again, unless my spiritual director wants me to back-track and hinder my own hermit vocation, my spiritual life, my soul. God wants to take me and all of us into Himself for His glory and for whatever help I (or you) may be for others.  I am certain my director nor my confessor wants me held back by such negativity of which the devil is involved--this hermit-priest who seemed more in heaven than earth and the confessor of whom I've never seen such holy dynamism and spiritual depth and energy.  The spiritual joy and wisdom in guiding me and pointing the way to what the Lord is opening up now and next--all the positive and good for my soul and for others' souls--that is to be my view, my grasp. I ask you dear readers to please pray for myself and this other hermit, for there to be a clarity of peace and love, and for each of us (and all of you!) to attain to the heights of Christian perfection and union with God.  And for me, pray for a strength in dropping this other, staying clear, and moving onward in Christ and His Church.  Thank you!] 

Catholic Hermit: Follow Naked, the Naked Christ

The Lord has spoken, in this consecrated Catholic hermit's consideration of His hermit having a pet. 

(I love the verses in 1 Samuel in which the young Samuel continues to be awakened, hearing the voice of God calling his name.  Samuel being young and inexperienced in locutions or the Lord speaking directly to him, goes to the priest Eli, thinking it is he who called him in the night.  Finally Eli realizes that it is the Lord calling Samuel; he instructs the youth to answer if called again, saying, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.")

So it is that I have, over the years, when faced with a decision or even when not, repeat this line in my inner senses, asking the Lord to speak to me, and that I am listening.  When we ask the Lord to help us in discerning the aspects of our lives, not only may we ask the Lord to help us, to speak to us, to show us in whatever ways the Lord may choose, our major effort then is to listen.

Listening is not easy in the temporal world, and it is definitely not easy in the spiritual sense, as our thoughts and feelings are so aroused and integrated with many of the decisions we face.  Yet, when we persist in prayer and do all we can to still our thoughts and feelings, or at least to list pro's and con's, and seek some input from others, we can then in the silence of our more stilled minds and hearts, hear God's answer in the stillness of our souls.

A few days ago someone had contacted me, wanting counsel on a dilemma faced.  I wrote back, mentioning first of all:  Die to yourself!  Then I analyzed the person's situation, in the way I tend to do, pulling out all bits of realities that may be cluttering the person's viewpoints, and sparing no effort in being honest even to the details of what may be emotionally affecting the person's thoughts and feelings regarding the dilemma.  Yes, in this I risk the person being upset, for often we humans do not want to do deep cleaning and seeking of our inner "houses".  So easy for us to want to stuff feelings down, hide away realities, deny truths and avoid the dying to self of which we Christians are called in following Christ.

The person contacted me, explained dies to self daily in giving of self to family.  Yes, I had prodded the inner recesses, and I soothed some, for there also was a temporal reality in which the person felt there was not time to literally clean out a lot of clutter that had accumulated in their abode over the years, and especially, as I pointed out, in the several years of some major health calamities that their family faced and lived through.  So there are quite valid reasons involved in decisions, and I pointed out the factual aspects, and that it is quite fair enough to make a decision based on the external realities--but that the person knows when asking me for counsel, that there will be a thorough examination so that the person may get to all facets of what may be troubling the person.

The person understood, and we were able to discuss that of dying to self, and of course, that I am called to do that, myself, often.  But in the person's case, other factors helped make the decision needed to be made.  Ironically, though, since our communication, circumstances have changed, and the person has taken steps that were part of the examination of facets of the dilemma the person faced.  Someone is helping to get their abode tidied despite a few days remaining before a type of deadline.  God handles all aspects of our lives when we ask and then listen.  Input from others is helpful in deeper examination of our dilemmas, as trusted others will be honest with us.

Yes, some people seek out those who will tell them what they want to hear and who will support them no matter, not wanting to stir the waters or in some cases, poke a bear!  Each of us, if we tend to be ones of whom others now and then seek counsel, must ask the Lord and listen, what is our role and duty according to His will.  Mine is to die to self even in this role of any seeking counsel:  honesty, intelligence, thorough examination, critical thinking, non-judgment, Scriptural backing, but reality therapy...!  They dying to self on my part includes being willing for those seeking my counsel, to react with upset, denial of the realities exposed, or even deciding to not seek counsel of me again.

We must consider the rich young man who asked Jesus for advice and counsel, with a question as to how he could get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  The young man was not able to accept the reality of the answer nor to do--at least at that time--what Jesus said was needed.  The young man walked away; Jesus watched as he walked away, but Jesus did not call after or chase after, nor did He dilute the reality of what would be needed.  Essentially, Jesus tells us we must die to ourselves, be able to part with the temporal possessions as well as the mental and emotional baggage:  all hindrances.

We must be willing to, able to, and in whatever situations that do arise--over time we must act on removing the hindrances, much as the person who contacted me is now getting help to remove the temporal clutter that had accumulated.  And there is no judgment by God nor should be by us; there are reasons why our possessions in, of body, mind, and heart pile up or accumulate.  And we then have situations present themselves, in which the Lord is asking us, allowing us, the opportunity to address the situations, the dilemmas, and to remove or give away or die to ourselves in some aspect or other, or to walk away from doing so, if we are unable yet or unwilling...at that time.

We do not know from Scripture if the young man who did not follow Jesus nor felt able to get rid of his "possessions" at that time when he asked Jesus what he needed to do to enter the Kingdom of God, that the young man did not later on, or in bits and pieces over course of his life, give away his "possessions" and without hindrances follow Jesus.  After all, we may follow Jesus even if we have many hindrances we are lugging along with us.  After awhile, we become weary or the hindrances too great of obstacles, and we may drop them off, one by one or many or eventually all or nearly so.  What we do not die to in this life, of which the mental and emotional attachments may be more challenging and burdensome than the temporal--we carry with us when we pass over.  Our choice!

So it is, that with my own dilemma of somehow having a latent need, or perhaps it was more a broader, hidden aspect and attachment, an inability to see a reality or accept a current reality--the Lord has definitively helped me let go, die to self, face the reality, make a choice in line with His will for me and of which He did not push nor dictate.  The Lord simply gave me some signals, in the end, as to my idea, my desire for having a pet in the hermitage and in my hermit daily life.

No.  I will not have a pet, nor will I ever in what earthly life is left for me, have a pet.  The Lord has for me a narrower path.  This path He increasingly narrows in my spiritual progression as a Christian, as a soul, a child of God, a victim soul of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a parent of adult children and grandparent of three adolescent and teen grandchildren, in addition to my consecrated Catholic, eremitic life.

And I accept.  It was not without some mental and emotional pain.  Two persons gave input, suggesting a cat not a dog--unless I have allergies, which I do, and of course cats are not going to provide enforced walking as they do not take to leashes and hiking!  But the one person then was supportive, recognizing the functional and emotional reasons I had openly admitted as would be helpful.  But at the same time, the young woman (and her husband) who have these non-shedding, hypo-allergenic, larger breed pups, texted last night, as I lay in bed again, plenty of burning pain after having been up for awhile, making myself stay up and also increase stamina for sitting despite the pain that causes.

She texted that if I did decide against having the puppy, she would refund 80% of deposit.  Earlier in the day I had found out that there is a family who would really like the puppy, but of course there was no pressure on me.  I had wanted to know if a back-up person, for I have taken this decision seriously and a huge part of it was if the Lord wanted of me or feels of me Himself, that I am capable of the narrower path, the stricter separation from the world, the deeper silence of solitude, the higher points of the hermit vocation ideal, of the following of Christ in a type of utter nakedness.

What comes to mind is the ancient Christian ascetics motto:  Nudum Christum, nudus sequere.  Follow naked, the naked Christ. 

God did take pity on me, by my not having me "pay" a price in addition to facing a deep and intensely painful reality of His desires and expectations for me to detach all the more, to let go of connections to this temporal life as well as roots going way back to childhood.  There was a beloved dog.  I was the one to find him hanging, drowned--and the shock of that was immense for a child of a pet who had filled in some aspects of emotional blessing in the three years "Mel" was my faithful pal and enforcer of my tending and responsible care.  (Way back, I was very spiritual, always symbolic, so the pet's name well thought out by a little kid. Mel was named for Melchior, one of the three wisemen for whom I named him on Christmas Day, 1961.)

The main issue this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit has been contending with, the Lord needing me to expose from deep within and in the present moment, is facing and accepting my now consistently higher level of constant pain, the likely cessation of my intestines functioning, and the reality of God calling me to a higher ideal and level of all that is entailed in the hermit vocation, as well as my deeper commitment in following Christ, stripped to my core.

(However, I emphasize that there is nothing written in church documents or would be, that a hermit ought not have a pet.  A hermit having a pet may be a blessing in various ways, depending upon the hermit and in what phase or degree of unique way the Lord is leading the person, the hermit.)

The Lord is my comfort, my constant companion, my ALL.  In fact, throughout my forage into all the positives for my having a pet, the reminder of what has been an innate and Holy Spirit inspired utterance for fifteen years, kept playing in my mind.  My Love, my Love, my only Love!  The cross, the cross, and only the cross!  The Holy Spirit also reminded me that my hermitage is truly that of Solus Deus:  God alone!  This is not the first named thus of a hermitage.  My very first hermitage 20 years ago, had the "Solus Deus" sign hanging on my porch, a sign I will hang here but not visible to public.  I have learned what "hidden from the eyes of men" means within and why this phrase is included in what the Church desires and wisely challenges Her hermits to grasp, become, and remain.  Being hidden, for a hermit, is another dying to self.

(I plan to write about narcissism in hermits, and of how various pernicious disorders may arise when vices go uncorrected in anyone's soul, but how it is especially detrimental to hermit purpose and progression.)

So it is that this hermit will not ever have a pet.  Yes, I had an unexpected emotional reaction when I accepted the Lord's answer, when He nudged the seller to persist a bit, for I suspect they preferred the puppy to go to the family--and of course I think pets are best with more than one person, although I have pointed out the good of service and therapy animals.  To help with my sadness, as there is always some grieving in death, of which dying to self is very much a death, a loss, a letting go of some part of ourselves, I focused on the family last night, who would be--children especially--ecstatic with excitement that they were getting the puppy after all!  To focus all the more, I put into my imaging, my eldest child and her husband and two daughters, and I visualized their joy and excitement as if they were the family hearing the puppy news last night.

I'm praying to recognize my angel's efforts--doing all possible to help me get up and be more mobile physically.  However, I'm also willing to accept that the pain has me debilitated from fatigue.  Tomorrow I meet with the priest, and will find out who he has in mind as a spiritual director. It may work out or not; but we hermits ought remain open to trial and error in all aspects. 

I also will discuss with the priest who is older, wiser, and some knowledgeable of the mystics and more spiritually acute than others, how he views traditional, privately professed hermits as opposed to the publicly professed diocese hermits.  I realize readers continue to inquire, and there is contradictory information being promoted online, elsewhere, including created notions and terminology as if fact.  I will ask if he thinks I should also meet with the bishop, as well, to clarify what seem to be misconceptions and contradictions being promoted and created, online. 

(Perhaps he will think privately professed Catholic hermits ought sign after their names, "erem.cpp" or "erem.tcpp" or some such created designation to distinguish us from the "erem.dio" that has been created and promoted by someone or other in the past few years?  I jest, as attempts to advertise, identify, distinguish, or promote ourselves by creating initials, akin to what religious orders do of necessity due to different charisms and orders, to identify themselves, their group, is not a hermit tradition or practice, nor is it necessary whatsoever for any hermit, no matter if publicly or privately professed.  However, since there is now in the past recent years, the inclusion of publicly professed hermits, attached to particular dioceses, perhaps it is necessary for the two types of hermits to be distinguished, one from the other?  Fascinating and quite temporal topic and question.)

Now, forward and onward in the serious and legitimate focus of my mission and purpose as a consecrated Catholic hermit, a Christian, an eremite striving in following Christ on His narrow path, of dying to self increasingly--and thus not seriously or foolishly interested in adding initials following my name or any title or designation.  Nudum Christum, nudus sequere!

And, with that, also very much:  God Bless His Real Presence in us!

Catholic Hermit: Stricter Separation from the World

With many other thoughts I've shared since beginning my personal review of what I as a consecrated Catholic Hermit am to be doing and "being", I now turn to the section 920 in The Catechism under the general heading of "Consecrated Life of the Church," specifically "The Eremitic Life."  

Having given some thoughts on the first few phrases in 920--although not at all exhaustive (insights come with passage of time lived as a Catholic hermit)--I'm turning to the phrase following "hermits devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world":  through a stricter separation from the world....

The singular word "stricter" continues to be an operative aspect for me in my hermit vocation of now over 20 years since I began the discernment process which included experiencing in practicum aspects of what the Church outlines and asks of her hermits.  Separation from the world, for a hermit, brings up many decisions to be made between the hermit and God.  

God may speak and guide the hermit in various ways.  For me, over the years, God has guided and continues to guide my hermit life through His Living Word, His voice in locutions and dreams, through the Blessed Virgin Mary and my guardian angel, through the lives of saintly hermits as well as those who wrote of the hermit vocation through the centuries.  

God guides me through His priests, particularly and predominantly one over the years but also through a bishop and monsignor for a more brief time period.  God also guides me through life various life circumstances and experiences requiring the discerning of His will and way forward--sometimes God's "Yes, that way" or His "No, not that, not for you, My hermit." 

All these avenues of God's guidance inform a Catholic hermit as to what aspects, in the various phases and situations in the hermit's life, separate him- or herself from the world.  While hermits' backgrounds in life are unique and individual to each, and there are considerations to be made accordingly, once entered into the consecrated eremitic vocation, the hermit life in earnest begins. 

To most hermits and their human directors and spiritual friends--even those few others who might know that the person is a consecrated Catholic hermit--the ways in which a hermit ought separate from the world are fairly obvious.  The categories are both external separations and interior ones.

External separations from the world could include a hermit's work, if must work for financial sustenance and not receiving retirement, disability, or savings income.  Through prayer and discernment, a hermit who must work determines what type of job will provide the least amount of involvement in the world that will provide the basic, simple necessities for the hermit's sustenance.  

I don't plan on going through all the options, but my point is that this type of discernment becomes an exercise of prayerful and prudent decisions of the hermit, and informed by God and those directing the hermit's vocation.  It should be obvious that a hermit would choose employment that keeps the person as much in the silence of solitude and hidden from the eyes of men, plus in stricter separation from the world.  Separation from the world means the temporal world which can include those "worlds" within the world, and in any mode or place in which the person must noticeably interact verbally and noticeably with people and processes.  

So the hermit who must work to earn money to live a basic life and be self-sufficient, must discern what is it to be separated from the world in the form of "stricter"--which is an evolving process.  Such positions as quasi-leader or assistant in a public venue be it hospital, parish/diocese administrator, college or school teacher, employee of an active business would not be obvious choices.  Unless as custodian or some work that provides as is stated clearly--a stricter separation from the world--the hermit would naturally seek more appropriate means of income.   

Work in the hermitage or work in which the hermit can quietly and in more hidden mode complete the tasks opens a wide range of possibilities.  In discerning jobs that provide income, working at tasks which may be completed mostly--depending on the position--in silence and relative solitude, are numerous and fulfill another fundamental quality and consideration in a hermit's life.  Usually such jobs are humble ones.  All the better, a hermit might conclude.

Work to generate needed income is one such example of the discernment and decision-making that a consecrated Catholic hermit must make.  Others include the interior aspects of interests and hobbies, of activities such as radio, television, and computer.  What of these links to the world will a hermit have and of what type and how much interaction with the world will a hermit ultimately engage?

This example helps with the operative word "stricter" that I, as a consecrated Catholic hermit, can and must discern and determine.  "Stricter" is a moving, evolving aspect that each hermit must ponder, and "stricter" allows for gradation of more separation as the hermit grows and evolves in his or her individual vocation--all the while keeping in mind and heart that we consecrated Catholic hermits--whether publicly or privately professed--are united in the vocation. 

Stricter separation from the world in an interior sense is all that which keeps a hermit's mind, heart, and soul from being drawn away into the distractions of the world.  The need for stricter separation allows the consecrated Catholic hermit to ascend the spiritual ladder, uplifting with the hermit those with the hermit in the consecrated life of the Church, all in the Body of Christ.  This ascension to God may occur in part through the hermit's devoted life in the  praise of God and the salvation of the world, with a spiritually unimpeded hermit in whatever ways and essences God wills, desires, and allows.

The more we can adhere to each aspect of hermit vocation be it explicitly or implicitly laid out for us in the Church's institutes or in the lives of exemplary, saintly hermits of tradition, the more we uplift one another and the hermit vocation in a way that builds up the Body of Christ, exalts the Church, and lives out in a supernal reality our devotion to the praise of God and the salvation of the world. 

In each hermit adhering to a stricter separation from the world, we are better able to fulfill the aspects of our vocation and what God wills of us as stated in the beautifully-worded section on Eremitic Life, 921, in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"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."

Here, I must include the above selection because what is stated helps inform me and other consecrated Catholic hermits as to why we must separate ourselves from the world--plus gives us description within the words as to how and from what we must separate ourselves.  Yet due to the "stricter" upon which I am personally now examining, the Church is not unrealistic with us, as we are human and in process even within our vocations.  We are hermits in a continuum of formation, so to speak, of advancing to the heights of ultimately finding "the glory of the Crucified One." 

We as consecrated Catholic hermits, live as one in Christ and in the Body of Christ.  Thus through our lives being a silent preaching of the Lord, in our total surrender of our lives so that Christ is our all, we live "in the desert"--in silence of solitude, our specific call, our unique vocation, despite spiritual trials.

Stricter separation from the world rather than, such as, strict separation from the world, allows us to evolve in the loving mercy of Christ and in His Church's eremitic vocation.  The word "stricter," though, involves subjectivity; what is stricter to one is lenient to another.  Thus, tremendous honesty in self-examination and in not self-justification or self-deception.  The human body, mind, and emotions struggle against what is more the challenge, what requires greater effort in the spiritual ascent.  

That is why it is well to know in truth and faith the graces given through the eremitic vocation, being and living and doing all that the Church sets forth in the hermit life within the consecrated life of the Church.  God will bring about, hone in us hermits, the progression, strength, the holy means to do and be hermits as He wills--increasingly so, degree by incremental degrees-- as long as we remain faithful to Him, to His Church, to the explicit and implicit form of the consecrated and Catholic, hermit life.

I pray this makes any sense to you readers.  So much of a hermit's vocation, of course, is inherent in the truthfulness and honesty of a hermit's soul, in knowing oneself and seeing oneself clearly.  We must make sure--not deceive ourselves--that we have a holy, experienced priest or bishop (or a holy bishop's delegate) as our spiritual director who is well-versed and "strict-er" in what it means to live out all aspects--what it is to do and be--as a consecrated Catholic hermit.

What is stricter to one may be not stricter at all to another.  Personally, I am currently undergoing yet another transition or turning point in my vocation as a consecrated eremitic.  This shift to more "-er" in the "stricter" occurs periodically in the nearly 20 years of living this vocation (nearly 19 years since the profession of the evangelical counsels and making my vows in private ceremony with my spiritual father, then a holy priest for 54 years.  

God has all along tightened if not heightened in my hermit life, the aspects of which the Church not only suggests and purports but asks--of her consecrated hermits--beyond the required profession of and adherence to the counsels of poverty, obedience, and chastity.  I pray that in this current, personal transition, for all the grace needed to live to the fullness of what the Lord desires and wills of me, at this point of my on-going, eremitic and mystical, Christian journey.

God bless His Real Presence in us!

Catholic Hermit: Stricter Separation

With many other thoughts I've shared since beginning my personal review of what I as a consecrated Catholic Hermit am to be doing and "being", I now turn to the section 920 in The Catechism under the general heading of "Consecrated Life of the Church," specifically "The Eremitic Life."  

Having given some thoughts on the first few phrases in 920--although not at all exhaustive (insights come with passage of time lived as a Catholic hermit)--I'm turning to the phrase following "hermits devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world":  through a stricter separation from the world....

The singular word "stricter" continues to be an operative aspect for me in my hermit vocation of now over 20 years since I began the discernment process which included experiencing in practicum aspects of what the Church outlines and asks of her hermits.  Separation from the world, for a hermit, brings up many decisions to be made between the hermit and God.  

God may speak and guide the hermit in various ways.  For me, over the years, God has guided and continues to guide my hermit life through His Living Word, His voice in locutions and dreams, through my guardian angel, through the lives of saintly hermits as well as those who wrote of the hermit vocation through the centuries.  God also guides me through His priests, particularly and predominantly one over the years but also through a bishop and monsignor for a more brief time period.  

All these avenues of God's guidance inform a Catholic hermit as to what aspects one must, in the various phases of the hermit's life, separate him- or herself from the world.  To most hermits and their human directors and spiritual friends--even those few others who might know that the person is a consecrated Catholic hermit--the ways in which a hermit ought separate from the world are fairly obvious.  The categories are both external separations and interior ones.

External separations from the world could include a hermit's work, if must work for financial sustenance and not receiving retirement, disability, or savings income.  Through prayer and discernment, a hermit who must work determines what type of job will provide the least amount of involvement in the world that will provide the basic, simple necessities for the hermit's sustenance.  

I don't plan on going through all the options, but my point is that this type of discernment becomes an exercise of prayerful and prudent decisions of the hermit, and informed by God and those directing the hermit's vocation.  It should be obvious that a hermit would choose employment that keeps the person as much in the silence of solitude and hidden from the eyes of men, plus in stricter separation from the world.  Separation from the world means the temporal world which can include those "worlds" within the world, and in any mode or place in which the person must noticeably interact verbally and noticeably with people and processes.  

So the hermit who must work to earn money to live a basic life and be self-sufficient, must discern what is it to be separated from the world in the form of "stricter"--which is an evolving process.  Such positions as quasi-leader or assistant in a public venue be it hospital chaplain or parish/diocese administrator would be unlikely choices, the same as being a school teacher or employee of a financial institution unless as custodian or some work that provides as is stated clearly--a stricter separation from the world.  

Work in the hermitage or work in which the hermit can quietly and in more hidden mode complete the tasks open a wide range of possibilities.  Even working in a factory assembly line, despite being around others, such tasks can be completed mostly--depending on the position--in silence, which is another fundamental quality and consideration in a hermit's life.

Work to generate needed income is one such example of the discernment and decision-making a consecrated Catholic hermit must make.  Others include the interior aspects of interests and hobbies, of activities such as radio, television, and computer.  What of these links to the world will a hermit have and of what type and how much interaction with the world will a hermit ultimately engage?

This example helps with the operative word "stricter" that I, as a consecrated Catholic hermit, can and must discern and determine.  "Stricter" is a moving, evolving aspect that each hermit must ponder, and "stricter" allows for gradation of more separation as the hermit grows and evolves in his or her individual vocation--all the while keeping in mind and heart that we consecrated Catholic hermits--whether publicly or privately professed--are united in the vocation.  

The more we can adhere to each aspect of hermit vocation be it explicitly or implicitly laid out for us in the Church's institutes or in the lives of exemplary, saintly hermits of tradition, the more we uplift one another and the hermit vocation in a way that builds up the Body of Christ, exalts the Church, and lives out in a supernal reality our devotion to the praise of God and the salvation of the world. 

In each hermit adhering to a stricter separation from the world, we are better able to fulfill the aspects of our vocation and what God wills of us as stated in the beautifully-worded section on Eremitic Life, 921, in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"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."

Here, I must include the above selection because what is stated helps inform my and other consecrated Catholic hermits as to why we must separate ourselves from the world--plus gives us description within the words as to how and from what we must separate ourselves.  Yet due to the "stricter" upon which I am personally now examining, the Church is not unrealistic with us, as we are human and in process even within our vocations.  We are hermits in a continuum of formation, so to speak, of advancing to the heights of ultimately finding "the glory of the Crucified One." 

We as consecrated Catholic hermits, live as one in Christ and in the Body of Christ.  Thus through our lives being a silent preaching of the Lord, in our total surrender of our lives so that Christ is our all, we live "in the desert"--in silence of solitude, our specific call, our unique vocation, despite spiritual trials.

Stricter separation from the world rather than, such as, strict separation from the world, allows us to evolve in the loving mercy of Christ and in His Church's eremitic vocation.  The word "stricter," though, involves subjectivity; what is stricter to one is lenient to another.  Thus, tremendous honesty in self-examination and in not self-justification or self-deception.  The human body, mind, and emotions struggle against what is more the challenge, what requires greater effort in the spiritual ascent.  

That is why it is well to know in truth and faith the graces given through the eremitic vocation, being and living and doing all that the Church sets forth in the hermit life within the consecrated life of the Church.  God will bring about, hone in us hermits, the progression, strength, the holy means to do and be hermits as He wills--increasingly so, degree by incremental degrees-- as long as we remain faithful to Him, to His Church, to the explicit and implicit form of the consecrated and Catholic, hermit life.

I pray this makes any sense to you readers.  So much of a hermit's vocation, of course, is inherent in the truthfulness and honesty of a hermit's soul, in knowing oneself and seeing oneself clearly.  We must make sure--not deceive ourselves--that we have a holy, experienced priest or bishop (or a holy bishop's delegate) as our spiritual director who is well-versed and "strict-er" in what it means to live out all aspects--what it is to do and be--as a consecrated Catholic hermit.