Catholic Hermit: More on Vocational Artistry

I've continued my prayer and pondering of the shift and shake of my own soul and eremitic vocation (as vehicle therein).  Somehow it helps me to go with God's flow, and music flows.  I came upon the video of two great musical artists who obviously followed their God-given callings, their vocations, of musical genius.

What strikes me about Brian Wilson (Beach Boys composer, musician, founder) and Eric Clapton (one of the world's greatest guitarists) is that in their twilight years, much is documented of their earlier years.  Each man had childhood traumas through which their vocations evolved.

Perhaps the crises forced their passion, focused their talents, fortified their vocations and brought them to fruitful grandeur.  As a result of such fruitfulness, they gave and continue to give the listening world much to not only enjoy but to inspire musically as well as in their overcoming their earlier traumas.

They turned what could have been tragic lives into victorious lives.  But it did not come easily.  We must not forget the hours of solitude and inner silence so as to "listen" to their hearts and souls find musical expression.  They practiced their art forms; they lived their vocations with passion--excluding other aspects of life, for a vocation requires human effort as well as God's grace.

I continue to ponder what it all means to me, personally.  I am in a transition point in my own eremitic vocation and spiritual growth.

Tomorrow will be the 21st anniversary of my confirmation as a Catholic.  Much has evolved since that evening those years ago, yet I remember it vividly.  I was already in middle age; and relatively speaking, it was not that long after (less than five years) that the Lord proffered to me His vocational call to the eremitic (hermit) life.

We all go through shifts and shakings in our spiritual progression (and truly, in about any progression involved in our lives).  I note that each musician--Brian Wilson and Eric Clapton--had such transitions in their lives--notably major adult obstacles to overcome which for them were externally introduced and taken in by each of drugs and alcohol.  But these obstacle-temptations were answered from a point of desiring to transcend when they had come to a vocational plateau of sorts.

For now, as a consecrated Catholic hermit, my soul-vocational shift and shake is being worked out within as well as without.  I am seeing some aspects that require more focus and other aspects that require shifting away from ways of being and thinking and doing.  Some of it simply involves reflecting upon passion--my passion for God and the calling as a hermit as artist and the artistry of a soul-seeking-God (and soul, seeking God).

In the meantime enjoy and be inspired by this collaborative presentation of Brian Wilson's genius composition and performance of "The Warmth of the Sun" accompanied by Eric Clapton's gifted guitar and voice.  (Note: the men were about 60 years of age in this performance.)

Canon Law 603

A reader has inquired about Catholic hermits and Canon Law 603.  I am re-posting this Church law for the inquirer, although I refer the inquirer to the series of posts on the topic, written in March 2015.  

Ironically, the topic diverges greatly from what is unfolding in my heart and spirit--that which I am currently called to write of the spiritual life, the spiritual progression of our souls, of living a vocation with the spiritual artistry that His Real Presence imbues.  But a hermit is hospitable; and thus I cite CL603 for the visitor who has come knocking at my little laptop window to the world, via internet.


The following is the added proviso to what are the institutes of Consecrated Life in the Catholic Church, per the eremitic life.  Canon Law 603 [cited below] provides an option for a consecrated Catholic hermit.  

Canon Law 603

Can. 603 §1.  In addition to the institutes of consecrated life, the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance.

§2.  A hermit is recognized by [Church] law as one dedicated to God in consecrated life if he or she publicly professes in the hands of the diocesan bishop the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond and observes a proper program of living under his direction.

[Emphases added.]

CL603 has some additional requirements beyond what all consecrated Catholic hermits must live per the institutes of the Catholic Church.  [See previous post for Consecrated Life in the Church, and specifically The Eremitic Life, 920, 921.] CL 603 requires the Catholic hermit to publicly profess the three evangelical counsels [celibacy, poverty, and obedience] in the hands of his or her diocesan bishop.  

Note that the hermit under CL603 proviso must live what is ostensibly determined to be a proper program under the diocese bishop's direction.  

Research reveals that in current practice (de facto), many diocesan bishops delegate their direction of said hermit to a priest, deacon, or other designee. 

(In these cases, it is presumed that the diocese bishop who received the hermit's professed counsels and who recognized by [Church] law, the hermit's profession, is yet ultimately responsible by church law (de jure, if term technically applicable to church law) for the direction of said hermit.  It is also assumed per church law re. the office of bishop, that when a diocesan bishop of legal record is replaced by another bishop, the hermit must then live the determined proper program under the incoming bishop's direction.)  

Canon Law 603, while more recent, is a viable, additional provision to the institutes of the Church per consecrated, eremitic life, for the Catholic man or woman discerning and/or called by God to the consecrated life of the Church as an eremitic.  For some bishops and hermits, it may be a preferred provision for various reasons, not mentioned here.

Bastardization of a Mass

The title pretty much explains what occurred during Mass.  The good Lord allowed a begging hermit to be released to leave the debacle.  When a priest does not have a vocation in priesthood but instead in theater and the arts, the result is not good when one is trying to perform in what is not the vocation.

This hermit's body has returned to the hermitage to pray, suffer, and pray some more, then praise His Real Presence.  There needs to be praise, always, for the sorrows can be overwhelming.

Will discuss the situation with the spiritual father.  For now, recollect oneself in prayer and shake off the horror, the hell, of the effects of this morning's Mass situation.  The sacrifice of being mercifully wrenched from a hellish situation part way through is offered for the salvation of this poor nothing consecrated Catholic hermit's soul and whatever the Lord wills of its mission in time remaining on earth.

Jesus bequeaths us His peace, not hell--especially not during Mass.

Would it do any good to talk with the one who surely must be trying to at least fulfill the rudimentary aspects as it relates to doing a "job"?  No.  Best to just pray and to keep working, and to embrace the exile the Lord has allowed for yet another year.

God bless His Real Presence in us, and that includes His Real Presence in all of us, despite confusing our callings or taking up what seems the route that provides some kind of security in order to express what and in which our nature and heart are more gifted.

This hermit will ponder these matters and reflect upon its own vocation and calling, and strive to fulfill living it in a way pleasing to the Lord.  That will be perhaps the best prayer in the circumstances.  Mystical ecstasies during Mass are not always bliss.  Being in such a state allows for a very deep sensing and showing at various levels.  When good, then bliss; when not so good, then hell.

At least this hermit tried and tried its best.  To soothe the criticism of any potential blog readers who like to attack, this hermit can say it is the hermit's fault, all of it.  And, in some regards, yes, we are to suffer in union with Jesus, all things.

One thing is certain regarding mystical experiences.  There is much suffering and responsibility, and always abject honesty in truth, along with the joy.  When in mystical ecstasy, it is all reality and all truth; nothing is obscured.

Hermit: Antidote to Doubts

From reading various hermit saints and mystics, the best way to discern doubts and to remove them from the mind, is to praise God, pray, and keep busy.

Remaining in the Order of the Present Moment occurs when we praise, pray, and do our daily work. Keeping the hands busy along with the mind, and remaining positive and thankful--how easy?  Very easy, if we do not let doubts and past memories get much of a foothold in the mind.

Learning from the past is one thing, and it does not need to be a repeated lesson of reviewing over and over.  Remaining in the present can be enhanced and holy, augmented by loving and beautiful memories of the past as well as by any underlying lessons well-learned...but moved onward.  The details of failings or hurts ought go the way of streaks on a window when polished bright and clear, opening the view to the glories of now.

Yesterday this nothing Catholic hermit had doubts assail.  Does God really want us to live austerely, to go out into the spiritual depths, to renounce various aspects of the commercial and distracting world?

While the question might be a good one to ask now and then, if the doubts begin to swell and threaten to take root, best to praise, pray, and get busy.  His Real Presence will sort out the answer to one's questions, by and by.

Thus, while cutting 2"-thick styrofoam insulation board, individually fitting each between slanted ceiling joists, thoughts turned to praise and prayer while the hands kept busy measuring, cutting with a blade, fitting, and tamping in with a rubber mallet, the insulation board.  The phone rang.  The hermit had a discussion with the daughter about Advent and Christmas.  His Real Presence spoke through the daughter, with the reminder that the hermit's thoughts had turned to Christmases past, not present.  The daughter already was experiencing some of that, with her child.

Yes, yes.  And the conversation turned to Mary and Joseph, and the travels to Bethlehem--not a vacation to a warm, ocean locale, not a time of physical comfort for either of them, especially not for Mary, great with child.  Then the stable--after what could have been an increasingly frantic search for a decent room with cot or floor mat, shelter from the cold, food and drink.

The delightful distractions of a more commercial-type celebration of Christ's birth can yet catch an old hermit with feelings of current inadequacy toward those by need or nature, more in the world than a hermit.  Vocations do vary, and there is good reason for variation.  But the hermit's doubts subsided, and the questions it asked of His Real Presence were answered.

Praise His Real Presence in rejoicing even in silence.  Pray unceasingly (be intimate with inner conversation with His Real Presence).  Keep busy at whatever order is of the present moment, even if a nap is in order, or eating, or any manner of work or exercise, writing, thinking, and emptying out.

Yes, God does delight in our sacrifices from that which is unnecessary and for that which provides more for others, not self.  God does desire us to go further into the depths of the spiritual, for that is His Way, His Truth, His Life.  

As for extreme efforts, extreme is relative and conditional in degrees.  What may seem extreme to one is not to another.  Some have the courage and grace and practical circumstances (fewer or no familial responsibilities) to make radical changes in the externals.  We all can make radical conversions toward God, in the interior of our hearts, minds, and souls.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another, for God Is Love! Through, with, and in Him, we are graced to live our vocations with the zeal and radical love which is pleasing to God and inspired by Him, with outflow of goodness, here on earth below and there in heaven above.

Society, Solitude, and Life Success

A friend has emailed increasingly barbed comments.  She does not mean to, but it may be her frustration or lack of ability to grasp another way of life.  She has commented on how she lived beneath her means so now can have a wonderful retirement.  (In actuality, she never had rough circumstances financially and was blessed with ability to work full-time despite physical handicap and, yes, a sad divorce.  She has also been blessed with a male friend who left a bequest upon his death, and an inheritance.)

She has mentioned how good is her heat pump where she lives and how inexpensive the man who repairs it. [This hermit was double charged for a heat pump and given an outrageously high hourly repair rate.]  She has mentioned it is too bad that this hermit (don't think she grasps the eremitic vocation, from her unchurched background) did not plan anything for Thanksgiving.

With each email or comment, the hermit responds with acceptance and love.  For one thing, it is true that the hermit has made many errors in dealing with the world.  And it is true that the hermit has not become involved in social activities here, and has accepted the general unfriendliness of neighbors who said upon meeting that they stay to themselves.   Have also not attempted more interactions, partly due to physical pain and heaps of hardships, but also due to vocation.

The hermit tells the friend how wise and good has been the friend, and how wonderful her various social outings, sometimes three or four per day.  For it is good, for the friend, as that is what she perceives and has known as worthwhile and good.  The friend has a group of friends who are active in various entertainments, hikes, and other gatherings.  The friend helps others in her group and also does some volunteering.  The hermit is blessed with this friend, for she offers another opportunity to truly understand how the friend lives, and what a valid and good life for her.  And the hermit understands that the friend does not understand or deem so worthwhile, however, the hermit's own life, and that is all right, too.

________________________

What stands out--that all hermits ought to recognize and accept, is that especially in our society, this country, but also in the world-- is that life success seems measured by social involvements, activity, and mobility.  Even beyond higher economic status, even in Christian circles, a successful life is deemed by social activity, involvements, and outreach.

For Catholics, there is more an acceptance of those in cloistered religious orders as having good purpose.  This hermit recalls a young married Catholic who exclaimed relief that some women in a nearby cloister were praying night and day.  She felt if not for them, the world would fall apart.  This hermit asked if the young woman herself might not consider praying night and day, and not so much count on the handful in the cloister to do what is the prime responsibility, if not joy, of all of us:  to pray unceasingly?

Yet, at least there is a value placed by some, on those whose lives are primarily and known, as that of prayer for souls and prayer for the world.  But the majority, even in the vast Body of Christ, in the Western church in particular, hinge Christian success upon visible action and social interaction.

_________________________

This hermit decided to mention to its secular humanist friend (mentioned first in post), that on this Thanksgiving Day, the hermit had indeed made plans.  It was planning to pray today for other people to have memorable and enjoyable, fruitful and meaningful experiences in their social gatherings.  

The hermit will pray for the many who are working today.  It prays for people traveling, for people ill in hospitals and nursing homes, for people in other countries not celebrating Thanksgiving Day, for those who are yet links in the chains--even if weakening links--whose memory brings some hurt, and once more asking for the gift of forgiveness and letting go of all wounds.

Then, this hermit will also do a little insulating or some form of manual labor in order to pray while working.  It will provide some stretching of the painful body; and work will help break any bonds of tedium or acedia afflicting the hermit.

Did not mention the tears that cleanse the hermit and wash some sins far away, forever.  But they had not come yet, in this very full day of hidden types of activity that many perhaps have never contemplated as hallmarks of a valuable or successful life.  And, a hermit or solitary must have faith and trust in his or her own form of life, and accept it as worthwhile and meaningful, full of quiet love.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another, just as He loves us!

Settling Into God's Stream

Such a lovely time away from Te Deum House and into civilization but was quite ready to return.  The daughter has noticed the transition effort in being in temporal comfort and then returning to the hardships of this place.  

Dom Scupoli's writings in the particular chapters being read address sloth--not simply spiritual sloth but the temptation to cease working at a task when there are so many tasks as to be overwhelming.  He then asks of the reader to make the spiritual connection, as well.

There is great progress with the little grandson in mastering a youthful and very human tendency to grumpiness when something does not quite go his way, or when some project or schoolwork is frustrating.  He seems to respond to the little suggestion God gives his "Gaga" that each step and thought we take or have is a step toward goodness or bad, heaven or hell.  Just the little reminder, and he pulls right out of a bad attitude.  Ah, but his Gaga could do as well when the physical suffering exhausts the body, and the dark angels try to trip the mind and spirit. 

But there is progress outwardly here, and within, also.  The good is grasped more and more from what appears as otherwise negative.  A helpful conversation the other night with the spiritual father brought about his assessment of whether or not this "nothing" Catholic hermit is being moved in the direction of not belonging to a parish, or at least that God seems not willing active involvement if involvement at all, other than of love and prayer for all peoples on earth as it is in heaven.

He thinks God is not willing this hermit to be in a parish.  What has occurred, is the rather fearful, awkward, leading to uncharitable, reactions of the parishioners and priests seemingly due to an atypical but not unheard of state during Mass.  And when the waters have been tested otherwise in small involvement, the nets have come up empty.  It is quite simple, and the reality is set out and becoming more a direction than coincidence or fault of anyone involved.  It just is as it is; and that is a good thing, for negative is merely the opposite of positive.  Change and adaptation:  Growth is at hand!

The reality of God's unique and individual desires for each and every soul is beautiful!  We grow and go in a flow, and the stream is not as predictable as we might think.  The spiritual father suggests trying the monastery for weekly worship; or if a parish for worship, then to anonymously and quietly come and go.  He does not think God wills this hermit to be a parishioner or belong to a parish.  Our conversation included those hermits who were not at all parishioners.  It was not easy to think of any of which we could identify in history, who were.  None came to mind.  The fact of privately professed, Catholic hermits being consecrated religious, helps define the difference and provides reason and understanding.

Mother Teresa was not a hermit by vocation, but neither was she in a religious order after she left it to follow God's call to "help the poorest of the poor." She also was not a member of any parish.  Much later she was called upon to formalize the women working with her, and the Missionaries of Charity were born and organized as a religious community within the Catholic Church.  

The spiritual father and "nothing" conversed on several noted persons in the history of the Church (including John the Baptist) who can come to mind, who were not in parishes.  If they had been in a parish setting, their religious lives and spiritual desires and emphases--well, one can ponder how that could be problematic with the every day efforts of many parish priests and parishioners.  

["Repent!  Repent!"  Now, that would not gain favorable inclusion, would it?  John the Baptist would not likely pass the scrutiny to give a program to elderly parishioners.  And  Jesus did not find loving welcome in His hometown temple, that is for sure, nor other temples of His day, either.]

We can also compare and contrast the various scenarios with today's parishes, as we exist in the present moment.  And a hermit vocation is not the same in the living out as that of a parish priest or one in a religious order, or a lay parishioner, any more than their vocations are the same in the living out as a hermit's vocation.

All this causes this "nothing" Catholic hermit to ponder anew its vocation and the chastisement over eight years ago by the Guardian angel:  "You have not been living nor honoring the hermit life that God has chosen for you and values very much."

That was a jump-startling event, causing more focus and effort in living and honoring the hermit life--which needed to be deepened through prayer, awareness, learning, listening and making some changes in outer and inner daily life.  We can see over time, no matter our vocations, the shifts and the wanderings, and then the herding and guiding that comes from His Real Presence in both tangible and mystical ways.  

It takes earth time, and it takes willingness to adapt and submit and to accept the gradual or sometimes blunt alterations.  Now is a time for adapting and submitting all the more to honoring the hermit life God has chosen and values for this "nothing."  

What causes the heart to sing?

That is a very good question to place beside various thoughts and actions throughout the day and night.  When a stream is flowing as God wills, the water sings as it tumbles over the rocks, or when it slithers silently--barely perceived in stretches of calm pools.

Nothing now must consider for worship: Mass at a nearby monastery.  [It is of a different rite, but that ought not matter in these circumstances.  Presumably, if the apostles were alive today, they would be priests of various rites in either the Western or Eastern Church.]  If "nothing" attempts worship again at a parish, then is to come and go without comment, politely decline answering questions if any, and ignore (as Jesus had said to "nothing" previously) the criticisms and judging from wary priests and parishioners. 

This entire process has nothing to do with anything other than discerning, now, more, the unfolding of God's will regarding group worship in a specific hermit's life.  

God does utilize situations in His created world and with His created people to help guide and direct His each and every created soul.  We are to cast our nets even if we have cast them before.  Time evolves, and the fish move along unseen in water's depths.  Nothing is permanent in this life--no matter if a hermit or monk or nun or priest or lay married or single person.  

We must live and honor the vocations of our lives which God has chosen for us and values very much, and this means there are shifts and adaptations and alterations along the way by which the Lord teaches us faith, hope and charity.  We must remember always that these three greatest of God's gifts go beyond a pew, some structural walls, a town, city, country or continent.

Once we begin to open our eyes underwater as part of the flowing stream, and within the proper, peaceful flow and elements, our hearts begin to sing.  Then we are living and honoring that which God has chosen--even if we see or find that outside the waters, there is hardship and contradiction.

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