Followup Questions on Ecclesiality, Individuality, and Thanks from Another Hermit

[[Dear Laurel, I read your last piece a couple of times and was overwhelmed by what you wrote about the hermit becoming the place where God and world came together, a place of intercession. I have followed your writing on the ecclesial nature of the c 603 vocation with interest, especially as it intensified in the past couple of years. I have known that it means more than living as a hermit within the Church, and I understood, of course, that this vocation belongs to the Church that then entrusts it to me, but something was still missing for me. In my own eremitical life, I have worried about whether or not my life is too individualistic. I have also wondered if I should watch the news more, or be a bit more active in my parish, or cultivate a couple of the relationships I have with others that show promise of deepening, and I have been concerned that that would decrease my own solitude and even make me less of a hermit. I have also wondered from time to time what you mean when you say eremitical solitude is a unique form of community. And now, because of your last piece and what you wrote about becoming the place of intercession, it ALL makes sense to me!! 

I don't really have a question. Or rather, I probably have a lot of questions that are bubbling around inside of me and haven't yet come to articulation. But having said that, it seems to me that the guidebook from the Dicastery was important for you to come to understand yourself as the place of intercession,  is that true?  And while I am asking, do you think the pseudo spirituality you wrote about is common to hermits today? It seems really, really dangerous to me, though I think it helped you come to where you are as well. Is this distortion of eremitical life one of the reasons you say the Rule, with its three-stranded braid, needs to include ecclesiality? Oh, right, one more question. When you wrote about the canon honoring individuality and referred to the range of meaning in the elements of the canon, what did you mean, and how does that help prevent individualism? I didn't quite get that. I wasn't going to write except to thank you for hanging in with this blog for such a long time. It is interesting seeing it all come together in the way it has. It gives me a deeper sense of my own vocation and maybe a bit more patience with myself as well, so, really, thank you! By the way, if any of this is helpful for your blog, feel free to use it. ]]

Hey, hi! Thanks for reading and writing! When you have further questions, please be sure to ask! I am going to start by clarifying my meaning in the sentence you asked about. What I actually wrote was, [[Given this flexibility, individuality (which is deeply honored by c 603's requirement of a personal Rule of life the hermit writes herself, the range of meaning contained in each element, and the absence of time frames, stages of formation, etc.) mustn't devolve into individualism.]] What I had in mind was the fact that c 603 honors the individual hermit and the flexibility of the life, not only with the requirement that the hermit writes a Rule of Life that will not be like any other hermit's, but that the constitutive elements of the canon have a range of meanings the deeper one goes into the vocation and her relationship with God. So, for instance, the most obvious meaning of the silence of solitude refers to the quiet of life lived alone (assuming no television, etc!). 

Over time, however, if one continues in the various disciplines of eremitical life, one will also come to realize that silence also means the inner state that results from personal healing, maturation, and sanctification. The same is true of genuine solitude; it became a state of wholeness. This means they both depend upon profound and very real relatedness, which leads to their growth. Then, too, in time, one will also come to understand that "the silence of solitude" points to what it means to exist in deep relation to and learn to "hear" while being enwrapped in God's own silence, and so, to learn to love from that place. 

Solitude reflects a range of meanings just as silence does. Most superficially, it means aloneness, but as one's experience of eremitical solitude deepens, so too does it come to mean relatedness (to oneself, God, and the world whose cries the hermit hears with increasing clarity and compassion). Eventually, solitude will come to indicate the community that results from being oneself in and for the Love of God and all that God holds as precious. I believe each of the central elements of c 603 has a similar range of meanings, and this means that each hermit's journey with and to God can lead to growing understanding that will differ from the understanding of other hermits. This also means that someone asserting that solitude means "being alone" in an absolute and univocal way may be knowledgeable about the dictionary definition of solitude, but not about the range, depth, and even the paradoxical senses of eremitic solitude. It also means that these differences in understanding cannot be allowed to devolve into individualism, and the quickest way to that is by absolutizing any single meaning.

You also asked about the "three-stranded braid" and my emphasis on ecclesiality. [[Is this distortion [individualism] of eremitical life one of the reasons you say the Rule with its three-stranded braid needs to include ecclesiality?]] I have been interested in nature and importance of the ecclesiality of the vocation since around the time I petitioned for admittance to profession and consecration with (then) Bishop Allen Vigneron. We had a brief conversation on this during our first official appointment, and my interest in it has only grown over the years. What Abp Vigneron and I talked about was the fact of this vocation's ecclesiality and how very few people seem to "get that". (He gently reminded me that he knew what it meant, and I was appropriately chagrinned since I had not meant to imply he did not!! I remember nodding and shaking my head -- laughing some at myself, and wondering how else I might manage to insult the man at this first official meeting! Fortunately, the conversation proceeded easily.)** You see, I had been surprised at conversations I had had with other c 603 hermits or candidates who had no sense at all of the ecclesial nature of this vocation. Over time (after consecration), my own understanding of the linkage between ecclesiality and the prevention of individualism became clearer (more explicit) and deeper; when Ponam named the Church as one of two contextual poles preventing individualism, I felt really gratified. It did put things into a single sentence, which was important to see from the Church; in that way, it may have helped crystallize what had been a long-standing interest and conviction for me. When I began working recently on a project regarding the important implications of the hermit writing her own Rule, I had to look again at what was essential in such a Rule. It was not entirely surprising that ecclesiality was the third strand and that this included the fact that the Church herself must look for this (or at least a budding sense of this) in c 603 vocations and the Rules these persons write. 

In part, my sense of this importance has come from my experience of hermits or would-be hermits who were seeking to use c 603 or eremitical life as the validation of their own estrangement from others, their own personal failures at living life in the Church, their own desire to do their own thing and be a religious while doing so, etc. I had honestly not anticipated running across hermits who were exaggerated individualists, so finding this particular distortion in several hermits or would-be hermits was a bit of a surprise. Still, the ecclesiality of the eremitical life has more positive roots than the need to avoid individualism. This is what we see when we begin to explore what this vocation means for the Church itself. Here, as I have said several times recently, we see a life that reflects the hidden heart of the Church and what it means for the human being to be hidden in Christ and become the very place of intercession in him. These are far more important than the mere avoidance of individualism, and it was the sense of ecclesiality and its importance in consecrated hermits that led me to see this!!

Good luck with your own questions and discernment. I know you will do what you sense God calling you to. If what I have written on ecclesiality and individualism (and perhaps what I wrote in this post on the range of meanings in solitude, silence, and the silence of solitude, for instance) has helped, I am glad!

**In that meeting with Bishop Vigneron,  the conversation ended with the two of us standing facing each other, taking the other's hands in our own, and each praying aloud our own prayer for the process we were stepping into! It was a powerful moment for me.

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".