USCCB Calls for Holy Hour of Prayer

I would invite readers to check with houses of Religious and parishes in your area to see if they are joining in this prayer tomorrow evening. I know the Camaldolese are doing so and have opened their space to whoever wants to join them. That will be Saturday, 31 January at 5:00 PST.

WASHINGTON – “Your faith matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel,” he continued, and as a step toward healing, invited bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace.

Archbishop Coakley’s full reflection and invitation follow:

Many people today feel powerless in the face of violence, injustice, and social unrest. To those who feel this way, I wish to say clearly: your faithfulness matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter.

I am deeply grateful for the countless ways Catholics and all people of good will continue to serve one another and work for peace and justice. Whether feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick, accompanying the lonely, visiting the imprisoned, or striving daily to love their neighbors, no work of mercy or act of justice is ever wasted in the eyes of God. While proper laws must be respected, works of mercy, peacefully assembling, and caring for those in your community are signs of hope, and they build peace more surely than anger or despair ever could. Christ reminds us that even ‘a single cup of cold water’ given in his name will not go unrewarded (cf. Mt 10:42).

The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life. We mourn this loss of life and deplore the indifference and injustice it represents. The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.

As a step toward healing, I invite my brother bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace in the days ahead. Let us pray for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss. I encourage Catholics everywhere to participate, whether in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts for healing in our nation and communities.

May this Holy Hour be a moment of renewal for our hearts and for our nation. Entrusting our fears and hopes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us ask the Lord to make us instruments of his peace and witnesses to the inherent dignity of every person.

Let us pray together, confident that God hears the cry of his people and remains close to all who seek him.

Can a Person be a Hermit if they Cannot Attend Mass or receive the Sacraments?

[[Dear Sister Laurel, you have written that a good liturgical and sacramental life is essential to the eremitical life. What happens in the case of someone who cannot get to Mass or participate in the sacraments, but wants to live as a hermit?  I think you said that sometimes you can't get to Mass because of your health and this doesn't mean you cannot be a hermit, does it? So what happens if a situation causes a person to be unable to get to Mass or receive the sacraments? If they are already living alone, can they still be a c 603 hermit?]]

Thanks for the questions. If a person's health precludes them from getting to Mass at all (let's say they are bedridden or otherwise unable to get out of the house), there are usually workarounds. If the person is serious about being a hermit, they will need to work with their parish priest and pastoral staff to arrange for regular access to Eucharist and the other Sacraments (anointing, reconciliation). This would allow them at least a weekly reception of the Eucharist as an extension of the parish Mass, and regular reception of the other Sacraments that would be essential for someone dealing with serious illness. It would also allow for the parish to get to know them and for members of the parish acting as EEM's to serve them as a part of the parish faith community. I tend to believe this is critical for someone with aspirations to eremitical life because the hermit, while living in solitude, is also meant to be an integral part of the faith community and its sacramental life.

If a person is not bedridden, then the situation is very much easier (though perhaps such a person can still benefit from regular assistance from EEM's, etc). If one needs a ride, it is usually possible for the parish to arrange this, though once one knows other members of the parish, one can do this oneself, of course. (Also, Lyft and Uber are possibilities to get around in this way.) For other Sacraments (anointing and reconciliation) it is possible to get a priest to come to one's own place. (I have arranged this and had parishioners arrange it for themselves, so I know it is possible.) I can't think of other situations that would preclude one from being able to get to Mass at all (even watching a monastic Mass on ZOOM, when done prayerfully, can serve someone home sick in bed!), so if you have a specific situation in mind that I have not yet addressed (and apparently cannot imagine), you can get back to me with that. Still, your question was about being a canonical hermit if one is unable to get to Mass or receive the Sacraments, so let me deal with that now.

What I have written is that c 603 vocations are ecclesial vocations. This means they "belong" to the Church before they belong to an individual, and God, through the action of the Church, entrusts such vocations to the individual hermit. As ecclesial, such vocations serve the Church in significant ways, not least by proclaiming the truth of the Church's kerygma or proclamation of the Gospel of God in Christ's life, death, and resurrection. The c 603 hermit lives the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church in real, concrete ways as part of her vocation, because she lives her vocation in the very heart of the Church. Yes, accommodations are made for the hermit's solitude and assiduous prayer and penance, so, for instance, most (not all) diocesan hermits are permitted to reserve the Eucharist in their hermitages. Please note, however, this is precisely so the whole of the hermit's life is lived, in the very heart of the Church, not to make up for an inadequate liturgical or sacramental life. Such permission would be unlikely to be given if the hermit were otherwise unable to participate at all in the Church's Liturgical or sacramental life.

Generally speaking, any diocese discerning a vocation to c 603 life would be very unlikely to profess someone who could not attend Mass or receive the Sacraments at all.  This would be a limitation that undercuts the very essence of the vocation itself. First of all, the person desiring to be a hermit would be more an isolated human being than a person living in eremitical solitude. (Remember, solitude, despite its physical aloneness, is the redemption of isolation, not its epitome.) Secondly, that isolation sets the person apart from the Church itself without the accommodations and workarounds mentioned above. Participation in the Church's Sacramental life is absolutely essential for a Catholic Hermit, whether solitary (c 603) or part of an institute of consecrated life (e.g., Carthusians and Camaldolese).  Again, if you are thinking of a specific instance where someone cannot attend Mass or otherwise receive the Sacraments and you believe the details would influence my answer, please get back to me on this. At this point, I have to say that I simply cannot imagine a situation where the Church would not be able to work with someone to be sure they participate in the Church's sacramental life, particularly if this would allow them to live as a hermit in the heart of the Church, rather than an isolated individual estranged from the faith community.

What is the Diocese's Role in the Formation of a Diocesan Hermit?

 [[Sister, are you saying that dioceses are not responsible for forming c 603 hermits? I find that really surprising. What then is the role of the diocese? You speak of them discerning with a candidate, but aren't they also involved in the hermit's formation? Thank you.]]

Thanks for your questions! Yes, I am absolutely saying a diocese is not responsible for the formation of a solitary hermit under c 603. What a diocese is responsible for is discerning with the candidate whether or not they have a specifically ecclesial vocation and are called to live solitary eremitical life in the name of the Church. One may live as a hermit within the Catholic Church in different states of life including as a Catholic lay person, as a religious (if their congregation's particular or proper law says they may), or as a cleric (again, with one's bishop's permission). Beyond this, one can join an eremitical institute like the Carthusians or Camaldolese. However, if one wants to live as a solitary hermit in the consecrated state, c 603 is the route to this.

This, however, leaves the question of the diocese's responsibility open. Canon 603 does not speak to the diocese's responsibility for formation. The canon presumes significant formation, yes, but it does not make a diocese responsibile for this. Instead, canon 603's history and nature leave that responsibility in the hands of the candidate and the Holy Spirit. An eremitical vocation only emerges over significant time and with notable life experience. A diocese cannot be responsible for this; what they can do, and are responsible for doing is discerning with the candidate whether or not the eremitical call a person has discerned is also a specifically ecclesial one. For instance, is the person called to live this life in the name of the Church? Does her eremitism represent a sufficiently mature expression of eremitical life in the Church that it can be considered normative of the journey hermits are called to make? Does it witness to the Gospel, and to union with God in Christ in a way that underscores the truth of the Church's own proclamation or kerygma? Does it witness to the hidden heart of every Christian vocation, and the heart of the Church as well, and has the candidate consciously embraced (or clearly begun to embrace) all of this in the Rule she writes?

It will take a diocese time to discern these things as well as the more mundane characteristics and necessary underpinnings of an authentic eremitical life. It will take the candidate time to discover and explore these things sufficiently to write a liveable Rule. Together, the diocese can walk with the candidate as she writes such a Rule, and discern the quality of the vocation she is seeing. In this synodal walk, formation will occur, most especially in the area of ecclesiality. It is important that a candidate works with someone with a strong sense of the ecclesial nature of such vocations, but it is the journeying together that helps inculcate ecclesial sensibilities, just as it also educates diocesan personnel on the nature of solitary eremitical life. Still, more general formation of the person as a hermit should occur long before they seek to be professed and consecrated under c 603; the diocese is not responsible for this!

When a diocese professes a c 603 hermit, they extend canonical rights and obligations to that person. They (in the person of the bishop and those whom he assigns) also assume a role in the supervision of the hermit beyond profession and eventual consecration. Further, because they have established a hermit in law in a specifically ecclesial vocation, it could be argued that a diocese must find ways to assist with ongoing formation and the deepening of the hermit's ecclesial sensibilities. Most dioceses fall far short of this latter role, though some allow for it by accepting a hermit's need for a delegate with a strong sense of an eremitical vocation's ecclesiality. (This is one reason delegates often tend to be religious men and women.) The point is, of course, that in an ecclesial vocation, the person's relationship with the Church must be a strong and intimate one. It seems to me this is one place the bishop's supervision can be most helpful, yet, at the same time, the diocesan office of Vicar for Religious (or Vocations, etc.) can assist, and will themselves benefit as they come to know the ways diocesan hermits grow, struggle, meet challenges, and mature in their journey to union with God.

In all of this, the bottom line remains: the initial and ongoing formation of a solitary hermit occurs mainly in solitude between the hermit and the Holy Spirit. A good spiritual director is essential in this process, as is a delegate for the diocese whom the candidate may choose. (A hermit does not outgrow the need for a competent spiritual director!!) An active liturgical and Sacramental life is also absolutely essential (and usually occurs in a parish setting). The diocese, however, will be mainly responsible for discerning the quality of a vocation once the candidate is ready to explore the ecclesial nature of their vocation, and will decide whether or not (and when) a candidate is ready to assume the canonical rights and obligations of such a vocation. The diocese plays an important part in this dimension of the hermit's initial and ongoing formation, while not being formators in the typical sense.

One final word of caution: what a diocese and diocesan bishop do is not merely a matter of "canonically approving" a person, as though a bishop could do this with the stroke of a pen, particularly if the person has lived a solitary life for some time already. This is a serious misunderstanding. Instead, they are responsible for admitting a person to profession (which is always public) and consecration so they may live their public-though-hidden lives in the consecrated state of life with all of the canonical rights and obligations that apply, and they do so for the sake of God's will to be Emmanuel, the sake of the Church who proclaims this God to the world, and the sake of the hermit's own humanity.

Getting the Formation Required for c 603 Profession

[[Hi Sister, my diocese said that I don't have the formation to become a c 603 hermit. I have not lived as a hermit before but I watched a video that said if I wanted to be a hermit in the Catholic Church, I had to do it under c 603. The canon doesn't say anything about formation. My question is how do I get the formation I need if I want to be a hermit by c 603? It seems like a catch-twenty-two. I don't have the formation my diocese expects, but I can't live as a hermit except by that canon unless I want to be illegal and a fraud or leave the Church. What do I do? For sure I don't want to leave the Catholic Church to live as a hermit. How do I get the formation my diocese asks for?]]

Thanks for writing. Your questions and story indicate some misunderstandings. I have written about these several times in the past couple of years. Please check out posts with tags like "non-canonical vs illegal" or various references to non-canonical. If that is not helpful to you, then please come back to me, and I will write about it again with your questions in mind. Let me just say you can remain a Catholic and live as a hermit apart from c 603. What you cannot do is claim to be a Catholic Hermit, that is, a hermit living this life in the name of the Church. You will be a Catholic AND a hermit, but not a Catholic hermit.

Regarding formation: c 603 shows the need for significant formation prior to beginning a mutual discernment process with your diocese. This is true of the history of the canon, of the situation out of which Bp Remi de Roo came to intervene at Vatican II, and it is true when one reads the canon itself. I say this, not because it speaks of formation, but because it does not. Instead, it assumes this and, moreover, it assumes that one understands the constitutive elements of the canon "from the inside out".  This means it assumes one understands these because one has lived them as well as having studied them. The canon also assumes one can write a liveable Rule, something that takes sufficient lived experience of the eremitical life and of life leading to it. Finally, c 603 requires that one petition to be professed and consecrated, a petition that really indicates a life-choice where one affirms that God calls one to become a whole and holy human being who abides in God and allows God to abide in her, and that God calls one to wholeness in this way and no other.

Canon 603, which is normative for solitary hermit life, is not for beginners. Neither is it for young persons.** Instead, it assumes a great deal of the individual petitioning a diocese for this specific standing in the Church. If you have read the post I put up on the three-stranded braid, you will have noticed I spoke of this as an ecclesial vocation, one that required a strong sense of this dimension of the vocation. I will tell you that it takes a significant time and some study to be able to develop. Again, this vocation is not an "entry-level" vocation. It presumes age, experience (including strong relationships with others), theological expertise (no, one does not need to be a theologian but one does need to be theologically grounded), ecclesial sensibilities and commitment, and some really positive reasons as to why one feels called to this vocation and no other, especially given how difficult it is to achieve human wholeness in eremitical solitude; most people only come to wholeness through significant experience of community of all sorts.

Since you have not lived as a hermit before this, I would say the first thing you need to do is get yourself a good spiritual director. Work with them regularly for at least a couple of years and see how that goes. See if you really still feel called to solitude. See also if you feel called to contemplative prayer or living as a contemplative. If, over several years, these things come together for you, begin planning on a way to support yourself in solitude and then embrace solitude experimentally. Find ways to study eremitical life, the elements of the canon (including the evangelical counsels), and strengthen your relationship with the Church. Throughout all of this, pay attention to the ways God is present and at work in your life. With your director, find ways to attend to those with greater and greater fidelity; develop your prayer life so that this is primary for who you are. If you do all of this and conclude in five to seven (or more) years that you are coming to greater wholeness and holiness in eremitical solitude, you can check in with your diocese and explain what you have done while seeking their feedback on petitioning for admission to profession (and eventual consecration) under c 603. (Given your account of your conversation with your diocese, I am assuming that your diocese is actually open to professing a suitable candidate for eventual c 603 consecration, but you might ask them this specific question since not all dioceses are open to implementing the canon.)

As a Catholic lay person in the Church, you are completely free to live almost any way you want in the lay state. That includes living as a hermit, though it would be as a Catholic non-canonical (non-normative) hermit. This is a good way to begin discerning whether you are called to live the hermit life "in law". For admission to the consecrated state, only the Church can receive you in this way. That requires a process of mutual discernment where both you and the diocese discern God's will in this regard. After all, you would not then simply be discerning your own personal vocation, but something that directly affects and represents the Church and eremitical life therein.

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** As Carl Jung noted throughout his work, it is possible for some young persons from extraordinary backgrounds (not necessarily positive backgrounds, by the way) to reach a level of maturity somewhat prematurely. When this happens, they might well be predisposed to living as a c 603 hermit. Dioceses are encouraged to discern a person's readiness for profession on a case-by-case basis in such instances.

On writing a Liveable Rule of Life: The Three-Stranded Braid

Over the years, I have written a lot here about how to write a Rule, what makes such a Rule "liveable", what I look for (or suggest dioceses look for) when reading a Rule. Throughout these posts, I have grown both in my appreciation of the importance of the task of writing one's own Rule, and in the way a truly liveable Rule aids the diocese in the discernment of an ecclesial vocation and readiness for or the prematurity of public commitments. I have also grown in my appreciation of the formative power of the very act of writing such a Rule, and sharpened my own sense of the journey a Rule should reflect and how it should function in assisting the hermit to continue to ever-deeper union with God. My concern has always been with what constitutes a liveable Rule because some Rules are clearly inadequate to the burden a liveable Rule must bear while others function for the whole of a hermit's life as a source of inspiration and empowerment in coming to live the silence of solitude not only as context, but as goal and charism of the solitary hermit life.

That last sentence is important because it points to the way a Rule really functions in the life of a hermit as her journey to union with God deepens and intensifies. As I have written over the years, really liveable Rules work first of all to remind us of our own story and the way God is and has been at work in that story. Of course, they can demonstrate not only how we understand the elements of canon 603, but they will also demonstrate implicitly how we have grown in embodying these elements (and the canon itself). As noted, they serve to inspire us when life gets difficult, and we wonder if we have discerned rightly about eremitic life (especially in this form)! They can "slow us down" when we are discerning possible avenues within the Church for ministry, study, living arrangements, and so on, and they will help empower us when the next step forward seems too daunting for us or when illness strikes, and our energy levels are low. Even more foundationally, Rules and the act of writing a truly liveable one over time can assist one's diocese in discerning with the hermit whether or not she is called to live this vocation in the name of the Church, as well as whether one's petition for admittance to profession or consecration is timely or premature.

Several images will be familiar to readers; these capture some of this and including trellises, stair banisters, and maps or topographies (a more adequate image than map). A newer and important image summarizing what a Rule includes is that of a three-stranded braid. Each strand is critical, fundamental, while it is the whole braid that makes a Rule strong, liveable, and the vocation a gift to the Church. Those strands are 1) a sense of one's personal story, 2) an intimate understanding of the elements of canon 603, and 3) a sense of the ecclesial nature of this vocation.  The first strand need not be extensive (this is not an autobiography, after all), but it does need to be present and function like the key signature in a piece of music functions. That is, it will set the key in which everything else moves forward, sounds, and makes sense; it will allow one to articulate throughout the entire Rule, "why this vocation and no other?" Especially, it will allow those discerning with the hermit, and the Church more generally, to see the redemptive thrust of this vocation in one's life. That is, it will allow the way God is working in one's life through and within this vocation to become clear not only to oneself (this kind of writing always functions in this way), but to those discerning with one on behalf of the Church

The second strand involves the constitutive elements of canon 603. One should understand these on their face. What does it mean to speak of the silence of solitude, for instance, or stricter separation from the world and assiduous prayer and penance? How does one live religious obedience or religious poverty, for example? What does supervision by one's bishop look like and mean? However, these constitutive elements also function to provide access to the deeper world associated with c 603 as well. I sometimes speak of the canon as a topography of a journey one is making to ever-deeper union with God. The constitutive elements serve as doorways to or windows on depth, ultimacy, and Mystery. They are like facets of a gem, each of which allows one to enter into its depths and explore a reality that "the world", with all of its distractions and illusory character, obscures and may even deny. They are significant (meaningful) landmarks of a very specific and inner journey. An intimate knowledge of the constitutive elements of c 603 will include some sense of both of these levels of meaning. (These correspond to and allow the hermit to demonstrate not only her own story but the way God has been at work in a solitary eremitic context.)

The third strand is less easy to describe. It includes, first of all, a sense that this vocation belongs to the Church before it belongs to the individual hermit. It will include a sense of the way eremitic life represents the heart of the Church, and how hiddenness functions therein. It will at least begin to demonstrate how the solitary eremitical vocation allows the hermit to serve in Christ as intercessor for the Church and world, and how it is that a journey to deeper union with God in Christ locates a hermit right where genuine intercession takes place. Here is the place where the Rule as Gospel rather than Law really assumes its full weight, and the redemptive thrust of the hermit's life and vocation achieves its full depth and clarity. This is the strand in which the hermit recognizes most fully that c 603 is a gift of God entrusted to the Church, a gift the Church entrusts to the hermit after sufficient discernment, and a gift that the hermit lives exhaustively so that the Church might truly be the Church she is called to be. It is a gift that the hermit in her hiddenness returns to the Church and lives for the sake of God, the Church, and the salvation of the world.

A profound sense of this third strand takes time to develop, and beginners will not likely be able to articulate all of the ways this vocation is an ecclesial one in their first (or even their second) Rule of Life. Even so, in the Rule they provide for profession, it needs to demonstrate some clear sense of this quality in the way it treats the issues of assiduous prayer and penance, supervision by one's bishop and/or delegate, avoiding individualism in all its forms, and serving the salvation of the world, for instance. Other dimensions of this vocation's ecclesiality will emerge over time, as well as in accompaniment by one's spiritual director, one's conversations with one's delegate, and with the diocesan formation team and bishop. Still, it needs to be a substantive part of the hermit's Rule because it is an element that allows the life to be coherent and witness appropriately to both Church and World -- even as it protects the hermit from individualism, misguided autonomy, and so forth.

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

 Of all the feasts we celebrate, [today's] feast of the baptism of Jesus is one of the most difficult for us to understand. We are used to thinking of baptism as a solution to original sin instead of the means of our initiation into the death and resurrection of Jesus, or our adoption as daughters and sons of God and heirs to his Kingdom, or again, as a consecration to God's very life and service. When viewed this way, and especially when we recall that John's baptism was one of repentance for sin, how do we make sense of a sinless Jesus submitting to it?

I think two points need to be made here. First, Jesus grew into his vocation. His Sonship was real and completely unique, but not completely developed or historically embodied from the moment of his conception; rather, it was something he embraced more and more fully over his lifetime. Secondly, his Sonship was the expression of solidarity with us and his fulfillment of the will of his Father to be God-with-us. Jesus will incarnate the Logos of God definitively in space and time, but this event we call the incarnation, encompasses and is only realized fully in his life, death, and resurrection -- not in his nativity. Only in allowing himself to be completely transparent to this Word, only in "dying to self," and definitively setting aside all other possible destinies does Jesus come to fully embody and express the Logos of God in a way which expresses his solidarity with us as well.

It is probably the image of Baptism-as-consecration and commissioning then, which is most helpful to us in understanding Jesus' submission to John's baptism. Here, the man Jesus is set apart as the one in whom God will truly "hallow his name." (That is, in Jesus' weakness and self-emptying, God's powerful presence (Name) will make all things Holy and a sacrament of God's presence.) Here, in an act of manifest commitment, Jesus' humanity is placed completely at the service of the living God and of those to whom God is committed. Here, his experience as one set apart or consecrated by and for God establishes God as completely united with us and our human condition. This solidarity is reflected in his statement to John that together they must fulfill the will of God. And here too Jesus anticipates the death and resurrection he will suffer for the sake of both human and Divine destinies, which, in him, will be reconciled and inextricably wed to one another. His baptism establishes the pattern not only of HIS humanity, but that of all authentic humanity. So too does it reveal the nature of true Divinity, for ours is a God who becomes completely subject to our sinful reality in order to free us for his own entirely holy one.

I suspect that even at the end of the Christmas season, we are still scandalized by the incarnation. (Recent conversations on CV's and secularity make me even surer of this!) We still stumble over the intelligibility of this baptism, and the propriety of i,t especially. Our inability to fathom Jesus' own baptism, and our tendency to be shocked by it because of Jesus' identity,  just as JohnBp was probably shocked, says we are not comfortable, even now, with a God who enters exhaustively into our reality. We remain uncomfortable with a Jesus who is tempted like us in ALL THINGS, and matures into his identity as God's only begotten Son.

We are puzzled by one who is holy as God is holy and, as the creed affirms, "true God from true God" and who, even so, is consecrated to and by the one he calls Abba --- and commissioned to the service of this Abba's Kingdom and people. A God who wholly identifies with us, takes on our sinfulness, and comes to us in smallness, weakness, submission, and self-emptying is really not a God we are comfortable with --- despite three weeks of Christmas celebrations and reflections, and a prior four weeks of preparation -- is it? In fact, none of this was comfortable for Jews or early Christians either. The Jewish leadership was upset by JnBp's baptisms generally because they took place outside the Temple precincts and structures (that is, in the realm we literally call profane). Early Christians (Jewish and otherwise) were embarrassed by Jesus' baptism by John --- as Matt's added explanation of the reasons for it in vv 14-15 indicates. They were concerned that perhaps it indicated Jesus' inferiority to John the Baptist, and they wondered if maybe it meant that Jesus had sinned prior to his baptism. And perhaps this embarrassment is as it should be. Perhaps the scandal attached to this baptism signals to us that we are beginning to get things right theologically.

After all, today's feast tells us that Jesus' public ministry begins with a ritual washing, consecration, and commissioning by God, which is similar to our own baptismal consecration. The difference is that Jesus freely accepts life under the sway of sin in his baptism, just as he wholeheartedly embraces a public (and one could cogently argue, a thoroughly secular) vocation to proclaim God's sovereignty. The story of the desert temptation or testing that follows this underscores this acceptance. His public life begins with an event that prefigures his end as well. There is a real dying to self involved here, not because Jesus has a false self which must die -- as each of us has --- but because in these events his life is placed completely at the disposal of his God, his Abba, in solidarity with us. Loving another, affirming the being of another in a way which subordinates one's own being to theirs --- putting one's own life at their disposal and surrendering all other life-possibilities always entails a death of sorts -- and a kind of rising to new life as well. The dynamics present on the cross are present here too; here we see only somewhat less clearly a complete and obedient (that is, open and responsive) submission to the will of God, and an unfathomable subjection to that which human sinfulness makes necessary precisely in order that God's love may be exhaustively present and conquer here as well.