Thanks for sharing how you have been feeling recently. I understand both your feelings and why you would ask these kinds of questions; I think they are great. Definitely no offense given or taken!! As far as the question of this Administration, the passage of the great big beautiful bill, the actions being taken by ICE, the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good et al, the military actions taken before and in Venezuela and Iran (including the bombing of schools and hospitals in Iran, (13 so far)) or Hegseth's juvenile and depraved video-game-style blustering about our military's power to kill, kill, kill, (as though this is real strength), along with his complete disdain for moral rules of engagement, and now President Trump's comments on Cuba being next, I have struggled with this for months.
My own pain escalated this past week because of our unauthorized and unjustified attacks on Iran and the immorality and illegality of this war being carried out in our name. All that stunned me last weekend, and then I heard the reporting that some (perhaps) were trying to justify all of this in the name of Christ and so-called "Christian Nationalism" in an effort to initiate Armageddon. And all of this is being done in our name by a president who seems incapable of a coherent thought or of concern for anyone but himself! This (all) is the face of evil, the face of sin, the face of radical inhumanity, and the complete distortion of the universal vocation we share to image a merciful, loving God with our lives. It is what some theologians identified as total depravity being put forward as the idealization of strength and morality.
I do spend a lot of time in prayer, and at the same time, I pay attention to what is happening in our world because it is an important part of my vocation in Christ, to be the intercessory place where God and the world come together. This is part of a call to compassion and one way I participate in the recreation of the world God undertakes in Christ. What you may not have heard me say in earlier posts is "the world" I am called to be more strictly separated from, because I am a hermit living an ecclesial vocation, is that world that is resistant to Christ. What stricter separation means, then, is refusing to become enmeshed in that world because enmeshment makes authentic love impossible. Authentic love requires the ability to see clearly and to open one's heart freely. Enmeshment makes that impossible. What stricter separation allows, then, is an objectivity that sees reality more clearly as it is, and allows one to love it and the God who is its source and ground, freely and generously.
So yes, I definitely pay attention to what is happening in this world. Everyone I know and love is affected by it. They are hurting, some with disappointment in the way this president has betrayed their hope in his campaign promises, and others who knew there was no chance he would keep these promises. And of course, they are hurting from the suffering being inflicted on the entire country (and beyond!!), on their neighbors of whatever political stripe or religious creed, and especially on those who are the most vulnerable among us in so many ways. |
| The Three Goods of Camaldolese Life |
Nuns, generally speaking, can involve themselves in the political scene in various ways. It's pretty much up to them in discerning the ways and degrees that are appropriate to their vocations and state of life. The same is true of hermits. My own degree and style of participation are measured in coherence with my Rule, with the state of my health, and according to the urgency of the situation. Of course, most of the time my participation is done from here in my hermitage and centers on prayer, though as noted, I will attend No Kings protests, etc., especially if I can go with another Sister or two. I am not sure what you mean by trying to learn "pure love" or how learning genuine love would keep me from involving myself in matters affecting this world in the ways I have described. After all, we learn love by loving and allowing others to love us. My involvement is motivated by growing love, while my participation fosters growth in compassion and the transformation of our world in Christ to something more just and loving.
While my decisions in this regard are my own, and not necessarily appropriate for others, including other hermits, I can say that not involving myself in the way I have described would, for me, be cowardly, self-centered, and seriously sinful. As you say, it would be completely irresponsible, and, too, it would actually be contrary to my vocation as a hermit. You see, I embrace the characteristics of an eremitic life not for themselves alone, but for a larger purpose than the characteristics themselves. All of the elements of canon 603 (silence, solitude, prayer and penance, stricter separation from the world, the evangelical counsels, etc) are meant to lead each c 603 hermit to something larger than themselves, namely, a listening and loving heart where we abide in God and God abides in us. This too is meant to serve a larger purpose by creating the intercessory space where God and the world he creates come together. While I continue to live the constitutive characteristics of c 603 with integrity, the paradox is I must also pay attention to the news, especially at times like the present US crisis. Only in that way do I truly grow in compassion and avoid the individualism that the Church is clear every c 603 hermit must avoid.
Sad though this also is, please know that what you are feeling is shared by millions and millions of people of every political persuasion, both in the US and outside it. Bring it all to God, of course, and pour your heart out to him and his suffering and risen Christ. And yes, let us hold one another in prayer, and allow that prayer to widen in scope as God's Spirit empowers it until it embraces even those whose immorality and illegalities are the source of so much suffering and death in our contemporary world. I wish you peace.
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