Not often, but enough to recognize the import, a word is given to the hermit, a word from God.
For some time now, the hermit has been plagued with the sense that the hermit does not have a place in the Church, not a place as a hermit or otherwise. In fact, the word "place" keeps coming up, and even once the hermit said it to the Bishop: I have no place, no place.
He asked, "What do you mean, no place?"
The hermit did not explain. It seemed useless, for attempts to explain it to the confessor weren't cogent, evidently. The confessor said the hermit has a place with the laity. (But later he comprehended that this was not so, not at all for various and good reasons.)
Once more, one recent morning, the hermit had tried again to explain that a place was necessary, that the hermit needed to eventually be canonically approved. That met with the response that the hermit has consecrated privately and had vows received by a priest. True enough, but there was something more needed; the hermit felt it deep within as has been felt for some time. Not to be noticed, not for acclaim, not for recognition--but to have a PLACE.
Soon after that conversation, the hermit drove toward Agnus Dei, and at a certain spot now sign-posted in the hermit's mind, the word "bestowal" soundlessly verbalized into the overcast morn.
The hermit had been thinking: If a person can privately consecrate and avow, then what difference in that and being a secular hermit? But, to have the vows received by a Catholic priest must make the difference. And that is when "bestowal" was bestowed into the hermit's interior view and interior hearing.
It was a significant moment. Yes, bestowal somehow held the key. Bestow, bestowed, bestowal.
Later, the hermit did a little word research. Jesus has the hermit do this; it is like a fun little game, and the hermit delights in the clues and in unraveling the mystery using a favorite dictionary and now on-line research.
be-stow': 1. To use; to apply. 2.a. To set or place. b.To deposit; to stow. 3. To give or confer in marriage. 4. To give; confer; impart;--often with "on" or "upon." The Middle English bistowen is defined with "use for, devote to." The root of be + stowen means "to place", from the Old English stow, or PLACE [emphasis added].
The hermit wrote this out, ecstatically, for the confessor. It seemed to be the missing link. PLACE, PLACE, PLACE! To have a place in the Church, as a hermit, would entail not just the one-sided offering of consecration and vows, albeit "received" by a priest, but to have the other-sided return, the giving back, the conferral, the BESTOWAL. Bestowal is thus necessary! It is necessary in a valid marriage in the Church; it ought be necessary for a valid hermit in the Church.
The confessor didn't see it; skepticism marked the reaction, or at least no sharing in the enthusiasm. (Who could blame him? Someone's got to keep his head when the hermit has come upon a rapturous insight.) "It is not a liturgical word" was the response.
"It is Scriptural--it is in the Bible!" the hermit piped like some crack-beaked parakeet.
"But it is not liturgical." And that was that. For now.
The hermit's joy was not depleted, for what can death do to a seed crushed and fallen to the ground, already dead?
In times past, when a word was given to the hermit (then not a hermit), if another in the equation did not comprehend or played devil's advocate, it seems that God sooner or later provided a proof, and sometimes that proof was a bit shocking and incredible. Yes, incredible. That is another good word.
If Jesus wants the hermit to have canonical approval bestowed, to have the hermit be used for, devoted to, or PLACED, it will happen by and by, either on earth or in heaven.
The Aramaic for bestow is the same as for n'than, or Nathan. The hermit next plans to delve into Nathan in the Bible. It is an essential clue needing investigation.
Another possibility, of course, is that the hermit is not to be a Catholic hermit, or a liturgical hermit, but rather a secular hermit who happens to be a Catholic. But the hermit would rather not ponder that until the bestowal research is complete.
For some time now, the hermit has been plagued with the sense that the hermit does not have a place in the Church, not a place as a hermit or otherwise. In fact, the word "place" keeps coming up, and even once the hermit said it to the Bishop: I have no place, no place.
He asked, "What do you mean, no place?"
The hermit did not explain. It seemed useless, for attempts to explain it to the confessor weren't cogent, evidently. The confessor said the hermit has a place with the laity. (But later he comprehended that this was not so, not at all for various and good reasons.)
Once more, one recent morning, the hermit had tried again to explain that a place was necessary, that the hermit needed to eventually be canonically approved. That met with the response that the hermit has consecrated privately and had vows received by a priest. True enough, but there was something more needed; the hermit felt it deep within as has been felt for some time. Not to be noticed, not for acclaim, not for recognition--but to have a PLACE.
Soon after that conversation, the hermit drove toward Agnus Dei, and at a certain spot now sign-posted in the hermit's mind, the word "bestowal" soundlessly verbalized into the overcast morn.
The hermit had been thinking: If a person can privately consecrate and avow, then what difference in that and being a secular hermit? But, to have the vows received by a Catholic priest must make the difference. And that is when "bestowal" was bestowed into the hermit's interior view and interior hearing.
It was a significant moment. Yes, bestowal somehow held the key. Bestow, bestowed, bestowal.
Later, the hermit did a little word research. Jesus has the hermit do this; it is like a fun little game, and the hermit delights in the clues and in unraveling the mystery using a favorite dictionary and now on-line research.
be-stow': 1. To use; to apply. 2.a. To set or place. b.To deposit; to stow. 3. To give or confer in marriage. 4. To give; confer; impart;--often with "on" or "upon." The Middle English bistowen is defined with "use for, devote to." The root of be + stowen means "to place", from the Old English stow, or PLACE [emphasis added].
The hermit wrote this out, ecstatically, for the confessor. It seemed to be the missing link. PLACE, PLACE, PLACE! To have a place in the Church, as a hermit, would entail not just the one-sided offering of consecration and vows, albeit "received" by a priest, but to have the other-sided return, the giving back, the conferral, the BESTOWAL. Bestowal is thus necessary! It is necessary in a valid marriage in the Church; it ought be necessary for a valid hermit in the Church.
The confessor didn't see it; skepticism marked the reaction, or at least no sharing in the enthusiasm. (Who could blame him? Someone's got to keep his head when the hermit has come upon a rapturous insight.) "It is not a liturgical word" was the response.
"It is Scriptural--it is in the Bible!" the hermit piped like some crack-beaked parakeet.
"But it is not liturgical." And that was that. For now.
The hermit's joy was not depleted, for what can death do to a seed crushed and fallen to the ground, already dead?
In times past, when a word was given to the hermit (then not a hermit), if another in the equation did not comprehend or played devil's advocate, it seems that God sooner or later provided a proof, and sometimes that proof was a bit shocking and incredible. Yes, incredible. That is another good word.
If Jesus wants the hermit to have canonical approval bestowed, to have the hermit be used for, devoted to, or PLACED, it will happen by and by, either on earth or in heaven.
The Aramaic for bestow is the same as for n'than, or Nathan. The hermit next plans to delve into Nathan in the Bible. It is an essential clue needing investigation.
Another possibility, of course, is that the hermit is not to be a Catholic hermit, or a liturgical hermit, but rather a secular hermit who happens to be a Catholic. But the hermit would rather not ponder that until the bestowal research is complete.
