Catholic Hermit Is Thankful for You!

Yesterday, in this country, we celebrated Thanksgiving.  The reading in the daily Mass Scriptures included these words from St. Paul.  I posted them for family and friends, and I do so now for you, my friends in Christ and blog readers.  I am placing my body, mind, heart, and soul in these words of St. Paul, as my Thanksgiving thoughts for you!

"I give thanks to my God 
always on your account 
for the grace of God bestowed 
on you in Christ Jesus, 
that in Him 
you were enriched in every way, 
with all discourse and all knowledge, 
as the testimony to Christ 
was confirmed among you, 
so that you are not lacking 
in any spiritual gift 
as you wait for the revelation 
of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
He will keep you firm to the end, 
irreproachable on the day of 
our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now, to rise from this mattress on the floor, although very chilly in this hermitage on a late autumn desert day!  Must dress and begin some manual labor.  A daughter, son-in-law, and young grandson came yesterday for a few hours.

We worked on building a wall requiring angle cuts that is under where the stairway is to be and as a back wall of the laundry plumbing drain and vent pipes and water lines.  I will today construct another wall to help hide these pipes which take up more space than a single, 2x4 wall.

I also hope to continue on, installing the bathroom cabinets.  My guardian angel helped me immensely, getting them from the pole barn to the house.  With the family members probably leaving the area, the Lord is challenging me to increased faith in Him!  Solus Deus!  God alone!  It will be good!  May this nothing Catholic consecrated hermit step up and fully embrace the challenge!

God bless His Real Presence in us, dear friends wherever you may be!  May your day be blessed with all the praise and gratitude that can issue forth from our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits!  Let us live the royal law:  Love God above all things and love others as ourselves!

A Psalm Prayed

I prayed this, this morning, fervently.  There has been more judging.  It was already done, and I knew it, and my spiritual father knew it.  But I decided to have closure on it in a phone message yesterday late afternoon. My message will not matter, but it was right to express it.  This morning I wish I had this Psalm to remind the persons of just how awful to judge others, to have fear, to renege and also in that way, to persecute.

However, I see the last lines, and I know what is my task and responsibility, and I pray that my attitude have it as a natural joy:  to thank God and praise Him and to see the beauty of His Creation reflected all about.

It is frightening to think how we might be condemned to an eternity in hell for our wrongs to others, our unkindness, our making judgments when we don't really know a person that well, if at all, really.  But, it is frightening that I need so much more faith to grasp and accept the suffering life that is mine, and that in better times I agreed and offered.  

So I must pull up and out, and attempt to frame a small window today, from start to finish, as I think there should be no carpentry obstacles as with the larger window.  (I await the arrival of a palm nailer as I need something small and impacting to drive some nails into a tight space where the framing gun nor a manual hammer will fit.)

Yesterday morning's tune in my mind ended up being the late George Harrison's song:  "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth").  The Lord shows me that there are good people in the world, and then there are the not so good.  It does not necessarily follow that the good are in churches and the bad, not.  

But, I want to be good, and I must pray for goodness and mercy, and to be God Is Love despite the sense of isolation and not much other in the future than suffering.  If that suffering can become joy, and if I can accept and let go of desiring not suffering, I'll fare better in the short and long run.  I need and ask His Real Presence to increase me faith.

I find the Psalmist's words rather chilling--his request of God to let their table be a trap for them, for God to pour out His indignation upon them.  Well, perhaps that is what it takes for us humans to turn ourselves around some.  Especially those of us who are in churches of any type, or those who are to be alter Christus'.  Aren't we all to be imitators of Christ, to be his followers and disciples?  So this is for each and all of us, this Psalm, if we have done any of the wrongs to anyone, ever.  Yes, it is chilling to find such writings in Scripture.  So often we want to claim the lovelier, the less condemning.

 Ps 69:15-34

Do not let the flood sweep over me,
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
   according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant,
   for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
You know the insults I receive,
   and my shame and dishonour;
   my foes are all known to you.
Insults have broken my heart,
   so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
   and for comforters, but I found none.
Let their table be a trap for them,
   a snare for their allies.
Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
   and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
   and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
   let no one live in their tents.
For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
   and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.
Add guilt to their guilt;
   may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
   let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
I will praise the name of God with a song;
   I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
   or a bull with horns and hoofs.
Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
   you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
Let heaven and earth praise him,
   the seas and everything that moves in them.

Hermit Weary: Bring God Praise!

It has been a few days since writing, although the soul never ceases to exist and to grow.  That is a marvel to ponder!  No matter what occurs with our bodies on this earth, our souls will never die, never forget; they will never be forgotten or abandoned by His Real Presence.

I've been working very hard on Te Deum House projects.  A daughter and her husband dedicated a very long Saturday to installing some wood flooring and then placing and hanging the first three cabinets.  Each person brought some experience to the project, and together we succeeded in a good start.

I'm worn out.  The pain level has escalated and along with it the tendency to struggle with managing it.  I lost meekness with upset over a wall that the electrician talked me into constructing.  As a result there is a half-inch of too little space for cabinets to fit between that wall and the end wall. 

 

I became angry with myself for being so weak and not sticking with my first instinct.  Don't build the wall because in an old house, no matter how carefully one measures, no one stud or wall is plumb, no piece of drywall will screw in exactly flush.  Each fraction of an inch adds up.  I shared my upset with the electrician in a phone call.

 

He did not deal with it well. To me, it seemed a good thing to express, for he has the habit of getting involved in and second-guessing what I am working on rather than sticking with electrical wiring, although he meant well, I'm sure.  I am at fault for letting myself be distracted and then complaining.

 

 

However, in the end, I decided to not tear down the wall.  The wall has its good points, and I will instead need to get help "ripping" 1/4-inch off two spacer boards, finding a paint match to the cabinet finish, and hoping it looks all right.  If not, a new spacer will need to be ordered and purchased.  Seems there is always some glitch no matter the effort here.

 

That is why, somehow, His Living Word speaks to me today.  I am wearied.  I am wearied from all the heavy and hard work for a body that is weak and worn out with constant pain in addition to being old!  

 

Even with the dilemma over the wall being now in the way of just placing cabinets without end-space restraint, I did realize it was just temporal stuff.  

 

One way or another, the problem will be solved. 

I'd spent hours and hours and expense in that wall:  Construction, wiring, drywall, mud, sanding, priming, painting.  I can relate with how the Israelites felt after the years in captivity and then yet more trials and years in the desert.  

 
The temporal aspects weighed heavy, and they forgot all that God had done for them and the value of being redeemed from slavery.  He had given them great and holy leaders to guide them from Egypt to the Promised Land:  Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.


The Prophet Micah declared to the people:

"Hear what the Lord says:
   Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
   and let the hills hear your voice.
‘O my people, what have I done to you?
   In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
   and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
   Aaron, and Miriam....'

Micah addresses his people with various thoughts on what more could be sacrificed to atone for all the sinfulness of the people and also asks:

"'Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’" Micah 8

The Psalmist in Psalm 50 sings:

"‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,
   or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;
   to those who go the right way
   I will show the salvation of God.’" Psalm 50

It is all too easy to get off track when weary and becoming too caught up in the temporal obstacles.  We forget that the process is as much or more value in progression as the temporal conclusion.  

In fact, at this stage of my life, the end result, such as having a kitchen in which to prepare food and store "stuff", means not all that much to me.  Maybe having this house salable so I can move on either in life or death, is the main appeal.  I have no idea where on earth I'd go. No "place" on earth is a promised land other than within His Real Presence, and He is in us and us in Him.

Perhaps the Israelites were facing realities, as I am.  After awhile, the temporal is seen always as passing away--not just sometimes.  But when I lose track of the purpose, to glorify God, and I forget the salvation He has won for me, and the ultimate freedom of my soul to exist forever in His Real Presence--then I am down for the count.

Yesterday, the Sabbath, I literally was forced to take rest.  Losing meekness over the detail of that wall--while in some ways a huge detail--was nothing worth losing meekness.  The temporal problem will have a temporal solution, one way or another.

Today, however, His Real Presence in the Sacrament of His Living Word, reminds me as to why I am weary, and it has nothing to do with what God has done to me!  He has done nothing but goodness and love to me, even if my life has been rather challenging and filled with some hard lumps and bumps.

This morning passed with my praising away the discouragement of a pained body and weary mind.  Memories of better times, way in the past, or memories of very hurtful situations--each tugged at my mind and heart as I weeded and watered.  Praising God silently met each memory as they individually popped into consciousness.  It became quite the interchange:  overcoming unpleasant yet realistic memories by praising God.  

I can bring my thanksgiving to honor His Real Presence.  He Is with me always, right here, inside and all around me, in the abode He has made in my soul, and my soul thus in His abode.  I must go the right way--and that means the way of love, always:  love of God and love of others, loving God in Himself and thus in all His creation.  

God created all, and that includes a pained body.  Pain itself is not sin, even if sin can cause pain.  And pain in other levels and dimensions is sheer joy.  He has told me that in supernal ways.

His Real Presence will show the salvation of Himself to our souls if we go the right way, that of God-Is-Love.  

(And if all this just seems like idea words, it could appear that way.  The truth is, the challenge is, to know and understand that the words are very real and active, not just idle sentiments.  We have to put life and faith into His Living Word to make it sacred in the very eternal life of our souls.  Read, hear, believe, live His Real Presence, the Word.)