[[Hi Sister, I loved what you wrote about being pioneers, but I was surprised you didn't speak of c 603 hermits specifically as pioneers. After all, it is the new vocation "on the block." Aren't you a pioneer in living c 603?]]
Thanks for this question! It is a good one and one I have been discussing a little with other c 603 hermits. Yes, you are correct; because c 603 is a new norm defining consecrated solitary eremitical life, and because every diocese that chooses to implement the canon is also doing something quite new, every c 603 hermit is a pioneer in this sense as well; it is a very new thing to have hermits living as integral members of parish communities and doing limited ministry besides being a contemplative at the heart of the local Church, and what this means to and for everyone is something we are all exploring together. However, I wanted to write about the heart of the adventure, the inner journey, before I spoke about this other central way c 603 eremitical life involves being a pioneer. I did mention the dimension of ecclesiality, which is central to canonical vocations, and that anticipates this second post.
So, yes, besides the inner journey that makes hermits explorers in profound and extensive ways, there is the whole outer dimension of being representatives of a "new" (and ancient) vocation in the Church itself. I'd like to look a little at that in this post, because it comes up indirectly every time someone asks one of us "what order are you?" or any time a potential candidate for profession and consecration contacts their diocese seeking to become canonically what they are already living non-canonically. In each of these situations, one needs to be prepared to speak of the new thing God is doing with one's life, and to do so in a way that allows people unprepared to hear this to truly hear it. That takes enormous preparation and courage (in the case of the diocese, for instance), and a sense of who one truly is (in either case).
It isn't enough for the Church to have created c 603. She must implement it and implement it wisely. This means hermits must come to their dioceses with sufficient preparation and a strong sense of God's call, and they must do so after some years working with a good spiritual director. And even then, the hermit does not know that she will be professed and/or consecrated. She responds to God's personal call to her, and after some years, she approaches the Church to submit to a mutual discernment process. If this goes well, the Church will call her to profession and then, to consecration as a diocesan hermit --- a hermit with an ecclesial vocation. But there are no guarantees in any of this. The solitary hermit has no community to fall back on should the diocese decline to profess her. Unless the diocese gives her substantive reasons to move in another direction, she will continue living as a hermit because she knows it is God's call to her. Perhaps she will contact the diocese again in another five or ten or twenty years, but whether she does or does not, she is a pioneer living the loneliness of every true pioneer.
For those hermits the Church does profess and eventually consecrate, the pioneering is still not over! In some ways it has only just begun. The journey one now makes is not only a solitary one for oneself and God, but becomes an explicitly ecclesial one lived for the sake of the Church and her own embodiment of Christ. The c 603 hermit reminds contemplative religious of the primary relationship their lives are really about, and she reminds apostolic religious of the relationship and depth of prayer necessary for all truly fruitful apostolic ministry. She reminds married persons of the faithfulness to one another and to God that is so essential to their vocation. She reminds the single person that even in their loneliness, there is Another who is always present, and always seeking to be heard and to hear, to love and be loved.
She, especially if she is chronically ill or disabled, reminds the chronically ill that they are called to an essential wellness that is possible in spite of illness, and that their lives can be full and fruitful as one learns to live and witness to this essential wellness and the one who makes it possible. And, paradoxically, she reminds everyone in whatever state of life they are called to wholeness, that human life, even in its deepest physical solitude, is essentially communal or relational, that escapism and individualism are antithetical to the humanity to which we are each called by God, and that learning love and compassion are the work we are each called to if we wish to be truly human and "successful." The eremitical life is human life stripped of everything but the essentials (because it focuses on the one thing necessary for every life), and so, it witnesses in a universal way so long as it is truly eremitical and not simply idiosyncratic or "bizarre". The authentic hermit is a prophetic voice motivated by hope and love, and she serves in that way wherever the Spirit moves her.
But none of this happens without the hermit learning these things herself in her own relationship with God, and then in relating and speaking as needed to the people of her parish or diocese or larger world! Every step reflects a yet-untraveled path that only the hermit can take. No one can do it for her, for it is her knowledge and wisdom that is called for. Yes, mentors can help here, especially if they have been pioneers themselves, but again, the path being taken is the hermit's own, and she trusts in herself and the grace of God that she can be successful in this. And, after a decade or two, a diocese that has taken a chance on professing and consecrating this hermit will come to understand that the risk was a fine one and entirely justified. They may, therefore, be open to professing other candidates in the future.
For diocesan hermits are also largely responsible for the future of this specific vocation. If dioceses are not careful in who they admit to profession and eventually, consecration, and if they do not do all they can to be sure the person can live eremitical life for the right reasons and with the right spirit, for instance, they may well find other dioceses responding by saying what I once heard one Carmelite Sister being told. She was approaching her diocese regarding becoming a c 603 hermit and was told by the Vicar General of the diocese, "They are telling me to stay away from that!" Again, this vocation is made up of pioneers, and the responsibility of each one of us to live this vocation as well as we can is very weighty indeed. (By the way, this also means that bishops and diocesan personnel may be required to do some pioneering work themselves if they wish to have healthy hermits representing the diocese! Sometimes this doesn't work out, and hermits might do better to seek standing under c 603 in another diocese.)
There is so much more to say about this pioneering dimension of the solitary eremitical vocation, but I have gone on for a while here. I am sure I will return to this theme in the future, and I want to encourage readers to ask questions that push me to be more detailed in my explorations of the topic if it seems that it will be helpful. Thanks for doing that.
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