Returned from private retreat ten days early. Bizarre happenings. It ended up being a "business" trip with much suffering and a couple or three more "assignments." Have been quite ill. Obstacles persisted through the final airport with an issue over a small vial of holy water. The line was drawn, however, and other airport employees kindly boxed the small bottle and shipped it free in plane's belly. One bigoted employee did not get her way, thankfully, and the holy water from Mariazell basilica was not tossed out.
A letter came from a woman who reports nerve problems much of her life. She writes of how lonely it is to be a mystic. The timing of her letter is apropos, for the retreat brought another encounter with a soul of unusual dimension and also horrific capacities.
The experiences float in and out; much is blurred of the time away. The body nearly emptied of electricity save for a ground wire. The soul at times seemed, this past week, about to detach. Much rest, Sacrament of the Annointing of the Sick, Mass finally and to see the Bishop and VG concelebrate, thankfully so. On eighth day of antibiotics and yet depleted, but sparks here and there, in evidence.
So much to mull over of the interior, of the experience which causes the nothing to confront an aspect of the soul. And this aspect causes the nothing to be yet more hidden. From Psalm 26 comes the assurance that the Lord has protected the nothing in His Tabernacle--and there the nothing shall remain.
For safe-keeping, the nothing must remain in the Tabernacle, and the Catholic Church is its only hiding place; and within that hiding place a very narrow nook for experience of others who have chosen to spill out the chalice, demonstrate a sorrowful fate.
So much occurred that is best, at least for now, not described. It has been shared with the confessor who has tried to comprehend. As for other matters, a confessor there in the distant land said to leave it to my Bishop. Another said God was proving the nothing. It seemed stretched beyond endurance, but here it be, and back at Mass late in the afternoon just past. And God willing and body able, to go today and from here on, and to remain in the Tabernacle.
"For my mother and father have left me, but the Lord hath taken me up." (Ps. 26)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
There Are Worse Things in Life than Death
This is the theme of a recent pilgrimage. There was much suffering involved. Returned quite ill in body and suffering in soul, as well. But this is the life and dying to self of a victim soul. If one offers to suffer and die for the Church, to live in Christ and do His will, to offer to join Christ in reparative suffering--then suffering is to be expected.
Why does it take me by surprise? Ignorance and naivete. Not being aware, perhaps, and not being focused enough on the mission as victim soul.
A poor confession was made elsewhere. The sin could not be adequately described, but it had to do with no suffering well enough, not appreciating the suffering, not honoring the present moment in the deep suffering--nor being joyful in the location of the suffering.
It is difficult to write at this time. So much has transpired. But victim souls seem to be called to be available for the individual, hidden and forgotten souls of the world. The reality becomes simply being put in their paths, literally, so as to get to know the need of their souls, and then in ways inexplicable to describe, having occasions build and unfold in order to suffer greatly for these very real and living persons.
And, it would seem quite feasible, that suffering can also be offered and experienced for those not living. Must ponder this awhile, however.
Why does it take me by surprise? Ignorance and naivete. Not being aware, perhaps, and not being focused enough on the mission as victim soul.
A poor confession was made elsewhere. The sin could not be adequately described, but it had to do with no suffering well enough, not appreciating the suffering, not honoring the present moment in the deep suffering--nor being joyful in the location of the suffering.
It is difficult to write at this time. So much has transpired. But victim souls seem to be called to be available for the individual, hidden and forgotten souls of the world. The reality becomes simply being put in their paths, literally, so as to get to know the need of their souls, and then in ways inexplicable to describe, having occasions build and unfold in order to suffer greatly for these very real and living persons.
And, it would seem quite feasible, that suffering can also be offered and experienced for those not living. Must ponder this awhile, however.
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Catholic Hermit Can't Wait, but Must
The regular confessor is due back, and the hermit has much contrition of heart. The confessional has been seeing much of the hermit lately. The nothing can't wait to go to confession, but must. Reading St. Silouan today has helped coagulate the regret even beyond this morning's repentance of being such an easy mark for the devil and being so weak.
Now the reality has settled: the hermit was impatient with others, shocked, angered, saddened, and also impatient with self. It has to do with more specifics of what was confessed today, with having not focused enough on God but being distracted and drawn out of the Sacred Heart. There was not possession of self.
Sometimes confessions go like that: first one with outer layers repented and absolved; then shortly after the inner layers may be seen and dealt with. One could use the onion image; but really, with confession, it is like a lovely rose, and removing petal after petal peacefully, gently, and letting them float to the ground of being, leaving the inner while the scent refreshes the soul.
The Catholic hermit has been foolish--again! Each day brings more pop quizzes in soul school. One can be ready to answer for one's own sins--but to answer for another? The hermit first must confess the impatience of self and the reaction in anger and then saddness. It is not pleasant to notice words and actions of self and others that are so disappointing. But reacting only made matters worse. For shame on this nothing. So in this next confession, we will pluck off more petals, revealing the core, and make amendment, do penance.
Despite the upset and frustration, really, of a disappointment in the very humanity this hermit is supposed to be embracing within the Sacred Heart, no matter what, this day has been rather blissful. Even the sad news of a prayer for someone hoping for something, brought the realization that the hermit must go to Adoration and thank God for the answered prayer for this young man--even if the answer was not what we all hoped for. Too often the hermit does not praise God for the answered prayers that go against its personal wants.
The writing has gone well, and the editing and reading and praying and mending and washing. An adult daughter helped with the disenabling process so the hermit could write in total ignorance of any possible readers. Now the hermit writes to God, for God--without distraction other than the ever-hindering self. It is like being able to ignore the next door neighbor again, for all has been peaceful since the detective took action. The neighbor has windows allowing sighting of the hermit, but the hermit cannot see the neighbor. Freedom--at least for the hermit!
What tremendous practice God provides to learn just what this morning's confessor said to do: pay no heed to others' views or opinions of the hermit's life and pay no heed to their lives. Of course, he did not mean to not love, to not pray, to not have compassion--but to not be distracted and not react. Sense God only.
St. Silouan writes relative to this new practice, and the hermit began exercises in placing many people within its heart and then nesting within the Sacred Heart. Also, the hermit practices admitting and answering for its own sins, but also to be willing to embrace as its own, the faults of others. This exercise helps not becoming impatient with others' failings or unexpected behaviors which can be disappointing. We disappoint ourselves, do we not? So, we are called to accept responsibility, in oneness, for our own and others' sins.
"We can all find ways of justifying ourselves on all occasions, but if we really examine our hearts we shall see that in justifying ourselves we are not guiless. Man justifies himself firstly because he does not want to acknowledge that he is even partially guilty o fthe evil in the world, and secondly because he does not realize that he is gifted with godlike freedom: he sees himself merely as part of the world's phenomena and, as such, dependent on the world. Tehre is a considerable element of bondage in this, and self-justification, therefore, is a slavish business unworthy of a son of God."
The Staretz had no sign of self-justification in him. Of course, he was an evolved soul, and he had grown in holiness over the years by grace and through cooperation with God's grace! He possessed the Spirit of Christ in that he could accept the blame for the faults of others; people of the world would consider that subjection. The Staretz could feel all humanity as a single whole to be incorporated in the personal existence of every man.
"According to the second commandment, Love thy neighbour as thyself, each of us must and can comprise all mankind i his own personal being, in the same way as each of the three Persons of the Godhead contains the fullness of Divine Being. Thus we shall accept all the evil in the world not as something extraneous but as evil in which we too have our part, and contend with evil, with cosmic evil, beginning in our own selves."
The hermit is practicing this. Knowing one's own sins is on-going petal-plucking; knowing other's sins is something God allows so that the hermit can learn to love and learn to suffer the consequences of its sins and others' sins; and from suffering, the hermit can love all the more.
"The love of Christ being a Divine force and a gift of the Holy Spirit, the One Spirit acting universally, makes all men ontologically one. Love takes to itself the life of the loved one. The man who loves God is drawn into the Godhead; he who loves his brother draws his brother's life into his own hypostatic being; the man who loves the whole world in spirit will embrace the whole world."
Why is it that God chooses to have some men separated from contact, one with the other, in the temporal realm? Perhaps this is true more for the hermit than others, for the hermit is to have a stricter separation from the world in the tangible effects; but the spiritual love--loving the whole world and all souls in it, in spirit--is the very work of the hermit.
A new phase is beginning! The Catholic hermit is going to write in a new blog. While not a full year from the friend's challenge that the hermit could not be a complete hermit due to externals--the hermit has learned that this is true--but more from truth that one can never be complete this side of the beatific vision! So now the hermit is going to write a blog from the suggestion of the regular confessor, who said, "Refer to yourself as 'the Catholic hermit.'" To commemorate the passageway, tomorrow "The Catholic Hermit" commences.
Now the reality has settled: the hermit was impatient with others, shocked, angered, saddened, and also impatient with self. It has to do with more specifics of what was confessed today, with having not focused enough on God but being distracted and drawn out of the Sacred Heart. There was not possession of self.
Sometimes confessions go like that: first one with outer layers repented and absolved; then shortly after the inner layers may be seen and dealt with. One could use the onion image; but really, with confession, it is like a lovely rose, and removing petal after petal peacefully, gently, and letting them float to the ground of being, leaving the inner while the scent refreshes the soul.
The Catholic hermit has been foolish--again! Each day brings more pop quizzes in soul school. One can be ready to answer for one's own sins--but to answer for another? The hermit first must confess the impatience of self and the reaction in anger and then saddness. It is not pleasant to notice words and actions of self and others that are so disappointing. But reacting only made matters worse. For shame on this nothing. So in this next confession, we will pluck off more petals, revealing the core, and make amendment, do penance.
Despite the upset and frustration, really, of a disappointment in the very humanity this hermit is supposed to be embracing within the Sacred Heart, no matter what, this day has been rather blissful. Even the sad news of a prayer for someone hoping for something, brought the realization that the hermit must go to Adoration and thank God for the answered prayer for this young man--even if the answer was not what we all hoped for. Too often the hermit does not praise God for the answered prayers that go against its personal wants.
The writing has gone well, and the editing and reading and praying and mending and washing. An adult daughter helped with the disenabling process so the hermit could write in total ignorance of any possible readers. Now the hermit writes to God, for God--without distraction other than the ever-hindering self. It is like being able to ignore the next door neighbor again, for all has been peaceful since the detective took action. The neighbor has windows allowing sighting of the hermit, but the hermit cannot see the neighbor. Freedom--at least for the hermit!
What tremendous practice God provides to learn just what this morning's confessor said to do: pay no heed to others' views or opinions of the hermit's life and pay no heed to their lives. Of course, he did not mean to not love, to not pray, to not have compassion--but to not be distracted and not react. Sense God only.
St. Silouan writes relative to this new practice, and the hermit began exercises in placing many people within its heart and then nesting within the Sacred Heart. Also, the hermit practices admitting and answering for its own sins, but also to be willing to embrace as its own, the faults of others. This exercise helps not becoming impatient with others' failings or unexpected behaviors which can be disappointing. We disappoint ourselves, do we not? So, we are called to accept responsibility, in oneness, for our own and others' sins.
"We can all find ways of justifying ourselves on all occasions, but if we really examine our hearts we shall see that in justifying ourselves we are not guiless. Man justifies himself firstly because he does not want to acknowledge that he is even partially guilty o fthe evil in the world, and secondly because he does not realize that he is gifted with godlike freedom: he sees himself merely as part of the world's phenomena and, as such, dependent on the world. Tehre is a considerable element of bondage in this, and self-justification, therefore, is a slavish business unworthy of a son of God."
The Staretz had no sign of self-justification in him. Of course, he was an evolved soul, and he had grown in holiness over the years by grace and through cooperation with God's grace! He possessed the Spirit of Christ in that he could accept the blame for the faults of others; people of the world would consider that subjection. The Staretz could feel all humanity as a single whole to be incorporated in the personal existence of every man.
"According to the second commandment, Love thy neighbour as thyself, each of us must and can comprise all mankind i his own personal being, in the same way as each of the three Persons of the Godhead contains the fullness of Divine Being. Thus we shall accept all the evil in the world not as something extraneous but as evil in which we too have our part, and contend with evil, with cosmic evil, beginning in our own selves."
The hermit is practicing this. Knowing one's own sins is on-going petal-plucking; knowing other's sins is something God allows so that the hermit can learn to love and learn to suffer the consequences of its sins and others' sins; and from suffering, the hermit can love all the more.
"The love of Christ being a Divine force and a gift of the Holy Spirit, the One Spirit acting universally, makes all men ontologically one. Love takes to itself the life of the loved one. The man who loves God is drawn into the Godhead; he who loves his brother draws his brother's life into his own hypostatic being; the man who loves the whole world in spirit will embrace the whole world."
Why is it that God chooses to have some men separated from contact, one with the other, in the temporal realm? Perhaps this is true more for the hermit than others, for the hermit is to have a stricter separation from the world in the tangible effects; but the spiritual love--loving the whole world and all souls in it, in spirit--is the very work of the hermit.
A new phase is beginning! The Catholic hermit is going to write in a new blog. While not a full year from the friend's challenge that the hermit could not be a complete hermit due to externals--the hermit has learned that this is true--but more from truth that one can never be complete this side of the beatific vision! So now the hermit is going to write a blog from the suggestion of the regular confessor, who said, "Refer to yourself as 'the Catholic hermit.'" To commemorate the passageway, tomorrow "The Catholic Hermit" commences.
On Distinguishing Good from Evil
This section of the Staretz' doctrinal teaching (in the book about St.Silouan) smooths the frigid day with warm comfort. Comfort allows peace to bring clarity of understanding and thought. A Catholic hermit must learn clarity in understanding and thought. This comes under, perhaps, the S of stillness.
Now to quote what Sophrony the Archimandrite shares of St. Silouan's teaching:
"The Staretz...held that the certain sign by which to recognize good from evil is not so much the end, which may appear to be holy and sublime, as the means selected to achieve the end.
"God alone is absolute. Evil, which has no original essence but is merely the resistance of the free creature to God, cannot be absolute. Therefore the evil does not and cannot exist of itself but must live like a parasite on the body of good. Evil must find a justification, must appear disguised as good, and often the highest good. Evil always and inevitably contains an element appearing to have a positive value, and it is this which seduces man. Evil strives to present its positive facet as a jewel so precious, or at all events so desirable, that all means are justified to attain it.
"Absolute good cannot be achieved in man's earthly existence: there is an element of imperfection in all human undertakings. This presence of imperfection in human good on the one hand, and the inevitable presence of some pretence of good in evil on the other, often make it extremely difficult to distinguish good from evil.
"The Staretz believed that evil always proceeds by means of deceit,camouflaging itself as good, whereas good in order to realize itself does not need the co-operation of evil. Therefore as soon as wrong means--malice, lying, violence and their like--make their appearance, one is entering a domain alien to the spirit of Christ. Good is not attained by evil means, and the end does not justify the means. Good not obtained by good means is not good. This is the testament we have received from the Apostles and holy Fathers. Although good frequently triumphs and by its appearance rectifies evil, this does not mean that evil has led to good, that good has come out of evil. That is impossible. But the power of God is such that where it appears, it heals all things so wholly that no scar remains--the damage caused by evil is effaced--for God is the fullness of life and creates life from nothing."
These aspects of distinguishing good from evil will take some consideration, over the course of this day, while editing the complaints of those who have been evily deceived and cheated in the consumer world, while putting more tangible objects in loving order in the hermitage, while writing the question about writing to be placed before the eyes of the Bishop (for the Lord sees through the eyes of my Bishop), while praying for good to occur in several prayer intentions others have requested, while reading the Gospel of St. John and more from the Staretz, aand while looking out onto the smooth-iced Lake Immaculata, along with Pope Benedict XVI, whose framed photo is enthroned by the window and smiles kindly at the Catholic hermit and says with his eyes: be good, be holy.
Now to quote what Sophrony the Archimandrite shares of St. Silouan's teaching:
"The Staretz...held that the certain sign by which to recognize good from evil is not so much the end, which may appear to be holy and sublime, as the means selected to achieve the end.
"God alone is absolute. Evil, which has no original essence but is merely the resistance of the free creature to God, cannot be absolute. Therefore the evil does not and cannot exist of itself but must live like a parasite on the body of good. Evil must find a justification, must appear disguised as good, and often the highest good. Evil always and inevitably contains an element appearing to have a positive value, and it is this which seduces man. Evil strives to present its positive facet as a jewel so precious, or at all events so desirable, that all means are justified to attain it.
"Absolute good cannot be achieved in man's earthly existence: there is an element of imperfection in all human undertakings. This presence of imperfection in human good on the one hand, and the inevitable presence of some pretence of good in evil on the other, often make it extremely difficult to distinguish good from evil.
"The Staretz believed that evil always proceeds by means of deceit,camouflaging itself as good, whereas good in order to realize itself does not need the co-operation of evil. Therefore as soon as wrong means--malice, lying, violence and their like--make their appearance, one is entering a domain alien to the spirit of Christ. Good is not attained by evil means, and the end does not justify the means. Good not obtained by good means is not good. This is the testament we have received from the Apostles and holy Fathers. Although good frequently triumphs and by its appearance rectifies evil, this does not mean that evil has led to good, that good has come out of evil. That is impossible. But the power of God is such that where it appears, it heals all things so wholly that no scar remains--the damage caused by evil is effaced--for God is the fullness of life and creates life from nothing."
These aspects of distinguishing good from evil will take some consideration, over the course of this day, while editing the complaints of those who have been evily deceived and cheated in the consumer world, while putting more tangible objects in loving order in the hermitage, while writing the question about writing to be placed before the eyes of the Bishop (for the Lord sees through the eyes of my Bishop), while praying for good to occur in several prayer intentions others have requested, while reading the Gospel of St. John and more from the Staretz, aand while looking out onto the smooth-iced Lake Immaculata, along with Pope Benedict XVI, whose framed photo is enthroned by the window and smiles kindly at the Catholic hermit and says with his eyes: be good, be holy.
St. Antony Jogs the Catholic Hermit's Memory
While hanging wet laundry, St. Antony placed a memory in the Catholic hermit's mind.
The child took the bamboo pole and container of worms to the channel to fish. David, the neighbor child, had already been out and placed several fishing poles, baited with nightcrawlers and beavertails, along the edges of two channels, positioning them over bass beds.
His mother comes out, bee-lines to the child wanting to fish, and wags her finger at the child, and speaks authoritatively, loudly--admonishes the child that David is to fish, and the child is not to fish, for David was there first and the other must go away. The child picked up the bamboo pole and bait, and silently headed back into the cottage, but teary eyed.
The child's mother asked why the child had returned. The child said what David's mother had said. The mother was not pleased at this.
When the father came home not long after, the mother told the father what the neighbor woman had done. The father, a tall, handsome, reserved man, set his jaw. He went over to the neighbor woman's cottage and asked her a question. Then he told her quite evenly that his child had every right to fish in the channel, and that there were three channels, and that they did not own these channels. They were for everyone to enjoy and fish from. Then he returned.
The child was instructed to take the pole, the bait and return to the channel to fish. By then the child had lost the desire to fish, and yet the mother insisted that the child go back out. So the child did. But if there were fish caught, by either of the children, is not recalled.
Why did St. Antony bring this particular memory from the realm of the numinous intellect? Well, there were connections, of course, to the intercessions asked of him. So the Catholic hermit prayed, asking the Father to go to the neighbors and explain that there are plenty of channels in which all may enjoy fishing.
But the Catholic hermit is not quite sure it still has the desire to fish. The confessor this morning says to fish, but not to notice anyone else who is fishing, and only to fish for God's glory. So the hermit agreed to go back out and fish awhile. If the channel seems icky with surface scum and weeds, or stinky from muck, then it will return inside to enjoy other endeavors, or go out in front to the lake to swim in the clear waters. This is a transition phase. The waters are being tested, the depths plumbed. If more clarity does not come in a few days, the hermit will ask the Bishop to give his wishes as to the format of the hermit's writing.
The Catholic hermit told the confessor that it liked best the story of The Littlest Angel. The little child in heaven was allowed to have his most treasured, earthly possession: a small box of child-delights which had been kept under his bed, at home, on earth. The littlest angel ended up giving his box of simple treasures to the Baby Jesus, as his only gift to offer, while the older angels looked on. The littlest angel was focused on Jesus, not noticing the other angels watching.
So it is, the hermit told the confessor, that the only gift it has ever had--the most treasured earthly gift God has given the hermit, from childhood on--is the gift of writing. The hermit lays it before the Infant Jesus; the confessor commends the hermit to keep writing but only for God without thought of or personalizing others' reactions. The Catholic hermit can only try this and wait and see.
Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace and good will to all men.
The child took the bamboo pole and container of worms to the channel to fish. David, the neighbor child, had already been out and placed several fishing poles, baited with nightcrawlers and beavertails, along the edges of two channels, positioning them over bass beds.
His mother comes out, bee-lines to the child wanting to fish, and wags her finger at the child, and speaks authoritatively, loudly--admonishes the child that David is to fish, and the child is not to fish, for David was there first and the other must go away. The child picked up the bamboo pole and bait, and silently headed back into the cottage, but teary eyed.
The child's mother asked why the child had returned. The child said what David's mother had said. The mother was not pleased at this.
When the father came home not long after, the mother told the father what the neighbor woman had done. The father, a tall, handsome, reserved man, set his jaw. He went over to the neighbor woman's cottage and asked her a question. Then he told her quite evenly that his child had every right to fish in the channel, and that there were three channels, and that they did not own these channels. They were for everyone to enjoy and fish from. Then he returned.
The child was instructed to take the pole, the bait and return to the channel to fish. By then the child had lost the desire to fish, and yet the mother insisted that the child go back out. So the child did. But if there were fish caught, by either of the children, is not recalled.
Why did St. Antony bring this particular memory from the realm of the numinous intellect? Well, there were connections, of course, to the intercessions asked of him. So the Catholic hermit prayed, asking the Father to go to the neighbors and explain that there are plenty of channels in which all may enjoy fishing.
But the Catholic hermit is not quite sure it still has the desire to fish. The confessor this morning says to fish, but not to notice anyone else who is fishing, and only to fish for God's glory. So the hermit agreed to go back out and fish awhile. If the channel seems icky with surface scum and weeds, or stinky from muck, then it will return inside to enjoy other endeavors, or go out in front to the lake to swim in the clear waters. This is a transition phase. The waters are being tested, the depths plumbed. If more clarity does not come in a few days, the hermit will ask the Bishop to give his wishes as to the format of the hermit's writing.
The Catholic hermit told the confessor that it liked best the story of The Littlest Angel. The little child in heaven was allowed to have his most treasured, earthly possession: a small box of child-delights which had been kept under his bed, at home, on earth. The littlest angel ended up giving his box of simple treasures to the Baby Jesus, as his only gift to offer, while the older angels looked on. The littlest angel was focused on Jesus, not noticing the other angels watching.
So it is, the hermit told the confessor, that the only gift it has ever had--the most treasured earthly gift God has given the hermit, from childhood on--is the gift of writing. The hermit lays it before the Infant Jesus; the confessor commends the hermit to keep writing but only for God without thought of or personalizing others' reactions. The Catholic hermit can only try this and wait and see.
Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace and good will to all men.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Catholic Hermit Begs St. Antony's Intercessions
A friend who is perhaps more the hermit, forced somewhat into her home by the struggles with an illness, writes her opinion in an e-mail; we visit via e-mail.
The confessor this morning said that the prayer is placed before God that He give the Catholic hermit an answer regarding the writing, which is coming down to a fork in the path on the mountain climb: public or private? Seems like hermits are constantly called to this choice!
St. Antony renounced the world and went into the desert. Is the internet a desert? One can argue either way, for it is a kind of space without boundaries other than legal boundaries, of course. This, too, is what hermits face in law and spirit of the law. Seems as if the internet can be private or public, depending upon identity.
One of the Catholic hermit's adult children is a computer consultant--actually is one of about 40 in the country with a particular specialization. (Is this an acceptable pride--to rejoice in the success of another? I pray so!) This adult child says there are ways, of course, that identity may be broken, even on the internet, on blogs. In fact, for the hermit, there has been an observation of seeming extreme following. Are the excessive log-ons interested in the writing out of healthy interest, or curiosity, or for ill intent? Or, is it what I have tongue-in-cheek to a couple of times: the hermit police?
The police benefit society, for they help bring justice, help defend, and also protect. The Catholic hermit appreciates, really, the bringing up of thoughts misstated, incorrect, or questions about this or that. Yes, questions are always good. The detective asked many questions. The Catholic hermit asks many questions, and mulls through matters, and prays for guidance, and gets it. We all get answered prayers.
Another adult child is adept in this type of work, and has helped the hermit in the past to gain a perspective and handle on doing undercover work for the Lord. This adult child has been in secret work for an arm of the government.
The other adult child is in a position of public view as journalist. This has been of benefit in other ways, as already pondered.
In all, a hermit can utilize the world in order to transfer the ways of the world, the good of careers and techniques--over to the spiritual life.
Is the internet too much world, or is it spiritual space? That is something the Catholic hermit ponders today while praying for many intentions given in the past couple of days, of needs of people out in the world. Also, the Staretz has written of that oneness, of learning to pray and be one with the world, with those living and dead and yet to come into being.
St. Antony and the Lord have heard the prayer request. An answer is forthcoming.
Conglomeration vegetable soup is simmering; the mission work of editing awaits the hermit's prayerful efforts--this, too, via internet. As in the neighborhood, people in the bloggerworld could take anything written and use it for ill, to twist as the neighbors twisted matters in order to discredit, or to support as others came to the support and counsel, or to clarify as the detective kindly yet professionaly interviewed, took notes, got facts.
It will be interesting to learn what God and St. Antony decide--and St. Antony based upon what God decides, of course! St. Antony is one with God in God's will and perceives clearly from his heavenly vantage.
"...the life of St. Antony theI've read the biography and mailed it off a year or so ago to a lapsed Catholic friend who's birthday is today--his Feast Day! But this is a good reminder to ponder St. Antony's life. Today at Mass, besides praying for the friend who lives far from the Church now as well as geographically, the nothing begged St. Antony to intercede, to help this hermit in 2008 live the life God desires, that the vows have stated, that the rule of life spells out.
Abbot: He went and lived as a hermit for many many years
before he became an abbot. I mean he was REALLY a
hermit--lived for years isolated, and fought the hardest of
temptations: himself. Please read his biography (it
should be on the net. From his life, it is apparent that
the hermitic [sic] life came years before any public recognition.
The confessor this morning said that the prayer is placed before God that He give the Catholic hermit an answer regarding the writing, which is coming down to a fork in the path on the mountain climb: public or private? Seems like hermits are constantly called to this choice!
St. Antony renounced the world and went into the desert. Is the internet a desert? One can argue either way, for it is a kind of space without boundaries other than legal boundaries, of course. This, too, is what hermits face in law and spirit of the law. Seems as if the internet can be private or public, depending upon identity.
One of the Catholic hermit's adult children is a computer consultant--actually is one of about 40 in the country with a particular specialization. (Is this an acceptable pride--to rejoice in the success of another? I pray so!) This adult child says there are ways, of course, that identity may be broken, even on the internet, on blogs. In fact, for the hermit, there has been an observation of seeming extreme following. Are the excessive log-ons interested in the writing out of healthy interest, or curiosity, or for ill intent? Or, is it what I have tongue-in-cheek to a couple of times: the hermit police?
The police benefit society, for they help bring justice, help defend, and also protect. The Catholic hermit appreciates, really, the bringing up of thoughts misstated, incorrect, or questions about this or that. Yes, questions are always good. The detective asked many questions. The Catholic hermit asks many questions, and mulls through matters, and prays for guidance, and gets it. We all get answered prayers.
Another adult child is adept in this type of work, and has helped the hermit in the past to gain a perspective and handle on doing undercover work for the Lord. This adult child has been in secret work for an arm of the government.
The other adult child is in a position of public view as journalist. This has been of benefit in other ways, as already pondered.
In all, a hermit can utilize the world in order to transfer the ways of the world, the good of careers and techniques--over to the spiritual life.
Is the internet too much world, or is it spiritual space? That is something the Catholic hermit ponders today while praying for many intentions given in the past couple of days, of needs of people out in the world. Also, the Staretz has written of that oneness, of learning to pray and be one with the world, with those living and dead and yet to come into being.
St. Antony and the Lord have heard the prayer request. An answer is forthcoming.
Conglomeration vegetable soup is simmering; the mission work of editing awaits the hermit's prayerful efforts--this, too, via internet. As in the neighborhood, people in the bloggerworld could take anything written and use it for ill, to twist as the neighbors twisted matters in order to discredit, or to support as others came to the support and counsel, or to clarify as the detective kindly yet professionaly interviewed, took notes, got facts.
It will be interesting to learn what God and St. Antony decide--and St. Antony based upon what God decides, of course! St. Antony is one with God in God's will and perceives clearly from his heavenly vantage.
The Canon Lawyer: in the name of the Church
The Canon lawyer discussed Canon 603, of 1983 and explained it was a revision of the 1917 Canon regarding eremitic life. He said that laws are created due to abuses and also because of desire by some to have "official stamp" of approval. Perhaps there have been those, he pointed out, who said they were going to live a life of stricter separation from the world or in prayer and fasting, but did not. The law provides for the Bishop to step in and correct the abuses, if the hermit has been publicly avowed, and those vows received by the Bishop.
He said it is a legality, of publicly approving the hermit in the name of the Church, of it being of public record, regardless of how many were actually at the profession of vows. He said that may be just the hermit and the Bishop. But it is done in the name of the Church, with the Bishop saying he receives the vows on behalf of the Church.
As for vows being made publicly but not received by the Bishop, that could not be in the name of the Church. This is what must be made clear, for this was the stumbling point. In St. Colette's time, she made vows publicly, and she was generally known as the anchorite, and her life exemplified this. Now, a person would not be seen as a hermit in the name of the Church. The public aspect today is that of the law, of the Bishop receiving the vows in the name of the Church, on behalf of the Church.
The Catholic hermit wants to clarify this, for it had not been accurate--or at least not clear. A hermit could not make vows publicly--or at least it would not be in the name of the Church. There are religious sisters and brothers, even a young man in cassock, floating about, and we're told even some former priests--who are doing their own thing, and obviously not in the name of the Church. Some say they are approved, or in legitimate religious communities. Some are even in approved communities or are active priests but not living their vows, and the Bishops could and do step in to correct the abuses but sometimes do not, for various reasons, and often quite prudent reasons.
The Church's official stamp of approval and in the name of the Church seem key in this topic. They were used repeatedly to explain the situation.
Next he spoke of private vows. He said what has been written and repeated: that the privately avowed hermit is also consecrated, also approved, and in keeping with the Church's allowance of this form as well. This type of hermit is approved, but the vows have not been received in the name of the Church by the Ordinary of the Diocese. It is not under Canon Law 603.
The Canon lawyer explained much background of CL603, and the Catholic hermit just listened. When asked some question or two, the Canon lawyer was surprised that the hermit knew much at all, but the hermit felt it best to not go into too much of the research, for most of that has been focused on living the life, as am not that interested in the legalities. (That should have been another clue that this hermit wasn't all that desirous of public profession and consecration, for it does involve legalities, forms, papers and what not--and being known.)
We then began discussing possibilities. A privately avowed hermit could commit abuses and not be under the legal responsibility of the Bishop. The publicly avowed hermit could commit abuses, and thus would be done in the name of the Church, and the Bishop could or would step in and stop the abuses. With the privately avowed hermit who commits abuses, it would not be committed in the name of the Church, for the private hermit does not have that official stamp. Either way it would be a horrible thing, indeed, to abuse one's vocation and hurt the Church.
I'm not sure how that would be--either as a public or private hermit--to disobey the Bishop? The public or private hermit would not strive to follow his or her rule of life? Would intentionally lead others astray? The Canon lawyer said the Bishop or designe could tell the publicly consecrated hermit to not fast, for example, if there was a concern about the degree of fasting. The publicly consecrated hermit would be bound to obey. If the privately consecrated hermit was told by the Bishop or designe the same, it would not be legally binding--although spiritually so, for one is to obey one's Bishop!
It came down to, once again, in the name of the Church and Church law. He pointed out once more that there is something very real in the law of God between the soul and God and that relationship which is at root of what one should be concerned with. But, he said that some people desire the Church's official or legal stamp of approval, and thus they approach the Bishop to have their vows publicly professed and received.
The Catholic hermit asked directly, "Do I need this official stamp of approval?" He said, "No, not at all." He said that I am approved by the Church and accepted as a hermit, but privately so. It is not in the legal sense.
The Catholic hermit explained the annulment process after so many years, and that there were not enough living witnesses who knew both parties prior, during, and after. While the agent was going to pursue a different path to gain the necessary documentation of invalidity, the hermit had already decided that when the process was opened it was for a reason that no longer existed, other than purity for Jesus. But, Jesus didn't seem to mind the status. Then the hermit told the Canon lawyer what the confessor had said, to not bother with it; and that seemed a relief to the hermit. If the Bishop wanted the Catholic hermit to be canonically approved, there is provision in the Canon to dispense the marriage restriction. (Is that 643.1? Somewhere in there.) Besides, the hermit had worked through the thought of being spiritually bonded to the spouse and various others involved with the spouse over the years. More souls to pray for and love and bring before the Lord's mercy seat.
The Canon lawyer, too, felt that the private vows were and are the path for this hermit. The hermit responded with joy and gratitude, for in working through this, from thinking one way to being shown another, over months and months, being nothing known and not publicly approved in the name of the Church, of not having any public stamp of approval--seems just right and preferred. It's the baby bear's just-right bowl of porridge.
Surely it comes down to God's will for each individual hermit as to law or spirit. And surely there can be spirit in the law.
Someone once asked in a comment, by what authority do I have--? Well, I do not speak or write as a hermit by any official Church stamp of approval. It makes what I write all the more vulnerable, and requires more accountability to God, and more checking with the confessors and spiritual father and now Canon lawyer, and at times with the Bishop--to make sure I am living my consecrated life as one ought; but it is a consecration not public and not even "legal" by the Code (but valid by the Catechism of the Catholic Church which must make it all right by God.)
Well, this has helped the Catholic hermit immensely to come to a peace about it all. I pray others have not been too upset by the lack of clarification, in the non-technical explanation, for even in the career of the world, the nothing was told it was a poet at heart. In personality alone, the nothing realizes that the public consecration would not have been a good thing for this one. It has always shunned such matters, and after entertaining big ideas of other options, has always chosen what for it is the path of greater suffering. For this Catholic hermit, that path is to remain very privately consecrated--not above Church law by any means, or outside the law, but far beneath it.
Now, the Catholic hermit is beginning to ponder--by what authority does it write or speak? That is a good quesiton. While the ego would love it if it was by God's authority, or as St. Silouan came in his great holiness to speak from the power of the Holy Spirit, the Catholic nothing hermit speaks and writes probably most often from inept struggling and at other times hopefully from some slight glimmers of the Holy Spirit.
He said it is a legality, of publicly approving the hermit in the name of the Church, of it being of public record, regardless of how many were actually at the profession of vows. He said that may be just the hermit and the Bishop. But it is done in the name of the Church, with the Bishop saying he receives the vows on behalf of the Church.
As for vows being made publicly but not received by the Bishop, that could not be in the name of the Church. This is what must be made clear, for this was the stumbling point. In St. Colette's time, she made vows publicly, and she was generally known as the anchorite, and her life exemplified this. Now, a person would not be seen as a hermit in the name of the Church. The public aspect today is that of the law, of the Bishop receiving the vows in the name of the Church, on behalf of the Church.
The Catholic hermit wants to clarify this, for it had not been accurate--or at least not clear. A hermit could not make vows publicly--or at least it would not be in the name of the Church. There are religious sisters and brothers, even a young man in cassock, floating about, and we're told even some former priests--who are doing their own thing, and obviously not in the name of the Church. Some say they are approved, or in legitimate religious communities. Some are even in approved communities or are active priests but not living their vows, and the Bishops could and do step in to correct the abuses but sometimes do not, for various reasons, and often quite prudent reasons.
The Church's official stamp of approval and in the name of the Church seem key in this topic. They were used repeatedly to explain the situation.
Next he spoke of private vows. He said what has been written and repeated: that the privately avowed hermit is also consecrated, also approved, and in keeping with the Church's allowance of this form as well. This type of hermit is approved, but the vows have not been received in the name of the Church by the Ordinary of the Diocese. It is not under Canon Law 603.
The Canon lawyer explained much background of CL603, and the Catholic hermit just listened. When asked some question or two, the Canon lawyer was surprised that the hermit knew much at all, but the hermit felt it best to not go into too much of the research, for most of that has been focused on living the life, as am not that interested in the legalities. (That should have been another clue that this hermit wasn't all that desirous of public profession and consecration, for it does involve legalities, forms, papers and what not--and being known.)
We then began discussing possibilities. A privately avowed hermit could commit abuses and not be under the legal responsibility of the Bishop. The publicly avowed hermit could commit abuses, and thus would be done in the name of the Church, and the Bishop could or would step in and stop the abuses. With the privately avowed hermit who commits abuses, it would not be committed in the name of the Church, for the private hermit does not have that official stamp. Either way it would be a horrible thing, indeed, to abuse one's vocation and hurt the Church.
I'm not sure how that would be--either as a public or private hermit--to disobey the Bishop? The public or private hermit would not strive to follow his or her rule of life? Would intentionally lead others astray? The Canon lawyer said the Bishop or designe could tell the publicly consecrated hermit to not fast, for example, if there was a concern about the degree of fasting. The publicly consecrated hermit would be bound to obey. If the privately consecrated hermit was told by the Bishop or designe the same, it would not be legally binding--although spiritually so, for one is to obey one's Bishop!
It came down to, once again, in the name of the Church and Church law. He pointed out once more that there is something very real in the law of God between the soul and God and that relationship which is at root of what one should be concerned with. But, he said that some people desire the Church's official or legal stamp of approval, and thus they approach the Bishop to have their vows publicly professed and received.
The Catholic hermit asked directly, "Do I need this official stamp of approval?" He said, "No, not at all." He said that I am approved by the Church and accepted as a hermit, but privately so. It is not in the legal sense.
The Catholic hermit explained the annulment process after so many years, and that there were not enough living witnesses who knew both parties prior, during, and after. While the agent was going to pursue a different path to gain the necessary documentation of invalidity, the hermit had already decided that when the process was opened it was for a reason that no longer existed, other than purity for Jesus. But, Jesus didn't seem to mind the status. Then the hermit told the Canon lawyer what the confessor had said, to not bother with it; and that seemed a relief to the hermit. If the Bishop wanted the Catholic hermit to be canonically approved, there is provision in the Canon to dispense the marriage restriction. (Is that 643.1? Somewhere in there.) Besides, the hermit had worked through the thought of being spiritually bonded to the spouse and various others involved with the spouse over the years. More souls to pray for and love and bring before the Lord's mercy seat.
The Canon lawyer, too, felt that the private vows were and are the path for this hermit. The hermit responded with joy and gratitude, for in working through this, from thinking one way to being shown another, over months and months, being nothing known and not publicly approved in the name of the Church, of not having any public stamp of approval--seems just right and preferred. It's the baby bear's just-right bowl of porridge.
Surely it comes down to God's will for each individual hermit as to law or spirit. And surely there can be spirit in the law.
Someone once asked in a comment, by what authority do I have--? Well, I do not speak or write as a hermit by any official Church stamp of approval. It makes what I write all the more vulnerable, and requires more accountability to God, and more checking with the confessors and spiritual father and now Canon lawyer, and at times with the Bishop--to make sure I am living my consecrated life as one ought; but it is a consecration not public and not even "legal" by the Code (but valid by the Catechism of the Catholic Church which must make it all right by God.)
Well, this has helped the Catholic hermit immensely to come to a peace about it all. I pray others have not been too upset by the lack of clarification, in the non-technical explanation, for even in the career of the world, the nothing was told it was a poet at heart. In personality alone, the nothing realizes that the public consecration would not have been a good thing for this one. It has always shunned such matters, and after entertaining big ideas of other options, has always chosen what for it is the path of greater suffering. For this Catholic hermit, that path is to remain very privately consecrated--not above Church law by any means, or outside the law, but far beneath it.
Now, the Catholic hermit is beginning to ponder--by what authority does it write or speak? That is a good quesiton. While the ego would love it if it was by God's authority, or as St. Silouan came in his great holiness to speak from the power of the Holy Spirit, the Catholic nothing hermit speaks and writes probably most often from inept struggling and at other times hopefully from some slight glimmers of the Holy Spirit.
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