Catholic Hermit: Spiritual Dates in Our Lives

One such uncanny date in my life continues to be The Queenship of Mary.  August 22 continues to be one of immense import to me, personally and spiritually.  This past Queenship of Mary marked 23 years since I was received into the Catholic Church after my years from birth to then as a practicing Protestant.  So it is, that August 22 is a powerful, spiritual date in my life.

Faith has always been deeply important to my soul, mind, heart, and temporal function.  I am ever grateful to my parents for instilling Christianity in me from my earliest moments and memories.

Even as a Protestant, August 22 has been pivotal in my life as a transitional day.  The life-altering car accident occurred at 11:22 p.m. on August 22, some 34 years ago.  That began my life of constant, physical suffering and heralded the decision of my earthly spouse to leave the marriage and our then three quite-young children.  The ripple effect occurred--loss of career due to disability after two major back surgeries with a death in recovery room and being sent back to rear my children and fulfill my mission.

But it also heralded a vast opening of my spirit to the Holy Spirit, more so than had been--and I was already rather in-tune with the numinous.  My Maker is my Spouse, and the espousal of my soul occurred along with various, numinous and temporal experiences of which I've mentioned some, but not to the depth or breadth of their occurrences and impact.  Too much to share, and intimate, at least for now.  And that has been the case for years.

My call to the Catholic Church was unmistakable and relentless until I acquiesced to the Lord's will.  That evening, the priest who gave me private instruction, chose.  He had no idea the import of the Queenship of Mary--or rather previously to me only known by being a date on a calendar:  August 22.  A miracle occurred during the private ceremony.  It was powerful and has served me well as the means to keep me steadfast in my Catholic faith despite more than plenty of persecutions and hardships along the way.

The Queenship of Mary happened to be the date that my youngest child went off to college.  That time period was a transition phase, as well, and my hermit life intensified following although I had been privately professed and vows received nearly two years prior to the "empty nest."

But most years, the Queenship of Mary is marked by a pain siege.  This year was no different.  However, this time period is very much one of being on the cusp of transition in my hermit life as other than a few tiny tasks and the delight in tending the gardens, the hermitage is complete--and lovelier than anyone, especially me, could have imagined.

My spiritual father three or four years ago said it was unnatural and abnormal, what I was able to accomplish and that angels were helping me, certainly.  I agreed and still agree!  My angel, Beth ("house" or "place of God" or "God is in this place", masculine Hebrew noun) has been astounding.  It was Beth who surely got me out to and up the road recently, not conscious, so that neighbors who happened to be outside (and they remarked it was amazing they happened to be outside that afternoon) found me and called the fire and rescue to get me to a trauma center for the head injury and brain bleeds.

I am blessed with having so much supernal assistance in what has been quite the "death therapy" in these past few years.  And death therapy is just what the Lord prescribed for me, as it has been the best phase to hunker me into my consecrated Catholic hermit life, possible--at least for me!  I so needed to die to self, die to the world, die to attachments!  May God be praised!

We will see what God has in Mind for the transition and next phase in my hermit life.  All of a sudden, I am able to shift gears to more meditative and contemplative prayer while gently gardening or also resting.  And a major aspect of my mission for the Church has occurred yet again, just a couple or so weeks ago, with yet another sex scandal being exposed, this time in the state of Pennsylvania.  I place my suffering, prayers, and various, natural penances that come my way, for the purgation of the priests, bishops, and cardinals who may need whatever the Lord can cleanse for Holy Mother Church.

On this Queenship of Mary, on my sleeping bag of suffering, I sensed Our Mother--weeping.

I am sure she is weeping for me, also--for my faults, my sins, my weaknesses, my human ills.

This morning when the parish couple brought His Real Presence, I was overjoyed despite the problems facing us as Catholics.  While some will need to run from the burning house--and we are not to judge others who need to do so--there are those of us who are called to run back in and help put out the fire.  

May the Lord use me as He wills.  I lived through the recent head injury--against the odds of no broken bones, no internal injuries, and even the shoulder is improving after horrific suffering with it.  May the Lord use me, yes, as He wills for whatever time and breath left, in whatever phase next, if any.  I pray to fulfill my vows--not only as a consecrated Catholic hermit but also as a victim soul of and for the Church.

God bless His Real Presence in us!

Catholic Hermit: Queenship of Mary Milestones

Yesterday, the Queenship of Mary: August 22.

This date contains major milestones in this nothing Catholic hermit's life.

Thirty-three years ago at 11:22 p.m. PT, life was dramatically altered by a drunk teen careening his car into ours.  Constant pain from that point onward, and within a month the earthly spouse announced not wanting to be married anymore.

This action was pivotal for the Lord leading me into life as I'd never have dreamed.  Three years later a major back surgery followed by another emergency surgery for I'd died in recovery.  The Lord sent me back in a vivid encounter with Him during the death experience, to rear my children and then to fulfill my mission.

Twenty-two years ago on the Queenship of Mary I was confirmed a Catholic in a private evening event following a parish Mass.  The Lord gave a forewarning of a sign during the Confirmation, at the point in which the priest made the sign of cross on my forehead with the holy chrism oil.  It has been that sign that occurred--a visible phenomenon of the Holy Spirt--that has often kept me bound and renewed with perseverance in what at times has been difficult persecutions within and from some in and of the temporal Church.

Eleven years ago the last of the beloved children graduated college and went on into the world.

As for the day itself yesterday, there was not much temporal time to ponder the date and the significance in much detail, and that seems to be the current lesson and emphasis: to remain firmly in the Order of the Present Moment.

Thus I did not have the time nor allow my mind to wander back over the past details, particularly various negative occurrences that remind how we Catholics can be so very nasty at times, or the unpleasant encounters with some clerics, or being shown aspects that leave us heart-broken with what occurs when sin enters into lives, even of clerics, and corrupts with unsavory, temporal behaviors.

The young man Daniel came for a few hours in the morning, prior to returning to his Bible college for a final semester.  We framed and installed the second and last window in the pole barn.  We carried in some base cabinets and a couple top cabinets to get an idea of how they will work, space-wise.  We spoke of his upcoming final semester in college, and then we celebrated with root beer floats, for he brought some ice cream with him as I had the root beer on hand.

I did, however, thank Mary, Mother and Queen of us all and of Christ's Church, for her patience and tolerance of me in this phase of my life.  I did consider her years after her Son had ascended from this temporal earth, and into Heaven.  It is said she lived in Ephesus with a single maid servant. She was without Mass, without Communion other than when the apostle John would come on rare occasion, or one or two other of the apostles might be in area, of which that was not often for they'd gone out into the world to "spread he Good News" of Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

He is our salvation!

And so the 22nd of August came and went, and the date is quite significant in this Catholic hermit's life.  Yet the recent reminders from the Lord and His Mother, of how fruitless is my wandering from the Order of the Present Moment, held firm.  I did not wander much into the past nor consider much the future--not even when Daniel asked where will I go from here when (and I add if) I finish and sell?

The Lord will unfold all, as He has done and always has and will.

A young spiritual daughter called.  We are excitedly praying about a home she and her husband will be viewing this morning, far off in another area of the country.  It will be their first home of their own, and she has waited a long time for this opportunity to provide a means to set down roots with her husband and for their three young daughters.  We discussed the good points of a particular house they will view, compared with a second house they will see.

I feel the one home for them, and she admits she loves it.  A major challenge will be for her to have the courage to express what she wants and likes to her husband, for their relationship has suffered from ineffective communication. She tends to sublimate her needs and desires and to defer much to others, especially her husband.  She realizes this and has wisely worked on this with some professional help; and today she will get yet another practice opportunity to communicate needs and wants and desires--and for good reason and benefit to their family life.  Life is a marvelous series of adventures!

And today Jean Patrick will come to help with some work at the hermitage.  Perhaps we will hang some cabinets and whatever else unfolds.  And while we work, we will talk of matters important in the young man's life--a young man from Haiti who has survived two major-life trials: earthquake and tidal-type wave.  At age fourteen he had to go out and take menial jobs in Haiti to help provide for his mother and four young siblings, as the father left the home.

He made it to this country along with his mother and siblings, and he has studied hard to catch up in order to now begin a nursing program in addition to working on weekends--and for me, now, during a break between college courses.

While it seems my thoughts are too often far from the spiritual realm--with trying to figure out how to frame windows in a metal-sided building (a new experience compared to having framed windows in typically constructed abode)--what "seems" is not necessarily reality.  The Lord abides within our souls, and we are in His Sacred Heart.  And where the Lord Is, His Mother remains close within, as well, as do all holy ones linked by remaining in Christ's Love and unified in the Body of Christ, His Church on earth and in heaven.

Love in His Love, dear friends, dear readers!

God bless His Real Presence in us!