Stillsong Hermitage is a Catholic Hermitage (Canon 603 or Diocesan) in the Camaldolese Benedictine tradition. The name reflects the essential joy and wholeness that comes from a Christ-centered life of prayer in the silence of solitude, and points to the fact that contemplative life -- even that of the hermit -- spills over into witness and proclamation. At the heart of the Church, in the stillness and joy of God's dynamic peace, resonates the song which IS the solitary Catholic hermit.
Sister Laurel M O'Neal, Er Dio
Welcome to Stillsong Hermitage !! May Christ's Peace be with you!! (Click name for PROFILE)
Preparing to profess solemn (perpetual) vows in the hands of Bishop Allen H Vigneron, Diocese of Oakland (Videos and slideshow of the liturgy are found in early September 2007 Blog entries)
"Sister, receive this ring for you are betrothed to the eternal King: Keep faith with your Bridegroom so that you may come to the wedding feast of Eternal joy."
love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skillfully curled)
all worlds
e.e. cummings
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skillfully curled)
all worlds
e.e. cummings
Canonical Granting of Cowl, Solemn (perpetual) Eremitic Profession
"Sister, Be faithful to the ministry the Church entrusts to you to be carried out in its name."
Contact Information
Questions and comments are always most welcome. That is especially true of questions that "seem" basic and which I may never really address (or reflect on!) otherwise. Please email all queries to me at SRLAUREL@aol.com. I will share and respond to them as appropriate here on the blog, or privately if you wish.
You may also write me at:
Sister Laurel M O'Neal, Er Dio
St. Perpetua Catholic Community
3445 Hamlin Road
Lafayette, CA 94549
You may also write me at:
Sister Laurel M O'Neal, Er Dio
St. Perpetua Catholic Community
3445 Hamlin Road
Lafayette, CA 94549
(Please know that during the pandemic I do not get to my mailbox at the parish often. Mail will sometimes be delivered to me at my hermitage by parishioners or parish staff but there can be delays in this so please be patient.)
Sometimes email ends up in my spam folder. This is particularly true if you have not written me before. If you haven't received a response, please write again or resend the original while changing the subject line to indicate this is a second attempt.
Sometimes email ends up in my spam folder. This is particularly true if you have not written me before. If you haven't received a response, please write again or resend the original while changing the subject line to indicate this is a second attempt.
Clothing in Cowl, Solemn Monastic Profession (not my own of course)
"We have already mentioned above that the basic motive for choosing the solitary life in a hermitage consists in an existential longing to meet and talk to God. The hermit chooses silence in order to enter fully into a dialogue; (she) chooses solitude in order to meet closely a personal presence. The way of the desert is thus not a stray and arid path, it does not lead to the negation of all the values of the world and of other people. Just the opposite: it is the way of mutual presence, dialogue, and friendship that shines where two freedoms and two hearts, divine and human, meet." The Eremitic Life, Fr. Cornelius Wencel, er cam, p.96
The Eucharist is the center of everything that happens in the hermitage.
Blog Archive
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2025
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March
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- Further on Chronic Illness and Discerning a Vocati...
- Parable of the Merciful Father: The Choice for a T...
- Followup Questions on Chronic Illness and Discerni...
- A Contemplative Moment: Loneliness
- On Growing Towards Perfection: Journeying in the D...
- Promises Fulfilled in Surprising Ways: Feast of th...
- Introduction: Linkage Between Holy Saturday and Ex...
- Followup Questions on Existential Solitude and Chr...
- A Contemplative Moment: Interior or Existential So...
- On Existential Solitude and Discerning my own Erem...
- Feast of the Transitus of Saint Benedict
- The Silence of Solitude and the Distinction Betwee...
- Solemnity of Saint Joseph
- A Contemplative Moment: Keeping Hope Alive in a Tr...
- The paradox of Faith: Being Loved into an Ever-Dee...
- Happy St Patrick's Day
- Another Look at the Transfiguration (Reprise)
- This Alone by Tim Manion
- Once Again on C 603 Vocations as Ecclesial Vocations
- Followup Questions on What to do if One is Full of...
- A Little Girl Tells the Story of Jonah
- What to do if One is Full of Oneself?
- Installation of Cardinal McElroy, Archbishop of Wa...
- Another Look at the Three Pillars of Lenten and Ch...
- On Hermits and Involvement in Politics
- Touching the Wounds of Christ: Proclaiming a Power...
- Approaching Lent and its Call to Be People of the ...
- Follow-up on Standards for Beginning and Mature He...
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March
(28)
Labels. N.B, articles build on older articles. Scroll to 1st use of label for most basic discussion
- 'WHY?!' (3)
- "canonical obedience" and private vows (2)
- "feel-good theology" (1)
- "Jesus the Homeless" (2)
- 12 Step programs (1)
- 13-14 C hermits (1)
- 1X1 (1)
- 2 Cor 12:9 (1)
- 501(c)3 (2)
- A Contemplative Moment (40)
- A Little Bit of Lectio (2)
- A Little Child Shall Lead Us (2)
- a love that does justice (15)
- A New Heaven and a New Earth (12)
- A new heaven and new earth (1)
- A Nun's Life Ministry (1)
- a vocation of encounter (1)
- A Vocation to Love (20)
- Aaron Copeland (1)
- Abba Antony (1)
- Abba Arsenius (1)
- Abba John Colobos (1)
- Abba Motius (2)
- Abraham and God (1)
- Abuses of Canon 603 (26)
- abyss (4)
- accompaniment (4)
- accompanying during discernment (5)
- accountability (4)
- accusations ---credible and incredible (1)
- acting in the name of (3)
- Active ministry in the life of Jesus (1)
- ACTS acronym (1)
- Ad Multos --- what does it really mean? (1)
- addressibility (1)
- Admission to the Consecrated State of Life (19)
- Admitting our Illness (1)
- Advent (18)
- Advent - Season of Light (3)
- Advent Attitudes (2)
- Advent reading (2)
- Advice to Would-be Hermits (1)
- After the End (3)
- age requirements for canon 603 (1)
- Alienation from the Sacraments (1)
- aliens and neighbors (3)
- All are Welcome (1)
- All vs many (1)
- Allchin (1)
- Almsgiving (1)
- Alone (1)
- Alone With God (1)
- Aloneness (1)
- Always Beginners (4)
- Amanda Gorman (1)
- Amish Grace (3)
- Amy Grant (1)
- Anachoresis and unhealthy withdrawal (4)
- Anam cara (1)
- Anchoritism (3)
- Ancrene Wisse (1)
- Anguish (1)
- Annie Dillard (1)
- annulments (1)
- anointing of the sick as sacrament of vocation (1)
- anonymity (7)
- Anonymous accusations (1)
- Anti-hierarchy (1)
- anti-intellecttualism (1)
- apophatic tradition (2)
- Apostle of the Apostles (2)
- Apostle Thomas and Doubt (12)
- Apostle to the Apostles (2)
- apostolic ministry (3)
- Apostolic Visitation (1)
- Archbishop Allen H Vigneron (3)
- Archbishop Brunett (2)
- Archbishop John Quinn (1)
- Archbishop Peter Sartain (2)
- Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (2)
- Archdiocese of Boston -diocesan hermit (3)
- Archdiocese of Seattle (5)
- Are c 603 hermits considered Religious men and women? Time Frames for discernment and formation (1)
- Ascension (14)
- asceticism (3)
- Ash Wednesday (1)
- Atheism (3)
- attachment (1)
- attentiveness (2)
- Ausculta! (1)
- authentic and inauthentic eremitism (65)
- Authentic Freedom (9)
- Authentic humanity (19)
- authenticity (1)
- availability (1)
- Ave Maria (1)
- bankruptcy (1)
- Baptism as Consecration (15)
- Baptism of Jesus (1)
- Baptismal dignity (6)
- Bargaining with God (2)
- Basic vocabulary (1)
- Bearing our Crosses (2)
- beatitudes (2)
- Beatitudes of the Bishop (1)
- Beauty (1)
- becoming a Catholic Hermit (28)
- Becoming a Diocesan Hermit (30)
- Becoming a New Creation (11)
- becoming God's own prayer (5)
- Becoming the persons we are called to be (4)
- Beethoven's 5th Symphony (1)
- beginning and mature hermits (2)
- Beheading of 21 Coptic Christians (2)
- Being a Hermit in an Essential Sense (1)
- Being Heart Smart (7)
- Being Known by God (3)
- Belonging vs fitting in (3)
- beloved disciple -- we are the (1)
- Benedict XVI and voting (3)
- Benedict's Ladder of Humility (4)
- Benedictine experience week (5)
- Benedictine Sisters of St Mary (1)
- Benedictine stability (1)
- Benedictinism (2)
- Bernadette Farrell (1)
- Bernadette McNary-Zaks (1)
- Beyond Imagining (1)
- Bible Study (1)
- Biebl (1)
- Bike Path Spirituality (1)
- Birthday and anniversary of perpetual eremitical profession (2)
- bishop as legitimate superior (4)
- Bishop as superior (2)
- Bishop Cordileone (1)
- Bishop Donald Sanborn (1)
- Bishop Eric Varden (1)
- Bishop Eric Varden OCSO (1)
- Bishop John Cummins (2)
- Bishop John Stowe (3)
- Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (2)
- Bishop Michael Barber (1)
- Bishop of Oakland (1)
- Bishop of Rome (2)
- Bishop Paprocki (1)
- Bishop Ralph Heskett CSsR (1)
- Bishop Remi De Roo (8)
- Bishop Stowe (1)
- Bishop Sylvester Ryan (1)
- Bishop-Shopping (1)
- Bishop's Ranch retreat (5)
- Bishops and diocesan hermits (17)
- bishops closed to c 603 vocations (4)
- blessing of hermitage. hermitage as private chapel (1)
- blog a solitary enterprise (1)
- Bodily Resurrection (6)
- Body of Death (2)
- bonds -- establishment of (1)
- bonds as impediments (1)
- Bonds of Being (1)
- Books on Eremitical Life (1)
- Boy on Stage with Pope (1)
- Bp John Stowe (2)
- Bp Stowe (1)
- Breaking Bread (1)
- Breath of Heaven (2)
- bridegroom (4)
- Brindle (1)
- Brother Bede Healey (1)
- Brother Christian Matson (1)
- Brother David Steindl-Rast OSB (1)
- Brother Emmaus O'Herlihy (3)
- Brother Jaime Hilario FSC (1)
- Brother Jerry Cronkhite (1)
- Brother Mickey O'Neill McGrath osfs (7)
- Buddhist solitary nun (2)
- But vs And (1)
- c 603 (11)
- c 603 and the purpose of my life (1)
- C 603 as paradigm (3)
- c 603 hermits as Religious (1)
- C 603 replacing other forms? (2)
- c 603.2 (1)
- c 604 (5)
- C 656.4 (1)
- c. 603 and reclusion (1)
- Cabin fever (1)
- Calla Lilies (2)
- called by name to be (3)
- called to be evangelists (1)
- Called to be Friends of God --- vocation to (5)
- called to clap and cheer. (1)
- Calvary -- movie (1)
- Camaldolese Benedictine (3)
- Camaldolese charism (16)
- Camaldolese monks (7)
- Camaldolese nuns (5)
- Camaldolese Oblature (3)
- Camaldolese Office Book (1)
- Camaldolese spirituality (2)
- Camldolese nuns (1)
- Canaanite (1)
- Canaanite Woman (2)
- candidates and media usage (blogs and vlogs) (1)
- Canon 14 (1)
- Canon 14 vs Canon 603 (7)
- Canon 216 (5)
- Canon 300 (3)
- Canon 603 (45)
- Canon 603 - false solitude (7)
- Canon 603 - Beauty and Depth of (4)
- Canon 603 - history (24)
- Canon 603 - Lauras versus Communities (16)
- canon 603 -- text of (2)
- canon 603 --problems with implementation (2)
- Canon 603 analogous to Hermit Cell (1)
- Canon 603 and freedom (7)
- canon 603 as "proviso" (3)
- canon 603 as a stopgap (4)
- canon 603 as an ecclesial vocation (25)
- canon 603 as experimental (1)
- Canon 603 as normative of all solitary eremitical vocations (1)
- Canon 603 Dissertation (2)
- Canon 603 misuse (20)
- Canon 604 (40)
- Canon14 (1)
- canonical approval -- a misunderstanding (1)
- canonical approval vs canonical standing (2)
- Canonical as Normative (6)
- canonical eremitical life (8)
- canonical freedom (5)
- canonical obedience (1)
- canonical rights and obligations (11)
- canonical standing --- relational standing (18)
- Canonical Status (15)
- Canonical Status and Freedom (15)
- canonical vs non-canonical hermits (6)
- Canticle of the Turning (4)
- Carl Jung (2)
- Carmel of Reno (1)
- Carmelite eremitism (1)
- Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirm (2)
- Carmelite spirituality (1)
- Carthusians (1)
- Catechism and Canon Law (5)
- catechism par 920-921 (8)
- catechism par 944 (1)
- catechism v. canon law (1)
- Cathedral of Christ the Light (1)
- Catholic Hermit blogger (1)
- Catholic Hermits (253)
- Catholic Hermits Online (1)
- Cave of the Heart (6)
- CCC 914-915 (1)
- CCC par 944 (2)
- CDF (7)
- Celebration of Consecrated Life (1)
- certain conscience judgments (1)
- Cession of Administration (2)
- Chair of Peter (1)
- chapels or oratories (1)
- Charism of the Diocesan Hermit (46)
- chastity (2)
- chastity and affective maturity (2)
- Children (1)
- Choose Life (2)
- Christ come to full stature (3)
- christ event (3)
- Christ in me (1)
- Christian Martyrs (3)
- Christian nationalism (1)
- Christina Owens (1)
- Christmas 2023 (1)
- Christmas as cosmic feast (2)
- Christmas at Stillsong (1)
- Christology from Above (1)
- Christology from below (2)
- Christopher Knight (2)
- chronic illness -- living with (8)
- chronic illness and disability as vocation (22)
- chronic illness and eremitical life (11)
- chronic illness as vocation (12)
- Chronicles of Francis (1)
- chronos (2)
- CICLSAL (2)
- Cistercian Reform (1)
- Cistercians (1)
- Classical Gas (1)
- cloister or enclosure --- eremitical (1)
- Cloister Outreach (1)
- Cloister Outreach: Caveat Emptor (4)
- Cloistered nun --- diocesan hermits becoming? (2)
- Cloistered nun --- Is Transfer to C 603 Possible? (1)
- cocooning (1)
- coffee with Sister Vassa (1)
- Cole Matson (12)
- Come Have Breakfast (1)
- Commissioned to carry the world's crosses (4)
- commissioned to love as Jesus loves (4)
- commitment and sacrifice (2)
- Committed Singleness (1)
- common sense meanings of hermit life? (1)
- commonalities of eremitical experience (1)
- community (1)
- community in the desert (2)
- compulsions (2)
- compunction (1)
- compunction. gift of tears (1)
- conscience - formation of (6)
- conscience - primacy of (11)
- Consecrare versus Dedicare (15)
- consecrated celibacy (2)
- Consecrated Life -- Year of (1)
- consecrated secularity (28)
- Consecrated State of Life (1)
- consecrated state vs lay and clerical states of life (2)
- consecrated v dedicated hermits (5)
- consecrated virginity (6)
- Consecrated Virgins as Apostles (35)
- consecrated virgins as icons (6)
- Consecrated Virgins vs Diocesan Hermits (11)
- Consecrated Widows (4)
- Consecration of Russia and Ukraine (1)
- Consecration of Ukraine and Russia (1)
- consequences of unfaithfulness (1)
- consolation (1)
- contemplation (4)
- Contemplation and action (7)
- contemplation as engagement (6)
- Contemplation in a World of Action (1)
- contemplative life (4)
- contemplative living (3)
- contemplative prayer (11)
- Contemplative prayer and distractions (1)
- contemplative responsibility (2)
- contemplatives -- need for (1)
- contemporary idols (2)
- Contemporary urban hermits (2)
- contemptus mundi (3)
- content of vows (2)
- Conversion -- my personal sense of its meaning (1)
- Conversion -- openness to (2)
- Conversion of Paul (3)
- Conversion of St Paul (2)
- Corinthian Church (1)
- Cornelius Wencel Er Cam (12)
- cornerstone -- Jesus as (1)
- Coronation of Charles III (1)
- Coronation of Elizabeth II (1)
- correcting abuses (1)
- Cosmic Christ (1)
- Cottage food operations (1)
- countercultural witness (14)
- Counterfeit Professions (9)
- Courage (4)
- covenant behavior (2)
- cowl (5)
- creating protocols and precedents for c 603 (1)
- Creation (2)
- creation -- honoring of (1)
- credibility (1)
- crimes? (1)
- crisis parable (1)
- Cruciformity (1)
- Cry of Abandonment (1)
- Curia (1)
- Custody of the Cell (6)
- Custody of the Eyes (2)
- Cyril of Jerusalem (1)
- Dag Hammarskjold (1)
- daily schedule (1)
- Damage Done by Lexington "Profession" (2)
- dating (2)
- David Knowles (1)
- David Whyte (12)
- Death as Decision (3)
- Death as the last Enemy (2)
- Death of Nadine Brown (1)
- declaration of nullity (1)
- decree of nullity (1)
- Dedication of New Cathedral (2)
- dedication versus profession (9)
- dedication vs consecration (3)
- Deep Happiness (1)
- Definitive Religious Commitments (1)
- delegate (5)
- delegates as elders (4)
- Delixit Nos (1)
- Democratic National Convention (1)
- Demons --- battling with (5)
- Demons --- doing battle with (1)
- dependence on God (1)
- Descent into Hell (9)
- Desert Abbas and Ammas (1)
- Desert dwellers (3)
- desert experience vs experience of the desert (5)
- Desert Fathers and Mothers (10)
- desert spirituality (24)
- Desert Wanderers (1)
- Detachment (4)
- detachment and love (2)
- Detachment-matrix of love (1)
- developing a horarium (6)
- Development of Normal Adolescent Questioning (1)
- Dialogues in Spiritual Direction (1)
- DICLSAL (1)
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (11)
- diocesan delegate (13)
- Diocesan eremitism and spiritual traditions (6)
- Diocesan Hermit (247)
- Diocesan Hermit --- what is that? (2)
- Diocesan hermits vs Consecrated Virgins (2)
- Diocesan lay hermit??? (1)
- Diocesan support for Canon 603 Hermits (3)
- Diocese of Hallam (1)
- Diocese of Lexington (2)
- Diocese-Shopping (4)
- dioceses not open to c 603 usage (4)
- disability as vocation (8)
- discerning c 603 vocations (12)
- discerning eremitical life (9)
- discerning vocations (2)
- Discernment (29)
- Discernment -- a Process of growing in mutual trust (1)
- Discernment -- a process of mutual education (1)
- Discernment -- spirituality of (4)
- Discernment and Formation (1)
- discernment of eremitical vocations (20)
- Disciples' Failure to "get it" (1)
- Discipleship (2)
- Discipleship and embracing the marginalized (1)
- discipleship of and to the marginalized (1)
- Disciplinary actions against hermits (1)
- discussion group (1)
- Dismissal from the Eremitical State (1)
- Dispensation of Vows (7)
- Disputed Points on Mysticism (1)
- Distractions (2)
- diversity in c 603 vocations (2)
- diversity in eremitical life (2)
- Divine Justice (7)
- Divine Justice -- Icon of the Search for (1)
- Divine Office as Prayer of the Church (7)
- Divine solidarity (1)
- divinization (2)
- do you love me Peter (3)
- Do You Love Me? Rehabilitation of St Peter (1)
- Do You Want to Be Well? (1)
- docility (1)
- Does God Sneer? (1)
- Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1)
- Dom Cyprian Consiglio (3)
- Dom Robert Hale (5)
- Dom Robert Hale -- In Memoriam (1)
- Domestic Churches (2)
- Dominican Sisters -- Iraq (1)
- Dominican Sisters Iraq (10)
- Dominican Sisters Iraq --- how to assist (5)
- Dominican Sisters San Rafael (1)
- Doubt and Faith (5)
- Douglas John Hall (1)
- Dread (1)
- Drummer Boy (1)
- e e cummings (18)
- earthen vessels (2)
- Easter (1)
- Easter Sunday (1)
- Ecce Homo (1)
- ecclesia semper reformanda est (2)
- Ecclesial Vocations (88)
- Ecclesial Vocations and the Universal Call to Holiness (1)
- ecclesiality (5)
- ecclesiality -- implicit and explicit (1)
- Ecclesiola (6)
- Ecclesiology of the Bishop of Rome (2)
- ecology (1)
- ecstatic experiences (1)
- Edith Stein (2)
- Educating bishops (2)
- Education of dioceses and parishes re eremitical life (2)
- Edward Blazona (1)
- Edward L Cutts (1)
- egoism (1)
- Egyptian Coptic Martyrs (1)
- Elderly and Infirm Hermits (1)
- Election (2)
- Elie Wiesel's Night (1)
- Elizabeth Johnson (1)
- Emmanuel (5)
- Emptiness (3)
- Encounter! (1)
- Encyclical -Lumen Fidei (1)
- enforced solitude (2)
- engagement with the eternal (3)
- Entering into God's rest (3)
- Ephphatha (1)
- epilepsy and ecstasy (2)
- Episcopal Solitaries (6)
- Erem Dio or Er Dio (2)
- eremitic vows (1)
- Eremitical freedom (1)
- Eremitical Hiddenness (21)
- eremitical horarium (8)
- Eremitical Journeying (6)
- Eremitical life and law (3)
- eremitical life and specific spiritualities (1)
- eremitical life v cenobitical life (2)
- eremitical marginality (3)
- eremitical poverty (3)
- eremitical solitude (19)
- eremitical stereotypes (4)
- eremitical vocation (1)
- eremitical witness (5)
- eremitism (2)
- Eremitism -- Carmelite (1)
- Eremitism and Hiddenness (14)
- eremitism and mental illness (4)
- Eremitism as a vocation of service (4)
- Eremitism as Escapist? (4)
- eremitism--history of (1)
- escapism. Solitude as Communion with God (1)
- eschatological secularity (26)
- eschatology (1)
- espousal to Christ (2)
- essential element in discerning eremitical life (3)
- Essential Hiddenness (20)
- esteeming the lay state (17)
- eternal life (1)
- eucharist - reservation of (6)
- Eucharist and Open Table fellowship (1)
- Eucharistic Presence (3)
- Eucharistic revival (1)
- Eucharistic Spirituality and Solitude (14)
- Eugene Peterson (1)
- Eva Kor (1)
- evangelical counsels (3)
- evangelical poverty (5)
- Ever-Deepening Hunger for God (1)
- Everyday God --- visual meditation (1)
- Everyday Mysticism (6)
- Exaltation of the Cross (3)
- Exaltation of the Cross as Triumph of the Cross (3)
- Excardination of the Diocesan Hermit (1)
- exclaustration and c 603 vocations (1)
- excommunicated hermits (2)
- excommunication vs blocking access to Eucharistic reception (1)
- Existential Dread (2)
- existential solitude (10)
- exorcism (1)
- Expectations (2)
- experience of emptiness (1)
- Exsultet (1)
- Extraordinary Ordinariness (6)
- Exultet (2)
- Ezekiel's valley of dry bones (1)
- Faces from Retreat (3)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1)
- faith (1)
- Faith and being grasped by beauty (2)
- Faith and charity (1)
- Faith and Doubt (7)
- faith and moving mountains (1)
- faith and science (3)
- Faith and the Suspension of Disbelief (1)
- faith as a centered act (1)
- Faith leads to questions (1)
- Faith vs belief (2)
- Faith vs Tyranny (1)
- Faithful Citizenship 2004 (2)
- Faithfulness (1)
- faithfulness in prayer (2)
- Fall (1)
- false gods (1)
- false mystical experiences (3)
- false mysticism (2)
- false solitude (8)
- family visits (5)
- Fascism (1)
- fasting (4)
- fasting and savoring (2)
- Father Andrew Colnaghi (1)
- Father Frank Houdek sj (2)
- Fear (1)
- Feast Day (1)
- Feast Day of Paul of Thebes -- Hermit (1)
- Feast of All Souls (1)
- Feast of Christ the King (2)
- Feast of Corpus Christi (2)
- Feast of Jesus' Baptism (6)
- Feast of OL of Mt Carmel (1)
- Feast of Pentecost (6)
- Feast of Saint Benedict (2)
- Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (1)
- Feast of St Benedict (2)
- Feast of St Joseph the Worker (2)
- Feast of St Luke (1)
- Feast of St Peter Damian (3)
- Feast of St Romuald. Camaldolese Benedictines (3)
- Feast of the Annunciation (6)
- Feast of the Ascension (10)
- Feast of the Assumption (1)
- Feast of the Baptism of Jesus (1)
- Feast of the Conversion of Paul (4)
- Feast of the Epiphany (2)
- Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (4)
- Feast of the Holy Family (2)
- Feast of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents (1)
- Feast of the Presentation (3)
- Feast of the Sacred Heart (9)
- Feast of the Transfiguration (12)
- Feast of the Visitation (4)
- Feast of Thomas -- Apostle (2)
- Feasts of the Octave of Christmas (1)
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- personal noisiness (1)
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- Petitionary and Intercessory Prayer (3)
- petitioning for "canonical approval" (1)
- Petrine Primacy (1)
- Pharoah's ethic vs the ethic of the Kingdom of God (1)
- physical silence (2)
- pious pretense (1)
- Plan or Rule of Life (17)
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- Play and contemplative life (1)
- Plea for Mercy to newly inaugurated president (1)
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- Pope Francis (40)
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- possible -- exaltation of (1)
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- prayer -- for God's sake (1)
- Prayer -healthy self-centeredness in (1)
- prayer "furniture" (1)
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"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out" Vaclav Havel
Daily Readings, Lection reflections
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A paradoxical Vocation
"Thanks to his consecration, the hermit step by step makes true in his life those words about being the light of the world that is not to be put under a bushel, but on a lampstand. Indeed, the hermit's calling is rather paradoxical, which causes a good deal of suffering for him. On the one hand, he is called to solitude, but on the other hand, he must bear witness to God's Kingdom to countless people. This only seems to be a contradiction. Its ultimate meaning and value becomes clear to the hermit over the course of his life. The contradiction can be understood only in the context of the Trinitarian mystery. The mystery of an inner exchange of love that constantly overflows in the bosom of the Trinity is on the one hand secret and silent, but on the other hand it initiates historical revelation and the redeeming mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. According to Origen, God is simultaneously the Silent One, the One who speaks and the One who is spoken about.
The hermit also wants to see his mission between, so to speak, two extremes: between his solitary and hidden prayer and the testimony he gives to the world; between silence and the need to speak out. The hermit's life would have been torn to pieces and left miserably incomplete if he had tried to build on the foundation of his own ideas. But fortunately, the way of the desert is not his own invention, but a gift of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit, the unifying principle of the mutual relationships of the Holy Trinity, is also the source of unity and peace in the life of the hermit. " (pp 107-8, The Eremitic Life, Fr Cornelius Wencel, er cam.)
The hermit also wants to see his mission between, so to speak, two extremes: between his solitary and hidden prayer and the testimony he gives to the world; between silence and the need to speak out. The hermit's life would have been torn to pieces and left miserably incomplete if he had tried to build on the foundation of his own ideas. But fortunately, the way of the desert is not his own invention, but a gift of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit, the unifying principle of the mutual relationships of the Holy Trinity, is also the source of unity and peace in the life of the hermit. " (pp 107-8, The Eremitic Life, Fr Cornelius Wencel, er cam.)
"The Christian solitary today should bear witness to the fact that certain basic claims about solitude and peace are in fact true, [for] in doing this [they] will restore people's confidence first in their own humanity and beyond that in God's grace." . . . The hermitage represents for the individual and society that place where the hermit, 'can create a new pattern which will fulfill (her) special needs for growth. . .and confront the triple specters of boredom, futility, and unfulfillment, which so terrify the modern American." (Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, pp 242, 241)
Links for other Diocesan Hermits" Blogs and Websites
- NDH Cyberskete (Network of Diocesan Hermits Online forum)
- Network of Diocesan Hermits
- Hermitage Arts,. Canon 603 (new website; accepts credit card orders!)
- Fire, Salt, and Light, Roman Catholic priest/hermit (C. 603)
- St Mary's Hermitage Pottery
- Weaving from the Center, St Mary's Hermitage
- Article on Sister Kristine and Hermits more generally
- Blue Hermit blog
Important General Links: USCCB, Lections, Church Documents, etc.
Other Interesting Links, cool blogs, etc
- Transfiguration Monastery (Camaldolese Nuns)
- Raven's Bread Ministries and Newsletter
- High Desert Solitary
- Monastery of the Ascension Distance Learning
- Oblation, (Orthodox) Reading for Benedictine Oblates
- Colwich Novitiate (A glimpse into a Benedictine Novitiate)
- Contemplative Horizon (Redemptoristine)
- Franciscan Footprints: Sisters in the Making (written by those in formation with the Franciscan Sisters of Peoria)
- Word from the Desert (Orthodox)
- A Nun's Life
- Liturgy: Liturgy that works, Spirituality that Connects (Fr Bosco Peters, NZ)
- The Deacon's Bench
- Cistercian Vocation
- Treatment4Addiction
- Free Rice (Answer vocabulary questions, gain free rice for others)
The Silent Word
"What the eremitic life aims at is an inner, unifying meeting with God. Thanks to such a meeting, the hermit can understand better (her) existence. The hermit, by an intuition of faith becomes aware that (her) calling makes no sense without Christ and his revelation. She learns that her dignity and the meaning of her life are clear and decipherable only in the context of proclaiming God's Kingdom. That is why the eremitic life means finding the meaning and goal of our life in Christ who is the Word of God pronounced in history. That is faith. Here we can say that the dynamism of faith is always present where a simple and loving heart listens carefully to God's word pronounced still anew in the course of time. This word is so powerful and creative that it leads off and renovates the faith of a Christian who, as a result can participate in eternal things. " The Eremitic Life, Fr Cornelius Wencel, Er Cam, p.97.
"The decisive point is that God has spoken. God has addressed us and the human person is created by God as dialogical. The human being is created by God to be addressed. Faith is receptivity to this word. This receptivity becomes explicit in the language of prayer. If I know who and what I really am (God's dialogical partner), I will burst spontaneously into the prayer of praise and thanksgiving." J O'Connell, The Mystery of the Triune God, (London, 1987), p. 146.
Pentecost, by Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam
Camaldolese Links
"The Christian's life with the Word is the decisive point which distinguishes Christian prayer from all other types of prayer. This point follows naturally from the unique foundation of the Christian experience, namely that God has spoken. Hence God is ever to be found in his Word and this Word can never be bypassed. The danger of bypassing the Word is the danger of all types of mysticism." (J O'Donnell, The Mystery of the Triune God, pp 148-9)
St Perpetua's Parish Chapel, Altar
St Perpetua's Parish Chapel, Ambo
i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
--- i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april
my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying) children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness
around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to the perfect patience of mountains
i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
--- i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing
winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever;
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)
e.e. cummings
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
--- i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april
my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying) children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness
around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to the perfect patience of mountains
i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
--- i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing
winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever;
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)
e.e. cummings
Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam
Fr. Poulin’s paintings echo the Impressionists, yet he has developed his own original style. All his paintings begin with a black canvas. Through his contemplative process he starts with minute brush strokes, creating dots (mustard seeds) that will grow into the completed image. In the process he moves from darkness to light, the major theme of his work. When asked about his painting he speaks in terms of moving from the unknown to the known, from chaos to unity; which he sees as a sacred journey not to be feared.
The River, Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam
Big Sur Spring, by Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB, Cam
Brief Rule of Saint Romuald
Sit in your cell as in paradise.Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.
If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more. Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.
Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.
If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more. Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.
Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.
Radiant Light by Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam
Full Moon Over Big Sur by Fr Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam
The Dialogue of Love
"Christian prayer unfolds in a dramatic rhythm of two freedoms --- divine and human ---that interact with each other through the whole range of mutual relationships and attitudes. God gives us his love through the Spirit and He actively takes care of the world in dramatic action involving the whole of creation, a performance we can call Theodrama. (The Eremitic Life, Fr Cornelius Wencel, er cam, p 140)
Bursting Blooms, by Sr Kristine Haugen, ocdh
"God is bestowing a special favour on you by drawing you into the desert. The call is a matter of God's free choice; you will only be able to persevere in it by his condescension. You will always remember how privileged you are that God should love your soul, and as time goes on you will appreciate this all the more. . . . Humble and detached, go into the desert, For God awaiting you there, you bring nothing worth having, except your entire availability. . . .He is calling you to live on friendly terms with him, nothing else." The Hermitage Within
Blue Poppies, Sr Kristin Haugen, ocdh, Hermitage Arts
"Therefore, an authentic prayerful dialogue is possible only in the perspective of love. When two persons entrust themselves to each other in love, a wonderful drama of self-giving and co-possessing is played out. The closer the mutual relationships are, the more they determine all the levels of the two partners' personalities. The stronger the ties are, the more silence is needed and, paradoxically, the fuller the mutual understanding is. The knowledge and the fullness of self-giving that spring from prayer are related to the silence of love." (The Eremitic Life, Fr Cornelius Wencel, er cam, p 140)
Blue Lilies, Sr Kristine Haugen, ocdh, Hermitage Arts
"The hermit knows that it is possible to reach communion with God, who reveals his majesty and his mysterious, elusive presence in nature in a swift stream, in a quiet, misty valley, in the rolling waterfalls, in the ravishing smell of flowers. Prayer rooted in admiration of the world's natural beauty is an attempt to capture the manifest, but at the same time hidden presence of the eternal Mystery, a Mystery so great that it surpasses all that can be named, measured, or touched. Coming into a close, meditative contact with a mountain, a tree, or a flower, the person of prayer discovers that they are all anchored in a wonderful presence that reaches far above all we can know through hearing or sight." Fr Corneilus Wencel, The Eremitic Life, p160.
Cascade, by Sr Kristine Haugen, ocdh
Herons, by Sr Kristin Haugen, ocdh
"While discussing the eremitic life, solitude, and silence, we must never lose sight of the fact that the hermit , like any other Christian, lives in the community that is the Church. There is no doubt that (her) form of participation in the life of the Church differentiates (her) from many other brothers and sisters in faith. However, (her) whole existence is rooted in the community, and that is the key element that decides the Christian character of the way of the desert." (Fr Cornelius Wencel, The Eremitic Life, p 151.)