Catholic Hermit: Challenges in Transition

I'm finding actual, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual challenges during the transitions from one phase to another.  Considering such as a hermit's "stricter" separation from the world, the transitions between phases involve various aspects but can be also viewed in the "-er" of "stricter."  

My learning to discern and to understand God's "ways" with me (and somewhat with others, in compassion and not judging but in observing and learning with and from others' lives) exist in my "following" to His "leading" and even "ordaining."  I refer to "ordain" defined "as of God, prescribing and determining", so in that sense God very much ordains the phases including transitions between phases according to His will and desire, and His knowing what is best for me.  

God does and acts justly, He ordains for every soul who desires to believe in faith, to hope in God, to love Him in Himself, to simply accept and follow His leading.

Dr. H. called this morning.  He has spoken to a man in his office building who does acupuncture but who has himself suffered severe and chronic pain involving the spine.  Dr. H. is going to set up a time to hear this man's story, for the man wants to share it.  The man has come to deal with his pain through some deeper spiritual means.  Dr. H. wants to include me in a conference-type call, as he thinks this man's story might be of interest, given my spiritual life and experiences, plus the suffering.

Within this discussion of which I'm always interested in people's journeys and including their sufferings being formative in their spiritual lives, I mentioned to Dr. H. my period of current transition in which I realize I am to accept a yet deeper call and deeper, blind faith entering into that which I know not.  Yet I know God will lead me to far better and greater understanding and perhaps better ability to pray for others in ways beyond what has been.  I also, in faith and in hope in God, consider that I must pass through this transition period of some trepidation in the unknown and needing courage, for I must let go of what was, and not linger in grieving what was.  

There are various challenges a person experiences when in transition from a lesser phase to a deeper phase.  One must step forth as if stepping off an outcropping of a cliff  over a body of water--a cliff that one has not climbed to that point prior--and to simply drop or dive as best one can muster, with full abandonment to God, into the unknown waters below.  The climb to that outcrop as well as the aspects one experiences, thinks, feels is a climb that has been at various levels and degrees of incline over a period of temporal time.

The phase prior to a transition and then the actual dive into the unknown depths of a deeper phase involve details unique to each soul aspiring to union with God.  

Other than praying about facing and overcoming, passing through, the challenges in my specific transition, I also wrote an email to one who seems to me wise and seasoned in years and relatively unscathed and unfettered by such as personality disorders or other ailments.  Rather refreshing for such as me with my pain issues and various other flaws.

I'll share some of what I wrote; perhaps I am more clear in correspondence.  I have no idea.  I'll put it in a separate, next post, for some of what I wrote might serve as reminder or more, to me of various thoughts in this particular transition period.  It will also remind me that even in correspondence, there may be found a hermit's consideration of God as our source of beingness, God prominent and central--the ALL--to and in the life He bequeaths:--our temporal bodies, our minds, our hearts/emotions, our souls.

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.  

Catholic Hermit: Effect of Noise and Activity

For a consecrated Catholic hermit, the institutes of the Catholic Church stipulate a stricter separation or withdrawal from the world in silence and solitude, among some other specifications.  But to take the silence and solitude, as an example, a hermit can realize the effects of noise and activity after having lived the hermit life for several years.

Four days were spent in civilization.  Of the four, three were spent in quiet, with two family members.  The hermit remained mostly in their home, helping out with some manual labor and in loving rapport.  Three or four times the hermit assisted by running an errand, taking one of the family members to a couple activities, and joined in on a third activity.

The effect of the activities that placed the hermit among several others, even if in contained settings, is notable.  In each, the hermit found itself focusing on a book, or one of the family members, or in a conversation (cell phone) such as with the spiritual father, long-distance.  Without realizing, the hermit needed to eliminate the external stimuli of the temporal world.  The hermit is no longer used to the noise, the distractions, the outer activities, great numbers of souls embodied and busy with every day life.

The temporal world has its very good aspects.  It is marvelous to live an active life in the lay vocations of marriage and single life.  Families are blessed; the activities of a loving family are necessary for socialization, development of skills and talents, and to prepare for a career.  God's created world and all the lovely people in it, are cause for celebration and joy.  Live life to the full!

But for one called to the eremitic life, and for one who has been living that life for several years of praise of God, assiduous prayer and penance, of stricter separation from the world in silence and solitude--returning to the other is much like being dunked into icy-cold water when not conditioned to it.

This nothing Catholic hermit considers St. Bruno.  After a few years living what would later be known as the Carthusian life, as a hermit who had been a priest teaching at university in Cologne, Germany in 11th century--he was called to leave the silence and solitude of the Grande Chartreuse to assist the pope in Rome.  As soon as Bruno could, he finished what was requested by the pope.  Bruno established a charterhouse in Italy in similar format to the first charterhouse in France. There he lived out his hermit life, separated from the world in praise of God, prayer and penance, in silence and solitude.

For this Catholic hermit, the final day in civilization was spent in a skating arena.  A family member participated in speed skating races.  The hermit found itself focusing, of course, on the family member during his events, and otherwise observed a few people from time to time.  But mostly it withdrew silently into the soul, alone with God in thoughts of praise and love of the strangers all about.  It also pondered family members and friends, prayerfully and lovingly--those dotted throughout the country and around the world, past and present, living in the world and living in eternity.

Now and then, however, the noise and activity became such that the hermit's chronic pain increased so as to distract from the ability to be stilled within.  Then, the hermit would go to the truck to rest--even dozed for awhile.  One of the family members inside the skating arena signalled with cell phone when the skater began warm-ups for the next race.  A couple other times the hermit retreated to the out-of-doors, where traffic noise and people coming and going seemed minimal in comparison to the enclosed arena, where a couple hundred, kinetically charged people, were confined.

Therein were the racers, their families and friends, the announcers on loud speakers, and skating officials.  Four large screens mounted on the walls across from where onlookers stood and sat, displayed three different television cable stations' programs--national college basketball playoffs, a national skating event somewhere, a reality show.  Music blared constantly, as well.  Some in the gallery, watching skaters in the arena, also spoke on cell phones, texted, engaged with electronic tablets, or played tech games.  Little children played with toys or chased one another about; the snack bar had a constant line of hungry participants and observers, both.

Today the hermit is exhausted.  The pain level is high for various reasons.  A certain aspect of the increased pain and weariness is the shock in contrast to a life otherwise of praise and prayer:  of stricter separation from the world, in silence and solitude.

Amazing how the body, mind, heart, and soul adapt to a way of life.  Even a temporary change to the marvelous world with its people and noise and activities--nothing evil about it but busy!--can have quite an effect on a hermit.

Does the hermit have an effect on the persons busy in the world, doing what they do as part of their own vocations? Had not considered this aspect until just now while writing. Surely the presence of the hermit--not visible as a hermit by any external garb, items, or symbols--had some effect just as each and every soul has an effect upon its environment, people in their surroundings, and all of God's creation.

Even if alone in a hermitage, such as now, the bee that has come into the room via the attic space above, senses the hermit as does the hermit sense the bee.  At some point, the hermit will get its very pained body up and out of bed, open the window, and use a prod to guide the bee outside where it can better live its own vocation, its own purpose in life here on God's created earth.

A hermit who on occasion or for specific events, for charity's sake, re-enters the noise and activity of the world and the dear people in the world, ought keep in mind that its hermit life goes with it, despite the environmental altering.  The praise and prayer, the penance, continue yet are unnoticed outwardly.  The silence and solitude continues, despite being challenged.

This nothing Catholic hermit is reminded of the inspiration of--was it just two weeks ago?--to "Go with God's flow."  Yes, the noise and activity in the beautiful, busy aspects of the world affect the hermit's pain level and energy.  So today the hermit must rest and recover physically.  Physical pain affects the mind and emotions, and the mind and emotions affect the soul.  Time to go with God's flow:  through Him, with Him, in Him.

The work of making running water feasible in the hermitage is put off to another hour, or day.  Perhaps it will take all effort to carry in the 2x4's from the truck and to unload the pine tongue-in-groove ceiling boards.

First, though, to praise God for the bee and to pray for its careful and safe deliverance from inside the window to outside, where it can wing its way in the fresh air and fulfill its mission for which it is created and imbued by God.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another!  Remain in His Love, no matter where our bodies may find themselves!