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 Ponams 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 froim 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.) and further,

In the Latin Tradition, as Peter Damian wrote in his work, 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 minature. 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 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, struggling to find meaning and fullness of existence, 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 circle 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 (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 every one of us must do! Growth in your own relationship with the Church, especially in your local community, will and should grow. Yes, you will embrace greater solitude as well, and no, 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. (I say inappropriate because hermits live literally eccentric lives insofar as they (very apparently) live "out of the center" and more profoundly (and hiddenly) centered lives 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.

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. 

A Contemplative moment: Haphazard by Starlight

BC:AD

This was the moment when Before

Turned into After, and the future's

Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing

Happened. Only dull peace

sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even the energetic Romans

Could find nothing better to do

Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment

When a few farmworkers and three

Members of an obscure Persian sect

Walked haphazard by starlight straight

into the kingdom of heaven.

by U. A. Fanthorpe

Taken from Janet Morley's Advent/Christmas collection

of poems, haphazard by starlight

 

Where God Dwells

[[ Sister Laurel, what does it mean to say, "No hermit should get along with the temporal Church"? (I think temporal here is opposite spiritual.)]]

I'm afraid I can't really answer your question. My understanding of the Church says it is an institution that exists in space and time with dimensions that transcend these. It is spatio-temporal at the same time it participates in the life of God, and thus, it anticipates the Kingdom of God. Thus, it makes no sense to me to suggest that no hermit should get along with the temporal Church. I am aware of one person online who divides the Church into temporal and spiritual, and also speaks as though one can be spiritual without also being temporal, but to be frank, that just makes no sense. After all, the Risen (and differently embodied) Christ is present in our world and is mediated by spatio-temporal things. This is why we have sacraments, of course! It is also why we celebrate today's Feast of the Nativity of Jesus and the beginnings of a process of Incarnation wherein Jesus grows to full stature as Son of God.

In fact, one of the most important truths (and one of the most difficult) about the reality we call Christianity is that it is rooted in historical events. God comes to us in a human being and is most exhaustively revealed in Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Even the appearances of the risen Jesus to the scared and dispirited disciples following his death are marked by events underscoring both the historicity of the events as well as their transcendent nature. Disciples touch the wounds, Jesus cooks and eats fish on the beach, even as he is capable of walking through walls, etc. Christianity is all about God making human history his own. It is not about a devaluing of time and space, but a transfiguring of these. This is why the Scriptures speak of God making a new heaven and a new earth where all will dwell in harmony. Our ultimate hope is that the God who reveals himself as Emmanuel will remake the whole of reality in the power of the Spirit and dwell with us in this new reality.

The idea that only the spiritual counts while the realm of the spatio-temporal should (or even can) be eschewed is a Gnostic one and thus, quite old. (It is Platonic as well, and finds contemporary representative in The Catholic stress on Sacraments demonstrates that God comes to us in the things of this earth, the temporal, if you like. Bread and Wine are raised to their highest potential (made infinitely nourishing) and made capable of truly mediating Jesus and the power to be a single family to us. Sacraments are not about the spiritual alone, but the spiritual made real in the spatio-temporal and material. The Church, and here I mean the historical reality that is called the primordial sacrament, is precisely the place where human beings are transfigured and made new by the power of the Holy Spirit. God is certainly Spirit and eternal, but what is also true is that God has chosen to be Emmanuel, God With Us, here in this world with all its spatio-temporal problems and limitations. 

There is no other Church than the historical one we all know. Yes, it has different dimensions, and for that reason we speak of the Church militant, or the suffering Church, or the Church triumphant, but it is still one Church, and it is a historical (spatio-temporal) reality informed by the presence of the Trinity. Catholics embracing eremitical life do so within this historical Church. That is especially true when they do so publicly, as "Catholic Hermits" in ecclesial vocations lived in the name of the Church. Moreover, we do so as human beings who are thoroughly conditioned by space and time, even as we allow God to be Emmanuel and the Holy Spirit's transfiguration of all we are and know. As we move through Advent into Christmas, it is a good time to remember that every religion except Christianity tried to escape history to bind back (re-ligio) to God. Christianity is the only faith we know whose God assumed flesh and came to dwell with us, then made a place for us (newly embodied human beings like the risen Christ) in his own eternal life, and promises a new heaven and new earth where He will be all in all. 

The nativity of Jesus marks the coming of this God among us, and that has always been a scandal, though especially to those with a Gnostic mindset. The scandal is increased with Jesus' crucifixion and death. A God who could allow himself to be "touched" (not to say tainted) by such realities and participate in our own humanness while raising us to participate in his divinity (theosis) was and, it appears, remains a stumbling block for some. The hermits I know take God as Emmanuel seriously. They take their own call to union with God seriously as well. And while they do live a stricter separation from the world, they are very careful in the way they define this reality. When I was newly consecrated and began this blog, I wrote the following. I think it is pertinent to your question.

[[. . . First of all, "the world" does not mean "the entire physical reality except for the hermitage or cell"! Instead, the term "the world" refers to those structures, realities, things, positions, values, etc, which are antithetical to Christ and promise fulfillment or personal [dignity and] completion apart from God in Christ. Anything, including some forms of religion and piety, can represent "the world" given this definition. "The world" tends to represent escape from self and God, and also escape from the deep demands and legitimate expectations others have a right to make of us as Christians. Given this understanding, some forms of "eremitism" may not represent so much greater separation from the world as they do unusually embodied capitulations to it. (Here is one of the places an individual can fool themselves and so, needs the assistance of the church to carry out an adequate and accurate discernment of a Divine vocation to eremitical life.)]]

It seems to me that anyone who divvies reality neatly up into the temporal and the spiritual, for instance, and tries to live in this way is really fooling themselves. On this Feast of the Nativity, it is particularly important that we learn to let go of any theologies that take the embodiment of divinity and the spiritual less seriously than Christianity calls us to do. Human beings ARE embodied Spirit. We don't merely have bodies, we ARE embodied.  Pope Benedict XVI (as Joseph Ratzinger), wrote in his Eschatology, Dogmatic Theology vol 9, about the Christian sense that the human soul yearns to be embodied and, following Thomas Aquinas, is actually the form of the body -- not the other way around as when the body is thought of as a container for the soul and the soul is thought to escape the body at death with heaven conceived of as the dwelling place of disembodied spirit! Both Jesus' bodily Resurrection and Ascension counter this understanding. So does Mary's Assumption.

Thus, on this Feast, we must take time to appreciate how it is that, in Christ, we see God becoming Emmanuel as he had willed from the beginning. The Divine, the Eternal and Spiritual, makes the spatio-temporal and material its truest home. Like Jesus did exhaustively, we are each called to allow the Holy Spirit to live in us and enliven us fully. In this way, in Christ, we ourselves become Emmanuel, God With Us. If we can take Christianity seriously, and not replace its sacred materialism with neo-Platonic or Gnostic thought, which is what our thought of a disembodied heaven reflects, we will take historical (the spatio-temporal) reality seriously as the place where God wills to dwell "on earth as it is in heaven". Hermits, especially, are called to believe this foundational truth of our faith, to pray this petition, and to allow it to be realized in their lives. In this way, they become ecclesiolae, little Churches, that are both sacramental and prophetic precisely because they are simultaneously historical (embodied) and enlivened by the Holy Spirit (spiritual). Similarly, we will begin to prefigure the coming of that new heaven and new earth where all reality is sacramental, and we ourselves have "grown to full stature" as embodied Spirit, when God is all-in-all. 

All good wishes for a wonderful Christmas!!

Tracing the Roots of Canon 603: A Brief Look at Hermits in the 13-14 C

[[Dear Sister Laurel, I've read what you wrote about why c 603 came to be, but what about before c 603? Isn't it the case that people could just go off and become a hermit on their own just because God called them to this? Isn't c 603 something of a novelty? Because hermit life is so old I think people should be cautious about taking on a form of the life that is novel. You can understand that, can't you? Also, I think [the hermit you disagree with on all of this] has a point about wearing habits like those in religious communities. Is that another novelty you came up with because you had been a religious in a community?]] (Redacted from much longer email)

It may surprise you, but c 603 is not absolutely unique. Yes, it is binding universally and establishes hermits in law in the consecrated state and that is new (there was no mention of hermits in the older 1917 Code), but there have been canons in the Church before that bound hermits from this or that diocese in very much the same way c 603 does today. Because I don't much like copying long texts from other sources here, what I would like to do is quote a couple of paragraphs from a book including hermits and recluses of the Middle Ages that touches on the way hermits were regarded, the authority of the local bishop, and the service of investiture with the habit. This is a summary without detailed examples --- though these are available for the asking. I may also add something about the nature of the hermitage and solitude in the hermitage that also conflicts with the person you have referred to in your question, but that depends upon time. Since it is an important issue I could also hold it for another post.

Writing about hermits in the early 14 C and before, Edward L Cutts says in Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, [[ A man could not take upon himself the character of a hermit at his own pleasure. It was a regular order of religion, into which a man could not enter without the consent of the bishop of the diocese, and into which he was admitted by a formal religious service. And just as bishops do not ordain men to holy orders until they have obtained a "title," a place in which to exercise their ministry, so bishops did not admit men to the order of Hermits until they had obtained a hermitage in which to exercise their vocation.]] (page 98)

Cutts then examines the nature of a vow made by a hermit. The form is taken from the Institution Books of Norwich, lib.xiv. fo.27a: (I have translated this into contemporary English just for this article.) [[I, John Fferys, not married, promise and avow to God, our Lady Saint Mary, and to all the saints in heaven, in the presence of you reverend Father in God, Richard bishop of Norwich, the vow of chastity, after the rule of Saint Paul the hermit. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.]] (dated in the Chapel of Thorpe) (pp 98-99)

Here I simply want to point out the similarities between c 603 professions and this one. The Church today takes the time to discern the nature and quality of the vocation before them, she makes sure that the candidate for profession can take care of herself (i.e., is self-supporting in some substantial and stable sense), has a proper place to live where she can carry out her ministry, and requires that she writes a proper Rule of Life in light of which she will live her profession. John Ferris, above, apparently was able to use the Rule of Saint Paul the Hermit, but all of this including the ascertainment of Ferris's unmarried state (part of what I often call "the canonical freedom" to enter another canonical state of life) is familiar to anyone with a knowledge of c 603. For many years now, I have been accused of supporting a way of eremitical life that is a distortion of the "tried and true" way of becoming a hermit, namely, by just going off and becoming one, but here, in an example from 700 years ago it is very clear that c 603 has picked up in a careful and faithful way, something that was already established in the Church in the early Middle Ages at least. Canon 603 is not novel except in what it establishes in universal law.

Cutts also summarizes the service for habiting and blessing a hermit (from "Officium induendi et benedicendi heremitam"). This is taken from the pontifical of Bishop Lacy of Exeter (14C.) [[It begins with several psalms; then several short prayers for the incepting hermit, mentioning him by name. Then follow two prayers for the benediction of his vestments, apparently for different parts of the habit; the first mentioning 'hec indumenta humilitatem cordis et mundi contemptum significancia," -- these garments signifying humility of heart and contempt of the world; the second blesses "hanc vestem pro conservande castitatis signo,"-- this vestment the sign of chastity [in celibacy]. The priest then delivers the vestments to the hermit kneeling before him with these words, "Brother, behold we give to thee the eremitical habit (habitum hermiticum), with which we admonish thee to live henceforth chastely, soberly, and holily; in holy watchings, in fastings, in labours, in prayers, in works of mercy, that thou mayest have eternal life and live forever and ever." And he receives them saying, "Behold, I receive them in the name of the Lord; and promise myself to do so according to my power, the grace of God, and of the saints helping me." Then he puts off his secular habit, the priest saying to him, "The Lord put off from thee the old man with his deeds;" and while he puts on his hermit's habit, the priest says, "The Lord put on thee the new man, which after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." There follows a collect and certain psalms, and finally the priest sprinkles him with holy water and blesses him.]] (Op Cit. p 99)

There are numerous descriptions of the nature of the eremitical habit in this particular chapter of Cutt's book, but they are all pretty similar in certain ways. They tend to have a tunic, scapular, and perhaps a cincture as well as a hood or cloak with hood. Some have TAU crosses, many take up the hermit's staff, and the colors of these various habits differ, though blue, brown, black and grey are prominent. Cutts also refers a bit earlier in the chapter to habits worn according to Papal authority for the "Eremiti Augustini" which are constituted the same way though with white tunic and scapular and (for choir or going out) a black cowl and large hood. 

Habits were important, as they are today, because people of all ranks and stations became hermits and most hermits dealt with those from all ranks and stations. Let me point out briefly then that while a habit signifies poverty, it also allows a person to move easily between various social strata without having to be concerned with "dressing the part". In this sense too, the habit is a sign of stricter separation from the world and its various strata. For the purposes of this post, however, what I really want to make clear is that the clothing of a hermit in a religious habit is not new with me or even with c 603 itself. It goes back much further than the Middle Ages. Though I have only referred back as far as the 13C here in this post, I have noted before that the giving of the hermit's tunic is linked even to the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

I sincerely hope this is helpful to you and gives you a different perspective on what is novel or not in c 603 eremitical life and in what I write here. While I believe there are some relatively novel things about what I write here, I also believe they are deeply rooted in the living tradition of eremitical life and assist hermits and dioceses in discerning, forming and living these vocations well in a way that is truly edifying for the entire Church and world. After all, c 603 has to be contextualized to be understood, not just in terms of contemporary life, but also in terms of the whole history of eremitical life. I will hold for another post what Cutts has to say about the nature of hermitages and solitude, especially regarding the variety of ways solitude was provided for in hermitages. In this too you will find c 603 and what bishops allow are not so novel as all that.

Why Make Vows to or be Consecrated by a Bishop Rather than God?

 [[Sister Laurel, why would you, or anyone really, want to make vows to or be consecrated by a bishop instead of God? Why accept someone who is merely a "stand-in" for God? Why not let God consecrate you directly as a hermit if that's so important to you? Do you love the temporal Church more than the spiritual? What happens when you grow spiritually enough to let God act in your life?]]

Where to begin? First, thanks for your questions (and, despite the borrowed language and accusations, I am assuming they are your own). They are timely for Christmas, as I hope to be able to show you. Let me begin by correcting some significant misunderstandings. First, my vows are made not to the bishop but to God. They are made in the hands of the bishop, yes, but they were and are made to God and represent part of an official act of worship in the Roman Catholic Church. The others witnessing my profession and receiving this act on behalf of the Church serve God in this way. In other words, they participate in this act of worship in their unique roles. Everything that happens does so in the Name of God. 

To say this is not to point to people doing something instead of God, but to people acting because of God and in and through the very authority, power, and presence of God. Secondly, I have been consecrated by God, not by the bishop serving as a "stand-in" for God. God is certainly mediated in many ways in the Mass and in the Rite of Profession, including in the actions of the bishop, but it is still God doing the receiving of vows, or consecrating, and commissioning me as a hermit of the Local (Diocese of Oakland) and Universal Church. There is a difference between standing in for God, in the way you seem to be using the term (i.e., as somehow opposed to or other than God acting himself) and acting to participate in the actual mediation of God's presence. 

It is important, I think, to realize that each person standing with me at the chair during my profession or nearby me as the solemn prayer of consecration was prayed over me was participating in an act of worship and mediation. God was actively present within, among, and to everyone in that Church that day. In fact, the entire Church in heaven and on earth was present and worshipping God as they heard, supported, and rejoiced with me that day. (I was keenly aware of this, especially during the Litany of the Saints!) This was very much about what we pray for in the Lord's Prayer when we ask that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Similarly, this was an experience of heaven and earth interpenetrating one another, because this was the historical Church open to the transcendent God and the entire Communion of Saints and choirs of heaven acting in surprising and awesome ways right here in space and time. This is a hint of what the new heaven and new earth will look like, and it is not divvied up, as the Gnostics might have it, into the temporal and the spiritual, or the human and the divine!

You see, I love the Church, the WHOLE Church in heaven and on earth. I recognize that God has chosen to reveal himself exhaustively in a historical (spatio-temporal) human person and to continue doing so to everyone who, in Christ, allows him/herself to incarnate God in our world. If you take anything away from Christmas this year, I hope it will be the fact that God did not eschew the historical, the spatio-temporal. He made it his own, not for a brief period of "slumming" as one author of a book on the Ascension put the matter, or an act of docetic play-acting, but in an act of costly kenosis and incarnation for eternity. Because of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension, there is no merely spiritual or merely spatio-temporal Church. Because of the Christ Event with its bodily resurrection and ascension, heaven and earth interpenetrate one another. God is not yet all in all, as Revelation puts the matter, but we cannot forget the way reality was changed in this Event --- both earthly and heavenly reality!! This is what God's reconcilation looks like. This is the way God does justice in mercy. God became Emmanuel in Christ and invites us, in Christ, to become Emmanuel as well. There is more to say about the importance of canonical acts, but I think this is good for now. Best wishes for a profound and profoundly revealing Christmas!

Do Hermits Watch the News?

[[Hi Sister Laurel, I wondered if hermits watch the news and if they don't, is this because they are turning away from the world? If they do watch the news, then why do they do this? Aren't they supposed to be separated from the world?]]

Interesting questions, thank you.  I can't speak for hermits generally in this, so let me answer in terms of my own life. I don't watch the news usually because I don't have cable, but I do catch up with things on my computer. I tend to listen to or watch several programs regularly, including Rachel Maddow (Mondays), along with the writing and videos of Heather Cox Richardson. Prof. Richardson, a historian at Boston College, does a daily letter and a video of what's going on. This last January, watching the news in any way whatsoever became really difficult for me, and because it is important for a hermit to know what is really going on, I decided I could not forego watching. Instead, I made some choices about what I would and would not watch and prayed before "the news," and also prayed and read Scripture afterwards.

So, why is watching the news (or catching this in some other way) so important that I had to add prayer periods to make it possible? It is critical, I believe, to have a strong sense of the suffering of the larger world, not in some general or abstract way, but through one's compassionate attention to real people and contemporary stories. More, it is critical to the hermit's vocation to be aware of the profound questions people struggle with and are, so that one may be an interceding or intercessory presence in the Church and larger world. At the same time, the hermit represents these questions; she poses her own and comes to embody the answer that is God in Christ. Beyond intercessory prayer, the hermit takes on a role as intercessor in Christ, and in all of this, she becomes more compassionate and loving in and of the suffering world. 

It is critical that the hermit participates in the ongoing suffering of the world and in the life of God at the same time. Ponam in Deserto Viam sees the hermit's intercession not only as valuable in itself, but as a substantive preventative of self-centeredness that can come from a solitary life merely seeking personal holiness. Like any Christian, the hermit grows as she learns to love both God and mankind together. Ponam quotes Pope Francis: "prayer will be all the more pleasing to God and more effective for our growth in holiness if, through intercession . . . it is an expression of our fraternal concern for others. Of those who commit themselves generously to intercessory prayer, we can apply the words of Scripture: "This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people." (2 Mac 15:14) in Gaudete et Exsultate, 154.

The primary world from which hermits maintain a stricter separation is that reality which is resistant to Christ, not the larger world of God's good creation. Yes, these overlap, and living the stricter separation appropriate to the hermit takes discernment and care because some separation from the larger world is essential to achieving the silence of solitude; still, relatedness is also part of true solitude, and intercession, in particular, is a matter of witnessing to the larger world. Turning away from everything outside the hermitage to pursue personal holiness alone is misguided and a betrayal of the eremitic vocation. Ponam in Deserto Viam points out that, "By interceding, the hermit brings into this world the image of the world to come, in which God will wipe away every tear (Rev 21:4) and the communion of saints will be fulfilled."