Do All Hermits Struggle Against Individualism?

[[Sister Laurel, do all hermits struggle against individualism? When you write about this are you speaking of all hermits or only one or two?]]

Thanks for the questions. Generally speaking, I don't know what constitutes an actual "struggle" for other hermits. What I do know is that every hermit I have spoken to or otherwise heard from deals with the tension between being a true individual following one's own path empowered by the Holy Spirit, and developing the truly compassionate heart that not only reflects the contemplative heart of the Church but also the anguished heart of "the world".  The first seems easier to me in the silence of solitude than the second. The second depends more on inner solitude that is sustained, and sustains the hermit, even while she is engaged with others outside the hermitage.

I also speak of tension here because the tasks being completed by the hermit in their vocation include 1) personal individuation in Christ within the context of genuine faithfulness to the constituent elements of c 603 (here one grows in one's own capacity to love via assiduous prayer, and inner work in the silence of solitude), 2) a deepening and paradoxical attentiveness to the world and to the pain and yearning of the world (here one grows in genuine compassion as one's capacity to love others grows, again while maintaining and growing toward the silence of solitude), and 3) doing all of this while maintaining one's faithfulness to the Gospel and the Church's own challenging vocation to be the community of "the called ones" (the ecclesia) who live within the world but not of it. All of these pull the hermit in different directions, though all of them are (eventually) achieved by learning to abide in God's own heart and to allow God to fill and transfigure their own.

To summarize all of this in another way we can say that the challenge to the hermit is to, 1) become her truest self in and with God (her primary vocation), 2) fulfill her further vocation (her specific pathway to true humanity) to become part of the intercessory heart of the Church, 3) witnessing to the truth of Church's Gospel, while 4) becoming a compassionate presence in, to, and for the world and its salvation, and  5) doing all of this in the presence and power of God while living in and, when this applies,  toward the silence of solitude embraced under c 603. All of this locates the hermit living in solitude and silence in the very center of reality as she also pays loving attention to the anguished world that lives far outside that center and in significant estrangement from it. Since these things are ordinarily accomplished in society, it is relatively rare to achieve them in solitude, and imperative to do so in the heart of God. All of this creates tensions and sources of potential struggle for hermits --- all genuine hermits.

When I write against individualism, therefore, I presently rarely have any one hermit (or would-be hermit) in mind. Instead, I am mindful that each of us, given c 603's flexibility and need for significant formation (this does not need to be identical to that of cenobites), is working with God to allow him to love us into wholeness without our falling into individualism in the process. In this way, God fits us for the uniquely eremitical ministry we are called to in solitude. God fits us, in Christ, to be a place of intercession for both the Church and the world. This is a demanding vocation requiring significant lived experience of God's presence in Love -- of the Church, of others, and of the larger world. For this reason, any of us is actually likely to find ourselves temporarily veering off into individualism as we negotiate the various tensions of the life and the various ways in which human beings are called to love in achieving human wholeness and holiness. This is especially true before we are well-established in the silence of solitude and the heart of the Church, something that takes real time to develop. 

At the same time, there are a small number of would-be hermits out there who are (or have been) incredibly vocal and sometimes seem to have lacked personal boundaries; their lives are (or at least have been) illustrative of more than a temporary tendency toward individualism. Though I no longer pay much attention to their online presence, it is hard not to speak of an important topic like individualism in the eremitic life without alluding to the examples these folks represent(ed) and provide(d). The examples of individualism they at least once provided remain helpful in illustrating important caveats for those turning to eremitical life, particularly under c 603. 

Monks for Peace Conclude 2,300 Mile Walk for Peace

 

I love this picture! I don't know how many readers have followed the Monks for Peace in their 2,300 walk to Washington DC, but I have been watching this day by day and holding them in prayer throughout. The Buddhist monks crossed into Washington DC this week and completed their long journey on 11. February. They came to the Washington Cathedral and were greeted simply by Bishop Budde. Aloka, a dog who has walked with the monks despite injury and the need for surgery for his knee, is shown above with Bishop Budde and one of the monks, completely vulnerable as he submits to scratches and belly rubs.

Pannakara, the leader of the group, noted that the gathered faith leaders in the Cathedral were “here together for the same mission – peace.” He added, “This is the first time that we are working together, we are walking together on this path to find peace for ourselves, to share that with our nation and the world.” He emphasized that he and the other monks didn’t walk to bring peace, but rather to help people understand that peace already exists but is often overlooked. “It never left us. It’s just that we cannot see it. You have locked it and put it in a box, and you have left it somewhere. You’ve forgotten it,” he said.

Over the months, the monks and Aloka captured the hearts, minds, and imaginations of much of the entire country with this message. Aloka has been "christened" "The Peace Dog" and inspired a song celebrating this. The trip was accompanied by multitudes across the country, much to the surprise of the monks! Every day people lined the route and offered the monks thanks for undertaking this walk, though there were also horrific and scandalous events as well. Fairly early on the accompanying vehicle was hit by another car and one of the monks was severely injured. He lost a leg, and yet, rejoined his brother monks later. At another point the monks were met by groups of Evangelical Christians trying to proselytize and warn the monks that Christ was the only way and that their souls were endangered! Fortunately, hospitality was also offered all along the way, and it was especially wonderful seeing Bishop Budde and other faith leaders welcoming the monks to the National Cathedral --- hearts of peace greeting hearts of peace --- in an act of true Christian hospitality. 

I am especially grateful to these monks for undertaking this walk at the same time the current administration has done its best to spread extraordinary violence, hatred, and fear throughout the country -- and throughout generations to come. Persistently, day by day, step by step in good and terrible weather, the monks reminded us all that this "way of peace" -- a way of radical vulnerability -- is the only way we will come to truly defeat the powers that seek to destroy this country. We have that potential. It resides within us. We have seen the people of Minneapolis tapping into and mobilizing that power in song, in truly peaceful protests outside ICE hotels, reminding ICE agents that "they can change their minds", and in so many other ways -- all, despite the killings and terrible and widespread and generational trauma CBP and ICE have also brought! Peace, as the Buddhist monks have reminded us, is something we must discover within ourselves and renew every single day of our lives as we walk, step by step, our own true (and costly!) path.

Followup Questions on Ecclesiality, Individuality, and Thanks from Another Hermit

[[Dear Laurel, I read your last piece a couple of times and was overwhelmed by what you wrote about the hermit becoming the place where God and world came together, a place of intercession. I have followed your writing on the ecclesial nature of the c 603 vocation with interest, especially as it intensified in the past couple of years. I have known that it means more than living as a hermit within the Church, and I understood, of course, that this vocation belongs to the Church that then entrusts it to me, but something was still missing for me. In my own eremitical life, I have worried about whether or not my life is too individualistic. I have also wondered if I should watch the news more, or be a bit more active in my parish, or cultivate a couple of the relationships I have with others that show promise of deepening, and I have been concerned that that would decrease my own solitude and even make me less of a hermit. I have also wondered from time to time what you mean when you say eremitical solitude is a unique form of community. And now, because of your last piece and what you wrote about becoming the place of intercession, it ALL makes sense to me!! 

I don't really have a question. Or rather, I probably have a lot of questions that are bubbling around inside of me and haven't yet come to articulation. But having said that, it seems to me that the guidebook from the Dicastery was important for you to come to understand yourself as the place of intercession,  is that true?  And while I am asking, do you think the pseudo spirituality you wrote about is common to hermits today? It seems really, really dangerous to me, though I think it helped you come to where you are as well. Is this distortion of eremitical life one of the reasons you say the Rule, with its three-stranded braid, needs to include ecclesiality? Oh, right, one more question. When you wrote about the canon honoring individuality and referred to the range of meaning in the elements of the canon, what did you mean, and how does that help prevent individualism? I didn't quite get that. I wasn't going to write except to thank you for hanging in with this blog for such a long time. It is interesting seeing it all come together in the way it has. It gives me a deeper sense of my own vocation and maybe a bit more patience with myself as well, so, really, thank you! By the way, if any of this is helpful for your blog, feel free to use it. ]]

Hey, hi! Thanks for reading and writing! When you have further questions, please be sure to ask! I am going to start by clarifying my meaning in the sentence you asked about. What I actually wrote was, [[Given this flexibility, individuality (which is deeply honored by c 603's requirement of a personal Rule of life the hermit writes herself, the range of meaning contained in each element, and the absence of time frames, stages of formation, etc.) mustn't devolve into individualism.]] What I had in mind was the fact that c 603 honors the individual hermit and the flexibility of the life, not only with the requirement that the hermit writes a Rule of Life that will not be like any other hermit's, but that the constitutive elements of the canon have a range of meanings the deeper one goes into the vocation and her relationship with God. So, for instance, the most obvious meaning of the silence of solitude refers to the quiet of life lived alone (assuming no television, etc!). Over time, however, if one continues in the various disciplines of eremitical life, one will also come to realize that silence also means the inner state that results from personal healing, maturation, and sanctification. This means it is apt to depend upon relationships and lead to their growth. Then too, in time, one will also come to understand that "the silence of solitude" points to what it means to exist in relation to and learn to hear God's own silence and to love from that place. 

Solitude reflects a range of meanings just as silence does. Most superficially, it means aloneness, but as one's experience of eremitical solitude deepens, so too does it come to mean relatedness (to oneself, God, and the world whose cries the hermit hears with increasing clarity and compassion). Eventually, solitude will come to indicate the community that results from being oneself in and for the Love of God and all that God holds as precious. I believe each of the central elements of c 603 has a similar range of meanings, and this means that each hermit's journey with and to God can lead to growing understanding that will differ from the understanding of other hermits. This also means that someone asserting that solitude means "being alone" in an absolute and univocal way may be knowledgeable about the dictionary definition of solitude, but not about the range, depth, and even the paradoxical senses of eremitic solitude. It also means that these differences in understanding cannot be allowed to devolve into individualism, and the quickest way to that is by absolutizing any single meaning.

You also asked about the "three-stranded braid" and my emphasis on ecclesiality. [[Is this distortion [individualism] of eremitical life one of the reasons you say the Rule with its three-stranded braid needs to include ecclesiality?]] I have been interested in nature and importance of the ecclesiality of the vocation since around the time I petitioned for admittance to profession and consecration with (then) Bishop Allen Vigneron. We had a brief conversation on this during our first official appointment, and my interest in it has only grown over the years. What Abp Vigneron and I talked about was the fact of this vocation's ecclesiality and how very few people seem to "get that". (He gently reminded me that he knew what it meant, and I was appropriately chagrinned since I had not meant to imply he did not!! I remember nodding and shaking my head -- laughing some at myself, and wondering how else I might manage to insult the man at this first official meeting! Fortunately, the conversation proceeded easily.)** You see, I had been surprised at conversations I had had with other c 603 hermits or candidates who had no sense at all of the ecclesial nature of this vocation. Over time (after consecration), my own understanding of the linkage between ecclesiality and the prevention of individualism became clearer (more explicit) and deeper; when Ponam named the Church as one of two contextual poles preventing individualism, I felt really gratified. It did put things into a single sentence, which was important to see from the Church; in that way, it may have helped crystallize what had been a long-standing interest and conviction for me. When I began working recently on a project regarding the important implications of the hermit writing her own Rule, I had to look again at what was essential in such a Rule. It was not entirely surprising that ecclesiality was the third strand and that this included the fact that the Church herself must look for this (or at least a budding sense of this) in c 603 vocations and the Rules these persons write. 

In part, my sense of this importance has come from my experience of hermits or would-be hermits who were seeking to use c 603 or eremitical life as the validation of their own estrangement from others, their own personal failures at living life in the Church, their own desire to do their own thing and be a religious while doing so, etc. I had honestly not anticipated running across hermits who were exaggerated individualists, so finding this particular distortion in several hermits or would-be hermits was a bit of a surprise. Still, the ecclesiality of the eremitical life has more positive roots than the need to avoid individualism. This is what we see when we begin to explore what this vocation means for the Church itself. Here, as I have said several times recently, we see a life that reflects the hidden heart of the Church and what it means for the human being to be hidden in Christ and become the very place of intercession in him. These are far more important than the mere avoidance of individualism, and it was the sense of ecclesiality and its importance in consecrated hermits that led me to see this!!

Good luck with your own questions and discernment. I know you will do what you sense God calling you to. If what I have written on ecclesiality and individualism (and perhaps what I wrote in this post on the range of meanings in solitude, silence, and the silence of solitude, for instance) has helped, I am glad!

**In that meeting with Bishop Vigneron,  the conversation ended with the two of us standing facing each other, taking the other's hands in our own, and each praying aloud our own prayer for the process we were stepping into! It was a powerful moment for me.

Isn't Being a Hermit Individualistic in and of Itself?

[[Dear Sister Laurel, your references to individualism recently make me wonder if the hermit vocation isn't individualistic in and of itself. Yet, you say it is the antithesis of individualism. At the same time, you are critical of would-be "hermits" who are individualistic and "eremitically speaking, have lost their way" (quote from your recent post on "Individualism. . ."). I admit, I always thought hermits were people who wanted to do their own thing and went off to do that! What is it then that makes the difference between someone you would recognize as a hermit and someone you consider a lone individual and individualist?]]

This is a great question, and I am grateful for your frankness regarding the way you have seen hermits in the past. The post I put up last week deals with the essential characteristics of a hermit, whether canonical or non-canonical, so I don't want to repeat all that here. 

Even so, I can summarize most of it by saying the hermit is one who chooses to live a radical life of prayer and penance in the silence of solitude for God's sake (i.e., that God might be Emmanuel), the sake of the Church and her proclamation, and for the salvation of others (or "the world"), as well as for the sake of the hermit's own authentic humanity. The hermit is called by God to live at the heart of the Church in that place of intercession where God and God's creation come together in Christ. To occupy this place does not allow a life of self-centeredness or individualism. Neither does it allow one to distance oneself from the Church and her liturgical and sacramental life, nor to simply reject the suffering and sinful world that is still made for God. (This world might well reject the hermit, but the "stricter separation from the world" called for in the hermit by c 603, is, it seems to me, more about rejecting enmeshment in and definition by that world and its values precisely so one can love it more objectively and single-heartedly.)

All of that is incredibly demanding, but it is also the core of the eremitical vocation that prevents it from sliding (or galloping) into individualism. The central or constitutive elements of c 603 (see below**) are meant to assure that this core, which is really a commitment to love God, Church, self, and others through the mediation of Christ, is embraced and maintained. None of them is an absolute that one embraces for itself alone. What I mean is that silence and solitude, while high values, are embraced for the sake of one's commitment to be attentive and to give oneself over to love. So too with stricter separation from the world. One embraces eremitical marginality so that, once free of enmeshment, one can "see . . . more clearly and love more dearly" (as the lyrics from Godspell go). The same holds for all the elements of the canon. They are there to allow a life to be lived without affectation, impersonation, or illusion, a particular and particularly valuable life that mirrors the Church's own heart back to her. This serves, as Thomas Merton once remarked, to allow people to regain their faith in the latent possibilities of nature and grace.  In other words, hermits live their lives for others, an element that must be as strong as their marginalization because it is what makes real sense of the marginalization involved.

Though it is demanding, it is also very flexible from hermit to hermit. So, for instance, while there will be clear similarities between our lives (not least the essential elements of c 603), my own penitential life will not be identical to that of any other c 603 hermit. Neither will my prayer, some dimensions of my solitude, the way I structure my day (horarium), my work, nor my recreation. Given this flexibility, individuality (which is deeply honored by c 603's requirement of a personal Rule of life the hermit writes herself, the range of meaning contained in each element, and the absence of time frames, stages of formation, etc.) mustn't devolve into individualism. It is the hermit's relation to God, Church, and world, especially as a vision and way of life codified in a unique Rule of Life, that prevents such devolution. 

What I also need to say, though, is that not any relation to these realities will do. One can have a view of God that is profoundly individualistic, just as one can do the same with the Church. Some would-be "hermits" are the very definition of individualism. Consider what witness it gives when a Catholic decides they are "too spiritual" for the historical (spatio-temporal) Church, or who believes that they no longer ever need to go to Mass or receive the Eucharist because they are completely "one with the Mass" and don't need the "tangible host" because they are "fed mystically"**!  In such a case, it is especially problematic when one justifies this kind of individualism by calling oneself a hermit. I have heard someone do that while claiming that "God wanted her all for himself" in justifying her break with what she calls the "temporal" Church! This is a serious danger in reading c 603's constitutive elements superficially. (In any case, it certainly underscores the wisdom of c 603's strong ecclesial dimension.)

In such an instance, anyone with this kind of pseudo-spirituality is missing the very heart of what the Eucharist is about, and seems to be cultivating a notion of "the spiritual" that is dualistic and apparently allergic to the Holy Spirit, the Incarnation and its theology. It must always be remembered that the role of the Mass is not to take us out of the larger world of God's good creation, but rather, in the power of the risen Christ, to return us to it with a transformed heart and stronger bonds of love with God, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and indeed, with the whole of God's creation! This is why every Mass reaches its climax with Communion with and in Christ with one another, and ends with a blessing and dismissal, which serve essentially as our commission to go out and love our world into wholeness! And so, we who have received the Crucified Christ and, in the process, have ourselves been broken open and poured out for one another in Mass, mark ourselves with the sign of the cross, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we return to our larger community continuing the "broken open and poured out" dynamic of the Mass so that God might continue to transfigure this larger world as well. 

There are many less exaggerated and more common forms of individualism a hermit might fall into, of course. So, what helps prevent a c 603 hermit from sliding into individualism? There are external circumstances that help with this as well as more internal ones. They stem from our being related to the two poles (Church and World) mentioned in my earlier post and Ponam. First, there is the individual "vetting" that happens when the would-be candidate approaches a chancery to petition for admission to profession and (eventual) consecration. Secondly, one is assisted by a Rule of life one writes oneself, which is approved by the local ordinary and lived under his supervision. Thirdly, regular meetings with a delegate serving both the hermit and the diocese in this role, and/or spiritual director to discuss changes in her Rule and life, as well as ongoing growth and maturation in the vocation, are essential. Fourth, a good theology of the Church, Sacraments, Spirituality, anthropology, soteriology, etc., is essential in avoiding individualism. And fifth, and most fundamentally, the hermit's regular life lived in communion with God is a significant factor in avoiding individualism. 

In all of this, what the hermit must be growing in is her relationship with God, and her love of herself and others in Christ. I tend to measure this in terms of my own growth in compassion. While living on the margins of society, the c 603 hermit is called on to live at the very heart of the Church, in the place where God and world come together in Christ. This is the place of intercession, the place the hermit herself in Christ, actually IS, and while such a life is supremely free, it is not the kind of freedom (license) to do anything one believes or wants that the world values so much. This freedom is, instead, the power to be the one we arecalled to be by God through the agency of the Spirit and the mediation of the Church. In my own case, that means being the canonical hermit God calls me to be so that I can proclaim the truth of the Gospel with my life. 

What this means, in a language you may not be at all used to, is that I am called to "pose the question" and be the seeking and the yearning that I am, as deeply as God empowers me to do and be, so that, in Christ, I may also meet and incarnate the answer that God is. This, by the way, is what it means for a hermit to be a silent preaching of the Lord! It is also the heart of what we call an ecclesial vocation. This is so because one with an ecclesial vocation is responsible for experiencing, living, and thus, proclaiming the truth of the Church's own kerygma. Everything in c 603 eremitical life is ultimately about assuming and becoming an intercessory place where the answer God wills to be is allowed to meet and resolve with his presence, the profound question we each are. Together, in union with God in Christ, we become a Word Event that proclaims the Gospel of God. As noted, paradoxically, this hermit vocation means that where I am most alone, I am not alone at all, for God and the entire world God embraces is there with me. Moreover, where I am most myself with God, that is, where I am most the individual I am meant to be, I am the antithesis of an individualist.

_______________________________________________

The central or constitutive elements of c 603 are assiduous prayer and penance, the silence of solitude, stricter separation from the world, the Evangelical Counsels, marking a life lived for the praise or glory of God and the salvation of the world, and undertaken according to a Rule that the hermit writes herself and lives out under the supervision of the diocesan bishop. Each element and the canon as a whole is strongly ecclesial and also strongly related in Christ to the spatio-temporal world.

** Of course, we can each be "fed mystically"; however, when one is entirely divorced from the Church or the Mass, which is the "source and summit of Christian life," because one is committed to "the spiritual church" and is opposed to "the temporal Church", what is claimed to be mystical is more likely the validation of individualism. That is much more likely when this lack of genuine participation in the Church's life is excused or justified with the term "hermit". As noted in an earlier post, when one cannot physically attend Mass, there are still effective ways to participate in the Church's liturgical and sacramental life. One only needs to call a nearby parish to arrange this.

In Memoriam, Sister Veronique Geeroms OCSO

[[Sr. Veronique Geeroms, OCSO, died this last Sunday, 01. February.2026. Sister was born in Ninove, Belgium part of the Low Countries, the land of mystics. And she was a ‘mystic’ of the ordinary daily monastic life. She comes from a loving and united family whom she keeps alive in her heart. Faith shaped her life at a young age where she was one of the leaders of her local ‘Catholic Worker Group’. There her heart was formed to serve the ‘other’ and her outreach to the poor never left her. She entered Our Lady of Nazareth in 1960. Soon after her temporary profession she was sent on the foundation of Our Lady of the Redwoods where she professed her solemn vows in 1966. 

 Sr. Veronique was a pillar of Redwoods and a beloved soul friend to so many guests. Her monastic life was the fertile soil which continued to expand the horizon of her life. Always the ‘other’ was first. She served as guest sister for over forty years, was Prioress and was responsible for the kitchen. Wisdom flowed through her like water flowing through a vibrant stream. She was not aware of the depth of her wisdom, her humility so apparent in who she was. Quick to forgive anyone she hurt, always ready to change and grow even in her older age. It goes without saying that our community and guests will miss her greatly. Our solace is that we have her prayer as she rests now in the sacred heart of Christ, the One who was always the center of her life. ]]

 Notice and obituary from Abbey of Our Lady of the Redwoods * 18104 Briceland Thorn Road  * Whitethorn CA 95589 USA

On Individualism and the Solitary Hermit

[[Thank you for your recent post about non-canonical hermits, which clarified some questions I had. I have some additional questions, if you wouldn't mind addressing them: 1) It was a relief to read that it is perfectly acceptable to live as a hermit as a layperson (not as an official hermit, of course, but as a Catholic layperson feeling personally called to a more contemplative life). However, you mentioned in some other blog posts that there may be some less-reputable online sources. Do you have any thoughts on good sources to follow to get more information about what this may look like in this day and age? 2) This may apply less to non-canonical hermits, but you have mentioned elsewhere about the importance of avoiding individualism and eccentricity. Any further thoughts on this for non-canonical hermits? ]]

Hi there, and thanks for your questions! I have sent you the title of the Cornelius Wencel book I would recommend for anyone interested in any form of eremitical life. For readers here, that is one I have mentioned before, namely, The Eremitic Life. It is becoming harder and harder to get a print copy of this for a reasonable price, but thanks for sending the information about it being available on Barnes and Noble for their ereader application! (In the past, it has been available on Amazon for Kindle as well, but it seems not to be so now.)** I don't know any good online sources for folks living as Catholic Lay (or non-canonical) hermits, though I will keep my eye out for that now that I know your interest.

The problem of individualism is a big one, and not just for hermits! It is an epidemic in our culture. The ironic thing about hermits is that in their solitude, to the extent that solitude is authentic and truly eremitical, they are anti-individualistic! Living alone is not the problem. The problem here is a lack of relationships and significant relatedness to both the Church and the world. It is not surprising at all that in Ponam in Deserto Viam we find the following affirmation:

  

A hermit's life, therefore, moves between two poles of reference: the Church and the world. The Church is the maternal womb which generates the specific vocation. She is also the vital context in which this vocation flourishes and is realized in authenticity and fullness. The second pole is the world. Hermits separate themselves from the world by choosing to live on the margins of society. The Church and world are the contexts that preserve the hermit from individualism. This establishes them as sentinels of hope advancing "down the paths of time with eyes fixed on the future restoration of all things in Christ." (Ponam, p. 20, quote by John Paul II, Vita Consecrata, 1996, p. 59.) emphasis added. And further,

In the Latin Tradition, as Peter Damian wrote in his letter, Dominus Vobiscum, radical solitude most carefully defines the ecclesial role of the hermits' way of life. Hermits are like a microcosm of the world and the Church in miniature. Therefore, they cannot forget the Church and the world which they represent in their totality. The more one is alone before God, the more one discovers within oneself the deeper dimension of the world. (Ponam p 21) 

When we consider what the hermit's role is with regard to the world, we find in c 603 that she lives her life for the sake of the salvation of that reality. "The world" in all of these statements does not mean "anything outside the hermit's door" but rather, anything contrary or resistant to Christ -- including dimensions of the hermit's own heart! In her solitude, the hermit stands in the place of intercession where God and the world meet. In Christ, she is that place, and what she shows the world is a life given over to God in love for the sake of others. As the hermit's life in union with God grows, so does her acceptance of her uniquely loving place with regard to the world.

So, the hermit is profoundly related to the Church, the maternal womb of this specific vocation, and she is profoundly related to the world, whose pain and yearning she knows well, and holds before God. Taking care that these two poles are always a significant dimension of her life is the single most important preservative from individualism we know. It is possible, by the way, to find examples of "hermits" who have turned their backs on the world completely, and even some who have, for all intents and purposes, left the Church. In the cases of which I am aware, the gradual (or not so gradual) pulling away from the Church leads to an individualism marked by significant theological and spiritual eccentricity. 

When one turns one's back on the world whose resistance is really a misguided part of its own desperate struggle to find meaning and fullness of existence (that is, to seek God), it leads to a focus on "me", my holiness, my spirituality and relationship with God, my health, my struggles, and very little sense (or very little convincing sense) of a deep and abiding compassion with or for the pain of others. Occasionally, it is possible to find "hermits" whose individualism is so pronounced that they manifest both estrangement from the Church and little compassion with the world for whom (in part) this vocation exists. What ensues is a vicious cycle where individualism leads to estrangement, leads to greater individualism, and so on. These persons are not hermits. They are lone individuals who, eremitically speaking, have lost their way.

These two dimensions or poles (Church and world) will be present in any eremitical vocation, whether canonical or non-canonical. In what you have written to me, you are very clear that you are finding your way here --- as everyone of us must do! Growth in your own relationship with the Church, especially in and through your local faith community, will and should grow. Yes, you will embrace greater solitude as well, and no, in encouraging attention to your relationship with your local church, I don't mean you have to attend every parish function or Oktoberfest!! Still, maintain strong relationships and your liturgical and sacramental life. Do whatever it takes to grow in compassion. A good spiritual director can be of immense assistance here! Maintain and allow your prayer life to mature and deepen. These three foci (God, Church, world), embraced within and toward the silence of solitude, will protect you against individualism and inappropriate eccentricity. (N.B., I say inappropriate because hermits live literally eccentric lives insofar as they (very apparently) live "out of the center" and more profoundly hidden lives centered in God and the heart of the Church).

I hope this is helpful. You know where to reach me, so let me know if this raises more questions.

** The Cornelius Wencel book The Eremitic Life, is available from the Monte Corona Camaldolese Hermits in Ohio for $14. Contact them at HolyFamilyErCamEditions.

USCCB Calls for Holy Hour of Prayer

I would invite readers to check with houses of Religious and parishes in your area to see if they are joining in this prayer tomorrow evening. I know the Camaldolese are doing so and have opened their space to whoever wants to join them. That will be Saturday, 31 January at 5:00 PST.

WASHINGTON – “Your faith matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel,” he continued, and as a step toward healing, invited bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace.

Archbishop Coakley’s full reflection and invitation follow:

Many people today feel powerless in the face of violence, injustice, and social unrest. To those who feel this way, I wish to say clearly: your faithfulness matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter.

I am deeply grateful for the countless ways Catholics and all people of good will continue to serve one another and work for peace and justice. Whether feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick, accompanying the lonely, visiting the imprisoned, or striving daily to love their neighbors, no work of mercy or act of justice is ever wasted in the eyes of God. While proper laws must be respected, works of mercy, peacefully assembling, and caring for those in your community are signs of hope, and they build peace more surely than anger or despair ever could. Christ reminds us that even ‘a single cup of cold water’ given in his name will not go unrewarded (cf. Mt 10:42).

The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life. We mourn this loss of life and deplore the indifference and injustice it represents. The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.

As a step toward healing, I invite my brother bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace in the days ahead. Let us pray for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss. I encourage Catholics everywhere to participate, whether in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts for healing in our nation and communities.

May this Holy Hour be a moment of renewal for our hearts and for our nation. Entrusting our fears and hopes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us ask the Lord to make us instruments of his peace and witnesses to the inherent dignity of every person.

Let us pray together, confident that God hears the cry of his people and remains close to all who seek him.

Can a Person be a Hermit if they Cannot Attend Mass or receive the Sacraments?

[[Dear Sister Laurel, you have written that a good liturgical and sacramental life is essential to the eremitical life. What happens in the case of someone who cannot get to Mass or participate in the sacraments, but wants to live as a hermit?  I think you said that sometimes you can't get to Mass because of your health and this doesn't mean you cannot be a hermit, does it? So what happens if a situation causes a person to be unable to get to Mass or receive the sacraments? If they are already living alone, can they still be a c 603 hermit?]]

Thanks for the questions. If a person's health precludes them from getting to Mass at all (let's say they are bedridden or otherwise unable to get out of the house), there are usually workarounds. If the person is serious about being a hermit, they will need to work with their parish priest and pastoral staff to arrange for regular access to Eucharist and the other Sacraments (anointing, reconciliation). This would allow them at least a weekly reception of the Eucharist as an extension of the parish Mass, and regular reception of the other Sacraments that would be essential for someone dealing with serious illness. It would also allow for the parish to get to know them and for members of the parish acting as EEM's to serve them as a part of the parish faith community. I tend to believe this is critical for someone with aspirations to eremitical life because the hermit, while living in solitude, is also meant to be an integral part of the faith community and its sacramental life.

If a person is not bedridden, then the situation is very much easier (though perhaps such a person can still benefit from regular assistance from EEM's, etc). If one needs a ride, it is usually possible for the parish to arrange this, though once one knows other members of the parish, one can do this oneself, of course. (Also, Lyft and Uber are possibilities to get around in this way.) For other Sacraments (anointing and reconciliation) it is possible to get a priest to come to one's own place. (I have arranged this and had parishioners arrange it for themselves, so I know it is possible.) I can't think of other situations that would preclude one from being able to get to Mass at all (even watching a monastic Mass on ZOOM, when done prayerfully, can serve someone home sick in bed!), so if you have a specific situation in mind that I have not yet addressed (and apparently cannot imagine), you can get back to me with that. Still, your question was about being a canonical hermit if one is unable to get to Mass or receive the Sacraments, so let me deal with that now.

What I have written is that c 603 vocations are ecclesial vocations. This means they "belong" to the Church before they belong to an individual, and God, through the action of the Church, entrusts such vocations to the individual hermit. As ecclesial, such vocations serve the Church in significant ways, not least by proclaiming the truth of the Church's kerygma or proclamation of the Gospel of God in Christ's life, death, and resurrection. The c 603 hermit lives the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church in real, concrete ways as part of her vocation, because she lives her vocation in the very heart of the Church. Yes, accommodations are made for the hermit's solitude and assiduous prayer and penance, so, for instance, most (not all) diocesan hermits are permitted to reserve the Eucharist in their hermitages. Please note, however, this is precisely so the whole of the hermit's life is lived, in the very heart of the Church, not to make up for an inadequate liturgical or sacramental life. Such permission would be unlikely to be given if the hermit were otherwise unable to participate at all in the Church's Liturgical or sacramental life.

Generally speaking, any diocese discerning a vocation to c 603 life would be very unlikely to profess someone who could not attend Mass or receive the Sacraments at all.  This would be a limitation that undercuts the very essence of the vocation itself. First of all, the person desiring to be a hermit would be more an isolated human being than a person living in eremitical solitude. (Remember, solitude, despite its physical aloneness, is the redemption of isolation, not its epitome.) Secondly, that isolation sets the person apart from the Church itself without the accommodations and workarounds mentioned above. Participation in the Church's Sacramental life is absolutely essential for a Catholic Hermit, whether solitary (c 603) or part of an institute of consecrated life (e.g., Carthusians and Camaldolese).  Again, if you are thinking of a specific instance where someone cannot attend Mass or otherwise receive the Sacraments and you believe the details would influence my answer, please get back to me on this. At this point, I have to say that I simply cannot imagine a situation where the Church would not be able to work with someone to be sure they are enabled to participate in the Church's sacramental life, particularly if this would allow them to live as a hermit in the heart of the Church, rather than an isolated individual estranged from the faith community.

What is the Diocese's Role in the Formation of a Diocesan Hermit?

 [[Sister, are you saying that dioceses are not responsible for forming c 603 hermits? I find that really surprising. What then is the role of the diocese? You speak of them discerning with a candidate, but aren't they also involved in the hermit's formation? Thank you.]]

Thanks for your questions! Yes, I am absolutely saying a diocese is not responsible for the formation of a solitary hermit under c 603. What a diocese is responsible for is discerning with the candidate whether or not they have a specifically ecclesial vocation and are called to live solitary eremitical life in the name of the Church. One may live as a hermit within the Catholic Church in different states of life including as a Catholic lay person, as a religious (if their congregation's particular or proper law says they may), or as a cleric (again, with one's bishop's permission). Beyond this, one can join an eremitical institute like the Carthusians or Camaldolese. However, if one wants to live as a solitary hermit in the consecrated state, c 603 is the route to this.

This, however, leaves the question of the diocese's responsibility open. Canon 603 does not speak to the diocese's responsibility for formation. The canon presumes significant formation, yes, but it does not make a diocese responsibile for this. Instead, canon 603's history and nature leave that responsibility in the hands of the candidate and the Holy Spirit. An eremitical vocation only emerges over significant time and with notable life experience. A diocese cannot be responsible for this; what they can do, and are responsible for doing is discerning with the candidate whether or not the eremitical call a person has discerned is also a specifically ecclesial one. For instance, is the person called to live this life in the name of the Church? Does her eremitism represent a sufficiently mature expression of eremitical life in the Church that it can be considered normative of the journey hermits are called to make? Does it witness to the Gospel, and to union with God in Christ in a way that underscores the truth of the Church's own proclamation or kerygma? Does it witness to the hidden heart of every Christian vocation, and the heart of the Church as well, and has the candidate consciously embraced (or clearly begun to embrace) all of this in the Rule she writes?

It will take a diocese time to discern these things as well as the more mundane characteristics and necessary underpinnings of an authentic eremitical life. It will take the candidate time to discover and explore these things sufficiently to write a liveable Rule. The diocese and candidate will walk together as she writes such a Rule, and discern the quality of the vocation she is seeing. In this synodal journey, formation will occur, most especially in the area of ecclesiality. It is important that a candidate works with someone with a strong sense of the ecclesial nature of such vocations, but it is the journeying together that helps inculcate ecclesial sensibilities, just as it also educates diocesan personnel on the nature of solitary eremitical life. Still, more general formation of the person as a hermit should occur long before they seek to be professed and consecrated under c 603; the diocese is not responsible for this!

When a diocese professes a c 603 hermit, they extend canonical rights and obligations to that person. They (in the person of the bishop and those whom he assigns) also assume a role in the supervision of the hermit beyond profession and eventual consecration. Further, because they have established a hermit in law in a specifically ecclesial vocation, it could be argued that a diocese must find ways to assist with ongoing formation and the deepening of the hermit's ecclesial sensibilities. Most dioceses fall far short of this latter role, though some allow for it by accepting a hermit's need for a delegate with a strong sense of an eremitical vocation's ecclesiality. (This is one reason delegates often tend to be religious men and women.) The point is, of course, that in an ecclesial vocation, the person's relationship with the Church must be a strong and intimate one. It seems to me this is one place the bishop's supervision can be most helpful, yet, at the same time, the diocesan office of Vicar for Religious (or Vocations, etc.) can assist, and will themselves benefit as they come to know the ways diocesan hermits grow, struggle, meet challenges, and mature in their journey to union with God.

In all of this, the bottom line remains: the initial and ongoing formation of a solitary hermit occurs mainly in solitude between the hermit and the Holy Spirit. A good spiritual director is essential in this process, as is a delegate for the diocese whom the candidate may choose. (A hermit does not outgrow the need for a competent spiritual director!!) An active liturgical and Sacramental life is also absolutely essential (and usually occurs in a parish setting). The diocese, however, will be mainly responsible for discerning the quality of a vocation once the candidate is ready to explore the ecclesial nature of their vocation, and will decide whether or not (and when) a candidate is ready to assume the canonical rights and obligations of such a vocation. The diocese plays an important part in this dimension of the hermit's initial and ongoing formation, while not being formators in the typical sense.

One final word of caution: what a diocese and diocesan bishop do is not merely a matter of "canonically approving" a person, as though a bishop could do this with the stroke of a pen, particularly if the person has lived a solitary life for some time already. This is a serious misunderstanding. Instead, they are responsible for admitting a person to profession (which is always public) and consecration so they may live their public-though-hidden lives in the consecrated state of life with all of the canonical rights and obligations that apply, and they do so for the sake of God's will to be Emmanuel, the sake of the Church who proclaims this God to the world, and the sake of the hermit's own humanity.

Getting the Formation Required for c 603 Profession

[[Hi Sister, my diocese said that I don't have the formation to become a c 603 hermit. I have not lived as a hermit before but I watched a video that said if I wanted to be a hermit in the Catholic Church, I had to do it under c 603. The canon doesn't say anything about formation. My question is how do I get the formation I need if I want to be a hermit by c 603? It seems like a catch-twenty-two. I don't have the formation my diocese expects, but I can't live as a hermit except by that canon unless I want to be illegal and a fraud or leave the Church. What do I do? For sure I don't want to leave the Catholic Church to live as a hermit. How do I get the formation my diocese asks for?]]

Thanks for writing. Your questions and story indicate some misunderstandings. I have written about these several times in the past couple of years. Please check out posts with tags like "non-canonical vs illegal" or various references to non-canonical. If that is not helpful to you, then please come back to me, and I will write about it again with your questions in mind. Let me just say you can remain a Catholic and live as a hermit apart from c 603. What you cannot do is claim to be a Catholic Hermit, that is, a hermit living this life in the name of the Church. You will be a Catholic AND a hermit, but not a Catholic hermit.

Regarding formation: c 603 shows the need for significant formation prior to beginning a mutual discernment process with your diocese. This is true of the history of the canon, of the situation out of which Bp Remi de Roo came to intervene at Vatican II, and it is true when one reads the canon itself. I say this, not because it speaks of formation, but because it does not. Instead, it assumes this and, moreover, it assumes that one understands the constitutive elements of the canon "from the inside out".  This means it assumes one understands these because one has lived them as well as having studied them. The canon also assumes one can write a liveable Rule, something that takes sufficient lived experience of the eremitical life and of life leading to it. Finally, c 603 requires that one petition to be professed and consecrated, a petition that really indicates a life-choice where one affirms that God calls one to become a whole and holy human being who abides in God and allows God to abide in her, and that God calls one to wholeness in this way and no other.

Canon 603, which is normative for solitary hermit life, is not for beginners. Neither is it for young persons.** Instead, it assumes a great deal of the individual petitioning a diocese for this specific standing in the Church. If you have read the post I put up on the three-stranded braid, you will have noticed I spoke of this as an ecclesial vocation, one that required a strong sense of this dimension of the vocation. I will tell you that it takes a significant time and some study to be able to develop. Again, this vocation is not an "entry-level" vocation. It presumes age, experience (including strong relationships with others), theological expertise (no, one does not need to be a theologian but one does need to be theologically grounded), ecclesial sensibilities and commitment, and some really positive reasons as to why one feels called to this vocation and no other, especially given how difficult it is to achieve human wholeness in eremitical solitude; most people only come to wholeness through significant experiences of community of all sorts.

Since you have not lived as a hermit before this, I would say the first thing you need to do is get yourself a good spiritual director. Work with them regularly for at least a couple of years and see how that goes. See if you really still feel called to solitude. See also if you feel called to contemplative prayer or living as a contemplative. If, over several years, these things come together for you, begin (or continue!) planning on a way to support yourself in solitude and then embrace solitude experimentally. Find ways to study eremitical life, the elements of the canon (including the evangelical counsels), and strengthen your relationship with the Church. Throughout all of this, pay attention to the ways God is present and at work in your life. With your director, find ways to attend to those with greater and greater fidelity; develop your prayer life so that this is primary for who you are. If you do all of this and conclude in five to seven (or more) years that you are coming to greater wholeness and holiness in eremitical solitude, you can check in with your diocese and explain what you have done while seeking their feedback on petitioning for admission to profession (and eventual consecration) under c 603. (Given your account of your conversation with your diocese, I am assuming that it is actually open to professing a suitable candidate for eventual c 603 consecration, but you might ask them this specific question since not all dioceses are open to implementing the canon.)

As a Catholic lay person in the Church, you are completely free to live almost any way you want in the lay state. That includes living as a hermit, though it would be as a Catholic non-canonical (non-normative) hermit. This is a good way to begin discerning whether you are called to live the hermit life "in law". For admission to the consecrated state, only the Church can receive you in this way. That requires a process of mutual discernment where both you and the diocese discern God's will in this regard. After all, you would not then simply be discerning your own personal vocation, but something that directly affects and represents the Church and consecrated eremitical life therein.

_____________________________________________

** As Carl Jung noted throughout his work, it is possible for some young persons from extraordinary backgrounds (not necessarily positive backgrounds, by the way) to reach a level of maturity somewhat prematurely. When this happens, they might well be predisposed to living as a c 603 hermit. Dioceses are encouraged to discern a person's readiness for profession on a case-by-case basis in such instances.

On writing a Liveable Rule of Life: The Three-Stranded Braid

Over the years, I have written a lot here about how to write a Rule, what makes such a Rule "liveable", what I look for (or suggest dioceses look for) when reading a Rule. Throughout these posts, I have grown both in my appreciation of the importance of the task of writing one's own Rule, and in the way a truly liveable Rule aids the diocese in the discernment of an ecclesial vocation and readiness for or the prematurity of public commitments. I have also grown in my appreciation of the formative power of the very act of writing such a Rule, and sharpened my own sense of the journey a Rule should reflect and how it should function in assisting the hermit to continue to ever-deeper union with God. My concern has always been with what constitutes a liveable Rule because some Rules are clearly inadequate to the burden a liveable Rule must bear while others function for the whole of a hermit's life as a source of inspiration and empowerment in coming to live the silence of solitude not only as context, but as goal and charism of the solitary hermit life.

That last sentence is important because it points to the way a Rule really functions in the life of a hermit as her journey to union with God deepens and intensifies. As I have written over the years, really liveable Rules work first of all to remind us of our own story and the way God is and has been at work in that story. Of course, they can demonstrate not only how we understand the elements of canon 603, but they will also demonstrate implicitly how we have grown in embodying these elements (and the canon itself). As noted, they serve to inspire us when life gets difficult, and we wonder if we have discerned rightly about eremitic life (especially in this form)! They can "slow us down" when we are discerning possible avenues within the Church for ministry, study, living arrangements, and so on, and they will help empower us when the next step forward seems too daunting for us or when illness strikes, and our energy levels are low. Even more foundationally, Rules and the act of writing a truly liveable one over time can assist one's diocese in discerning with the hermit whether or not she is called to live this vocation in the name of the Church, as well as whether one's petition for admittance to profession or consecration is timely or premature.

Several images will be familiar to readers; these capture some of this and including trellises, stair banisters, and maps or topographies (a more adequate image than map). A newer and important image summarizing what a Rule includes is that of a three-stranded braid. Each strand is critical, fundamental, while it is the whole braid that makes a Rule strong, liveable, and the vocation a gift to the Church. Those strands are 1) a sense of one's personal story, 2) an intimate understanding of the elements of canon 603, and 3) a sense of the ecclesial nature of this vocation.  The first strand need not be extensive (this is not an autobiography, after all), but it does need to be present and function like the key signature in a piece of music functions. That is, it will set the key in which everything else moves forward, sounds, and makes sense; it will allow one to articulate throughout the entire Rule, "why this vocation and no other?" Especially, it will allow those discerning with the hermit, and the Church more generally, to see the redemptive thrust of this vocation in one's life. That is, it will allow the way God is working in one's life through and within this vocation to become clear not only to oneself (this kind of writing always functions in this way), but to those discerning with one on behalf of the Church

The second strand involves the constitutive elements of canon 603. One should understand these on their face. What does it mean to speak of the silence of solitude, for instance, or stricter separation from the world and assiduous prayer and penance? How does one live religious obedience or religious poverty, for example? What does supervision by one's bishop look like and mean? However, these constitutive elements also function to provide access to the deeper world associated with c 603 as well. I sometimes speak of the canon as a topography of a journey one is making to ever-deeper union with God. The constitutive elements serve as doorways to or windows on depth, ultimacy, and Mystery. They are like facets of a gem, each of which allows one to enter into its depths and explore a reality that "the world", with all of its distractions and illusory character, obscures and may even deny. They are significant (meaningful) landmarks of a very specific and inner journey. An intimate knowledge of the constitutive elements of c 603 will include some sense of both of these levels of meaning. (These correspond to and allow the hermit to demonstrate not only her own story but the way God has been at work in a solitary eremitic context.)

The third strand is less easy to describe. It includes, first of all, a sense that this vocation belongs to the Church before it belongs to the individual hermit. It will include a sense of the way eremitic life represents the heart of the Church, and how hiddenness functions therein. It will at least begin to demonstrate how the solitary eremitical vocation allows the hermit to serve in Christ as intercessor for the Church and world, and how it is that a journey to deeper union with God in Christ locates a hermit right where genuine intercession takes place. Here is the place where the Rule as Gospel rather than Law really assumes its full weight, and the redemptive thrust of the hermit's life and vocation achieves its full depth and clarity. This is the strand in which the hermit recognizes most fully that c 603 is a gift of God entrusted to the Church, a gift the Church entrusts to the hermit after sufficient discernment, and a gift that the hermit lives exhaustively so that the Church might truly be the Church she is called to be. It is a gift that the hermit in her hiddenness returns to the Church and lives for the sake of God, the Church, and the salvation of the world.

A profound sense of this third strand takes time to develop, and beginners will not likely be able to articulate all of the ways this vocation is an ecclesial one in their first (or even their second) Rule of Life. Even so, in the Rule they provide for profession, it needs to demonstrate some clear sense of this quality in the way it treats the issues of assiduous prayer and penance, supervision by one's bishop and/or delegate, avoiding individualism in all its forms, and serving the salvation of the world, for instance. Other dimensions of this vocation's ecclesiality will emerge over time, as well as in accompaniment by one's spiritual director, one's conversations with one's delegate, and with the diocesan formation team and bishop. Still, it needs to be a substantive part of the hermit's Rule because it is an element that allows the life to be coherent and witness appropriately to both Church and World -- even as it protects the hermit from individualism, misguided autonomy, and so forth.

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

 Of all the feasts we celebrate, [today's] feast of the baptism of Jesus is one of the most difficult for us to understand. We are used to thinking of baptism as a solution to original sin instead of the means of our initiation into the death and resurrection of Jesus, or our adoption as daughters and sons of God and heirs to his Kingdom, or again, as a consecration to God's very life and service. When viewed this way, and especially when we recall that John's baptism was one of repentance for sin, how do we make sense of a sinless Jesus submitting to it?

I think two points need to be made here. First, Jesus grew into his vocation. His Sonship was real and completely unique, but not completely developed or historically embodied from the moment of his conception; rather, it was something he embraced more and more fully over his lifetime. Secondly, his Sonship was the expression of solidarity with us and his fulfillment of the will of his Father to be God-with-us. Jesus will incarnate the Logos of God definitively in space and time, but this event we call the incarnation, encompasses and is only realized fully in his life, death, and resurrection -- not in his nativity. Only in allowing himself to be completely transparent to this Word, only in "dying to self," and definitively setting aside all other possible destinies does Jesus come to fully embody and express the Logos of God in a way which expresses his solidarity with us as well.

It is probably the image of Baptism-as-consecration and commissioning then, which is most helpful to us in understanding Jesus' submission to John's baptism. Here, the man Jesus is set apart as the one in whom God will truly "hallow his name." (That is, in Jesus' weakness and self-emptying, God's powerful presence (Name) will make all things Holy and a sacrament of God's presence.) Here, in an act of manifest commitment, Jesus' humanity is placed completely at the service of the living God and of those to whom God is committed. Here, his experience as one set apart or consecrated by and for God establishes God as completely united with us and our human condition. This solidarity is reflected in his statement to John that together they must fulfill the will of God. And here too Jesus anticipates the death and resurrection he will suffer for the sake of both human and Divine destinies, which, in him, will be reconciled and inextricably wed to one another. His baptism establishes the pattern not only of HIS humanity, but that of all authentic humanity. So too does it reveal the nature of true Divinity, for ours is a God who becomes completely subject to our sinful reality in order to free us for his own entirely holy one.

I suspect that even at the end of the Christmas season, we are still scandalized by the incarnation. (Recent conversations on CV's and secularity make me even surer of this!) We still stumble over the intelligibility of this baptism, and the propriety of i,t especially. Our inability to fathom Jesus' own baptism, and our tendency to be shocked by it because of Jesus' identity,  just as JohnBp was probably shocked, says we are not comfortable, even now, with a God who enters exhaustively into our reality. We remain uncomfortable with a Jesus who is tempted like us in ALL THINGS, and matures into his identity as God's only begotten Son.

We are puzzled by one who is holy as God is holy and, as the creed affirms, "true God from true God" and who, even so, is consecrated to and by the one he calls Abba --- and commissioned to the service of this Abba's Kingdom and people. A God who wholly identifies with us, takes on our sinfulness, and comes to us in smallness, weakness, submission, and self-emptying is really not a God we are comfortable with --- despite three weeks of Christmas celebrations and reflections, and a prior four weeks of preparation -- is it? In fact, none of this was comfortable for Jews or early Christians either. The Jewish leadership was upset by JnBp's baptisms generally because they took place outside the Temple precincts and structures (that is, in the realm we literally call profane). Early Christians (Jewish and otherwise) were embarrassed by Jesus' baptism by John --- as Matt's added explanation of the reasons for it in vv 14-15 indicates. They were concerned that perhaps it indicated Jesus' inferiority to John the Baptist, and they wondered if maybe it meant that Jesus had sinned prior to his baptism. And perhaps this embarrassment is as it should be. Perhaps the scandal attached to this baptism signals to us that we are beginning to get things right theologically.

After all, today's feast tells us that Jesus' public ministry begins with a ritual washing, consecration, and commissioning by God, which is similar to our own baptismal consecration. The difference is that Jesus freely accepts life under the sway of sin in his baptism, just as he wholeheartedly embraces a public (and one could cogently argue, a thoroughly secular) vocation to proclaim God's sovereignty. The story of the desert temptation or testing that follows this underscores this acceptance. His public life begins with an event that prefigures his end as well. There is a real dying to self involved here, not because Jesus has a false self which must die -- as each of us has --- but because in these events his life is placed completely at the disposal of his God, his Abba, in solidarity with us. Loving another, affirming the being of another in a way which subordinates one's own being to theirs --- putting one's own life at their disposal and surrendering all other life-possibilities always entails a death of sorts -- and a kind of rising to new life as well. The dynamics present on the cross are present here too; here we see only somewhat less clearly a complete and obedient (that is, open and responsive) submission to the will of God, and an unfathomable subjection to that which human sinfulness makes necessary precisely in order that God's love may be exhaustively present and conquer here as well.

Feast of the Holy Family

 Of all the feasts I have come to love, the Feast of the Holy Family has grown to have the most meaning for me. That is, naturally, due to my close connection with Sister Marietta and how she has shown me the heart, mission, and charism of the Sisters of the Holy Family. A few years ago, when I had given Marietta a copy of my newly revised eremitical Rule, she gave me a copy of the Constitutions of the Sisters of the Holy Family (Fremont, CA). In that set of constitutions is an image of the painting by Jean-Francois Millet, 'Gleaners at Work'. These peasant women toil in the fields to garner all the bits of precious harvest that might otherwise be left behind to die or be raked together to be burned as waste/chaff. In the OT (see Ruth), the poor followed behind harvesters and were able to glean bits of wheat that had been dropped or otherwise abandoned as fruitless or without relative value.

So many were fed in this way and in many Christian kingdoms throughout the centuries, "gleaning" came to be a legal right of the poor who followed behind the reapers. Millet's picture was made in 1857 and featured the lowest classes of French rural society in a sympathetic way. Apparently, it was not well-received by the French upper classes. It is the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1872-present)  to be present in our society to the weakest among us, especially families and children, in a way that allows the least and lost to be valued and nurtured in the way God does. 

Families are meant to be sanctuaries where the weakest and neediest among us, our children, are loved, fed, taught, nurtured, and protected from harm. It is the family that is the natural context in which human beings grow to maturity and begin to realize the potential that is given to them by God. Every family is meant to be a network and context of loving and challenging relationships where an infant can become the kind of loving, trusting, and trustworthy human being who will one day go their own way in strength and integrity to change society and the world for the better with their presence. The potential for things to go awry in such a situation is huge, of course, but it is on today's Feast that we celebrate one of those graced occasions when family was all it was meant to be. 

This tiny community of love gave us a savior, someone like us in all things, yet without sinning! Yes, of cours,e Jesus was the Son and gift of God entrusted immediately to Mary, Joseph, and their relations, but it was the family, this holy famil,y that allowed Jesus to grow in his relationship with God, with God's People, and humankind as a whole --- and ultimately, to realize the potential of his identity and calling. When Luke recounts Jesus returning from Jerusalem with his family and says he "grew in wisdom and stature," this is what Luke (2:4) is speaking of. It was this Holy Family that was iconic of what every family is meant to be --- and too, what the Sisters of the Holy Family give their lives to help assure happens for every family and child to whom they minister.

Bro Mickey McGrath, osfs

My thanks to God this feast day for the Holy Family and to the Sisters of the Holy Family, their Associates, all of whom renew vows and covenant bonds on this feast, and any and all who share in such an awesome ministry and mission! God comes to us in littleness and weakness; it is the Holy Family and those who act in their name who show us what it means to truly offer this God our hospitality, our love, and our commitment to (his) own enterprise of love. At a time in our own culture when children and families are being harmed at an alarmingly increased rate, I pray the image of the Holy Family, and the mission of the Sisters of the Holy Family to carefully glean so that nothing and no one might be lost or treated as inconsequential stubble and fruitless chaff, will be a prophetic image and mission we each and all make our own.