Another Potential Hermit Rule

In reading the introduction to the life of St. Catherine de Ricci (victim soul and mystic), the hermit notes another potential rule of life. It also faciliates the three ways of the spiritual life: the three conversions necessary for any disciple of Jesus, seeking union.

From Psalm 33:15 we are advised:
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

Yes, this could be another simple rule of life for any hermit, or a hermit's mini-course in the spiritual life--with overtures of St. John of the Cross, Tanquerey, and Garrigou-Lagrange! Why not quote the Dominican Fr. Bertand Wilbeforce's erudition of this Psalm?

"'Depart from evil.' The purification of the soul from all sin, mortal and venial, and from all affections and desires that are not for God, is the first stage of the spiritual life, and is called the 'purgative state,' or the state of purification.

"'Do good.' These two words indicate the second stage of the soul's life, which is called the 'illuminative state,' and consists in meditating on and practially imitating the life and virtues of Jesus Christ, the lifht of the world. The third stage is called the 'unitive way,' because the purified soul, formed after the model of Christ, does all that is possible to unite itself to God in perfect love.

"In these three ways, the ways of the Lord, all must walk continually. The beginner, though still unpurified, must try to follow our Lord and to be united to God by love, and the soul most advanced in perfection will always find defects to be amended and virtue to be practised more generously. But at first the chief work will be ot purify the soul, while after a time the main object will be to form virtuous habits by imitatng the life of Chirst, and at last the union o flove will be the one absorbing though and desires. This union can be always made more and more perfect; it can increase without measure."

[from St. Catherine de Ricci: Her Life, Her Letters, Her Community, by F. M. Capes; intro. by Fr. Bertrand Wilberforce, OP, p. xxii]