Questions on Priests Transitioning to Eremitical Life Under c 603

[[Sister Laurel, how common is it for dioceses to profess diocesan priests as hermits? Are they expected to go through the same process of discernment and formation as anyone else, or are they given a kind of special entre to profession/consecration because of their priestly vows? (I am thinking here of a kind of shortcut or abbreviated profession like adding a vow of "simplicity" to the vows already made as a priest.) If you were looking at a priest candidate for c 603 profession what would you be looking for? Thanks]]

Thanks for the questions. I have omitted the questions on a particular priest and diocese for the moment. I believe the case you raise is significant and I will try to answer your questions, but I wanted to go with these more general questions first. It is always tragic when there is a disedifying use of (or refusal to use) c 603 by bishops who really may not understand either the canon, its history, or solitary eremitical life itself, particularly when they use it to shoehorn someone into this vocational option despite their manifest lack of suitability, preparation, and discernment, but it does happen. So, let me answer the above questions first, at least until I have done what I can to ascertain the facts in the specific case you raised. Some of these repeat responses I have given others in the past so be sure and check past posts as well.

It is not common for dioceses to profess secular priests, especially younger ones, under canon 603. There are several reasons. First, during seminary training a significant program of pastoral work and discernment is undertaken. By the time one reaches the point of readiness for ordination everyone is pretty clear that the young man is called to an active apostolate whether or not he has a contemplative bent or not.  in light of this there must be really significant signs of a different vocation to change the young priest's heart and mind on the matter and those of his bishop, et al; this will take a similarly significant time to reveal itself and even then all kinds of steps will be taken to help ease the young priest's dis-ease with his parish assignments. 

After all the time, energy, and expense, spent in the original discernment and formation processes no prudent bishop or priest is going to jump (or allow a priest to jump) into life as a hermit, much less profession and consecration under c 603, nor should the Office of Consecrated Life allow a precipitous move from active priestly ministry to consecrated eremitical life. It is not fair to anyone involved in such a case, nor is it an appropriate use of the canon. Moreover, it is offensive to dioceses and diocesan hermits who have spent the requisite time and energy in truly discerning hundreds of such vocations since the canon was published in 1983 --- just as it is unjust and offensive to those who petitioned in good faith for admission to profession and consecration and, for whatever good reasons, were eventually refused.

Generally speaking, then, yes, a priest candidate will undergo the same formation and discernment process as anyone else in preparation for admission to a life of the evangelical counsels lived in the silence of solitude. After all, as I have pointed out a number of times over the years, this is a uniquely significant and rare vocation, and very few, relatively speaking, are called to human wholeness and holiness in such a vocation. It deserves care and attentiveness by all concerned. Secular priests with promises of obedience to their bishops will need to prepare for a vow of religious obedience to God in the hands of their bishops and anyone the bishop delegates to serve in this way. Similarly c 603 requires profession of the Evangelical Counsels including religious poverty and chastity in celibacy. In my understanding of these vows they are richer, grounded differently in different realities, and thus require a different preparation than do, for instance, the commitment to the discipline of celibacy or a life given over to some form of "simplicity". 

If you are asking whether a vow of religious poverty could simply be added to the commitments of celibacy and obedience made by secular (diocesan) priests, my sense is no, canon 603 and the Rite of Religious Profession used for Canon 603 professions require public vows (or other sacred bonds) made to God of the Evangelical Counsels. These are not identical to the commitments (promises) made by secular priests to their bishops. Remember that the three evangelical counsels together make up the lion's share of an organic profession or self-gift to God; they must be similarly grounded in a love which demands that God and God's Kingdom be primary in matters of wealth, relationships, and power (thus, religious poverty, chastity in celibacy, and religious obedience).  Also, it is important to remember that profession itself is a broader act than the making of vows, as central as vows may be to the act of profession. This means that one does not reduce it to the making of vows and certainly not to an act in which one adds a single vow to other varying commitments; profession is an exhaustive and  ecclesial act of self-gift which, when definitive (or perpetual), will also include God's consecration of the person.

You ask what I would be looking for as I assessed a priest candidate for c 603 consecration. In light of what I have already said, I would be looking for a contemplative who had been successful in his active ministry as a parish priest but who had developed as a contemplative over a period of years. I would look for someone who, again for a period of years (at least 7-10), had developed a life given over to substantial silence and solitude and who had discovered an undeniable call to eremitical life rooted at every point in the charism of what c 603 calls "the silence of solitude". 

I would look for a priest who had worked with a spiritual director regularly and over a period of years to develop a life of prayer nourished in this context and always calling him back to it in ways which led everyone who knew him to recognize a potential hermit -- not because he could not live his priestly vocation and active ministry, but because these things had absolutely required what is for him this form of deeper love and were ultimately fulfilled and perhaps transcended in it. (For any hermit engaged in limited ministry I would always look for the ministry to be rooted in the silence of solitude and lead the hermit back to it in an integral way; the silence of solitude always needs to be primary and the lifestyle contemplative. A "hermitage" is not merely a base of operations from which to launch an essentially active lifestyle, nor is it to be used as a way of controlling (or appeasing) problematical priests who simply "don't fit" in parish ministry or the diocesan culture. 

Despite, or maybe precisely because a hermit's life is characterized by its "stricter separation from the world" (which does not merely refer to the world outside the hermitage per se), hermitages are not escapist; they are a paradoxical and profoundly loving way of engaging in and on behalf of the life of the diocese and parish. I would argue that priests who may ultimately discern with the church that they are being called to life under c 603 must demonstrate a long history of loving both parish and diocesan life while struggling to love it more deeply from a contemplative perspective. 

Thus, I would look for a priest whose greatest success in his vocation to a priestly apostolate was the evolution of his love of God, self, and others into the solitude of authentic eremitical life, not into some ideological excuse or individualistic isolation. After all, his very life in the silence of solitude must itself be a prayer; it must itself be a ministry --- indeed, the hermit's primary ministry and the ground and source of any other limited ministry. It must be a witness to all but especially to the marginalized left isolated by life's circumstances that such life can be redeemed by God's love and transformed into the wholeness, personal quies, and communion hermits know as "the silence of solitude". It ordinarily takes careful and long discernment and formation to be sure enough of such a vocation to admit one to consecration under c 603; for priests already publicly called and ordained to an active apostolate at least as great care should be taken as for any other candidate for consecration.

Feast of Saint Romuald (Reprise)

 

Romuald Receives the Gift of Tears,
Br Emmaus O'Herlihy, OSB (Glenstal)

Congratulations to all Camaldolese and Prayers! Tomorrow, June 19th is the the feast day of the founder of the Camaldolese Congregations! We remember the anniversary of solemn profession of many Camaldolese as well as the birthday of the Prior of New Camaldoli, Dom Cyprian Consiglio.

Ego Vobis, Vos Mihi: "I am yours, you are mine"

Saint Romuald has a special place in my heart for two reasons. First he went around Italy bringing isolated hermits together or at least under the Rule of Benedict --- something I found personally to resonate with my own need to seek canonical standing and to subsume my personal Rule of Life under a larger, more profound, and living tradition or Rule; secondly, he gave us a form of eremitical life which is uniquely suited to the diocesan hermit. St Romuald's unique gift (charism) to the church involved what is called a "threefold good", that is, the blending of the solitary and communal forms of monastic life (the eremitical and the cenobitical), along with the third good of evangelization or witness -- which literally meant (and means) spending one's life for others in the power and proclamation of the Gospel.

Stillsong Hermitage

So often people (mis)understand the eremitical life as antithetical to communal life, to community itself, and opposed as well to witness or evangelization. As I have noted many times here they mistake individualism and isolation for eremitical solitude. Romuald modeled an eremitism which balances the eremitical call to physical solitude and a  to God alone with community and outreach to the world to proclaim the Gospel. I think this is part of truly understanding the communal and ecclesial dimensions which are always present in true solitude. The Camaldolese vocation is essentially eremitic, but because the solitary dimension or vocation is so clearly rooted in what the Camaldolese call "The Privilege of Love" it therefore naturally has a profound and pervasive communal dimension which inevitably spills out in witness. Michael Downey describes it this way in the introduction to The Privilege of Love:

Theirs is a rich heritage, unique in the Church. This particular form of life makes provision for the deep human need for solitude as well as for the life shared alongside others in pursuit of a noble purpose. But because their life is ordered to a threefold good, the discipline of solitude and the rigors of community living are in no sense isolationist or self-serving. Rather both of these goods are intended to widen the heart in service of the third good: The Camaldolese bears witness to the superabundance of God's love as the self, others, and every living creature are brought into fuller communion in the one love.

Monte Corona Camaldolese

The Benedictine Camaldolese live this by having both cenobitical and eremitical expressions wherein there is a strong component of hospitality. The Monte Corona Camaldolese which are more associated with the reform of Paul Giustiniani have only the eremitical expression which they live in lauras --- much as the Benedictine Camaldolese live the eremitical expression.

In any case, the Benedictine Camaldolese charism and way of life seems to me to be particularly well-suited to the vocation of the diocesan hermit since she is called to live for God alone, but in a way which ALSO specifically calls her to give her life in love and generous service to others, particularly her parish and diocese. While this service and gift of self ordinarily takes the form of solitary prayer which witnesses to the foundational relationship with God we each and all of us share, it may also involve other, though limited, ministry within the parish including limited hospitality --- or even the outreach of a hermit from her hermitage through the vehicle of a blog!

In my experience the Camaldolese accent in my life supports and encourages the fact that even as a hermit (or maybe especially as a hermit!) a diocesan hermit is an integral part of her parish community and is loved and nourished by them just as she loves and nourishes them! As Prior General Bernardino Cozarini, OSB Cam, once described the Holy Hermitage in Tuscany (the house from which all Camaldolese originate in one way and another), "It is a small place. But it opens up to a universal space." Certainly this is true of all Camaldolese houses and it is true of Stillsong Hermitage as a diocesan hermitage as well.

The Privilege of Love

For those wishing to read about the Camaldolese there is a really fine collection of essays on Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality which was noted above. It is written by OSB Camaldolese monks, nuns and oblates. It is entitled aptly enough, The Privilege of Love and includes topics such as, "Koinonia: The Privilege of Love", "Golden Solitude," "Psychological Investigations and Implications for Living Alone Together," "An Image of the Praying Church: Camaldolese Liturgical Spirituality," "A Wild Bird with God in the Center: The Hermit in Community," and a number of others. It also includes a fine bibliography "for the study of Camaldolese history and spirituality."

Romuald's Brief Rule:

And for those who are not really familiar with Romuald, here is the brief Rule he formulated for monks, nuns, and oblates. It is the only thing we actually have from his own hand and is appropriate for any person seeking an approach to some degree of solitude in their lives or to prayer more generally. ("Psalms" may be translated as "Scripture".)

Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it. If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more. Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor. Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.

Violence at the Heart of Christianity?

[[Dear Sister, I read a comment on a book that said Jesus' death on the cross represents a sanctioning of violence right at the heart of Christianity. Is that true do you think? I've read several books that suggest that Jesus' death validates violence like in domestic abuse. Is there some way to avoid this conclusion?]]

Thanks for your questions. In the theology of the cross I have presented here over the past years, I hope it is clear that I don't accept that either conclusion is the case. If we were to argue that God wills the torturous death of his Son without nuance or careful delineation then I think the folks making these kinds of comments or drawing these conclusions would be correct, but since I believe we must tease apart what was and what was not the will of God in Jesus' passion and death, and since I believe Jesus' torture was not the will of God but the will and actions of sinful humanity doing their worst, I also believe we can avoid sanctioning violence at the heart of Christianity. Please note that suffering does exist at the heart of Christianity, but it is not the will of God, nor is it some form of punishment for sin; it is instead what is meant to be redeemed and is redeemed as Jesus makes it his own for our sake. My basic point in several posts here has been that what God wills, especially as Jesus prays in discernment in the Garden of Gethsemane, is a life lived with integrity in obedience (openness, responsiveness) to the will of God --- the will to fullness of life and love mediated through Jesus' vocation as "a man for others".

What is especially redemptive in Jesus' suffering and death in light of the violence which does seem to stand right at the heart of God's battle with sin and evil, is the fact that God in Christ makes these ordinarily isolating and shameful realities his own and in doing so transforms them from places of degradation and shame into potential places of grace and blessing. There is judgment here, but it does not fall on Jesus. Instead, it falls on those who torture and kill him, those in positions of power who diminish and degrade with violence. Because Jesus takes these things on, what were symbols of failure, weakness, and inhumanity become instead symbols (not mere signs!) of the very presence of God and so too, of an incredibly revelatory humanity lived with integrity in communion with God.

Clearly, I believe it is possible to avoid the conclusions you set forth in your questions. Violence is not sanctioned at the heart of Christianity because Christology is about how God deals with the reality of violence and human power structures which torment the helpless and impoverish the weak. God takes human violence on by making it part of his own life; however, God also overturns and condemns it by bringing a victory out of even the worst that humans can and do to one another. In other words, God says no to violence and exploitation as he says an unconditional yes to those who are the victims of such realities, and also to the perpetrators of such violence. God always says no to sin and evil, but God also always says yes to the persons touched by these things.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: Celebrating Power Made Perfect in Weakness (Reprise)

 [[Dear Sister, if a person is chronically ill then isn't their illness a sign that "the world" of sin and death are still operating in [i.e., dominating] their lives?  . . . I have always thought that to become a religious one needed to be in good health. Has that also changed with canon 603? I don't mean that someone has to be perfect to become a nun or hermit but shouldn't they at least be in good health? Wouldn't that say more about the "heavenliness" of their vocation than illness? ]] (Concatenation of queries posed in several emails)

As I read these various questions one image kept recurring to me, namely, that of Thomas reaching out to touch the wounds of the risen Christ. I also kept thinking of a line from a homily my pastor (John Kasper, OSFS) gave about 7 years ago which focused on Carravagio's painting of this image; the line was,  "There's Another World in There!" It was taken in part from the artist and writer Jan Richardson's reflections on this painting and on the nature of the Incarnation. Richardson wrote:

[[The gospel writers want to make sure we know that the risen Christ was no ghost, no ethereal spirit. He was flesh and blood. He ate. He still, as Thomas discovered, wore the wounds of crucifixion. That Christ’s flesh remained broken, even in his resurrection, serves as a powerful reminder that his intimate familiarity and solidarity with us, with our human condition, did not end with his death. . . Perhaps that’s what is so striking about Caravaggio’s painting: it stuns us with the awareness of how deeply Christ was, and is, joined with us. The wounds of the risen Christ are not a prison: they are a passage. Thomas’ hand in Christ’s side is not some bizarre, morbid probe: it is a  union, and a reminder that in taking flesh, Christ wed himself to us.]] Living into the Resurrection

Into the Wound, Jan L Richardson

My response then must really begin with a series of questions to you. Are the Risen Christ's wounds a sign that sin and death are still "operating in" him or are they a sign that God has been victorious over these --- and victorious not via an act of force but through one of radical vulnerability and compassion? Are his wounds really a passage to "another world" or are they signs of his bondage to and defeat by the one which contends with him and the Love he represents? Do you believe that our world is at least potentially sacramental or that heaven (eternal life in the sovereign love of God) and this world interpenetrate one another as a result of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection or are they entirely separate from and opposed to one another? Even as I ask these questions I am aware that they may be answered in more than one way. In our own lives too, we may find that the wounds and scars of illness and brokenness witness more to the world of sin and death than they do to that of redemption and eternal life. They may represent a prison more than they represent a passage to another world.

Or not.

When I write about discerning an eremitical vocation and the importance of the critical transition that must be made from being a lone pious person living physical silence and solitude to essentially being a hermit living "the silence of solitude," I am speaking of a person who has moved from the prison of illness to illness as passage to another world through the redemptive grace of God. We cannot empower or accomplish such a transition ourselves. The transfiguration of our lives is the work of God. At the same time, the scars of our lives will remain precisely as an invitation to others to see the power of God at work in our weakness and in God's own kenosis (self-emptying). These scars become Sacraments of God's powerful presence in our lives, vivid witnesses to the One who loves us in our brokenness and yet works continuously to bring life, wholeness, and meaning out of death, brokenness, and absurdity.

To become a hermit (especially to be publicly professed as a Catholic hermit) someone suffering from chronic illness has to have made this transition. Their lives may involve suffering but the suffering has become a sacrament which attests less to itself  (and certainly not to an obsession with pain) but to the God who is a Creator-redeemer God. What you tend to see as an obstacle to living a meaningful, profoundly prophetic, religious or eremitical life seems to me to be a symbol of the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It also seems to me to remind us of the nature of "heavenliness" in light of the Ascension. Remember that one side of the salvation event we call the Christ is God's descent so that our world may be redeemed and entirely transformed into a new creation. But the other side of this Event is the Ascension where God takes wounded and scarred humanity --- and even death itself --- up into his own life, thus changing the very nature of heaven (the sovereign life of God shared with others) in the process.

Far from being an inadequate witness to "heavenliness" our wounds can be the most perfect witness to God's sovereign life shared with us. Our God has embraced the wounds and scars of the world as his very own and not been demeaned, much less destroyed in the process. Conversely, for Christians, the marks of the crucifixion, as well therefore as our own illnesses, weaknesses and various forms of brokenness, are (or are meant to become) the quintessential symbols of a heaven (life in the very Life of God) which embraces our own lives and world to make them new. When this transformation occurs in the life of a chronically ill individual seeking to live eremitical life it is the difference between a life of one imprisoned in physical isolation, silence, and solitude, to that of one which breathes and sings "the silence of solitude." It is this song, this prayer, this Magnificat that Canon 603 describes so well and consecrated life in all its forms itself represents.

Bowl patched with Gold

We Christians do not hide our woundedness then. We are not ashamed at the way life has marked and marred, bent and broken, spindled and mutilated us. But neither are woundedness or brokenness themselves the things we witness to. Instead it is the Sacrament God has made of our lives, the Love that does justice and makes whole that is the source of our beauty and our boasting. Jan Richardson also reminds us of this truth when she recalls Sue Bender's observations on seeing a mended Japanese bowl. [[“The image of that bowl,” she writes, “made a lasting impression. Instead of trying to hide the flaws, the cracks were emphasized — filled with silver. The bowl was even more precious after it had been mended.”]]  So too with our own lives: as Paul also said, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing power will be of God and not from ourselves."  (2 Cor 4:7) It is the mended cracks, the wounds which were once prisons, the shards of a broken life on their way to being reconstituted entirely by the grace of God which reveal the very presence of heaven to those we meet.

Revisiting a Criticism of the Misuse of the term "canonical obedience"

[[Dear Sister, a while ago you wrote a blog article on "canonical obedience" in response to the first part of the following quotation. [The person upset by my professed eremitic vows' inclusion of canonical obedience did not fully understand; perhaps the meaning and intent was confused with canonical approval of hermits by one's specific diocese bishop re. Canon Law 603. I, of course, was not singling out that particular canon law. (At the time, neither I nor my spiritual director were even aware of this relatively recent Catholic "law".) I tend to think, live, perceive and write more expansively and inclusively. My profession of vows includes obedience to all canon laws to the best of my ability. I strive to obey them as I strive to obey civil laws. But most of all, I need to focus on the Law of God which the Living Word specifies is love!] I think you should have considered the person's position beginning with, "I, of course,  was not singling out that particular canon law. . ." which you seem not to have quoted. The person you criticized was not writing about canon 603 but her own vow of obedience to all canon law and even more importantly to the law of God. I think you should retract what you wrote and apologize for quoting her out of context!]] 

You are correct that in January of 2017, I wrote a post about the incoherence of a private vow of what the poster called, "canonical obedience": The Incoherence of Vowing Canonical Obedience. I also wrote a follow-up post in February 2017: Another Look. In both of those posts I wrote about why it is that calling private vows of obedience "canonical obedience" makes no sense. The general gist of these pieces is this: 

1. Only in public vows does one makes a canonical vow of obedience to God in the hands of a legitimate superior (that is, only in this way does one make a public vow binding in law). This means the vow is received by the Church by someone acting in her name. Yes, one becomes canonically responsible for living the canons which affect her new state in life, especially via the public vow of obedience, but the term canonical obedience does not primarily mean "being obedient to canons." It refers to a new state in life which includes new canonical responsibilities to which one will be open, attentive, and responsive to God according to a vow of obedience and one's Rule of Life (or Constitutions and Statutes); 
2.  private vows, which are considered "non-canonical" vows, do not involve either a change in state of life or the related conveying and embracing of additional canonical rights and obligations beyond those of any baptized person; this is because a private vow is an entirely private act. The obedience owed to God, the Church, and her code of Canon law in a private vow is the same as that which obtains for any baptized person. No more, no less. There is no legitimate superior, for instance, in such a case, nor is there a Rule, Constitutions, or Statutes to which one is canonically bound in obedience. Again, a private vow of obedience obliges to the same obedience any baptized person owes to God and the Church by virtue of their baptism. While psychologically and spiritually helpful, perhaps, they are an important making explicit of one's baptismal responsibilities. Nothing new in terms of canonical responsibility is added, however.

The bottom line in all of this is that the term "canonical obedience" (to the extent we can use this term at all) implies a public vow of obedience made by someone entering or already in a canonical (public) state of life (religious, consecrated, ordained)  and so, a vow that is received by the Church, and which therefore binds canonically via legitimate superiors. It does not mean a private vow made to "keep canons," whether one or many. It seemed to me the original poster was trying to give her private vows a different weight or character by misusing the term "canonical obedience." In any case, the use of the term "canonical' with regard to a private vow of obedience is incoherent. It substitutes an idiosyncratic usage for that of the Church in order to indicate or imply something untrue about a person's private vows. It does not hang or hold together properly -- the very meaning of the term incoherent.

There is nothing in any of that that requires or calls for a retraction. As for quoting this poster out of context, I don't believe I have done that, but if you can demonstrate how I did so I am happy to respond with an apology. While I did not literally quote as much as you did, my responses referenced the author's entire post and responded directly to the sentence you believe I did not consider. As far as I can see, nothing was taken out of context. So, please let me thank you for your concern; I hope you will understand why, at this point, I cannot accommodate your request.

Pentecost: A Tale of Two Kingdoms

One of the problems I see most often with Christianity is its domestication (not to be confused with domestic churches!!), a kind of blunting of its prophetic and counter cultural character. It is one thing to be comfortable with our faith, to live it gently in every part of our lives and to be a source of quiet challenge and consolation because we have been wholly changed by it. It is entirely another to add it to our lives and identities as a merely superficial "spiritual component" which we refuse to allow not only to shake the very foundations of all we know but also to transform us in all we are and do. 

Even more problematical --- and I admit to being sensitive to this because I am a hermit called to "stricter separation from the world" --- is a kind of self-centered spirituality which focuses on our own supposed holiness or perfection but calls for turning away from a world which undoubtedly needs and yearns for the love only God's powerful Spirit makes possible in us. Clearly today's Festal readings celebrate something very different than the sort of bland, powerless, pastorally ineffective, merely nominal Christianity we may embrace --- or the self-centered spirituality we sometimes espouse --- in the name of "contemplation" and  "contemptus mundi". Listen again to the shaking experience of the powerful Spirit that birthed the Church which Luke recounts in Acts: 

Roaring sounds filling the whole space, tongues of fire coming to rest above each person, a power of language which communicates (creates) incredible unity and destroys division --- this is a picture of a new and incredible creation, a new and awesome world in which the structures of power are turned on their heads and those who were outsiders --- the sick and poor, the outcast and sinners, those with no status and only the stamp of shame marking their lives --- are kissed with divinity and revealed to be God's very own Temples. The imagery of this reading is profound. For instance, in the world of this time coins were stamped with Caesar's picture and above his head was the image of a tongue of fire. Fire was a symbol of life and potency; it was linked to the heavens (stars, comets, etc). The tongue of fire was a way of indicating the Emperor's divinity.  Similarly, the capacity for speech, the fact that one has been given or has a voice, is a sign of power, standing, and authority.

And so Luke says of us. The Spirit of the Father and Son has come upon us. Tongues of Fire mark us as do tongues potentially capable of speaking a word of ultimate comfort to anyone anywhere. We have been made a Royal People, Temples of the Holy Spirit and called to live and act with a new authority, an authority and status which is greater than any Caesar. As I have noted before, this is not mere poetry, though it is certainly wonderfully poetic. On this Feast we open ourselves to the Spirit who transforms us quite literally into images of God, literal Temples of God's prophetic presence in our world, literal exemplars of a consoling love-doing-justice and a fiery, earth-shaking holiness which both transcends and undercuts every authority and status in our world that pretends to divinity or ultimacy. We ARE the Body of Christ, expressions of the one in whom godless death has been destroyed, expressions of the One in whom one day all sin and death will be replaced by eternal life. In Christ we are embodiments and mediators of the Word which destroys divisions and summons creation to reconciliation and unity; in us the Spirit of God loves our world into wholeness.

You can see that there is something really dangerous about today's Feast. What we celebrate is dangerous to a Caesar oppressing most of the known world with his taxation and arbitrary exercise of power depending on keeping subjects powerless and without choice or voice; it is dangerous if you are called to live out this gift of God's own Spirit as a prophetic presence in the very same world which kills prophets and executed God's Anointed One as a shameful criminal --- a traitor or seditionist and blasphemer. Witnesses to the risen Christ and the Kingdom of God are liable, of course, to  martyrdom of all sorts. That is the very nature of the word, "martyr", and it is what yesterday's gospel lection referred to when it promised Peter that in his maturity he would be led where he did not really desire to go. But it is also dangerous to those who prefer a more domesticated and timid "Christianity", one that does not upset the status quo or demand the overthrow of all of one's vision, values, and the redefinition of one's entire purpose in life; it is dangerous if you care too much about what people think of you or you desire a faith which is consoling but undemanding --- a faith centered on what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace". At least it is dangerous when one opens oneself, even slightly, to the Spirit celebrated in this Feast.

We live in a world where two Kingdoms vie against each other. One is marked by oppression, a lack of freedom --- except for the privileged few who hold positions of wealth and influence --- and is marred by the domination of sin and death. It is a world where the poor, ill, aged, and otherwise powerless are essentially voiceless. In this world Caesars of all sorts have been sovereign or pretended to sovereignty. The other Kingdom, the Kingdom which signals the eventual and inevitable end of the first one is the Kingdom (Dominion) of God. It has come among us first in God's quiet self-emptying and in the smallness of an infant, the generosity, compassion, and ultimately, the weakness, suffering and sinful death of a Jewish man in a Roman world. Today it comes to us as a powerful wind which shakes and disorients even as it grounds and reorients us in the love of God. Today it comes to us as the power of love that does justice and sets all things to right.

 It is not easy to admit that insofar as we are truly human we have been kissed by a Divinity which invites us to a divine/human union that completes us, makes us whole, and results in a fruitfulness we associate with all similar "marriages". It is not easy to give our hearts so completely or embrace a dignity which is entirely the gift of another. Far easier to keep our hearts divided and ambiguous. But today's Feast calls us to truly open ourselves to this union, to accept that our lives are marked and transformed by tongues of fire and the shaking, stormy Spirit of prophets. After all, this is Pentecost and through us God truly will renew the face of the earth.

On Stricter Separation From the World as a Call to Love the World into Wholeness

[[Sister Laurel, I was asked where the "stricter" in "stricter separation from the world," comes from in canon 603.  Does it mean stricter than cloistered communities, stricter than other religious, stricter than other forms of consecrated life generally? I also was thinking about the idea of "the world" in the phrase in the canon. Doesn't this involve a kind of judgment (judgmentalism) on the world around the hermit? Because I take seriously the admonition not to judge others I wonder if Jesus would have condemned such an approach to something God created and Jesus  made new through his death and resurrection. Can you speak to this? ]]

In my understanding, the reference to "stricter separation from the world" in canon 603 is an intensification of c 607.3. That section of canon 607 reads: "The public witness to be rendered by religious to Christ and to the Church entails a separation from the world proper to the character and purpose of each institute." [Emphasis added]  Generally speaking hermits living under c 603 are called and obliged to live a separation which is stricter than that of other religious. Hermit's vows (or other sacred bonds) will qualify their relationship with the world in terms of wealth, relationships, and power (poverty, chastity, and obedience) but will, in conjunction with their Rule of life and the other requirements of canon 603, do so even more strictly than those of other religious. In particular, the hermit's ministry or apostolate will be very different because in the main it is a matter of being sent into the hermitage* in the ministry of prayer and not out in active ministry. I don't think it means more strictly than cloistered religious, however, because hermits are self-supporting and responsible for interfacing with her local, parish, and diocesan communities --- and even with the more extended support community I mentioned in a previous post.

I don't think the requirement regarding stricter separation from the world is a form of judgmentalism but it does require significant discernment on what, when, and how one will give one's heart to things -- first to God and then to all that is precious to God. Stricter separation from "the world" is meant to allow one to love and/or be loved by God in a way which leads to conversion and sanctification -- that is to authentic humanity -- and in light of that, to love all that God loves in a similar way. 

It is always important to remember, I think, that "the world" in canon 603 does not mean "everything outside the hermitage door" -- nor does it exclude dimensions of the hermitage itself as though "the world" is not present there as well. "The world" is a collection of attitudes, values, perspectives, and priorities which live in a hermit's heart just as they live in the hearts of others. Perhaps these have been more or less changed through the context of the silence of solitude and, more importantly, through assiduous prayer and penance, but they remain deeply inculcated and closing the hermitage door, especially when done while naively believing one has shut "the world" out, merely makes the hermitage an outpost of "the world".

As noted in earlier posts, The Handbook on Canons 573-746, notes that "the world" refers to "that which is not redeemed or open to the salvific action of Christ". I have added other dimensions to this definition: 'anything which promises fulfillment apart from Christ," for instance. Thomas Merton  warns against hypostasizing "the world" and sees it in terms of illusion which should be unmasked; it is that which has become a lie and which needs to be seen for what it is.** (see below) We do that when we see all of reality with the eyes of God, and that means seeing all of reality with the eyes of love, just as I noted in my homily for the Solemnity of Ascension.  What it does not mean is God's good creation generally. For that reason, the hermit does not reject the world outside the hermitage, nor even that which is antithetical to Christ. Instead her silence and solitude (i.e., her life with and in God) allows her to see things as they are and to help love them into wholeness. Stricter separation from the world is done for the sake of the hermit's capacity to see clearly and to love truly and deeply. This includes learning to see herself clearly and learning to love herself rightly and profoundly. 

So again, no, I don't think stricter separation from the world represents a form of judgmentalism any more than a physician's diagnosis in order to treat a disorder represents a form of judgmentalism. For the hermit, stricter separation from the world, means disentangling ourselves from all kinds of forms of enmeshment so we may see properly and love profoundly into wholeness. This is what I meant when I said it required significant discernment on what, how, and when we would give our hearts to things. I hope this is clear. So much spiritual writing treats "the world" as anything outside the hermitage, convent, or monastery doors or walls. But this is just careless and dangerous thinking. It neglects the very real dimensions of the human heart which are worldly and on which one cannot simply shut the hermitage door; it also neglects the Great Commandment of love and the profound relationship a hermit (for instance) must have with the world around the hermitage, especially in the silence of solitude -- as paradoxical as that sounds.

I agree with you that Jesus would condemn many writings that speak of "the world" as though it is a distinct objective thing outside a religious house. Especially I agree that Jesus would condemn any way of seeing God's good creation which ignores the victory of the cross over sin and death and over the powers and principalities of this world. We are challenged every day not to ignore "the world" but to see it clearly, to transform it with love, and thereby to eventually win its allegiance to Christ -- even if that allegiance is anonymous. Love provides the kind of unmasking which humbles without humiliating; it raises reality to its true dignity, and it allows the deep meaning possessed by reality to come through without idolizing this world or dimensions of it. It provides the lens through which we can see things truly and value them rightly. I think Jesus saw reality in this way and we who profess that we are in and of him, must be able to demonstrate that we have the capacity to see reality in the same way. 

Hermits separate ourselves more strictly from the larger world in order to cultivate this way of seeing, this way of loving. We do it so that we can be remade into a dimension of the heart of the Church; where others who share in the love of God in Christ are meant to be Jesus' hands and feet, hermits stand hidden and yet present as a representation of Jesus' own sacred heart. Once we think of ourselves in this way, stricter separation from the world will never again mean a sterile, much less judgmental, disengagement from the world. Instead it will be a new and paradoxical way of being engaged so the world may truly be and become all God calls it to be. Stricter separation from "the world" is about love for the world of God's great and creative goodness; it is not about "contemptus mundi" except to the degree we reject the ways the world itself has been falsified by human idolatry. It is this falsification (and the distorted human heart that created it) that must be unmasked, and this, it seems to me (and to Thomas Merton, I think) is the work of the hermit and her hermitage. 

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* The phrase "sent into the hermitage" instead of out into active ministry is borrowed with permission from Sister Anunziata Grace, a diocesan hermit for the Diocese of Knoxville. During a conversation we had several years ago she spoke this way and I found it particularly revelatory of the nature of the hermit's commission.

** And for anyone who has seriously entered into the medieval Christian. . . conception of contemptus mundi [hatred for or of the world],. . .it will be evident that this means not the rejection of a reality, but the unmasking of an illusion. The world as pure object is not there. it is not a reality outside us for which we exist. . . It is only in assuming full responsibility for our world, for our lives, and for ourselves that we can be said to live really for God." Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension: Seeing Our New Creation With the Eyes of God (Reprise)

In one of the Star Trek Next Generation episodes, Commander Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Larren are caught in a transporter accident. While returning to the ship, a surge of power or radiation causes them "materialize" back on the Enterprise in a way where they cannot be seen or heard. The transporter pad looks empty; they seem to have been lost. Neither can they interact in their usual way with the ordinary world of space and time; for instance, they can walk through walls, reach through control panels or other "solid" objects, and stand between two people who are conversing without being perceived. The dimension of reality Geordi and Ro now inhabit interpenetrates the other more everyday world of space and time, interfaces with it in some way without being identical with it. In other words, their new existence is both continuous and discontinuous with their old existence; Geordi and Ro are both present and absent at the same time. In Star Trek parlance this new way of being embodied is called, ”phased” -- because it is a presence slightly “out of phase with our own”. While their friends believe that Geordi and Ro are gone forever and begin to grieve, Geordi and Ro are still vitally present and they leave signs of this presence everywhere --- if only these can be recognized and their friends empowered to see them as they are.


Especially, I think this story helps us begin to imagine and think about what has been so important during all the readings we have heard during this Easter Season and is celebrated in a new and even more mysterious way with the feast of the Ascension. In these stories Jesus is present in a way which is both like and unlike, continuous and discontinuous with, normal existence; it is a presence which can be described as, and even mistaken for absence. Today’s first reading from Acts describes a difficult and demanding “departure” or “absence” but one which has the disciples misguidedly looking up into the skies --- something the angels upbraid them for. Meanwhile, the consoling and hope-filled word we are left with at the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel conveys the promise of an abiding presence which will never leave us. Jesus affirms, [[And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.]] In these readings, absence and Presence are held together in a strange tension.

We know that Resurrection itself represented the coming of something new, a new kind of expanded or less limited incarnation, a new embodied presence or materiality where Jesus can be encountered and recognized with the eyes of faith. What is made clear time and again as Jesus picnicked on the beach with his disciples, invited them to touch him, or even when he warns Mary of Magdala not to cling to him in this form, is that his resurrection is bodily. Yes, it is different from the kind of materiality Jesus had before his death. He is no longer mortal and so we are told he walks through walls and breaches locked doors or otherwise comes and goes without anyone seeing how. The gospel writers want us to understand that Jesus was not merely "raised" in our minds and hearts (though we will certainly find him there!); neither is the risen Jesus disembodied spirit or a naked immortal soul. Finally, he has not relinquished his humanity. God has raised the human Jesus to a new bodily life which is both earthly and heavenly.

Only in Luke’s version of the story is Ascension spoken of directly or treated as a separate event occurring 40 days after the resurrection. (Mark's Gospel originally ended short of the Ascension story.) Here Luke shifts our attention from Jesus’ continuing earthly but mysterious presence to his having been “taken up bodily into heaven”. But how can this be? We might be forgiven for thinking that surely the Star Trek story is easier to believe than this fantastical and incredible tale on which we base our lives! So, what is Luke doing here? What are we really celebrating on this feast?

What Luke and his original readers knew was that in the Scriptures, "Heaven” is a careful Semitic way of speaking about God’s own self --- just as the presence of clouds in today’s reading from Acts refers to the mysteriousness of God’s presence. Heaven is not a remote location in space one can locate with the proper astrometric instruments and coordinates; nor are unbelieving cosmonauts and hard-nosed empiricists the only ones to make such a mistake. After all, as we hear today, even the disciples need to have their attention drawn away from searching the skies and brought back to earth where Jesus will truly be found! Heaven refers to God’s own life shared with others.


Luke is telling the story in a way which helps us see that in Christ God has not only conquered death, but (he) has made room for humanity itself (and in fact, for all of creation) within (his) own Divine life. Christ is the “first fruits” of this new way of existing where heaven (Divine Life) and earth (created life) now interpenetrate one another. God is present in our world of space and time now in a way he could not have been apart from Jesus’ openness and responsiveness (what the Scriptures call his “obedience”), and Jesus is present in a way he could not be without existing in God. Jesus’ own ministry among us continues as more and more, Jesus draws us each and all into that same Divine life in the power of the Holy Spirit of the Father and Son.


St John uses the puzzling language of mutual indwelling to describe this reality: "The Father is in me and I am in him" . . ." we know that we abide in him and he is in us." When theologians in both Western and Eastern churches speak of this whole dynamic, their summary is paradoxical and shocking: [[God became human so that humans might become gods]]. And as one contemporary Bible scholar puts the matter, “We who are baptized into Christ's death are citizens of heaven colonizing the earth.” As such, we are also called on to develop the eyes of faith that allow us to see this new world as it is shot through with the promise of fullness. Some of us experienced what this means just this week.

On Wednesday evening Bro Mickey McGrath, osfs, gave us a virtual tour of his Camden ‘hood by sharing the work he had drawn and painted from Holy Week onward during his own sheltering in place. Many of us got a chance to see through his eyes, that is, through the eyes of faith and love. What Bro Mickey showed us was not an idealized Camden without violence, poverty, suffering or struggle; those were all present. But through his eyes we saw the greenhouse cathedral of a neighborhood garden, the communion lines  and eucharistic Presence of the community food pantry, the way of the cross of a crippled man as he limped up the street, a broken and bold statue of Mary standing as a symbol of perseverance and hope despite everything, and another more contemporary version made even more beautiful by a prostitute's gift of a single flower. And everywhere reality that could have been accurately drawn in harsh tones of pain and struggle were more accurately shown awash with life, beauty, and hope splashed in colors of brilliant orange and purple, gold and green, --- the colors of life, royalty, holiness, newness, and potential. 

Today’s Feast is not so much about the departure or absence of Jesus as it is his new transfigured, universal, and even cosmic presence which in turn transforms everything it touches with the life of God. The world we live in is not the one that existed before Jesus’ death, and resurrection. Heaven and earth now interpenetrate one another in a way which may sound suspiciously to some like bad science fiction. We know its truth, however, whenever we can see this New Creation with the eyes of faith and love --- that is, whenever we can see ourselves and the world around us with the very eyes of God. It is the only way we will become disciples ourselves --- or truly make disciples of all nations.

On Eremitical Support Systems

[[Dear Sister Laurel, I can see from what you have written about different forms of eremitical life that they would suit different people differently. Is that what you believe? I have been reading about the Carthusians and because of what you wrote about community as a context for living eremitical life I am beginning to understand why they require a community, and also why they have lay brothers. Some people talk about the Carthusians as the "real deal", but what is pretty clear to me is that the choir monks (hermits) require a huge support system to live the solitude they do. Are you able to live the same kind of solitude as a canon 603 hermit as the Carthusian choir hermits? If so, what is your support system like? Do you think that c 603 life is flexible enough to allow for several different expressions of eremitical life? I am not thinking [so] much of the distinctions you wrote about recently: community, semi-eremitical, and solitary hermits, but more the eremitical expressions of one individual hermit as opposed to or when compared with another individual hermit. Thanks for your blog, by the way, it is always helpful to me. I wish I had written sooner.]]

Wow, now this is a really great set of questions and your observations on the nature of Carthusian life are spot on! Thanks! First of all, while I think I understand the Carthusian life and degree of solitude in an intellectual way, I am not sure I know it in an experiential way --- not because I don't live a significant physical and inner solitude, but because I do not have the same constraints on my time, movement, and choices with regard to prayer, study, recreation, housework, faith community, etc. For that reason it would be hard for me to compare my own physical solitude (physical time in cell) with that of the Carthusians. But yes, as you say, Carthusian solitude (both inner and outer) requires a significant support system to protect and nurture it. That, however, is true of the Franciscan model of eremitical life as well, though to a much lesser degree. And, it is necessary to some degree for canon 603 hermits as well.  Eremitical life is not lived in a vacuum; every religious hermit requires a significant support system and communal context, including the parish faith community. Thus, while I personally consider the Carthusians the "real deal", I don't consider them the only "real deal" as far as eremitical life goes, and in some ways, I think they are a very limited expression of eremitical life today.

My Own Support System:

You asked about my own support system so let me talk about that a bit. First of all, I am thinking of the importance of my computer and internet linkages here. I have participated in listserves where some "wannabe hermits" decried the presence of a computer in the hermitage. They declare they would never use such a thing or even have it on the premises. (Please note they are on a computer listserve for hermits talking with consecrated hermits who also use computers in this way! Notice the irony?) They hold the same position regarding cell phones and other forms of technology. Good for them if they can do this, but one of the things the pandemic has made clear and that is the importance of internet access. It may seem paradoxical, but in fact, if I did not have access to the internet I would not be able to live the degree of solitude I do. In fact, that degree of solitude has become greater during these months of lockdown because providing for people who are living other forms of solitude has become more important to different companies and services.

I use the internet to shop and schedule deliveries for almost everything I need. I can now do doctor's appointments online, see clients this way (not optimal but it works), meet with my own Director without her having to drive here, teach Scripture this way, join with others for lectio despite not being able to get there due to distance otherwise, make retreats I would not have been able to attend without ZOOM, do this blog, keep in touch with hermits from several countries, and be accessible to others who would not be able to travel here to the hermitage (including a journalist along with a writer doing  articles on eremitical life, one from Canada, and the other from New York. I count one of these a new friend (not a word I use lightly) -- though I definitely owe her an email!) For many of these things I no longer have to travel distances by walking, taking trains and connecting with busses (and reversing that to get home). I can simply stand up from prayer, make a cup of tea, and turn on ZOOM. So, in thinking about support systems, I have to name my computer and internet connection as a critical part of that.

One of the things I am aware of is the number of people the things I just mentioned involves. Doctors, Director, Sisters I would not see or even have come to know without this connection, others who share their lives in lectio and enrich my own solitude with their faith and love and courage, delivery people and all those connected with grocery orders, pharmacy needs, and other routine needs here at the hermitage, clients, et al. Some of these people I never even see, but they are part of my support system and I am grateful to God for them and what they make possible. Others I see infrequently, but I know they are there and accessible, and that is important in living solitude rather than isolation. Some I see regularly --- even frequently (my Director, for instance), and a number are email contacts only (with an occasional ZOOM meeting thrown in here and there). One thing that just now strikes me as very "Carthusian like" is the way delivery persons set groceries right in front of the inner (front) door of my hermitage at an expected time. I often don't even see them --- much like choir monks never seeing the donate brothers who leave meals in the choir monk's' hatch.

Another hugely significant part of my support system is my parish faith community. For most of the pandemic I depended on members of this community to bring me groceries, prescriptions, etc. Others would check in regularly to see how things were. Regular liturgies were available via ZOOM, my pastor is always accessible. When the pandemic lockdown began I was disoriented because my contacts with those in my parish shifted so radically and I could not use the old pictures I held in my heart of members doing x or y --- because I no longer knew what they were doing, etc. It also shifted because I was trying to teach Scripture via ZOOM and that too was disorienting. Over time all of that changed, thankfully, and my solitude once again was rooted in a living faith community which supports my time alone in my hermitage. Not least, we continue to pray for one another during what is a difficult time for most. So, generally speaking, this is a brief sketch of my support system. It is substantial and actually allows me to live this vocation with integrity.

A final and integral part of my support system I should have mentioned above, and one I would like to see become more consciously developed, is the assistance I get from and give to other diocesan hermits. There are several of us who communicate regularly (or as regularly as we can!), and who are beginning to meet and reach out to one another in shared friendship and Sisterhood/Fraternity. These relationships grow organically but I can envision this conceivably becoming a contemporary version of a laura. Though we are divided by many miles and belong to different dioceses, we share our eremitical commitments to live our lives at the heart of the church and we do so as Sisters/Brothers and friends. We are linked by the computer pathways that allow us to email and even ZOOM with one another. This could grow to encompass periods of shared lectio once a week and perhaps some time for sharing and prayer otherwise. What I already know is the support of these Sisters and Brothers, but I can envision our commitment to Christ and one another -- in the spirit of c 603 and our individual Rules -- growing in a conscious way which could allow our becoming a small, but real laura of solitary hermits.

Canon 603 as a Flexible but Firm and Supportive Framework:

Yes, I do believe in c 603 as a flexible framework for varied expressions of consecrated eremitical life. One of the things I have written about frequently here is the way Canon 603 combines the essential defining constituents of any eremitical life with a(n essential) Rule of life the hermit writes herself on the basis of her lived experience and the way God is at work in her own life; together these create and protect a coherent and balanced solitary eremitical life. 

There are certain givens: this is a life of stricter separation from the world --- not only the busy world around one, but especially the world which is composed of all that is antithetical to Christ or rejecting of love and truth. Apparently canonists agree (cf Handbook on Canons 573-746, general norms, p.33). Above all this refers to the hermit's own heart!! Secondarily it means dimensions of the world around us -- though these two together constitute a single reality which must both be addressed by the hermit. To think that canon 603's reference to "stricter separation from the world" means merely shutting the hermitage door on all of God's good creation is theologically and spiritually naïve. To conceive of everything outside the hermitage as "the world" in the negative Johannine sense, is similarly naïve. 

Canon 603 life is a life of "the silence of solitude" which means not only that (physical or external) silence and solitude are the vocation's context, but also that the (inner and deeply personal) silence of solitude is its charism and goal. It is a life of assiduous prayer and penance --- a life of communion with God and of all those things which help one participate fully in such a life.  It is a life of the Evangelical Counsels vowed to God --- a life of complete dependence on God with its simplicity and frugality -- of chastity in celibacy (or consecrated celibacy), that is, a life committed to loving and growing in one's capacity for genuine and inclusive love --- and it is a life of obedience, a life of attentive listening and responsiveness to God in all the ways God comes to one symbolized especially in obedience to a superior who exercises the ministry of authority in one's regard. 

The vocation must be these things, truly and recognizably; together they constitute the necessary and firmly supportive framework established by the canon itself, but the way they are lived out in each hermit's life, that is the pattern of human commitment and fulfillment (holiness and wholeness) produced by this constellation of elements in one diocesan hermit to the next will differ. The Holy Spirit works with each of us and our differing backgrounds, resources,  capacities, and potential and the weaving that comes from this mutual and cooperative work of the Holy Spirit and the obedient hermit will differ one to the next. We will differ in how we dress, when we rise or retire, when and how we pray,  eat, read, study, minister outside or from the hermitage, rest, recreate, meet with our directors and delegates, relate to our parishes and dioceses, and much more as well. 

What our vocations will share is the beauty, seriousness, and celebratory spirit of desert life where the silence of solitude is lived and gained more fully in both quiet and peaceful existence and in and through the solitary struggles one will face daily with and within oneself; the desert existence has always been so because it is committed to growth in Christ which entails the process of daily, even continual dying and rising until we rest at home with and in God. No one hermit (or person) can or does live this pattern of dying and rising in the same way another one can or does, and yet, from hermitage to hermitage and heart to heart, there will be significant commonalities because of canon 603 and the nature of Christian life itself.

The Diocesan Hermit: Some Considerations by Therese Ivers, JCL

 I said I would speak to a canonist or two and see if they would be willing to weigh in on the issue of c 603, lauras vs communities, etc. Well, I was able to have a long conversation with a canonist this last weekend and she wrote a piece for her own blog which (as she and I talked about) I am also posting here. The author is Therese Ivers, JCL and her blog is: Do I Have a Vocation? As readers can see, I think the author and I are in general agreement on the basic characteristics of a laura as opposed to a community. 

The one dimension Ivers brings out which I had not spelled out explicitly myself is the temporary nature of a laura. (I realize much of what I have written necessarily implies this but Therese is definitely a step (or three!) ahead of me here. Regarding the diocese's responsibility in formation, both initial and ongoing, Ivers and I are also in essential agreement; I believe, however, we may differ on the way this responsibility is exercised. Meanwhile, I very much appreciate the various comments she has made on candidates for profession, discernment, formation, the desert fathers and Mothers, and so forth. Please note, I do add one element to the lists of distinguishing qualities Ivers supplied below, namely, spirituality; the approach to diverse spiritualities differs significantly from laura to community. The one thread that runs throughout Iver's analysis is the significance and uniqueness of the c 603 vocation. Emphasis on formation, discernment, the continuing role of the bishop, and the individual nature of the vocation are dimensions of this extraordinary significance. My sincerest thanks to Therese for sharing her work and time in this!

“Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything!”

In the early centuries of the Church, men and women fled to the desert as the Church’s first hermits. Christianity had become the official religion of the empire, and as a result of external prosperity and growth, Christian praxis became lax in the cities. Virgins, hermits, and ascetics grew in numbers to fill the vacuum of those intent on a life devoted to the sole focus on the service of Christ in a life of perfect chastity lived in the manner of their respective calling.

It should be noted that these were hard-core practicing Catholics who were familiar with their faith and extremely familiar with those things “in the world” that could distract them from their focus. In today’s language, we would say that these men and women were “well catechized” or “well formed”.

Hermits were no exception to the general quality of being “well catechized”. Nevertheless, not all were prepared for life in the desert or to the specific challenges of their calling. As a result, “mentors” naturally arose when hermits of great fame for holiness began to accept followers in their lifestyle. Likewise, hermits began to gather together at times for communal exercises albeit infrequently. How else would we know the doings of various hermits through the sayings of the Hermit fathers and mothers?

Some clusters of hermits (many lived at great geographical distance from each other but could be considered a “cluster” or “group”) eventually self organized and consolidated into proper monasteries. Others retained their proper eremitical character which consisted of individual hermits who lived their own very distinctive lifestyles who occasionally met up with one or more hermits. Clusters of such individuals came to be known as “lauras”. [The word lauras or lavras, in case I have not said this recently, comes from the Latin word for pathways; it was the pathways that linked these hermits and their individual hermitages to one another that defined such "clusters". SrL.]

Today, we have two forms of individual consecrated life in the Latin Church. One is that of hermits (canon 603) and the other, the portion of the order of virgins (canon 604) who are not also members of a religious institute. There are many myths about both forms of life, which have arisen for many reasons, particularly because of a profound misunderstanding of the nature of the vocation to be a hermit or to be a spouse of Christ respectively. The purpose of this article is to discuss some aspects of the eremitic vocation that is not always clear to those who are not cognizant of this vocation.

Individual Life Lived “In the Silence of Solitude” is the Primary Reality or Framework Designated by Canon. 603

As some people are aware, my original proposal for my doctoral dissertation in canon law was centered on the “Silence of Solitude” aspect of canon 603. It encapsulates the solitary lifestyle which is permeated with the mental and physical silence required for the “desert” substitution which provides the backdrop of the intense grappling of the soul with itself and heavenly -and not so heavenly- things.

Solitude, or a “stricter withdrawal from the world” is not a mere metaphor. It requires a similitude to the desert in which an individual is not rubbing shoulders with people on a daily basis [with the exception, perhaps of attendance at daily Mass if this is called for in the hermit’s rule]. Encounters with people should be infrequent, even in the running of a guest house, which should have periods of unoccupancy to facilitate the solitude of the hermit manager.

This is not a “religious of one” paradigm in which a hermit is free to do apostolic activity willy-nilly. On the contrary, the lay hermit (or diocesan hermit) is expected to be extremely withdrawn from the everyday hustle and bustle of the world. This includes apostolic works.

Some individuals imagine that they can live as a “caretaker” for someone else and live authentically as a hermit. Again, this is simply not the case. Caring for another person on a daily or frequent basis goes against the solitary nature of this vocation. But it is compatible for reasons of age or illness for the lay or diocesan hermit to be cared for, as there is a profound difference between caring for another in their daily necessities and being cared for in daily necessities when one is unable to do so.

The implication for a “laura” is also clear. That it is not the responsibility of individual hermits living in a laura (inside their individual hermitages) to administrate long-term care for an elderly or chronically ill fellow-hermit, and that provisions must have already been made and executed for the long term care of such hermits in appropriate facilities or with relatives [ideally Catholic].

A Word on Lauras:

Although it is possible for diocesan hermits to gather together in a geographic place, a laura is intended to be strictly distinct from a religious eremitic or semi-eremitic institute. Here are some of the key differences: (Apologies to Therese Ivers, because here she has a great chart laid out side by side; I couldn't use that here (space limitations) so I have set these two sets of characteristics out sequentially.)

Religious Institute:

• Common Superior to whom obedience is vowed who is not the bishop
• Common purse; the institute is jointly responsible for the wellbeing of the religious from the day of entrance until their deaths.
• Common rule of life
• Meals in common. Meals are eaten together in a refectory or at the same time in the hermitage.
• Communal Office or synchronized hours designated at common times [e.g. the horarium is the same for every individual even if the office is said alone in the hermitage such as in a Carthusian charterhouse]
• [In addition I would add here the single spirituality which characterizes an Institute and in which members are formed. An Institute of Consecrated Life will serve as a paradigm of a particular spirituality and its founder/foundress; it stands within the living tradition of this particular current of spirituality and consciously reflects and extends it. Thus a community will be Franciscan or Carmelite, or Camaldolese, and so forth. (SLO'N)]

Lauras:

• Obedience directly to the bishop as superior is professed
• Each individual hermit has their own bank account, retirement funds, health care and other insurances, and is expected to manage their finances individually. The individual hermit is expected to be independent regardless of whether they stay in a laura all their life, leave of their own accord, or are asked to leave.
• Individual rule of life that has been lived outside of the laura and which will be observed before, during [and even after] life in a laura.
• Generally meals should be taken alone and within the cell even if cooked for the whole laura. What is eaten, how it is eaten, and when it is eaten will be autonomously decided by the individual hermit.
• The individual hermit recites the liturgical hours or other prayers [non-cleric hermits are not obligated to say the liturgy of the hours and may in fact choose other forms of prayer to occupy their time] within the hermitage. This prayer-cycle is individualized for the growth of the hermit and therefore is highly unlikely to be synchronized with other hermits.
• [In addition to Therese Iver's list I would add here that there is no single spirituality beyond the general desert spirituality of the solitary hermit. A laura does not inculcate, much less form persons in a single spirituality like Franciscan, Camaldolese, Carmelite, etc. Instead it welcomes a diversity of spiritualities which will exist in harmony within a desert framework marked by the charity (in both rigor and flexibility) of the Desert Ammas and Abbas. Since a laura as such does not engage in the initial formation of hermits, and since it is a second half of life vocation, there is no concern with forming novices in a particular spirituality. (SLO'N)]

A laura, is in short, a temporary living arrangement of independent diocesan [or] lay hermits who maintain their own rule of life, finances, hermitage, etc. on a piece of property. It is not the “ideal” way of living to which a canon 603 hermit “aspires” but is merely an arrangement that can be permitted for the good of hermits on an ad hoc and temporary basis [even if such an arrangement de facto lasts decades]. Practically speaking, the numbers of hermits on the property in a laura should be limited as it would become too unwieldy to have over a handful unless the property is vast and perhaps owned in trust by some entity that rents out hermitages.

Canon 603 is not intended to encourage the formation of lauras, but is primarily focused on the actual solitary vocation for which membership in a laura may be a help or a hindrance. In any and all events, membership in a laura cannot be a condition for profession as a hermit and it must always be the result of a voluntary and seriously discerned path on the part of the experienced and [ideally] already professed hermit who believes it may be of benefit.

Unfortunately, due to greater familiarity with religious institutes, dioceses may have an incorrect understanding of the difference between a laura and a budding religious institute. This may cause abuses of canon 603 when a “hermit” is really an aspiring founder/ess of an eremitical or semi-eremitical religious institute. If the “hermit” really intends to be a religious founder, then the steps for the founding of a religious institute are to be utilized and the “vocation” tested.

As a canonist, I have heard all too often the opinion that the “ideal” hermit is one who has membership in a laura. To the contrary, I would say that membership in a laura by its very nature would merely be a temporary living situation for a diocesan hermit. The diocesan hermit cannot escape the hard work of crafting a personal rule of life over the course of several years – I consider the minimum for this to be at least 7-9 years as a prudential measure not unlike the requirement for final profession of contemplatives to have had no less than 9 years of formation reasonable. [Emphasis added to original]

This rule of life cannot be a mere appropriation or light tinkering of existing rule(s) of religious institutes or even that of other hermits. It must result from experimentation and the self-knowledge of what is helpful for this particular person in his/her struggles in “the desert”. This hermit must know what a balanced lifestyle for himself looks like and that will not be identical to that of anyone else.

The relationship between the hermit and his/her bishop is a direct one, as the bishop is the lawful superior of the diocesan hermit. This remains true even in a laura, as the position of hermits in a laura is that of equals among equals. Any “leadership” position would be only to assist with certain communal exigencies of living on the same property; real authority is not canonically granted. The diocese continues to have the obligation of furnishing continuing formation and supervision to the individual hermits, whether they belong to lauras or not.

If a diocese thinks it can “escape” its responsibilities to hermits by abdicating its duties to a fictitious “superior” of a laura, then it is gravely mistaken. The hermit has the right to direct access to his/her lawful superior who is the bishop, any “delegate” notwithstanding and the bishop has the obligation of knowing the individual hermits in his diocese.

Initial and Continuing Formation of Hermits

The problem faced by hermits today, whether they be in the pre-formation/candidacy stage, initial formation stage, or post-profession stage, is that of formation. This is a complex reality as “living in the cell” is a large part of the formation process. But it is not the only part of the process. For diocesan candidates or hermits, the diocese has an intrinsic and serious responsibility to provide initial and ongoing formation to its hermits. This must be tailored and adapted to the reality that there will be no “companions” or live-in superiors to ensure continued growth of virtue and of wholeness in humanity of the hermit.

The individual hermits themselves have a grave obligation of growing in the practice of virtue, growing in prayer, widening their understanding of sacred scripture, theology, etc. They also need to be well aware of their own holy patrimony in the Church, and steeped in the mindset of the desert fathers/mothers.

Given the complexity of all that has been said above, the bishop, whose duty it is to carefully discern with those who believe that they may have a vocation to the eremitical life, should consult with true experts on the eremitic vocation. It is not enough for the people tasked with assisting the bishop in the discernment of eremitic vocations and/or formation to be ordained or possess a diploma in theology [unless their role is to give formation in say liturgy or theology]. Bishops should collaborate with those who actually know the canonical and practical framework of the vocation for viable candidates and those in need of continuing formation.

Likewise, the eremitical vocation is not a mere matter of the internal forum. It is a public vocation even if it is lived in solitude and therefore it has a visible framework. Thus, it is highly inappropriate and a grave abuse to relegate all work with the individual aspiring hermit to the “spiritual director”. The division between the internal forum and external must be maintained and those entrusted with roles in either must be suitably competent in their area.

While this may sound intimidating, it is the Church’s intent that both parties do their due diligence and not shirk their individual responsibilities. The bishop has the obligation of authenticating and promoting true vocations to the hermit life and the hermit aspirant has the obligation of discerning and following their vocation even if the diocese refuses to profess hermits for valid or invalid reasons. Someone called to the silence of solitude will do it regardless of whether the diocese is willing to profess hermits.