Evangelical Poverty as Dependence Upon God

[[Hi Sister, I read your post on adopting a spirituality and one thing you said made me stop and think. It wasn't on the subject of the post so much but it was the way you defined Franciscan poverty in terms of being who one is before God. I always thought Franciscan poverty was about letting go of material things and that Franciscan poverty was stricter than other forms of poverty for this reason. Why did you define Franciscan poverty in the way you did? Is this the way you define poverty in your own eremitical life?]]

Thanks for the question. I defined Franciscan poverty the way I did in the post you referred to because my sense of Francis' take on poverty was that he let go of anything that obscured or prevented his complete dependence upon God; the necessary  corollary is that he let go of anything that prevented him from being truly himself before, with, and in God. He demanded his followers also relinquish things so that nothing would stand in the way of their relationship with God. Because God is truth itself this relationship with God is the source and ground of standing in one's own truth and being oneself.  The same is true of God as love. Because God is love-in-Act one is able to be wholly oneself in God's presence; one needs no props, no other sources of Selfhood than God alone. The very essence of faith (and love of God) is the ability to stand before God as the person one is. Thus, Francis very much wanted those who followed him to stand naked (so to speak) before God, and more, to become entirely transparent to the grace (presence) of God in Christ Who is working in and through them.

Similarly, it was this latter posture which was and is at the heart of Franciscan poverty and which material poverty was/is meant to serve. I have written here before about this view of evangelical or religious poverty; my own vow is defined in these terms rather than in terms of material poverty --- not because I don't embrace material poverty but because I know that if I measure matters in terms of my dependence on God and focus on or give that priority, material poverty will largely fall into place. The opposite is not as true, at least that is how it seems to me; material poverty can foster dependence on God, but it need not do so. In any case, the two things go hand in hand so that in formation as a Franciscan, for instance, material poverty is a given and exhaustive dependence on God to be the one one is called to be is the focus of the spirituality.

As noted, this is the way I view the evangelical counsel of poverty. My vow reflects this explicitly and reads: [[I recognize and accept the radical poverty to which I am called in allowing God to be the sole source of strength and validation in my life. The poverty to which my brokenness, fragility, and weakness attest, reveal that precisely in my fragility I am given the gift of God’s grace, and in accepting my insignificance apart from God, my life acquires the infinite significance of one who knows she has been regarded by Him. I affirm that my entire life has been given to me as gift and that it is demanded of me in service, and I vow Poverty, to live this life reverently as one acknowledging both poverty and giftedness in all things, whether these reveal themselves in strength or weakness, in resiliency or fragility, in wholeness or in brokenness.]] (cf.,Everyone is called to the Evangelical Counsel of Poverty)

There is a strong dimension of the richness and meaningfulness of this kind of poverty; it is a paradoxical reality and I wanted to capture that in the vow itself. The reverent approach to life lived in this way, and to everything and everyone one encounters, was also something I needed to capture as an integral dimension of such dependence. When we can stand before God in the way Franciscan poverty calls for, we can be open to all of creation in a reverent and accepting way. In any case, though I might write a slightly different vow today (I first used this vow in 1976), the priority given to complete dependence on God to be the person I am called to be would still be it's heart. I think my vow of evangelical poverty is essentially Franciscan, but I did not consciously draw it from Franciscanism; instead it came from my experience of God's presence in my life and from reflection on the Pauline and Markan theologies of the Cross. I hope this is helpful!

On Hermits Adopting a Specific Spirituality

[[Dear Sister, I pray that you are happy and well amidst this corona crisis. I guess we’ve all adopted some aspects of the hermit life during the lockdown. I know for myself that the Liturgy of the Hours has taken on an even greater importance in my spiritual life during this period of isolation and parish shutdowns. 

I do have a question though; my question involves the adoption of a “spirituality” for a hermit. I know there are many hermits who draw inspiration from the great charisms of the Church (i.e. Carmelite, Franciscan, Benedictine etc). If I’m not mistaken, you are a hermit in the Camaldolese Benedictine tradition. 

I’m wondering though how a hermit incorporates a specific charism or spirituality into his/her life of solitude. Surely, the baseline spirituality/disciplines of the eremitic life forms it’s own unique type of spirituality (i.e. contemplative prayer, divine office, silence, solitude, Lectio Divina etc). I suppose what I’m trying to figure out is how a hermit does those things in a specifically “Benedictine”, “Franciscan” or “Carmelite” et al. manner? How would a hermit adopt a particular spirituality if they have not been formed in a community based on one of those charisms? Is it even advisable that a hermit adopt a spirituality apart from the one that flows from being a hermit? ]]

Good to hear from you again. Yes, all is well here. Thanks for your prayer.  I think in some ways you have the cart before the horse in the idea of "adopting" a spirituality. Your last line, however, gives a clue to the dynamics that should be at play, namely, one's spirituality should flow from one's eremitical life and the way God is present to the person in that life. Assuming one is not formed in a particular spirituality, one is apt to find that embracing a particular spirituality is a natural outgrowth of their life in solitude. Even when one is formed in a particular spirituality one may not find it resonates as well with one's eremitical life as other spiritualities do. Let me give you an example.

As you noted, yes, though professed as a diocesan hermit, I am Camaldolese Benedictine. I embraced that spirituality because it has a strong eremitical component, but also finds community and evangelization (or witness) important. In fact, it is built on these three pillars. Thus Camaldolese life resonates powerfully with diocesan eremitical life lived in a parish and diocesan context. It resonates especially well for someone who does theology and loves to teach Scripture and believes the entirety of eremitical life should be about proclaiming the Good News. I embraced this because the shape of my life was already clear from the character of my eremitical life and what I believed about the communal (ecclesial, etc.) nature of eremitical solitude. 

Camaldolese life and spirituality is a long-lived, well-tried form of eremitical and cenobitical life which is demonstrably healthy and capable of inspiring all the dimensions of my life, whether that means life alone in my hermitage, my participation in my parish and diocese, or my doing theology generally and writing about eremitical life specifically. In other words, it was a natural fit which "spoke to me" and encouraged me to allow nothing to be lost from my eremitical life in a way which narrowed either myself as person or (therefore) eremitical life itself. I did not adopt this spirituality so much as I embraced it as something that was already in some ways "my own". I suppose I could say I became aware of it wanting to embrace me. It was important to me that I be able to add the gift of my own life to this spirituality (a strand of the eremitical life in the Church) and also that it provided ways I could grow via the mentoring of other Camaldolese monks, nuns, and oblates.

At the same time my initial formation was as a Franciscan and while Francis provided a Rule for hermits and lived some of his life as a hermit, I never felt within myself a call to adopt his vision of eremitical life. (The tenderness, community, and love central to his vision is something that resonates with me, however.)  Yet, I have the crucified Christ at the heart of my life and spirituality, and I do embrace the Franciscan value of poverty (i.e., being who one is before God) and I resonate with the characteristic Franciscan dimension of Joy. Even so, I don't think I have to be specifically Franciscan for these dimensions of my life to be central or to fit within the Camaldolese framework and spirit. In other words, the aspects of Franciscanism I carry strongly within me fit well within Camaldolese spirituality; they have to or I would not have been able to embrace such a spirituality. Someone else would be able to live eremitical life in a specifically Franciscan context and by embracing a Franciscan spirituality. Franciscanism could certainly work for that --- and could probably do so for me if Camaldolese spirituality did not speak to me in the way it does. In this, again, it matters what resonates most strongly with the individual hermit's spirituality.

As for charism, as a diocesan hermit I locate the charism of my life in  the canon under which I am professed. For me that is what canon 603 calls, "the silence of solitude". Because I am not professed as a Camaldolese, but as a diocesan hermit under c 603, it seems appropriate to me that I find the charism of my life as I do. The Camaldolese triple good (three pillars) are very helpful to me as is their own charism which has to do with "the privilege of love" (Ego vobis, vos mihi)***. I love that the privilege of love is right at the heart of their lives (and mine as well); however, when I come to identify the charism of my life, what I find is that "the silence of solitude" is a very rich symbol which can combine all of the Camaldolese elements,  encapsulate my own story in unique and significant ways, and speak in a special way to the needs of our contemporary existence. (To speak briefly about this, let me just say that one of the reasons the COVID-19 crisis is helpful to folks is because it helps them discover themselves in a deeper way and to cultivate both silence and solitude (which can flower in that larger reality called "the silence of solitude"). COVID-19 puts people in touch with their own needs in this way and others.)

Doing things in a Benedictine (etc.) Way:

I don't think adopting a spirituality is first of all about saying Office, doing Lectio, or praying in a specific way. However, a person who finds herself resonating with a Benedictine spirituality is more apt to be one for whom the Divine Office is a central piece of her daily life, while one who prays in the spirit of St Francis may approach prayer more explicitly in terms of friendship with Christ and a stress on the relationship such prayer must involve. All of the things you mention are fundamental to every spirituality but these activities can be stamped with a Franciscan, Cistercian, or Carmelite character (among others). Ordinarily these have to do with the spirit underlying the way one approaches the activity. Occasionally a certain spirituality may contribute a specific way of doing something --- as Ignatian spirituality contributes a very specific way of entering into the Scriptural text using one's imagination and capacity for empathy. Camaldolese spirituality requires a call to both solitude and community (or community in solitude!) as well as a sense of the importance of the Gospel witness of one's life.

Perhaps the bottom line here is that in most cases spiritualities do not mean doing things in a certain way so much as they mean doing these with or because one has a particular spirit. Generally speaking, at least as I think about this, it is the person who is Franciscan, Carmelite, Camaldolese,  etc. Their spirituality will reflect that identity and spirit. (I realize, of course, that a spirituality is something in which persons are formed; I do not mean to deny this, but the greater truth is that we shape the tradition with the gift of ourselves just as we are shaped by it. When one is discerned to have a Franciscan or Camaldolese vocation, for instance, what is being recognized is that the whole person resonates with the Franciscan or other spirituality, not merely that they can or have simply "adopted" an abstract spirituality or collection of spiritual practices. The concern is whether or not these spiritual elements can/do come together in this person in a way which makes of them a living constellation of spiritual attributes we can identify as characteristically Benedictine or Camaldolese or Cistercian, for instance?)

When hermits, especially diocesan hermits who have written and live their own Rule and are, by definition, solitary hermits, adopt a particular spirituality it is because we desire to be part of a living tradition that transcends our own eremitical lives. In some ways we want our own vision of this life and the way we are called to live it subsumed under a larger and vital tradition which helps protect us from individualism and underscores the ecclesial nature of our lives and commitments. It is also the case that we need and may desire folks who walk a similar path to accompany us in our own journey --- whether that occurs in a direct way or more remotely.

When you ask about the advisability of adopting a spirituality that does not flow from being a hermit per se, my answer has to be I agree, this is inadvisable unless 1) one is solid in one's eremitical life, and 2) one feels a strong attraction to some aspect of a particular spirituality. What may be happening in such a case is the spirituality one is adopting speaks strongly in some ways but also has the capacity to call the hermit to or cultivate dimensions of her personality and spirituality which are yet in need of development. On the other hand, the hermit may need to be associated with a larger and vital tradition (and thus, those who also embrace it) so that she can grow in her eremitical life generally. It is never a good idea to adopt a spirituality willy nilly or for no real reason at all, but to the extent a specific spiritual tradition can allow one to grow fully into the hermit one is called to be, adopting it is a good idea.

Thanks again for writing; it is always good to hear from you.

*** Ego vobis, vos mihi: The Camaldolese motto (timely, given my recent post on mottoes) is  "I am yours, you are mine". This fundamental truth speaks clearly of the privilege of love that marks every Camaldolese life.

On Mottoes in the Consecrated Life

[[Dear Sister Laurel, do you have a motto? How did you choose it? I wondered if the other hermits you wrote about recently have mottoes?]]

Thanks for the questions. Yes, I do have a motto. It is taken from 2 Cor. 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness." From that I had engraved on my ring, "[God's] power is perfected in weakness" and that is my motto. I chose this because throughout my whole life I have needed to learn the truth of it, not only that God's grace is sufficient for us, but the startling truth that where that grace is active, power can be manifested in weakness; even more, I have needed to learn that in weakness the power of God's grace will triumph in startling and paradoxical ways.

When I studied theology I learned Paul and Mark's theologies of the cross and did work on Paul Tillich and his own theology of the cross as well. This theology was, more or less, the focus and source for all other Christology and other theology I have done. It was the place where I became acquainted intellectually with the notion of a God whose power is perfected in weakness and who transforms reality with freedom-empowering love. Whether I was reading Jesus' parables, the paradoxes of Paul's theology, the "in-your-face" irony of Mark's portrait of divine Kingship and call to discipleship, or trying to teach or proclaim these as the heart of the Good News, I found myself being addressed by God: [[I have been with you since the beginning revealing a power made perfect in weakness -- both the weakness I embrace for your sake and your own as well. I will never leave you abandoned or alone nor will there ever be a form of human brokenness, alienation, or shame from which I can be excluded!!]] In this way intellectual and academic work complemented, supported, and brought meaning to my lived experience. It is also the source of my eremitical vocation: "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is perfected (made perfect) in weakness."

I suppose the Hermits I wrote about recently also have mottoes, but I can't say for sure. Perhaps they will write and share what these are and a little about why they chose them. If that happens I will add to this post with whatever is provided -- or I will add them to the posts on their professions. The bottom line here (and my own sense of what is involved in choosing a motto) is that when Sisters (or others) choose such things they do so in a way which represents the foundational truth of the way God works and has worked in their lives. It is a meaningful and profoundly intimate dimension of their lives. Sometimes one's motto comes to one during prayer or lectio; I know one Sister whose motto was given to her (i.e., she heard this spoken directly to herself) during her profession liturgy. Generally speaking, a motto will spell out a sense of the shape one's life is to take in response to God. It will be a promise of the way God will work in and through her for the life of Church and World, a statement of the way God is glorified in her life. Thus, for instance, the motto of the Sister who heard this at profession is taken from Rom 9:17, [["I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."]] Mottoes embody an entire life with and in God in just a sentence or two. They are at once historical, aspirational, and inspirational as they encapsulate one's personal experience, spirituality, and vocation.

UPDATE! Perpetual Profession and Consecration: Sister Grace Ford, Er Dio, Hermit for the Diocese of St Augustine

Perpetual Profession and Consecration

UPDATE: In an email written in joyful celebration of c 603 and (specifically) Sister Anunziata's perpetual profession yesterday, Sister Grace Ford wrote to let me know she [[was perpetually professed [under c 603] on 28.June.2020 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jacksonville, in the Diocese of St. Augustine. Bishop Estevez officiated along with (her) spiritual director, Fr. James Kaniparamparil, CMI.]] God is so good!!!! I give God thanks for c 603 and the way the Spirit is working through it to raise up solitary eremitical vocations in the consecrated state!

Sister Grace also wrote today: [[I cannot express adequately the gratitude and awe I have for the abundant grace God has gifted me with through this precious, arduous, terrifying and peaceful process.  I do not think it is possible to effectively share the essence of this journey unless one has lived their own experience of it.]] As some may remember, I posted news of Sister's temporary profession here in May 2019. Part of the original post (Congratulations Sister Grace Ford, Er Dio), which includes more of Sister Grace's background, follows:

Temporary Profession

I received the following "Thank you" note this afternoon from Sister Grace Ford, Er Dio, who was just professed (temporary vows) as a diocesan hermit for the Diocese of St Augustine. 

What  a terrific surprise!! Sister, a former Sister of St Joseph, is (or has been) a teacher, a professor of psychology, and a  psychotherapist specializing in child psychology, trauma, depression, and family systems. After discerning for 15 years, she has chosen to live eremitical life and will do so as a solitary hermit of the Diocese of St Augustine. As I told Sister Grace, I am profoundly gratified to hear this blog was helpful to her and believe sharing this small portion of her story will be helpful to others discerning or considering discerning this vocation with their dioceses. How good God is!!!

Perpetual Profession and Consecration: Sister Anunziata Grace, Hermitess for the Diocese of Knoxville

Justin Card. Rigali, Sr. Anunziata Grace, Bp Richard Stika

It's official!!!! Sister Anunziata Grace is perpetually professed and consecrated as a diocesan hermit of the Diocese of Knoxville!! At right is a picture of Sister Anunziata with Cardinal Rigali (spiritual director) and Bishop Stika, (Ordinary of the Diocese of Knoxville). It was a long and inspired journey for Sister Anunziata and I am personally awed by the way the Spirit has worked in her life to bring her to this new point in what is truly an amazing adventure.

While I could not be there in person because of the pandemic, I was able to watch the profession and liked especially the things I recognized as Sister's personal touches (for instance, peopling the Litany of the Saints with hermits). Given the limitations of the pandemic (I wish the assembly could have been larger and the camera streaming the ceremony had been from a closer perspective; since Sr. Anunziata was not mic'ed hearing some of what she said was also difficult for some,) it was a moving and beautiful liturgy. There was warmth and clear affection for Sister Anunziata and Bishop Stika joked a bit about Sister's Rule of Life including, "four trips a year to Tahiti" to which, without missing a beat, Sister Anunziata responded ironically, "Well, with your permission!). I was especially delighted by the way Bishop Stika referred to Sister's "new role in the diocese". So, please meet the Church's newest diocesan hermit, Sister Anunziata Grace, Hermitess of the Diocese of Knoxville! Deo gratias!!!

************

Original Announcement: For those readers who might be interested: I have written a couple of times now about the upcoming profession of a diocesan hermit I have had the privilege of accompanying during her journey to this point in her eremitical life. I am overjoyed to announce that Sister Anunziata Grace's perpetual profession and consecration will be live streamed from the Diocese of Knoxville Cathedral at 10:00am tomorrow (Saturday), the 22.August. 2020, Knoxville (EDT) time. You can find the link at the bottom of the diocesan webpage here: Diocesan of Knoxville. Please join me in celebrating this event in both the life of the Church and the eremitical tradition itself --- and, of course, please especially remember Sister Anunziata Grace in your prayers.

Stethoscope

This came my way through the hands of a few others, including Sister Susan, OSF. One person called it the best commercial ever. Maybe, but definitely a message that will make you smile and laugh and maybe cry some too! Please, you might want to enlarge the screen, and definitely listen all the way through. Enjoy!!!

Questions on Writing a Rule of Life: Why Demand a Longer Process?

[[Dear Sister, you wrote that only after a person has lived eremitical solitude for several years should a diocese ask them to write a Rule. Are you trying to draw out the process? Why can't a person write a Rule before they even approach the diocese and then turn up there Rule in hand as they make their petition for profession? Surely it can't be all that difficult to write a Rule for hermit life. I think you are trying to make this more difficult than it needs to be and I have never heard of a diocese asking a person to wait for years before writing a Rule. Usually it is the first thing they look for! Do you think you know more than dioceses do in this matter? Hardly very humble for a "consecrated hermit" is it?]]

Yes, I wrote that just recently and I have done so from time to time over the past fourteen years as well. There are always exceptions of course, but generally speaking, most people showing up seeking to be professed as diocesan hermits have never lived in the silence of eremitical solitude at all much less for an extended period of time. If you were to engage them in a conversation on canon 603, its central elements, history, or the vows it calls for, you would find they knew little if anything about these. If you asked them to describe the vision of life they live by few would be able to articulate this, and if you asked how it is they structure their lives in light of their life in and with Christ, the response you would get is a far cry from what eremitical life looks like.

In those I have been in touch with, it has seemed to me that a number of them are expecting the diocese to accept them as candidates in some sort of hermit formation program and to profess them at the end of two or three years after they have simplified their lives a bit, been kitted out in a habit, and read a few books about prayer, desert spirituality, and the vows (maybe!)!  In truth, those who are serious about eremitical life are at the beginning of a long journey, a life-long journey, in fact, which will change them to their roots -- just as it will reveal God to them in ways they could never have imagined. It is only as a person has lived this journey for some time, and have begun to glean a vision of what its shape and substance will be, that they will be able to write a liveable Rule of life.

Yesterday I "met" via ZOOM with a diocesan hermit who is making her solemn/perpetual profession on the 22. Aug. (Feast of the Queenship of Mary) I don't think she will mind my sharing this story here. You see, it has been my privilege to accompany her over the past several years --- first, as she considered what this call might mean for someone living solemn vows as a monastic for 34 years, and then, as she went through the process of exclaustration and began her formation as a solitary hermit with an ecclesial vocation. This was our very first ZOOM conversation so it was wonderful to actually see each other. (It is amazing what the light in another's eyes adds to a conversation!) One of the things we talked about briefly was the content of the Bishop's Decree of Approval, Rule of Life because hers reads a bit differently than mine does. But we did that after a bit of laughter-filled reminiscing when she asked me, "Do you remember what my first Rule of Life was like?" (I did!) . . . Do you know, there were seven drafts??!" (I did not!!) She also reminded me what my advice was after the first draft: "Set it aside [and live your life]." All of this is instructive in one way and another --- not only because of the struggle and growth it points to, but also because of a shared joy and humor at the way the Holy Spirit had worked with our limitations in all of this.

Consider Sister's experience of cloistered religious ( i.e., monastic!) life, of the vows, and of living according to a Rule and constitutions. She had served in leadership in her congregation and been a novice directress. She had felt the tug of a call to greater solitude and had to move against the tide of community life (which she loved deeply) to honor that call. And she was tested in this. And yet, it took her seven drafts to negotiate the gradual transformation from cenobite to semi-eremite and finally, from eremite to diocesan eremite  (not that all of these are experienced as entirely discrete stages), 2) who God is in her life, 3) an expression of eremitical life which is at once traditional and contemporary, and which, 4) she can truly live in the name of the Church. Those seven drafts were the record of her initial formation as a hermit. But they were much more than that. They were also the workbooks in which she claimed and articulated that formation for herself and the church in a way which aided discernment and perhaps will have served (or will serve in the future) in instructing others regarding what such a process of becoming a solitary hermit looks like when it is well (faithfully) done; (the approved Rule becomes a quasi-public document marking another hermit's assumption of a vital place in the church's eremitical tradition); moreover, these drafts were guidebooks on the way which, besides marking the landmarks of her formative journey, helped inspire that formation.

So, no, I do not suggest that dioceses have people live as hermits for a few years before asking them to write a Rule in order to draw out the process or set arbitrary obstacles for the person. The process is an organic one which takes work, and prayer, and time --- significant periods of time. Dioceses that ask someone to write a rule as soon as they believe the person  might  be a suitable candidate for profession does this person no kindness. Instead they can be setting the person up for failure. Using the gradual crafting of a liveable Rule as a guide to discernment and assistance in formation simply makes good sense and takes advantage of what the process demands anyway. In any case, I suggested what I did because I want to see people succeed in what is already a demanding process.  I want the Holy Spirit to be given a chance to work in all the ways She needs to work. My own writing of my Rule was, until the past four years of intensive inner work, the most formative experience of my life. I very much want others to have a similarly rich and fruitful experience if that is the will of God --- and yes, I absolutely want to educate dioceses on the way the requirement that a hermit write her own Rule can be allowed to be a grace for all involved!!!

Do I think I know more than dioceses do in this matter? Yes, generally speaking, I believe I do. I have learned from my own crafting of a Rule and I have sometimes mentored others. Thus, I did not impose a set process on anyone, but I urged them to allow the Rule to take shape as their own eremitical lives and corresponding vision did. Those who were able to entrust themselves to the potter's hands over what was typically a several year period, evidenced a similar process to my own. We each made the journey and allowed the journey to shape the Rule just as we allowed the portions of the Rule we had composed (and therefore, canon 603 itself) to further shape and define our journeys/lives. This is not arrogance. It is humility -- a loving honesty learned by trusting the Holy Spirit and the call we each heard or discerned in the other, a humility meant to assist dioceses and those faced with the prospect of writing a Rule of life despite never even having read, much less lived according to a Rule! (My friend was very far ahead of the game in this regard and yet, her own growth and inspired vision took time to form and more time to come to expression in a liveable Rule!!!)

I know that this requirement of canon 603 is the most concrete-sounding element of canon 603, and the most easily pinned down by a diocese with little experience or sense of how to proceed in this matter. But it is not one someone without experience living solitary eremitical life can accomplish --- nor should they be asked to try, especially without mentoring. A Rule is a tool, but it can become a precious friend --- if I may speak this way --- for the Rule accompanies us, supports, challenges, inspires, guides, instructs us, and protects our vocation. It is a window for the Holy Spirit, a living document which breathes with the life of the hermit, her Abba, and her Lord and Spouse. It (and certainly the crafting or weaving of such a sacred text [from the Latin texere, to weave]) should be allowed to function in all the ways such a process can function. This will serve the hermit, the diocesan staff who work with her, the Church universal who promulgated canon 603, and the eremitical tradition entrusted to all of these.

On Time Frames in Discerning and Forming Solitary Eremitical Vocations

[[Dear Sr Laurel, your post on chronic illness stressed the mutual nature of the discernment process between the diocese and candidate for canon 603 profession. You said something about time frames not being fixed under Canon 603. What did you mean here?.... Then can dioceses take as long as they want in making a decision about admitting someone to profession? How about the candidates, can they draw out the process as long as they want? (I don't mean there's any sneaky motives going on here. I hope you understand my meaning.) . . .What is a reasonable time frame and does this differ with someone with a chronic illness or disability than with someone who is entirely well?]]

Thanks for the follow up. With religious life canon law specifies the amount of time given to candidacy (a formal period in initial formation unlike the way I use the term with regard to c 603), novitiate, temporary profession, and the outside limits beyond which one must either be perpetually (or solemnly) professed or dismissed from the institute. Because of the nature of formation in community and the degree of oversight and direct supervision involved, these time frames are pretty well fixed and well-recognized as prudent and also as charitable. The eremitical life differs both in kind and in the nature of its formation and degree of oversight and direct supervision allowed. As a result the time frames for discernment and formation mainly do and must also differ. While it is possible to read even very current works by canonists today who affirm that one can simply borrow the canonical regulations for life-in-community and apply them without customization to eremitical life, such an application is naïve at best and dangerously destructive at worst. Eremitical life is neither discerned nor formed in the same way cenobitical life is; to expect it to conform to the same temporal parameters is wrong-headed.

I believe this is especially true when one is trying to discern and evaluate the vocation, formation, and even readiness for profession of the chronically ill or disabled hermit precisely because one must take the time to distinguish between isolation and solitude, and also, even within this distinction, one must understand the various kinds of isolation and solitude which may be (and are likely) involved. Chronic illness always isolates in varying ways and to varying degrees. Some of these are pathological; some are not. Some may predispose to eremitical solitude, some to temporary or transitional solitude; some speak clearly of personal disintegration or decompensation while for some this very decompensation occurs as part of a radical conversion process involving self-emptying and if given appropriate spiritual direction and support in accepting the grace of God, eventual healing and reintegration of the person's core identity. But this type of process is messy and time-consuming. It does not fit in the neat canonical boxes associated with socialization and formation in community of someone in fine physical health.

Moreover, the process being discerned is about hidden dynamics because it occurs in the silence of solitude. One must look specifically for the grace of God at work in this person's life and that means looking for the paradoxical presence of grace --- wholeness revealed in brokenness, power in weakness, strength in helplessness, and independence in dependence, for instance. One must learn to look for the Life of God within the imperfect life of one whom those in non-eremitical religious life (life in community) might well reject as "unsuitable". This takes time, courage, imagination, and a well-tempered faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the hiddenness of the eremitical life. The authors did not merely mean it all happens alone (with God) behind closed doors --- though of course it mainly does this; they knew that the real fruit and processes of eremitical life (and thus, of eremitical formation and discernment) have to do with the processes of the human heart being redeemed and transfigured (made whole and holy) by the invisible God within the context of silence and personal solitude in an intimate relationship which is mainly invisible and ineffable.

Imagine this!! Read the sentence ending in "ineffable" again! THIS IS what hermits witness to. THIS is the Gospel they proclaim with their lives and very much less so with any limited ministry they may also do. Assessing this is the key to discerning an eremitical life so it is no wonder some dioceses eschew accepting anyone for a process of mutual discernment leading to admission to canonical commitment. On the other hand maybe this is better than what often happens: it is scandalous, I think, that dioceses demand hermits live this kind of hiddenness while also expecting to discern or form such vocations on the basis of criteria culled from canon law geared to the dynamics of active religious lives which are mainly not particularly hidden.

In the Letter to the Hebrews we read that Abraham trusted the promises, no matter how unbelievable they seemed, because the One who made them was trustworthy. Vicars for Religious must be open to trusting that God is at work in the individuals that come to them and allow him the time to do the kinds of miracles only he can do. After all, God is the trustworthy one here, not the time frames culled from centuries of dealing with cenobitical religious formation. Of course this also leads directly to your questions about reasonable time frames and the drawing out of processes of discernment and formation. If the usual parameters (6-12 months candidacy, 1 year pastoral novitiate and 1 year canonical novitiate, followed by temporary profession for no more than 6 years and then perpetual profession and consecration) don't work well for hermits (and especially those who are chronically ill), then what time frames are reasonable and how does one proceed in truly discerning what is happening with the hermit's formation or growth? Is canon 603 itself helpful here or, if other canonical requirements are not helpful, are we left with nothing at all to go on?

While canon 603 does not specify time frames for discernment and formation leading to profession and consecration in the ways Canon Law does for cenobitical vocations, I believe canon 603 includes the key to both quality and flexibility here in its reference to a Rule of Life the hermit will write herself. It takes time and genuine formation in the eremitical life to be able to write a liveable Rule which is authentically eremitical and faithful to one's experience of God in the silence of solitude. This is because such a Rule involves not just a statement of ways one will live the central elements of canon 603, but also relies on and articulates the hermit's own sense of the vision and spirit which drives such a life in the 21st century. 

Thus, it is also possible to use the Rule a hermit writes (and conversations about the process of writing such a Rule) as a key to discerning the quality of the vocation standing before the diocese with a petition for profession and consecration. For this reason, after a hermit has lived eremitical solitude for several years I have proposed that only then do dioceses ask the hermit to begin constructing a liveable and normative Rule. They will then allow for the project to take several years (this is much more likely than not)! Subsequently, diocesan staff may meet with the hermit and discuss the project a couple of times a year or so to help with matters of both discernment and formation, using the Rule in its various incarnations (expect several!!) to help determine readiness for profession and consecration. Remember, the task is to write a liveable Rule rooted in the hermit's experience of the solitary eremitical life, not simply to churn out a list of do’s and don’ts

In this way, the discernment and formation process can be individually tailored and freed from the arbitrary constraints of cenobitical canonical time frames. I believe this would be particularly workable for solitary hermits, but especially for those with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Time frames would not be extended arbitrarily nor shortened in a similar way. (The period and process of discernment would need to show signs of ongoing growth in eremitical life and increasing readiness for a real and lifegiving commitment; so long as it does this the process allows for prudent patience.) Using the developing capacity to write a personal Rule in this way would mean that personnel discerning the vocation would have something objective to consider; moreover, conversations with candidates could be much more fruitful and free of bias (or the perception of bias). Meanwhile careful and judicious consideration of the work of spiritual directors, delegates, and others (including physicians and psychological screening -- if seen as helpful because of real concerns) could be used to inform a diocese's decisions in conjunction with the diocese's conversations with the hermit herself.

Canonical versus Non-Canonical Hermit Life: Which is Harder to live Faithfully?

[[Hi Sister, given the rights and obligations of the canonical hermit do you think it is harder to be canonical than non-canonical? You said something about the greater freedom to be a hermit associated with canonical standing so I am a little confused. Why do you think non-canonical hermits don't think in terms or rights and obligations or see freedom in quite the same way you do? Is it really just  matter of education or formation? It seems to me that a failure to see things in these terms is a huge piece of the problem of wearing habits as self-assumed costumes. Likewise it is at the core of the problem of seeing nothing different between a public profession and private vows.]]

Thanks for the questions. In fact, I believe that in some ways it is harder to be a non-canonical hermit than to be canonical. You are correct in pointing to my comments on the greater freedom which I associate with canonical eremitism. There is no conflict. While there are greater explicit rights and obligations associated with canonical standing, the discernment and profession/consecration with and by the Church ensures that one also experiences a greater correlative permission to stand in the face of the values of the world around us and to be the person one is called to be by God in his Church. That permission is part of what leads to greater freedom to be oneself.  

Similarly, one experiences a sense of mission and understands one's vocation in terms of charism as a canonical hermit. These elements add to the richness and the purpose of eremitical life and so too, in my experience, they make it easier to live faithfully. The expectations of others in the Church (and larger world as well) work in the same way --- as does the role of those serving in spiritual direction or the ministry of authority. Finally, understanding eremitical life as a tradition that in some real sense "belongs" to the Church, and makes the hermit calling an ecclesial vocation, contextualizes an already meaningful life in a way that assures its communal nature and ecclesial significance even as it helps prevent the vocation from devolving into something less than authentic.

Non-canonical hermits must maintain the same relationship with God, the same stricter separation from the world, and the same values held by a canonical hermit, and do so in the midst of a world that militates against this.  They must choose to grow as a hermit and to continue growing as a hermit with all that demands (vows, spiritual direction, theological sophistication), and they must do so without anyone necessarily recognizing their needs or their commitments to do so. In a world that militates against eremitism and often substitutes individualism, cocooning, misanthropy, and isolation for authentic hermit life, it seems to me to be very difficult to live as a non-canonical or lay hermit.  Thus, while I recognize that hermits living authentic eremitical lives are rare whether canonical or non-canonical,  I believe canonical standing and the elements it ensures, makes it easier to live an eremitical life in today's world.

As to why non-canonical hermits do not speak much of rights and obligations with expectations in living their own eremitical lives, I do believe it is largely a matter of education and formation. When one is in initial formation and preparing for profession as a religious in community, one is carefully initiated into the rights and obligations of the life. These things are made explicit and, in fact, are the way one moves from candidacy to novitiate, to juniorate, and then to solemn or perpetual profession and full membership in the community. Moreover, one is introduced to the consequences of having been initiated into the "religious state" and begins to think in these terms. Nothing is left untouched by initiation into the "religious state" and young religious learn this. Unless such formation occurs I don't think one would think this way. Thus, lay persons who are unfamiliar with the nature of initial and ongoing religious formation are unlikely to appreciate the process or think in the same terms. 

Should such a lay person become a hermit with the accent on "eremitical freedom" and a private commitment which changes nothing in terms of rights and obligations, it becomes doubly unlikely they will understand such life in terms of  these things in either canon or proper law. (It is possible to see an example of the failure to think this way in discussions of "wearing a mask" vs "not wearing a mask" in today's pandemic. So many think of freedom as the power to do whatever I want whenever I want to do it, and not in terms of rights and obligations or ecclesial calling. They have been enculturated to understand freedom very differently than Christian theology requires, and they substitute license instead.)

Thus, I agree with you that it is the failure to either think or be able to  think in terms of rights and obligations that stands at the heart of self-assumed practices like those you mention. Another source of difficulty is the tendency to believe one is owed such rights, or can simply "consecrate oneself",  or assume the wearing of religious garb and title through one's own agency. A similar source of difficulty is the failure to understand that ecclesial vocations are never discerned by oneself alone; they must be mutually discerned and until and unless the Church extends God's call to one in a mediatory and juridical act, one cannot be said to "have" such a vocation, much less live it "in the name of the Church." Calling anything to do with canon law "legalism" is another piece of all of this. I wonder if it would assist folks if preparation for baptism included a section on the canonical rights and obligations of the baptized or lay state of life?  Just a thought.