Let Them Bring Me to Your Holy Mountain

Three or more times in the same amount of days, maybe more, the thoughts of the Holy Mountain came up in the hermit's rare verbal conversations but also in e-mail communication.

Who shall climb the Holy Mountain? Check out Ps. 15 and Ps. 22.

Now the hermit reads it again in Ps. 43:

O send forth Your light and Your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to Your holy mountain,
to the place where You dwell.

For the hermit, now, the Holy Mountain is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Christ's light and truth shall be my guide and have brought me, shall keep me there in the place where He dwells.

The Sacred Heart is rather like a cave, and A Carthusian Monk described it as such in a meditation read not too long ago. The cave also represented the Church, for Christ is the Church, the Head, and it is a rock, firm in foundation. The holy mountain is firm in foundation; the Sacred Heart is firm in foundation. They are Christ's; He is our rock of salvation.

A woman asked the hermit after noon Mass to go for coffee. The hermit took a fleeting glance within the Sacred Heart, and the answer was an atypical "yes", for it seemed this woman who the hermit did not know, might be in need; and the hermit is always in that state of need. Need of what? Need of the virtues which are practiced and strengthened in a variety of unsuspecting situations.

It was not too difficult to cordone the conversation within the spiritual, within the Sacred Heart. The woman had coffee and a bowl of chicken soup; the hermit had hot water with lemon and a bowl of mushroom soup. The woman asked questions, and the hermit quickly did as hermits ARE to do in matters of visits of any type (in-person or written or phone): strive for the Holy Mountain, and now the place is
to remain within the Sacred Heart.

Before long, the woman had discussed numerous activities, said she is a people person, loves life, and "goes, goes, goes." Yes, the hermit used to go in many directions at once in delightful activities and creative hobbies and good works for the Lord. The hermit mentioned what the Carthusian monk (yet another one!) wrote about Martha's mulitplicities and how they differed from the preferred focus and recollection of Mary--who also did her chores but had the priorities in order, in loving order. But the woman said she likes to be like Martha. Oh.

Then the hermit brought up the Holy Mountain, as the woman also expressed that she knew she was somehow missing out on something, and she said she had watched the hermit at Mass and thought the hermit was so put together and had so much peace. The hermit laughed and said there was much confusion and despair until the Lord bestowed His peace that passeth all understanding just 11 weeks ago, maybe only 10. And, that it takes effort to learn about that peace, and to protect it, and to nurture it--and then of realizing that one is actually within the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that this is a place for everyone, if any soul desires and strives, cooperates.

The woman said she was interested in climbing the Holy Mountain, so the hermit brought out points of Ps. 15 and 22 in answer to her question of how to climb it. Walk without blame, work justice, speak truth in the heart, not use deceit of the tongue or do evil to his neighbor--or take up reproach to his neighbor. Not be taken up with the malignant ones but delight and associate with those who fear the Lord. Not deceive others and not take others monetarily, nor take bribes against the innocent. (And those that climb the Holy Mountain, who do these things, will not be moved forever.) Those who climb the Holy Mountain seek the Face of God: they strive for purity of heart.

Yes, within the Sacred Heart there must be a striving for purity, the pure air of the mountain peaks, and the lushness of the valleys seen from the heights in their open beauty, laid bare in truth.

She needed more here-and-now examples, so the hermit asked her about mountain climbing. It takes effort, training, guide books and guides. One begins at the bottom in the foothills where many can be gathered to begin, but before too long the path becomes narrow and steep, and the climb can be accomplished with God alone--and all the non-physical saints and angels who do not need the physical path but who are needed for their wisdom, guidance and inspiration, for the saints traversed the earthly path and the angels have delivered many from stumbles and falls.

She said she wants to be at the base of the mountain with lots of people and activities--but she also wants to be at the top. She asked if she could have it all. She went on in a stream of "I want's".

The hermit had to say that Jesus tells us the path is narrow and few are they who are on it. She even commented that many are called but few are chosen. We discussed the rich young man who turned away sad, for he was unwilling to do what was necessary to follow Jesus, and that was to say no to his many attachments, to what HE wanted, and wanted MORE than to follow Jesus.

It is much about desire, and there are those who desire the heights of union with God, and there are those who desire many other things. The woman desires many other things, at least for now, and time is closing in on her. A friend of hers had commented that she was "always late" and had backed away in friendship. The woman said this just was not true, and quickly chattered about why she was late some times, for this or that reason, but that it just wasn't true that she was late.

The hermit commented that being late was a trait in the hermit's family, of the mother, an aunt, and even the hermit's tendency until awhile ago, for there was always "just one more thing that could be squeezed in to be done" prior to departure for an appointment. Yes, multiplicities complicate the landscape; they are stumbling stones on the path, and the path underfoot could well be considered Holy Scripture.

Later the woman asked what is the Sacred Heart, besides the pictures she had seen of Jesus with His Heart painted on the outside of his robes. This was yet another explanation required with images and simplicity.
The woman commented that she likes to go for walks (and also go to an exercise gym, and then also to yoga, and then also to this and that...), but the hermit said in response to the woman's complaint of going here and there and her house being a mess, that perhaps just walking would be enough and for free. No, that would not due, but the woman leapt over to the path of walking, and she discussed how she likes to walk on one side of the sidewalk and think of Jesus walking beside her.

So in an experiment, the hermit asked if the woman would like to walk, not with Jesus beside her, but actually inside Jesus, such as within His Sacred Heart, as HE did the walking and chose where they would walk and how long and with what thoughts? She said, "No, I WANT my own body, and I WANT Jesus to just be walking beside me."

The hermit rather delighted in this woman's candor; it was opposite of the woman in the Sacristy Sunday evening whose pride shown brightly, and without that woman recognizing it. The hermit would have tried to hide the hermit's pride; but it was more honest that this woman let her pride shine in full exposure, just as this other woman declared her own wants.

Light and truth are the guides to bring us to the Holy Mountain. What is light? Truth contains knowing ourselves; yes, but it also means knowing Jesus and what HE WANTS, what PLEASES HIM. Light helps us to expose ourselves, to take us out of the dark blindness of self and into the Truth of Jesus Christ.

Now the hermit comprehends why the Bishop said that coming to nest as a genderless soul, in nothingness, within the Sacred Heart, is not given to everyone in this lifetime and only to a few. The hermit can comprehend how Jesus simply had to let the rich young man go away, sad. Perhaps the rich young man, like this woman, was not aware of just how sad, for these souls do not know yet what it is they are missing. they think they would miss the attachments and that ordered love is too hard. When in light shining on the truth of the matter, the ordered love within the Sacred Heart is, as the Vicar General said: richness. It is the richest and best place to exist!

I suppose it just has to be this way with many souls who choose it, for the woman concluded our visit by asking if there weren't times that I really missed going and doing and all the fun things of life. The hermit explained that there are no desires other than to nest within the Sacred Heart, and that within Him there is such richness of life, and that I am such an infant in this process that there is much to learn which keeps me quite occupied, challenged, and enthralled. She said she would miss her activities and all the people too much; in fact, she did not want to let the one person go, the one who chided her for lateness and desired to not have so much contact.

Back to Agnus Dei, and the hermit was absolutely exhausted from the encounter, but also practicing viewing it from within the Sacred Heart, as Jesus would, with delight in this woman and her zest for many good things in life, for loving life, and for loving Jesus at the base of His Holy Mountain, in the foothills. Some day she may, sooner than later, desire to simplify. Yes, she had asked the hermit to write down the Nine S' for her; but somehow the hermit surmises they may be lost amidst the multiplicities.

Now, the hermit has need very much of God's light and truth to guide the hermit in the soul work required for becoming less cluttered and encumbered, in order to be reduced in all ways so as to not offend the soft beauty of the interior of His Sacred Heart. The hermit continues begging light to be shone upon the attachments and imperfections, so that ordered love may increase and the tainted hermit decrease.