On the Beauty and Depth of c 603 (Reprise)

[[Sister Laurel, I wondered why you write about canon 603 now, so many years after you have been professed. It sounds to me like you believe it is important to hermits even after they have been consecrated. I realize that the canon describes what is necessary to be admitted to canonical standing, and I get you might want to be writing for those interested in becoming diocesan hermits, but is there something more to it than that? Why concern yourself with the law once you're admitted under a law? I wondered if you could explain that. . . .]]

Good to hear from you; it has been a while!! Interesting observations and questions!  Yes, I continue to write about canon 603 for one particular reason; namely, as I have come to perceive it, it is not merely a canon allowing for admission to profession and consecration (as historically and ecclesially important as this is); instead, the canon prescribes a profound and often unimagined way of life constituted by the central elements named therein. Many mistakenly treat these elements as though their meaning is obvious and easily understood and lived. For instance, poverty, chastity, and obedience seem clear enough. So do "Stricter separation from the world", "assiduous prayer and penance" and "the silence of solitude". That one is required to write a Rule of life may seem a requirement anyone can easily accomplish, and dioceses routinely send folks off to do this without instructions or assistance -- fully expecting they will be able to succeed at the task, but this is not so easy really. 

Beneath the words of the canon in this element and in all the others, however, there are worlds the hermit is called to (and will need to) explore, embrace, and embody if they are to truly be a canon 603 hermit. The canon supplies, in significant ways, the windows to these worlds. Because I petitioned to be admitted to profession under this canon and because the Church professed, consecrated, and commissioned me to do so, I am living and exploring this particular eremitical life; gradually I have come to know or at least glimpse the depths of the life prescribed by the canon --- even when I have not lived into them as fully as I am yet called to. 

 As a corollary, in some ways, I have come to know the depths of the canon itself. I write about canon 603 now 14 [now 17] years after perpetual profession and consecration because, from within this life, I continue to see new things in the canon --- things Diocesan bishops and Vicars for Religious (who often know very little about such a life or canon 603 itself) need to see, things candidates need to have a sense of as they approach mutual discernment and formation in this call, and things those professed under canon 603 are also committed to exploring. Especially, I continue to write about canon 603 because, from within this life, I have always perceived a beauty about it and the way it blends non-negotiable elements with the freedom and flexibility of a solitary life lived for the sake of others in response to the Holy Spirit. It both demands and allows for profound eremitical experience before profession and it both calls for and empowers even greater depth and breadth in living this life thereafter. You see, it is not just the single elements of the canon nor their apparently "obvious" meanings that are important -- though of course, they are crucial. It is what is implicit and profound in them and in the fabric they weave together that is also critical to appreciating canon 603. 

This kind of appreciation is important not just for the hermit herself, but also for dioceses seeking to use the canon appropriately and for canonists whose tendency is to want to add additional requirements and legislative elements to the canon before admitting anyone to profession. Canonists tend also to look at c 603 simply in terms of its legal dimensions, particularly seizing on (or sussing out) legal loopholes rather than reflecting on the vocation itself, [as happened in the Diocese of Lexington this last Pentecost. (2024)] More and more I have come to see that these added elements are unnecessary, not only because eremitical life itself doesn't need them, but because canon 603 itself does not. Of course, in coming to appreciate the beauty I referred to above, and the surprising adequacy or sufficiency of the canon, one must be open to seeing there what is more than superficial or even more than significantly explicit. One must be able to see the implicit depths and Mystery below the surface.

 Let me give you an example. The canon requires the solitary hermit to write her own Rule. However, it doesn't explicitly define the nature of the Rule and whether it will function as law, Gospel, law and Gospel (or Gospel and law); will it be primarily or wholly a list of do's and don'ts, limitations and permissions, or will it provide a vision of the life the hermit is committing to live with whatever that requires? Nor does c 603 explicitly require that it be a liveable Rule which may only come to be after the hermit has written at least several drafts. And yet both of these, rooted in the hermit's lived experience and long reflection, must be understood as called for by canon 603. Another example is the central element, "stricter separation from the world." What does it really mean? What does it call for from the hermit? I have written a lot about this element of the canon over the past decade and more, so I won't repeat all that here, but where in the canon does it speak of freedom from enmeshment with falsity, freedom for truth and honest engagement with and on behalf of God's good creation? These words are never used and yet, these are part, perhaps even the heart of what this element of ''stricter separation'' refers to.

Nor is it just a matter of getting under the superficial or common usage of the terms involved. One needs to begin to see the way they are related to one another and help in the weaving of a single reality. Both of the elements just noted, the requirement that the hermit write her own Rule and stricter separation from the world, demand the hermit engage in a process of growth and maturation in Christ specifically as a canon 603 or diocesan hermit. Moreover, the canon provides a vision of consecrated solitary eremitical life in the Church. Each element contributes to this vision, including those in both 603.1 and 603.2. At the same time, in service to the incarnation of this vision in an individual's life, canon 603 provides the means for a process of discernment and formation, both initial and ongoing, even though this process is not explicit in the text of the canon. 

The requirement that a hermit writes a liveable Rule confronts everyone participating in the process with the need for adequate discernment and formation. But how is this achieved? Do we need more canons? Must we borrow from canonical norms established (wisely and appropriately) for other and less individual forms of religious life? Again, I find c 603 beautiful and perhaps surprising in its sufficiency here: what is implicit in the requirement that the hermit write her own Rule is the fact that an adequate process of discernment and formation can be structured according to the hermit's growing abilities and capacities to write a liveable Rule of life that is true to canon 603's vision of solitary eremitical life.  Writing a liveable Rule of Life is not simply one element of the canon among others; it is the culmination of a process of reflection, prayer, study, and personal growth in Christ (and thus, in all the other elements of the canon) it itself guides and crystalizes. 

A hermit engaging in the writing of a liveable Rule will require accompaniment and assistance (a very small formation team, for instance). Still, the process envisioned here can be relatively simple and effective in guiding the diocese working with a candidate for profession. Certainly, it is respectful of the freedom required by both the hermit and the Holy Spirit in shaping and deepening this specific vocation. Best, it grows organically from (or is implicit in) the requirements of canon 603 itself.

To return more directly to your questions. Canon 603 is certainly a norm by which the Church recognizes, governs and thus perpetuates the vocations of solitary consecrated hermits. It is associated with canonical (legal) rights and obligations which bind the hermit. It defines the nature of the diocesan hermit's life and so, provides the central elements that mark this definition. It is here, however, that c 603 becomes something more than most canons because it is associated with a vision of the solitary eremitical life and a vision is not only about what is seen, but about the underlying mystery that grounds, inspires, and is to be manifested in the lives of those living under this canon. 

I believe that the authors of c 603 wrote something rich, perhaps richer than they knew. Canon 603 is a window opening onto Mystery; the mystery of eremitical life, of God and the way human beings are verified (made true) in communion with God, the mystery of the way even the most isolated life can be redeemed in solitude, and the mystery of the way even human and Divine solitude always imply community. Because all of this and more is true --- because canon 603 is not a once-used-now-essentially-irrelevant law (unless of course, one transgresses it!) but something far more that opens onto the Divine, I continue to reflect on, pray with, and write about c 603.

On Writing a Rule of Life: Additional Suggestions --- the Basics

While I don't want to bore readers by repeating what else I have said about writing a Rule, and while I want to refer folks to all of that as valuable, I sometimes hear from or work with people who are struggling with the task and need a bit more help. Yes, a Rule should deal with the elements of the Canon and yes, the Rule should reflect the way God works in one's life --- and, if possible, the way God has done this over a number of years, but what if it still all feels unwieldy, and, because of the richness or complexity of one's life, it is unwieldy? How should one proceed then? Here are a few suggestions: First, begin with the basics. 

If you are planning on writing a Rule for life under Canon 603, begin by writing a separate document that addresses the central elements of the Canon. This will not be your Rule, but it will contribute greatly to your ability to write such a Rule. (Even if you are not planning on being professed and consecrated under Canon 603, the central elements will speak to the life you are living as a hermit.) Those elements are 1) assiduous prayer and penance, 2) stricter separation from the world, 3) the silence of solitude, 4) the Evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity in celibacy, obedience), 5) embracing this calling for the salvation of the world and the glory and praise of God, 6) under the supervision of the local ordinary, 7) according to a Rule of Life one writes oneself. So, to begin with, choose one or two of these elements to focus on. (I recommend beginning with a couple of the first four.)

Once you have done this, answer the following questions for each element. First, what is it?? If you have chosen assiduous prayer and penance, to reflect on and write about, for instance, be sure to define how you understand all of the terms in that phrase. What is prayer? Penance? How do you understand these things now, today? What does the Canon call for by requiring assiduous prayer and penance? What does assiduous mean in this element? What does it NOT mean? (For instance, it may or may not mean saying prayers all day; certainly, assiduous penance is unlikely to mean wearing a hairshirt or cilice or refusing to take the medicines one needs to feel and be well!!) Write as much as you know personally about these terms. Secondly, how do you live this element of the Canon today? Describe all the elements of your life that are part and parcel of  "assiduous prayer and penance". Do not write about what you hope one day to live but what you live today. This is no place for idealizing things. God is at work in your life and appears to have brought you to this place. Articulate and claim how that is happening now, today.

With some elements of the canon, defining what they are is more challenging. For instance, did you notice that that canon does not read silence and solitude, but rather, "the silence of solitude"? While this term includes external silence and physical solitude, it is also more than these. Thus, you will need to define the individual terms that make up the element required by the canon, and you will also need to define the larger element that is more than the sum of its parts. If you don't understand this personally yet, define what you can and say how you live what you can define, but make a note for yourself about what you have not yet defined! It is something you will need to understand and write about before admission to perpetual profession. 

Something similar is true for "stricter separation from the world". What does the term, "the world" mean in this phrase? This is not what some folks think it means and it is not even what some religious and monastics have said from time to time!! What does it not mean, or at least, not primarily mean? How about the word stricter? Stricter than what? What limits can or even must legitimately be put on the term "Stricter" -- assuming it does not mean absolute!? "Separation" needs to be looked at as well. What is healthy separation (generally, for most hermits, and also for yourself), and what is not? For some, this term calls for complete reclusion and a support structure to assist in this, while for others, complete reclusion would result in the destruction of one's psychological health and vocation. I think you see what I mean when I speak of answering the questions, "What is it?" and "How do I live it?" Again, no idealizing. Keep your writing in the present!

The third question I suggest you answer with regard to each central element of the Canon is, "Why is this important?" Various ways of looking at this question include: why is it important for religious life generally? How about eremitical life more specifically? Why is this element important for the Church or her witness to Jesus Christ and the Gospel? Does it bring a special clarity or vividness when lived by a hermit? Are there any groups of people for whom a hermit's living this will be especially important and in what way? And finally, why is this important for your own life with God? In what ways has this element helped you to see and grow to be the person God has called you to be? What allows you to speak with confidence that this is what God has called you to? Whatever further questions help you to say why this element is important and thus needs to be included in both the Canon and your own Rule can be added as needed. In any case, allow these questions to rumble around inside yourself until you have clear answers to them. As you continue discerning and being formed in this vocation, do as Rainer Marie Rilke suggested to the young poet and "live the questions"! 

Doing so may help you answer the fourth question I suggest you answer, namely, how have I grown in my understanding and living out of this element of the vocation? I have told the story before that I did not even include stricter separation from the world in the first Rule I wrote for my diocese. There were several reasons for this including the fact that I didn't understand what this meant or asked for from me and that I wasn't sure I saw the need for such a stance toward "the world". However, the next time I wrote a Rule (during prep for perpetual profession) I included this element and my growth in understanding and living this element was significant! It was a question that had indeed roiled and rumbled around inside of me as I read more widely on the topic and grew in my vocation.  Because I took the elements of C 603 seriously this one was one of the questions I definitely lived as I approached all aspects of my life prayerfully.

Once you have done this exercise for all of the elements including each vow (or their correlative values) included in C 603, you will find you have a major portion of the heart of your Rule already complete and you will be able to draw on this document as you actually compose your Rule. I would urge you to take your time in this. If I were working with someone to assist them in writing a Rule, I would expect this stage of things to take at least a year or two. At least I would not be surprised were that the case. One will need to research terms and their usage throughout the history of eremitical life,  and in religious life more generally. One will need to reflect on and pray about these terms, make decisions on levels of validity and importance, and then, try them on for size over time. One will need to articulate why one lives whatever definitions of each element one does, and why one rejects or finds other definitions or understandings unhelpful or even unhealthy. All of this takes time, research, prayer, reflection, discussion with those who accompany one in one's journey toward profession and consecration or private avowal, and then too, the struggle to put all of it into words that reflect one's own vision of what it means to live out the terms of Canon 603 or solitary eremitical life in the 21st Century.

I'll return with more suggestions in the future. Some of these will be about the essential elements the Canon does not mention but which need to be reflected in an effective Rule of Life --- things like work, recreation, relationships, support systems (including spiritual direction and oblature with a specific monastery, etc.), finances, and more. For now, consider this part 1 of "Additional Suggestions".

Vision before Legislation: A Livable Rule is not an Out-Sized to-Do List!!

[[Sister Laurel -- I tried writing a Rule for myself, not as a hermit because I am not one, but just for living as a Christian every day of my life. I got hung up though and it sounded more like I was making a colossal to-do list or something. I hate to-do lists because I always fail at them and they always get longer and longer and totally unfinished in every way. I think I may have a touch of OCD in this!! When I read what you write about writing a Rule or even recent posts on the canon you live under and are responsible for, it doesn't sound like your Rule or Canon 602 are like huge to-do lists. You even speak about this pattern as something beginners tend to write. Is there something about the way you look at these things which keeps you from making them into huge obstacles to living them? Thanks!]]

Thanks to you for your questions as well! I really like the way you describe the problem with your Rule as you perceive it! I am also really grateful for the way you linked Rule and Canon (603 by the way). I don't think I have ever written about the similarity between the way I approach the two of them, but you are entirely correct --- I do look at them similarly. For me, both embody a vision of eremitical life as lived in the contemporary church and world. As I have written here before, the elements of Canon 603 represent doorways to Mystery. Each doorway allows me into something of the whole life and to explore some specific dimension of it. Each one also provides a way to approach the world around me, to meditate on and understand its more important needs and yearnings. 

So, for instance, in praying with my Rule (I use it for lectio and as a kind of "workbook"), a term like stricter separation from the world (a mandatory norm of the eremitical life) can take me into the heart of God, the very essence of solitude and the summit of a warm and loving silence that sings my name and smooths the sharp edges of loneliness. It opens a world of both personal growth and challenge that comforts me and summons me to be myself to the fullest extent possible in and with God. But too, carried in the heart of God I am called back into the world by the God who would be Emmanuel. At the same time, it reminds me of all of the unnatural and inhuman experiences of silence we impose on others or have imposed on us, the cruel forms of "noise" that tear at the human heart or create what is sometimes called "soul murder", and it shows me a vision of eremitical life that stands in countercultural opposition to or tension with the world around me. It also allows me to see myself and my eremitical life as leaven affecting this same world for the better -- just as a beating heart quietly affects the entire person simply by carrying on its hidden work at the core of the organism.

Reflection on the phrase assiduous prayer and penance leads me to understand eremitical life as a form of spirituality where the hermit becomes God's own prayer in the world. Thus, I rarely understand this element of hermit life as being primarily about saying prayers or doing the ancillary kinds of things that support and nurture prayer (journaling, fasting, desert days, vigils). Instead, my reflection leads me to consider the needs of the world around me for love, for the ability to dialogue honestly, to listen deeply, and to be a vital source of the Holy Spirit at the center of it all. I tend to reflect on what things are like without God at the center and imagine what they could be whenever prayer (God's powerful and dynamic presence acting within) is made real there, and I pray for specific people and situations.

Even the way the canon is structured and composed provides material for reflection, meditation, and then, contemplation because I marvel at the way it combines necessary elements, the sine qua non of eremitical life with the individual's Rule of Life. This allows me to see more clearly the way human freedom (represented by the Rule itself since the hermit writes this on the basis of her own experience and understanding) combines with the varied constraints of life (the required elements of the canon) to produce healthy freedom and relatedness. In this, I have tended to reflect on the way the hermit models authentic freedom in opposition to undisciplined individualism and unconstrained liberty. Moreover, she does this in relative hiddenness. People speak about the freedom of the hermit. Somehow they truly recognize it despite the hiddenness and relative anonymity of the life. 

One hermit I know who is well on her way to profession and consecration under c 603, reflects on eremitical hiddenness in terms of a maternal "hidden love" that inculcates in her a compassionate solidarity with the unseen, unheard, uncounted, and uncared for in our world. For her as well, hiddenness is not primarily about things she will do or not do --- though she carefully considers such things, but about a vision of who the eremitic life calls her to be with and for others in order to effect change in (bring salvation to) our world. That she can be present with and for these others in this unique way is part of the deepest mystery of her vocation, just as it is for any hermit. The requirement that hermits lead an (either relatively or absolutely) hidden life in "stricter separation from the world" opens to this hermit the stunningly intimate and paradoxical Mystery revealed in Christ who is God-With-us.

In all of these examples the Rule codifies a vision of a meaningful life and how it is the central elements of c 603 provide the basis for a vision of the person the hermit will be and the life she will life on behalf of God's creation. There is always some attention to the do's and don'ts of the life but more fundamentally the Rule conveys who the hermit will be and the values we incarnate in order to be a significant-yet-hidden presence in our world. If you can begin to think of your own Rule in similar terms (terms that fit your own circumstances and state of life!!) I believe you will find it engages both your head and heart in profound and exciting ways that transcend the whole "to do or not to do" calculus that is so much an obstacle for you. Like contemplative life more generally, I think a Rule of Life that is truly livable for a person is one that inspires her to BE before it legislates what she will or will not DO.

Give it a try and please get back to me as you progress in your efforts. I would like to hear how you are doing with this; perhaps you can follow up with concrete examples that fit your own circumstances.

Questions on Horarium and Writing a Rule

[[Dear Sr. Laurel, . . . I’m exploring the idea of living my life as a hermit, and am wondering if you can give me some direction. I’ve been reading through your blog posts, and am wondering if you have one that details your rule of life and what your day is like? I’m about 3 years from retiring and plan on moving to a very small house I own on the edge of a little town in. . .. I’m currently working with a spiritual director, and although she has a lot of experience in spiritual direction she does not have any experience of working with a hermit before. So any information you would be willing to share with me would be most welcome.]]

Hi there! There are several posts on horarium and several others on writing a Rule of Life. Please check the labels to the right for those posts. Remember that your horarium is your own and may not look like mine except in the most general ways. Similarly, while I once posted my own Rule here, I took it down for a couple of related reasons, 1) folks would write me and part of what they wrote used sections of my own Rule. I sometimes thought they weren't even aware of what they were doing in this, and 2) the actual writing of one's Rule of Life is an important piece of one's own formation and discernment as a hermit. In fact, I would say that apart from the theology I was educated in and, more recently, the inner work I do with my director (personal formation), the act of writing my Rule was the most important and powerfully formative experience of my life. I am grateful to God and to canon 603 for requiring it of me.

Yes, it took time and a good bit of muddling through, but I would want every would-be hermit to have such an experience and would never want to do anything which served as an obstacle to that whole process. (In fact, you may notice from other posts on this topic, that I have used this requirement to develop a process of discernment and formation for dioceses and their eremitical candidates; it allows a small team of formators, including one's own spiritual director, to accompany the candidate as she and God together negotiate a self-paced, Spirit-driven process which serves her needs in this and, should she move in the direction of petitioning for canonical standing, the needs of the diocese as well. The beauty of this process is that it grows directly from the requirements of c 603 itself as well as the candidate's own lived experience and forms the candidate in this normative vision of solitary eremitic life.) 

My suggestion to you, therefore, is that you get a copy of canon 603 (see labels, Canon 603 -- text of, to the right) underline the central or constitutive elements, and begin studying, reflecting, praying over, and writing about each of these little by little. Write about how you understand them now and then read more about each one. As you do this over time record how your understanding changes. As you begin to live them do something similar. Keep a notebook with all of these notes (divide them with tabs, for instance) and in a year or two you might be ready to write what one element or another looks like in your lived experience. (Other posts here have similar suggestions beginning with how God is working or does work in your life. Please look at those as well.) When you have done this with all of the elements you may have the nuts and bolts of your own Rule of Life. You would still need eventually to transform that into a written Rule that captures your own vision of c 603 life in the contemporary Church, and that includes a brief perspective on the history of the vocation, the charism as you understand it, and a vow formula, etc., but it will serve you well in creating the foundation of such a Rule.

Please reassure your director that she does not need to have directed hermits before. You are not one now anyway, and as you grow into one (to the extent you actually do this), your director will be able to help you to become more and more a contemplative and then to discern whether or not you are called to even deeper silence and solitude commensurate with eremitical life. She will know you, what is truest in you, and the way God calls you; as she comes to understand the constituent elements of the canon more deeply, she will also know whether or not those elements of c 603 speak to you in ways which allow you to be your truest self. She will know how God works in your life, and will grow in her own understanding of eremitical life in the process of directing you if you truly become a hermit. There is no reason she should not be able to direct you right along in this process, So again, please reassure her of all of this. Meanwhile if she or you have specific questions or concerns as you negotiate this journey over the next several years, please know you are both free to contact me with them.

I sincerely hope this is helpful.

On the Beauty and Depth of Canon 603

[[Sister Laurel, I wondered why you write about canon 603 now, so many years after you have been professed. It sounds to me like you believe it is important to hermits even after they have been consecrated. I realize that the canon describes what is necessary to be admitted to canonical standing, and I get you might want to be writing for those interested in becoming diocesan hermits, but is there something more to it than that? Once you're admitted under a law, why concern yourself with the law? I wondered if you could explain that. By the way, your anniversary of profession is coming up isn't it? Congratulations!]]

Good to hear from you; it has been a while!! Interesting observations and question!  Yes, I continue to write about canon 603 for one particular reason; namely, as I have come to perceive it, it is not merely a canon allowing for admission to profession and consecration (as historically and ecclesially important as this is); instead, the canon prescribes a profound and often unimagined way of life constituted by the central elements named therein. Many mistakenly treat these elements as though their meaning is obvious and easily understood and lived. For instance, poverty, chastity, and obedience seem clear enough. So do "Stricter separation from the world", "assiduous prayer and penance" and "the silence of solitude". That one is required to write a Rule of life may seem a requirement anyone can easily accomplish, and dioceses routinely send folks off to do this without instructions or assistance -- fully expecting they will be able to succeed at the task, but this is not so easy really. 

Beneath the words of the canon in this element and in all the others, however, there are worlds the hermit is called and will need to explore, embrace, and embody if they are to truly be a canon 603 hermit. The canon supplies, in significant ways, the windows to these worlds. Because I petitioned to be admitted to profession under this canon and because the Church professed, consecrated, and commissioned me to do so, I am living and exploring this particular eremitical life; gradually I have come to know or at least glimpse the depths of the life prescribed by the canon --- even when I have not lived into them as fully as I am yet called to. 

 As a corollary, I have come to know many of the depths of the canon itself. I write about canon 603 now 14 years after perpetual profession and consecration because, from within this life, I continue to see new things in the canon --- things Diocesan bishops and Vicars for Religious (who often know very little about such a life or canon 603 itself) need to see, things candidates need to have a sense of as they approach mutual discernment and formation in this call, and things those professed under canon 603 are also committed to exploring. Especially, I continue to write about canon 603 because, from within this life, I have always perceived a beauty about it and the way it blends non-negotiable elements with the freedom and flexibility of a solitary life lived for the sake of others in response to the Holy Spirit. It both demands and allows for profound eremitical experience before profession and it both calls for and empowers even greater depth and breadth in living this life thereafter. You see, it is not just the single elements of the canon nor their apparently "obvious" meanings that are important -- though of course they are crucial. It is what is implicit and profound in them and in the fabric they weave together that is also critical to appreciating canon 603. 

This kind of appreciation is important not just for the hermit herself, but also for dioceses seeking to use the canon appropriately and for canonists whose tendency is to want to add additional requirements and legislative elements to the canon before admitting anyone to profession. More and more I have come to see that these added elements are unnecessary, not only because eremitical life itself doesn't need them, but because canon 603 itself does not. Of course, in coming to appreciate the beauty I referred to above, and the surprising adequacy or sufficiency of the canon, one must be open to seeing there what is more than superficial or even more than significantly explicit.

 Let me give you an example. The canon requires the solitary hermit to write her own Rule. However, it doesn't explicitly define the nature of the Rule and whether it will function as law, Gospel, law and Gospel (or Gospel and law); will it be primarily or wholly a list of do's and don'ts, limitations and permissions, or will it provide a vision of the life the hermit is committing to live with whatever that requires? Nor does c 603 explicitly require that it be a liveable Rule which may only come to be after the hermit has written at least several drafts. And yet both of these, rooted in the hermit's lived-experience and long-reflection, must be understood as called for by canon 603. Another example is the central element, "stricter separation from the world." What does it really mean? What does it call for from the hermit? I have written a lot about this element of the canon over the past decade and more, so I won't repeat all that here, but where in the canon does it speak of freedom from enmeshment with falsity, freedom for truth and honest engagement with and on behalf of God's good creation? These words are never used and yet, these are part, perhaps even the heart of what this element of ''stricter separation'' refers to.

Nor is it just a matter of getting under the superficial or common usage of the terms involved. One needs to begin to see the way they are related to one another and help in the weaving of a single reality. Both of the elements just noted, the requirement that the hermit write her own Rule and stricter separation from the world, demand the hermit engage in a process of growth and maturation in Christ specifically as a canon 603 or diocesan hermit. Moreover, the canon provides a vision of consecrated solitary eremitical life in the Church. Each element contributes to this vision, including those in both 603.1 and 603.2. At the same time, in service to the incarnation of this vision in an individual's life, canon 603 provides the means for a process of discernment and formation, both initial and ongoing, even though this process is not explicit in the text of the canon. 

The requirement that a hermit write a liveable Rule confronts everyone with the needs for adequate discernment and formation. But how is this achieved? Do we need more canons? Must we borrow from canonical norms established (wisely and appropriately) for other and less individual forms of religious life? Again, I find canon 603 beautiful and perhaps surprising in its sufficiency here: what is implicit in the requirement that the hermit write her own Rule is the fact that an adequate process of discernment and formation can be structured according to the hermit's growing abilities and capacities to write a liveable Rule of life that is true to canon 603's vision of solitary eremitical life.  Writing a liveable Rule of Life is not simply one element of the canon among others; it is the culmination of a process of reflection, prayer, study, and personal growth in Christ (and thus, in all the other elements of the canon) it itself guides and crystalizes. 

A hermit engaging in the writing of a liveable Rule will require accompaniment and assistance (a very small formation team, for instance), but the process envisioned here can be relatively simple and effective in guiding the diocese working with a candidate for profession, and certainly it is respectful of the freedom required by both the hermit and the Holy Spirit in shaping and deepening this specific vocation. Best, it grows organically from (or is implicit in) the requirements of canon 603 itself.

To return more directly to your questions. Canon 603 is certainly a norm by which the Church recognizes, governs, and thus perpetuates solitary consecrated hermits. It is associated with canonical (legal) rights and obligations which bind the hermit. It defines the nature of the diocesan hermit's life and so, provides the central elements which mark this definition. It is here, however, that canon 603 becomes something more than most canons because it is associated with a vision of the solitary eremitical life and a vision is not only about what is seen, but about the underlying mystery which grounds, inspires, and is to be manifested in the lives of those living under this canon. 

I believe that the authors of c 603 wrote something rich, perhaps richer than they knew. Canon 603 is a window opening onto Mystery; the mystery of eremitical life, of God and the way human beings are verified (made true) in communion with God, the mystery of the way even the most isolated life can be redeemed in solitude, and the mystery of the way even human and Divine solitude always imply community. Because all of this and more is true, because canon 603 is not a once-used now-essentially-irrelevant law (unless of course, one transgresses it!) but something far more, I continue to reflect on, pray with, and write about c 603.

Postscript: Yes, it's a big week for me. I mark my birthday on September 1st, and celebrate the anniversary of my perpetual profession under c 603, the next day, 2nd Sept. Thanks for asking!

When Diocesan Personnel Don't Understand What A Rule is or How it Functions

[[Sister Laurel, if a diocese is going to use the process of writing a Rule as a key to discernment and formation of a solitary hermit it will make a difference in the way they understand what a Rule is, right? You wrote that there are two ways of approaching a Rule, that of law and that of Gospel. You also say that a Rule has to embody one's vision of eremitical life and its significance in the 21st century. But what happens when a diocese does not appreciate or maybe understand things in the same way you do? Does every diocesan official who works with hermits know what it means to write a Rule? Do they even know what a Rule should be and do? You see what I am getting at I bet: what if a diocese doesn't understand the Rule or the way a Rule should function as you do? What happens then?]]

Really terrific questions, thank you! Yes, your point is well-taken. Because many dioceses have never had the experience of discerning a vocation with a diocesan hermit (one who has lived the life for some years and actually makes it to perpetual profession), they may not know what a Rule actually is or how it works. The problem is exacerbated when the persons working with the candidate are priests or others who have never lived according to a Rule --- much less ever having written one for themselves --- and who think it can simply be a list of do's and don'ts. Similarly, such persons may not appreciate the degree of introspection, reflection, and experience required to write such a Rule. Again, when this is the case there is a much greater tendency to allow the Rule to devolve into a mere list of things one may or may not do. The problem, of course, is that such a Rule does not encourage growth or motivate adherence. Dioceses that allow the hermits they profess to write such Rules and are satisfied with them really set up both themselves and those they profess for failure.

So yes, I have to agree that this is a real problem. Canon 603 legislates a Rule written by the hermit herself, but like many terms or elements in this canon, it presumes a degree of knowledge that many diocesan officials may have no acquaintance with. When dioceses tell a candidate whom they have not worked with for any real length of time to go and write a Rule and offer no assistance, resources, contact people, or concrete suggestions or guidelines, I think there is a problem which will only become more complicated as the diocese and candidate move forward toward and with (temporary) profession. But writing a Rule is an incredibly intense and challenging piece of work (though this is accompanied by a sense of joy and freedom at many points), especially if one expects that same Rule to serve as the basis for a vocation that is canonical (ecclesial) and marked by appropriate rights, obligations, and expectations.

It is one thing to believe one is called to be a hermit, another to try living as a hermit for a few months or a couple of years and to do so successfully. But it is entirely another thing to try and synthesize what one has learned about God, oneself, silence, solitude, and eremitical life lived according to the evangelical counsels during this brief time and to create a Rule which will govern one's life for the foreseeable future for years and years!! This is especially true when that Rule needs to say essentially (and in some ways, explicitly): here is my vision of this life; here is what I am called to live and why; here is how I will embody the central elements of Canon 603, and here is why this vocation and my own living out of it is a gift to the People of God and the whole world in the 21st Century!

A diocese that fails to understand what a Rule is and how it is to function in the hermit's life does neither the would-be hermit, the eremitical vocation, nor the Church any favors in turning a candidate loose to "write a Rule" as the easiest requirement of Canon 603. Not only will good candidates often not be able to create a Rule at all, but the Rules created will not be liveable; they will not be able to inspire and support the hermit in living out her vocation throughout the coming years in ways that support greater growth, wholeness, and holiness in response to the Holy Spirit. The results will mean the diocese has failed the individual, the c 603 vocation more generally,  and in concrete terms may lead to the rejection of a candidate with a real vocation or profess someone who simply does not because they can compose a "Rule" consisting of a series of do's and don'ts divorced from reality and the hermit's lived-experience.

Let me add that dioceses and others are in the midst of a rather steep learning curve with regard to canon 603, and that some dioceses with religious in the offices overseeing the profession of c 603 hermits will do very much better in this process because they know what living according to a Rule means and requires. They may not have written one but they do have a sense of what they look like and how they function. This dimension of the diocese's own education on the implementation of c 603 is critically important for the well-being of c 603 vocations now and into the future. Meanwhile, hermits will do their best to find resources supporting their growth in this vocation. Additionally, it is likely that those who are faithful in this way will continue to redact their Rules as needed with the assistance and approval of those supervising them.

Questions on Writing a Rule of Life: Why Demand a Longer Process?

[[Dear Sister, you wrote that only after a person has lived eremitical solitude for several years should a diocese ask them to write a Rule. Are you trying to draw out the process? Why can't a person write a Rule before they even approach the diocese and then turn up there Rule in hand as they make their petition for profession? Surely it can't be all that difficult to write a Rule for hermit life. I think you are trying to make this more difficult than it needs to be and I have never heard of a diocese asking a person to wait for years before writing a Rule. Usually it is the first thing they look for! Do you think you know more than dioceses do in this matter? Hardly very humble for a "consecrated hermit" is it?]]

Yes, I wrote that just recently and I have done so from time to time over the past fourteen years as well. There are always exceptions of course, but generally speaking, most people showing up seeking to be professed as diocesan hermits have never lived in the silence of eremitical solitude at all much less for an extended period of time. If you were to engage them in a conversation on canon 603, its central elements, history, or the vows it calls for, you would find they knew little if anything about these. If you asked them to describe the vision of life they live by few would be able to articulate this, and if you asked how it is they structure their lives in light of their life in and with Christ, the response you would get is a far cry from what eremitical life looks like.

In those I have been in touch with, it has seemed to me that a number of them are expecting the diocese to accept them as candidates in some sort of hermit formation program and to profess them at the end of two or three years after they have simplified their lives a bit, been kitted out in a habit, and read a few books about prayer, desert spirituality, and the vows (maybe!)!  In truth, those who are serious about eremitical life are at the beginning of a long journey, a life-long journey, in fact, which will change them to their roots -- just as it will reveal God to them in ways they could never have imagined. It is only as a person has lived this journey for some time, and have begun to glean a vision of what its shape and substance will be, that they will be able to write a liveable Rule of life.

Yesterday I "met" via ZOOM with a diocesan hermit who is making her solemn/perpetual profession on the 22. Aug. (Feast of the Queenship of Mary) I don't think she will mind my sharing this story here. You see, it has been my privilege to accompany her over the past several years --- first, as she considered what this call might mean for someone living solemn vows as a monastic for 34 years, and then, as she went through the process of exclaustration and began her formation as a solitary hermit with an ecclesial vocation. This was our very first ZOOM conversation so it was wonderful to actually see each other. (It is amazing what the light in another's eyes adds to a conversation!) One of the things we talked about briefly was the content of the Bishop's Decree of Approval, Rule of Life because hers reads a bit differently than mine does. But we did that after a bit of laughter-filled reminiscing when she asked me, "Do you remember what my first Rule of Life was like?" (I did!) . . . Do you know, there were seven drafts??!" (I did not!!) She also reminded me what my advice was after the first draft: "Set it aside [and live your life]." All of this is instructive in one way and another --- not only because of the struggle and growth it points to, but also because of a shared joy and humor at the way the Holy Spirit had worked with our limitations in all of this.

Consider Sister's experience of cloistered religious ( i.e., monastic!) life, of the vows, and of living according to a Rule and constitutions. She had served in leadership in her congregation and been a novice directress. She had felt the tug of a call to greater solitude and had to move against the tide of community life (which she loved deeply) to honor that call. And she was tested in this. And yet, it took her seven drafts to negotiate the gradual transformation from cenobite to semi-eremite and finally, from eremite to diocesan eremite  (not that all of these are experienced as entirely discrete stages), 2) who God is in her life, 3) an expression of eremitical life which is at once traditional and contemporary, and which, 4) she can truly live in the name of the Church. Those seven drafts were the record of her initial formation as a hermit. But they were much more than that. They were also the workbooks in which she claimed and articulated that formation for herself and the church in a way which aided discernment and perhaps will have served (or will serve in the future) in instructing others regarding what such a process of becoming a solitary hermit looks like when it is well (faithfully) done; (the approved Rule becomes a quasi-public document marking another hermit's assumption of a vital place in the church's eremitical tradition); moreover, these drafts were guidebooks on the way which, besides marking the landmarks of her formative journey, helped inspire that formation.

So, no, I do not suggest that dioceses have people live as hermits for a few years before asking them to write a Rule in order to draw out the process or set arbitrary obstacles for the person. The process is an organic one which takes work, and prayer, and time --- significant periods of time. Dioceses that ask someone to write a rule as soon as they believe the person  might  be a suitable candidate for profession does this person no kindness. Instead they can be setting the person up for failure. Using the gradual crafting of a liveable Rule as a guide to discernment and assistance in formation simply makes good sense and takes advantage of what the process demands anyway. In any case, I suggested what I did because I want to see people succeed in what is already a demanding process.  I want the Holy Spirit to be given a chance to work in all the ways She needs to work. My own writing of my Rule was, until the past four years of intensive inner work, the most formative experience of my life. I very much want others to have a similarly rich and fruitful experience if that is the will of God --- and yes, I absolutely want to educate dioceses on the way the requirement that a hermit write her own Rule can be allowed to be a grace for all involved!!!

Do I think I know more than dioceses do in this matter? Yes, generally speaking, I believe I do. I have learned from my own crafting of a Rule and I have sometimes mentored others. Thus, I did not impose a set process on anyone, but I urged them to allow the Rule to take shape as their own eremitical lives and corresponding vision did. Those who were able to entrust themselves to the potter's hands over what was typically a several year period, evidenced a similar process to my own. We each made the journey and allowed the journey to shape the Rule just as we allowed the portions of the Rule we had composed (and therefore, canon 603 itself) to further shape and define our journeys/lives. This is not arrogance. It is humility -- a loving honesty learned by trusting the Holy Spirit and the call we each heard or discerned in the other, a humility meant to assist dioceses and those faced with the prospect of writing a Rule of life despite never even having read, much less lived according to a Rule! (My friend was very far ahead of the game in this regard and yet, her own growth and inspired vision took time to form and more time to come to expression in a liveable Rule!!!)

I know that this requirement of canon 603 is the most concrete-sounding element of canon 603, and the most easily pinned down by a diocese with little experience or sense of how to proceed in this matter. But it is not one someone without experience living solitary eremitical life can accomplish --- nor should they be asked to try, especially without mentoring. A Rule is a tool, but it can become a precious friend --- if I may speak this way --- for the Rule accompanies us, supports, challenges, inspires, guides, instructs us, and protects our vocation. It is a window for the Holy Spirit, a living document which breathes with the life of the hermit, her Abba, and her Lord and Spouse. It (and certainly the crafting or weaving of such a sacred text [from the Latin texere, to weave]) should be allowed to function in all the ways such a process can function. This will serve the hermit, the diocesan staff who work with her, the Church universal who promulgated canon 603, and the eremitical tradition entrusted to all of these.

On Canon 603 and Writing One's Own Rule: Does this Supplant the Gospel Rule?

[[Dear Sister, Paul Giustiniani once wrote that the only Rule could be the Gospel. How is it canon 603 can ask a person to write a Rule of Life besides this? Isn't it kind of presumptuous to think one can write a Rule in addition to the Gospel?]]

Thanks for this question. It is a very good one and I think this is the first time it has been asked. The passage you are referring to in Paul Giustiniani reads as follows: [[Let our rule of life be the life of Christ; let our written rule be the Gospel, having it always in our hands, taking care never to stray from the very rules of Christ. Therein lies true religious life, the norm of all perfection. What is there in the rules of St Dominic or of Saint Francis that is not in the Gospel? Since we are Christian, let us renew ourselves, as by a new baptism, so as to follow Christ alone. What Saint Paul told the Corinthians applies to us: Did Dominic and Francis redeem us in their blood? Have we put on Dominic or Francis? Christ is the font of living water; all these saints are but tributary streams. Let us drink from the source. Let us follow along the royal road as they did, the One who has called us.]]

 I copied this at length because I wanted to point out how similar it is to Saint Romuald's "Brief Rule," (cf., Saint Romuald With Brief Rule ) and in fact, to underscore that in a sense, the heart of Paul Giustiniani's own version of a Camaldolese Rule is represented by this passage. In other words, in writing about the primacy of Scripture in the life of Christians and especially in the lives of all true Religious, and in saying there is only one rule, Giustiniani has given us another!! What Romuald, with his admonition to stay rooted in the Psalms (Scriptures), and Giustiniani with his accent on staying rooted in the Gospels (Scriptures) both do, along with Saints Francis and Dominic, is give us a vision of Religious and/or Eremitical life which flows from and always returns to the Scriptures so that the follower of their Rules will be nourished by and come to embody the life of Christ in the whole of their lives.

It is not presumptuous for the Church to ask hermits to write a Rule of Life with regard to canon 603, so long as we understand the way such a Rule functions, both for the hermit and for the Church herself. For instance, beginners in the eremitical life tend to write Rules which are legalistically focused; they are focused on law rather than on Gospel. Such Rules tend to be unliveable and in any case will certainly stifle growth in the spiritual life and the freedom of the hermit. Because dioceses use the Rules which are submitted to them as part of their discernment of the vocation standing in front of them, such a Rule could tell them a person is not yet ready for profession or that she needs more formation --- and possibly in what areas of her life. Someone who has lived eremitical life for some time and is both self-aware and disciplined enough to build what is critical to her life in Christ into her Rule, will write a very different sort of Rule than the beginner. This will be evident to those who read it, as will the degree of experience, formation, commitment, and vision (including all the ways the centrality of Scripture is embodied in the life) of such a candidate for profession.

When folks ask me about writing a Rule I always describe the two basic options: a Rule rooted in Law, or a Rule rooted in the Gospel; a Rule which is mainly a glorified list of do's and don'ts, or a Rule which provides a personal vision of eremitical life and how it is this is a living out of the Life of Christ in the power of the Spirit. The second form of Rule is one which reflects the person's lifelong living out of God's will and all the ways God speaks, loves, calls, calls to, challenges, and comforts her. The vision it expresses is culled from and is a kind of distillation of the way eremitical life both nurtures, expresses, and fulfills the vision which is at the heart of her life. Yes, it will say how the hermit lives and prays, but it will do so as the natural outflowing of the vision of God in Christ that animates her. As the hermit grows in this life the place of Scripture may become more prominent, or at least more explicit. Both her director, her delegate, and her bishop (if he knows her well enough for this -- some, unfortunately, do not) will look for it or see its development long before the hermit's Rule needs to be rewritten!

Giustiniani wrote of St Francis and St Dominic as "tributary streams" from the primary "font of living water" that is Christ. Consider that Giustiniani knew full well that both of these Saints had either written or adopted Rules (Dominicans use the Rule of St Albert) which allowed them to make sure the Gospel was lived in a way which ministered to the times and people of these times. He does not condemn these Rules but he does clarify the place of Christ's own life and the Scriptures to them. In other words. like hermits writing Rules for c 603, their Rules do not replace the Gospel; instead these Rules involve a vision of a way in which people can allow the Gospel of God in Christ to predominate and speak to the people who would follow Christ in this specific way rather than in another. Had I written an eremitical Rule in the 16th C. rather than the 21st, it would likely look rather different than the ones approved by canonists in 1985, or with a Bishop's Decree of Approval in 2007, for instance, but it would still be a tiny tributary of the Living Water I know in Christ.

I think it's really important for a person to grapple with the place of Christ in their whole life and experience. Writing a Rule demands one do this in more disciplined and challenging ways than almost anything else I know except ongoing personal formation with one's director. It is similarly important for one to articulate their vision of the nature and place of eremitical life in the contemporary world and Church. Writing a Rule also forces one to do this to some extent while living the Rule encourages further reflection and inculcation or formation. Again, it is important that a diocese be able to have something which serves to assist them in discerning and establishing guidelines for formation for a vocation to solitary eremitical life. A candidate's writing of a Rule does that as well. And finally, it is important when dioceses and the larger Church evaluate the way Canon 603 is and is not being implemented that they be able to document the way hermits live their lives. The Rules hermits write and submit to their dioceses will assist with this as well; a copy of this Rule is kept in the hermit's file; it is not a purely personal document but a quasi public one.

On Writing a Rule as a Formative Process

[[Dear Sister Laurel, if I want to guide my own formation as a hermit --- I mean with the help of my spiritual director of course --- you suggest writing several Rules over a period of time. Will that work for me if I am self-guided? Should I include the elements of canon 603 in this Rule? Why would I need to write several? Do I write until I have one the diocese will accept? What if they never say yes to professing me? Thanks!]]

Good questions. I think that using the exercise of writing several Rules (or rewriting significant parts of Rules, depending on the situation) over a period of several years can work very well for you or anyone whether or not they are seeking to become a diocesan (solitary canonical) hermit. One of the things that is true about writing is it allows us not only to express what we know but also to learn as we write or to bring to conscious awareness insights which were unconscious and largely hidden from us. Struggling to find the right words in a particular context often allows us to make connections with other parts of our writing (and life) we might otherwise not have made. I believe writing a Rule is one of the most important formative experiences a hermit can have. One consolidates what one has learned about living in the silence of solitude and what one has learned about the silence of solitude as a goal of human being. One learns as one writes about who one is with and in terms of God, how God has worked in one's life, how God is present in solitude, what kind of prayer one's relationship with God necessitates, when and how one does this (or allows God to do this!), what work one needs to do, what study, lectio, recreation, rest, and community one must have to be a healthy hermit, and so forth. Until one puts these kinds of things in words, until one articulates how one lives and will protect or foster them, one is not fully aware of them -- or of oneself.

At the same time one will discover where one has no words at all for something which is central to eremitical life. Sometimes we assume we are living all the elements of canon 603 until we attempt to say how and why we live them. Then we may find we have not given sufficient time or thought to a given element. For instance, in my first Rule I completely omitted "stricter separation from the world" because I was really unsure of the validity of the term. I didn't fully understand it and I wasn't sure I could commit to living what I thought it meant! It took me some years to work through the meaning of this term and to formulate what I understood in a way I could commit canonically (publicly) to. Thus, I kept it in mind, read about it, prayed and thought about it, studied the way it might fit in terms of the Gospel and my own vocation and well-being, and generally worked out what I was committing myself to (and what I was NOT committing myself to since there are serious misunderstandings of this term associated with some expressions of monastic life). The difference between silence and solitude and "the silence of solitude" was also something it took me time to understand. Writing allows for consolidation of all of this while planning to eventually write allows one to ponder and pray over what one is being asked to write and commit oneself to. This is helpful not only in formation but discernment as well.

I believe it is imperative to use the elements of canon 603 to guide one's writing and one's life as a hermit even if one is going to be a lay or non-canonical hermit. These elements define the very nature of eremitical life as it is recognized in the Church. Of course if one desires to be professed by the Church and enter the consecrated state of life one clearly has to be living these elements; they are normative for the diocesan hermit. I think, though, that, with the exception of the vows of religious obedience and chastity in celibacy, they are important for the lay hermit living eremitical life in the Catholic Church as well. In all of this they are important points for reflection, study, discussion with others, and for prayer. Your director should be able to assist you in learning about each element and in building them into your life in a way which, more and more, defines that life as eremitical. Journaling or keeping a notebook about them will also be of assistance and help prepare you for writing your own Rule of life and one that is adequate for guiding you for years to come.

My suggestions for writing may differ depending upon whether you are trying to become a diocesan hermit or not (you ask about writing a Rule your diocese will accept but otherwise this is not clear). If you are participating in a mutual discernment process with your diocese you will need to share each version and discuss what growth (formation) each represents when contrasted with the last one and take into account what the Vicar for Religious has to say about the process and your own suitability for eremitical life; beyond this it can be used to help your diocese to gauge your own readiness for vows. Otherwise (if this is a private matter involving private vows or no vows at all) you will need to discuss matters with your SD (spiritual director) and evaluate your growth and possible focuses for the future. Generally I would suggest you begin by writing a summary of what prayer, recreation, study, work, and rest is important in your daily life with God in solitude. Write, for instance, how you maintain the silence of solitude and stricter separation from the world. Write how you serve others, whether in the silence of solitude or in other forms of ministry, what your prayer life looks like, how you understand the penance of eremitical life, religious poverty, etc.


You may not be including all of these elements at present and that's okay. Again, this first document is not so much a Rule as it is a summary of what you are currently living. Start then with this summary; use it as a guide for an eventual Rule and then, with the help of your director, discuss and build in the missing elements over time. At the same time and with an eye on canon 603, be aware of what you are not prepared to write about at all or what does not seem to be working well for you. Discuss these elements (e.g., not enough lectio or study time, silence is problematical somehow,  dealing with friends and family,  relating with your parish community, supporting yourself from work undertaken within a hermitage, etc) with your director and make adjustments with her assistance. (You can also contact hermits and ask for their input on various topics.) Make notes from time to time on the elements you have not yet included or are unready to write about, read about them, discuss them with any others you might know who do live them (other Religious and even other hermits).

At the end of a year or two during which you will have made changes with the aid of your director, consider whether you are ready to write a Rule which you could commit to live for a year or so. If you are working with a diocese and moving toward public profession this Rule should largely reflect the central elements of canon 603; again, have a discussion with the Vicar for Religious of what you are doing and why; writing in this way can provide your diocese with a significant and substantial means to discern your vocation with you. The Rule you write at this point would be your first draft of an actual Rule, so to speak, and it would be your first attempt to write a plan of eremitical living which meets your own needs and gifts. As you attempt to live it, again attend to what works and what does not, what changing circumstances need to be accommodated in some way, and what dimensions of canon 603 still seem to be beyond your vision of the life; with your director's aid make what changes are necessary. At the end of the year evaluate 1) how well your life and  Rule reflect the vision of eremitical life made normative in c 603, and 2) how ready are you to make vows of the evangelical counsels? Usually you will need at least another year or two to learn about and begin to consciously live the evangelical counsels. At the same time you may need to make more changes in your life to accommodate additional elements of c 603.

I believe it is only at the end of this time (so, several years) that you would you even be potentially ready to write a Rule which would be binding in law for profession under canon 603 and it might be wise to write another temporary Rule in the meantime as a means of reflection on and guide to continuing growth. If you are not going to be a candidate for canonical profession, then use the general process of writing a livable Rule every couple of years or so until you have something which really works for you and reflects all the ways you have grown as well as reflecting c 603 as an informal guide to eremitical life as understood by the Church. While I have said "Every couple of years or so" you are, of course, free to use the general process with whatever time units work for you. The basic idea is that writing is helpful in learning and growing to be truly attentive and aware. It also binds you in a conscious way to a way of living and being you desire to do well. If you are not preparing for profession (or if you have already been publicly professed in an institute of consecrated life) you may not need as many "drafts" or temporary Rules. The vows will be familiar to you --- though you will still need to adapt the vow of religious poverty since you will be self-supporting under c 603. Again, writing in this way is meant to provide a means of formation for someone who is self-directed in the way a hermit must be, and the way you indicate desiring to be.

Please check other posts on this idea of using the writing of a Rule as a formative process. They may be clearer in some ways or add points I have omitted here. Regarding your last two questions, if you write a Rule which is 1) livable, 2) adequate in terms of experience and knowledge of c 603 and solitary eremitical life, and 3) clearly reflects who you are, your commitment to the Gospel, and how you live that out, there is no reason for a diocese to withhold permission for profession or make you write another Rule at this point. However, yes, you need to work at it until your Rule meets these requirements until and unless the diocese indicates they do not believe there is sufficient reason for you to continue in this way. If your diocese ultimately refuses to profess you at some point along the way, the process of formation which writing this Rule has helped shape (and which has helped shape you!!) will still stand you in good stead. I don't think you will fail to realize and appreciate that. In that case you will be able to live your commitment as a lay hermit with or without private vows and with a Rule which can guide your vocation well even if you need to amend or redact it every few years or so. (Occasional amendment or redaction is ordinarily necessary for diocesan hermits as well. I have rewritten my own Rule once since perpetual profession in 2007. I may do so again this year because of significant changes in the way I serve my parish, and the place of increased personal growth work, for instance.)

I wish you well in your project. Feel free to write again if I can be of assistance.

Questions on Writing a Rule of Life

[[Hi Sister Laurel,
       When you wrote your Rule how did you learn how to do it? I read where you suggest a candidate for profession under Canon 603 writes several different Rules over a period of time. Once one is solemnly or perpetually professed does the hermit continue to do this or can they just let the last Rule last for the rest of their lives? I am trying to write a personal Rule. Sometimes it feels like a good idea and other times I wonder why I am doing it? Did you ever have this kind of confusion? Do you have any advice for me?]]

Hi there yourself! I wrote my Rule over some period of time and learned only gradually as I did that. I learned especially as I reflected on how I lived, what Canon 603 called for (this took significant unpacking), and what I needed in order to live life fully and faithfully. I had some experience of what a Religious congregation's Constitutions or foundational documents might look like and what the Rule of Benedict consists in. Eventually (when I was considering rewriting my Rule sometime after final profession), my delegate also shared her own congregation's Constitutions and Statutes with me though I did not use these as models and I took time to study the Carthusian and the Camaldolese constitutions and statutes as well.

The first Rule I wrote was in @1985 and that was approved by canonists though I never used it for profession. I reworked it almost entirely in 2005 and that was approved both by canonists and by Archbishop Allen Vigneron in 2007; it was given a Bishop's Decree of Approval on September 2, the day of my perpetual profession under canon 603. In the last 11 years I have rewritten portions of this Rule and added a couple of sections which should have been included in the 2007 version but were omitted because my understanding of these canonical elements needed to mature. The last time I worked on my Rule in any formal way was around 2013 but of course I reflect fairly regularly on how I live it and need to live it. Because of the personal work I have undertaken over the last two years, the way I deal with the question of ongoing formation, for instance, needs to be looked at again. So does the section on the role of my delegate(s) or director(s). Clearly I don't think perpetual profession is the point at which a hermit ceases to rewrite her Rule --- though in my experience the need does become less pressing barring significant life changes.

In all of this I have been reflecting on what it means and takes to write a Rule. I have also been learning how it can and must function in my eremitical life and, by extension in the life of the Church's approach to canon 603 vocations. Because dioceses commonly use the Rule a hermit or candidate for profession writes as one very important basis for discernment of the vocation, I believe that a candidate/hermit seeking canonical standing under c 603 will need to write several Rules based on her maturing understanding of canon 603 specifically and eremitical life more generally. Similarly there will have to be a process of formation for an individual seeking canonical standing as someone living eremitical life in the Church's name. I have written before and remain convinced that for most candidates, writing several Rules which can provide dioceses and delegates/directors the basis for discerning the nature and quality of the vocation, a candidate's (or hermit's) needs in this regard, and the means for tailoring the diocese's input into the hermit's initial and ongoing formation, is a necessity for both hermit and diocese.

Personal Confusion and Ambivalence:

Your candor on how it feels to try and write a Rule is not surprising though the way you feel is not entirely familiar to me personally because I must have a Rule which I write and which functions appropriately for me in light of the Code of Canon Law. It is a requirement of canon 603 for any diocesan hermit. Moreover, it is difficult to see how one can live such a life without a Rule --- even or especially as one grows in the vocation --- so I have always had a clear reason for writing or rewriting a Rule. I don't suppose that helps you much of course but I do struggle with writing and empathize with what you say. I am sure you have a good reason you are composing a personal Rule. I would suggest you spend time getting in touch with that; first ask yourself why generally you are doing this and maybe write a paragraph or two about that and what purpose you hope the Rule will serve. Keep what you write with your notes on the Rule itself. It may help to inspire you when writing is difficult and shape what you write when it is not as difficult.

A second suggestion I have is to ask yourself why you are writing whatever specific section that is giving you trouble. Ask yourself if this is rooted in your own experience of need and your deep belief that you are called to this specific practice because it is life giving to you, or if instead for instance, you are writing about doing something or adopting a particular praxis because someone else does it or believes you should do it. Reflecting on and clarifying why you are proposing a specific spiritual practice, form of penance, prayer period or prayer form, etc. may help you resolve the difficulty you are having in writing.

The bottom line here is we include things in our Rules we feel deeply called to, not simply things we think others do or will approve of, and so on. Unless you are writing a Rule which must include the central elements of c 603 or an Episcopal Third Order, for instance, you are free to explore and create almost the entire shape of what you will live and thus, what your Rule will look like. (Even with c 603 there is tremendous freedom in shaping the way one lives the central elements of the canon and life as well as the Rule itself!) And of course even if you are writing your Rule because it is a requirement as noted above it should still reflect those things which are deeply life giving to you. Meanwhile, identifying other reasons for your ambivalence can also help you to proceed.