[[Dear Sister, are you ever concerned your interest in c 603 takes you away from attending to God? I realize you are a theologian, but first of all you are a contemplative, true? How can you spend time on canon 603 rather than in prayer and God?]]
Interesting questions. I suspect I know where you first heard these concerns, but never mind. That is of no moment. I would also have liked to hear a little more about your concerns, but I suspect my answer would be the same, namely, no, I am not concerned at all about my interest in c 603 and in finding ways to assist dioceses and candidates use it effectively for the discernment and formation of solitary eremitical vocations. Remember that this is the canon by which I live my consecrated life. It's constitutive elements are also the constitutive elements of my eremitical life and I am vowed to be both faithful and obedient (meaning attentive and responsive) to them.
When I speak of these as doorways to Mystery I mean they open up to God and union with God. In this regard, I am not studying c 603 like a scholar studies a text. I am paying attention to what the canon makes possible from within it, on its own terms, and exploring what living the canon with fidelity and perseverance means. That means a life of prayer and faithfulness, in poverty, chastity, and obedience in the silence of solitude and stricter separation from that which is resistant to Christ under the direction of my diocesan delegate. I don't see any of this as either/or (either God or the canon). I see it as both/and --- both God and c 603. Remember that I live my own Rule of Life under c 603. This does not generally require direct scholarly attention to either the Rule or the canon. It is more like doing lectio divina with these texts. Over time, they have been written on my heart just as Scriptural texts are written there during lectio. My attention is on God as God speaks to me in and through whatever I am reading, writing, or doing.
You see, one thing I
have been concerned with is canonists whose approach to c 603 is merely legal and who treat the canon
merely as a legislative text. It is that, but it is also far more than this. Hermits explore life with God and this means they explore those pathways to union with God (the silence of solitude, stricter separation from the world (i.e., that which is resistant to Christ), persevering prayer and penance, and the Evangelical Counsels),
and they do so with and for God. I have also been approaching this canon as a gift of God to the Church which should be treated as any gift, namely, as something that is honored and contemplated.
What I am really reflecting on then is a journey, a journey I am professed, consecrated, and commissioned to make by the Church. I do this for the sake of my own wholeness, for others who seek to make the same journey or to assist those called to do so. At the heart of this journey is love, love for God, the love OF God, love for one's brothers and sisters who may be hermits or need the witness of hermits, love for oneself as precious to God, and even love for this unique little canon that was inspired by God, composed by human beings, and sings with the power and beauty of the Holy Spirit.
Canonists tend to believe a lot must be added to this canon to complete it. I believe that if one enters into it prayerfully and makes the journey I have described above, they will discover the canon needs no such additions. In some ways, this is a version of the old desert saying, abide in your cell and your cell will teach you everything. Except in this case, we are saying, that the canon itself functions something like a hermit's cell; as hermits, we abide, to some extent, in this canon and the God who inspires it. The journey we make together will teach us everything.
Postscript: Please know the title of this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek!
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