RETURN TO THE LORD IN HASTE

 

If there is one abiding principle I have learned in the 20 years I have been living the hermit life, it is that the Lord is always with us and all we have to do is turn our gaze to Him to submerge ourselves in the recognition of the continuing connection between the sheep and their Shepherd.

How this is done forms the life work of the spiritual aspirant. The more quickly one returns to God as each worldly task is completed, is an indication of our appetite for Him, for if we are tempted by the allurements of the world, then we tarry too long entertaining our baser instincts, wasting the gift of our attention when we should be delighting God with our loving glance.

Even the hermit cannot experience the submersion of the concentrated faculties in God every minute of the day. Our minds are required to negotiate our way down our path, whichever road we have chosen or which has been chosen for us. 

To pray unceasingly is the path of the contemplative hermit. Prayer and Labor, Ora et Labora, establishes the rhythm for the hermit, as our engrossment moves from one mode to another, from work to the Lord and back to work again, everything in its proper time. Our concentration needs to be complete for each. The Lord will know when our entire mind is not with him, and He will miss those parts of us that are withheld from Him, as He wants our entire consciousness to be upon him. Likewise, during our dedicated labors, even if only washing the dishes, we need our whole mind for the task, otherwise the crockery gets broken.

Just now, there is a lot of crockery being broken on Capitol Hill, and it is very distracting. We have a president who is rampaging through all the arms of the government and breaking things, in contravention of our laws, the Constitution, and our customs. It is disturbing to the hermit, first of all, because many people are being hurt unnecessarily and cruelly, which always bothers this hermit. 

The overriding problem, as I see it, is that this is not "business as usual" because this ruler is imitating many of the same things Hitler, Stalin and others have used to suppress and control people. 

I have reason to believe we are in danger of losing the democracy that allows me to live as a hermit, in peace. It will be more than crockery that gets broken if this man is allowed to follow through with his stated aims. Our entire way of life may be broken. 

Because of all of this, my attention has, of necessity, been captured by current events in a way that has not been done before this. There are civic duties to discharge, and I must do them. But at the same time, I cannot abandon my contemplative life.

Although I am aware that there is a constant stream of bad news and reportage of frightening events, I am posting this to remind my friends not to fall down that deep well of fear and despair. Do what you have to do in this crazy world of ours. Advocate for justice, write your letters, make your phone calls, have your meetings, feed the hungry, house the homeless, and encourage the downcast, but as soon as you are finished, return to the Lord in haste, and abide with Him in peace, quiet, and blessedness.

REMEMBER that, when you turn your attention to the Divine, the anxieties do not follow you. They do not follow because they CAN'T. 

When we are absorbed in God, the Blessed Mother, and the encouraging saints, that beautiful vibration that we reach and then match with our inner selves will not allow for the anxieties to catch us. God is all good, and when we are absorbed in Him, Satan and all the worries of the world CANNOT join us in that protected space of Sacred Love.

The one caution I would give is to make sure you do not cling to the bad news. Don't become fascinated by the evil of the world. Don't attach yourselves to your pet peeves, or you will become peevish instead of holy. 

Do only what you feel you HAVE to do in order to discharge your duties, and then flee to the Lord. You do not want to become attached to the anger and hostilities that are flooding the public space. Anger has its own type of endorphins that flow into the body, and then you are caught.

I have seen more than one religious person become stuck like this. Their "message" becomes fixated on ugliness. Instead of pointing to our holy Lord, and presenting the beauty of the Holy Face, they post pictures of the torn-up bodies of aborted babies, and the images of people who live alternative lifestyles and have dozens of piercing and tattoos on their faces and necks. Instead of attracting the world to the promises of Christ, they repel them with grotesqueries and attempt to engage them with hatred toward people who live or think differently than we do.

Part of staying focused on The Lord is by maintaining a loving eye on the world. To love our neighbor is not to objectify him as a person to hate, but as a person who is beloved by God and to whom we may offer a brilliant image of the Lord, our blessed Mother Mary, the saints and angels, and the heavenly realm.

After all, life on this earth is not all we have to look forward to. So we attend to our duties with love and care, laying our minds at the feet of our Lord as much as we are able, all the while keeping a willing heart within us, always ready to incline ourselves toward God.

I pray for you. Please pray for me.

Silver Rose

SAINT ROMUALD - JUNE 19

 

Saint Romuald

951-1027

Canonized in 1582

Pray to him for reformation of the church and for monastic life

"Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole

world behind you and forget it."

St. Romuald

Today, one of the saints we observe is especially remembered for reformation of The Church and for monastic life, in general, so I recommend this to my small group of hermits in my Facebook hermit group and for other hermits unaffiliated with us.

Just like most Americans of the middle classes and above, Saint Romuald spent his early years in pursuit of pleasures in the tenth century, unconcerned with his spiritual life or weightier matters. Then one day he saw something that horrified him and opened his eyes. He saw his father kill a relative in a duel over a disputed piece of land.

The story that comes down to us is that, after witnessing this bloody duel to the death, he initially meant to spend 40 days at a local monastery, in reparation for the sins of his father and his family. But somehow he never went home again. Something within him was profoundly altered. (Dear God, may we all be so altered!)

At the same time that the temperamentally impatient and newly convicted monk entered the monastery, reforms were well under way. He was not well liked because of his criticisms of the more lax monks, and I am guessing they were relieved when he was given permission to become a hermit in Venice - something that appealed to everyone, each for their own reasons!

This is where any similarity between me and today's saint ends. I tend to be more understanding how  difficult it is to maintain an ascetic life in our modern times, especially now that I am disabled and in pain all the time. I have thought for a long time that my body is forcing me to endure asceticism that is not natural to my temperament and probably the only way that I would ever willingly endure suffering! After all, I MUST accept the pain over which I have little control, so it is best to welcome it and use it for my salvation and in reparation of my own sins and the sins of others.

But St. Romuald grasped the acetic life without force, and after 20 years as a hermit, he was called out into the world to found more monasteries. It was not always easy. Just because Holy Roman Emperor Otto established him as the abbot of the first monastery he endowed in his kingdom does not mean that it was successful!  The monks were not having any of it, as they were too established in their comforts, and I don't know if they kicked him out or if he simply gave up on them, but within a year, he was gone.

There are many different types of monastic life in the Catholic Church, and the version that Romuald left us is rather appealing. A group of contemplative monks would live together in silence, peace and grace, sharing work, meals, mass, and prayer schedules, but in the spirit of deep silence and contemplation. Each had their own cell and lived in a sort of cooperative hermitage.

Romuald left 7 practices for his monks. Each hermit must:

    Love his cell,

    Be detached,

    Be self-observant,

    Diligently pray the Psalms,

    Maintain ultimate reverence before God,

    Practice strict asceticism, and;

    Grow more childlike in accepting grace when given.

Personally, it sounds like a tall order for people who must also live together and cooperate with one another in the running of the monastery.

This arrangement grew into the tradition of the Camaldolese monks. 

The calling of a hermit, though a relatively rare state, is crucial to the health of The Church, in that it supports The Catholic Faith in a deeply contemplative way while, at the same time, is a cenobitic, or group living, situation, where monks adhere to a life in common. The Camaldolese share this life in common with other monastics called to a solitary spiritual practice. An interesting combination.

Many older Catholics may find themselves living alone in their later years, for various reasons, but to live for God alone and transform that single life into somewhat of a hermit existence isn't easy. One needs some of the grit that St. Romuald appeared to have, and it doesn't hurt if we also have the intense conversion experience of our own, as he did.

But it is not required that we be accepted into an official INSTITUTION such as a Camaldolese monastery. Besides which, most monastic institutions only accept young folks.  What I am talking about is kicking it up a notch in the spiritual discipline department and taking one's later years SERIOUSLY in relation to our relationship with The Lord and with our own spiritual life.

No matter how we live our later years, whether as a strict hermit or a lesser and more modest version of it, let us all pray that, as we age, we grow into the unique, particular vocation that God desires for each one of us. Let us pray for one another, that we grow stronger in our commitments and practices, despite the vagaries of old age, just as St. Romuald did.

God bless us all!

Silver Rose

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All rights reserved.

THE BLOG RESTS

 

Father Bede Griffiths, Catholic priest

and

one of his Sannyasinis (Indian style renunciate nun)

    Over the last decade, I have just loved researching the saints, writing about them and about the hermit life, and I have always looked forward to writing each post, despite the many hours of real work that each one entails. It has been a labor of love.

    It was not my idea to start this blog, however. A friend of mine from my Vedanta days encouraged me to write it, but I think she probably envisaged something more contemporary and argumentative - and specifically something that would generate some type of income.

    I subsequently learned, however, that an automatic income would only come through "monetizing" my blog, which would allow advertisements chosen by this platform to be displayed over my blog, and I could not bear the idea.  First of all, advertisements are ugly. They do not match the aesthetics I have chosen for this publication. They offend my eyes and diminish whatever message I choose to offer in the midst of the verbiage.

    Instead, I chose to request donations, leaving it to the discretion of the reader as to what they could afford, but only a very few of my many readers ever donated - except for one lovely woman who said she lived in Ireland, who donated, then became enraged when she understood that I do not support Donald Trump. Why someone in the U.K. would be so invested in an American political figure is beyond me, but she felt that my disapproval of him was a personal affront against her. She became highly offended, and told me off furiously. None of this made any logical sense to me, but this is the condition of our world at this moment.

    Readers should donate, in response to the incredible amount of work that goes into unique and well-researched posts, as well as for the sake of simple Christian charity. But  I imagine that people have grown accustomed to getting many things for free on the internet, and I am not oblivious to the fact that the disparity of income in our country, though the worst of all the industrialized nations, is increasing in severity all the time. Many folks are scrabbling, just to survive. If I can help them survive in a serene way, this influence of serenity is part of what I want to incorporate into all my public dealings.

    Although I am not focused on contemporary news and politics, if I have anything to say on those topic, I will say it on Facebook under the moniker of "The Occasional Hermit," since the newsy posts will, fittingly, disappear in time to make room for newer items in the feed. See my Facebook page for those kind of topics, with the exception of weighty topics of more longstanding import.

Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady of Ocotlan

    One thing I learned from my decades of meditation is that where you place your mind's eye is where you take yourself, and if you concentrate on God, you get God.  That's all there is to it. If you concentrate on the other guy, you're going to get him. It's like driving a car. You have to look out the windshield in front of you to get yourself where you are going, while only glancing through the other windows on occasion to ensure that no one is about to crash into you, or vice versa.

    I am not giving up the blog entirely. Sometimes it will be necessary to warn people off dangerous religious fads and to correct the record when a conspiracy theory is floated about, say, the Pope, for instance, at which time I may return here and put in my two cents worth. But it can't be a daily thing. I have other things to do.

Our Lady of Sorrows

    I have quit this blog a couple times in the past, and came back to it eventually because the work of getting to know the various saints I have researched has been interesting to me. I loved the whole process of becoming more familiar, and drawing closer to a life of holiness that I could use as an example for mine.

    The research and the writing of these blogs, combined with the complexity of keeping myself physically alive, have taken up so much of my  time that I have not been able to finish the books I have started, so I am going to focus on those books until I get at least ONE finished and edited. Occasionally, I will return to this blog.

    If this blog had helped me support the hermitage, that would have been a different matter and, to be fair, I had no way of knowing whether or not it would do that.  Now that I know that it will not, it is time to reassess.

Saint Kinga of Poland

Relative

    I am conducting a review of the blog entries I have posted over the last decade and removing many of them, especially those that relate to "current" events, and relegating them to the "unpublished" category. 

    I remind everyone that posts about the saints are my intellectual work product and belong to me. While you are welcome to make note of factual material, such as birth and death dates, you may not copy the blog post for any purpose. If you would like to quote from my work, you may contact me in the comment section of this blog and we can discuss.

    I will still be available to moderate the comments on the blog, though I don't expect there will be many. The donate button (below my photograph at the top of the right column) will remain in hopeful active status.

    Saint Adela of Normandy

Relative

    Obviously, my primary occupation is my contemplative life, but, other than the occasional article written for this venue, I will be continuing work on my books and my haiku poetry. In addition, I have resumed a painting career that I left behind when I began to go blind. I have managed to keep the vision in one eye (thanks be to God!) and I am slowly learning how to paint in mono-vision, with no depth perception! 

    When I have a decent number of paintings available for sale, I anticipate creating another blog for those things and will also announce it here. The painting blog MAY be combined with the author blog for my novels, but I have not yet decided. 

    As always, you may contact me through my Facebook page. You can put a comment on any of my posts, but if you want to send me a private message, I will always take a look at my message requests, eventually.

    The donation button remains active, though a bit dusty and rusty.

    Thank you for reading. I wish you the very best, and God bless you all. You are in my prayers.

Silver Rose

INSPIRATION FROM SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

 

Saint John Chrysostom

I have a lovely little red leather bound prayer book that I bought while attending a Ruthenian Byzantine Church, and I haven't looked at it once since I stopped attending that parish, and I wonder why, because it is precious, as in valuable. There are a number of carefully curated prayers, lists of holy things, simple instructions about how to do the different styles of fasting and abstinence, beautiful prayers to our Lady, the Most Holy Theotokos - all sorts of uplifting, and sometimes challenging offerings. I have decided to put it in my stack of favorite books - the books to which I refer daily. It just took me some time to get around to it. It was waiting for me. Kind of like God, I suppose, who waits for us to reach for Him.

While I was perusing it and admiring the beautiful gold-trimmed edges of each page, I found this comment on 2 Corinthians:

"Let no one then, even those who are come to the most
extreme wickedness, despair of himself. For even if you
have passed into the habit, yes and almost into the 
nature of wickedness itself, be not afraid...For he did
not simply say that He would wash us, but that He
would make us 'white as snow and as wool,' in order to
hold out good hopes before us. Great then is the power
of repentance, at least if it makes us as snow, and
whitens us as wool, even if sin has first gotten
possession and dyed out souls. Let us labor earnestly
then to become clean; He has enjoined nothing
burdensome."

I really love this quote because I often feel that I am one step behind everything that requires doing - especially during LENT. The physical pain and my newly acquired ungainly hobble frustrate me so that it is difficult, at times, to stay serene at prayer time. There are occasions when I feel an urgency to get it done NOW because I must put up my feet or I will collapse. It's frustrating, this tension that gets generated so easily. And then I wonder if the way I carry out my daily prayer schedule is as disappointing to Him as it is to me.

But then I read a short reminder like this one and I can breathe a sigh of happy relief because I am re-established in His Truth that He loves us and is not unduly testing us. Like the delighted Father that encourages the baby to walk to Him in its first steps on chubby little baby legs, He is not going to let us fall when we are struggling so earnestly to reach Him! Thank you, Lord, for giving us Saint John Chrysostom and the other holy ones who stand on the sidelines, urging us forward.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

P.S. As some of you are aware, I am disabled, without family, and in three months, I will be 69 years old.  Social Security is about half of what I need to live, and every year I get further behind while the disabilities increase in number and severity. The car is a junk heap. Credit cards have piled up in a frustrating cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul. For the last 20 years I have been unable to work (though I have tried various things and continue to slave over the novel and poetries.) Please consider donating to my paypal, above-right, or sending a little food from my Amazon wish list, below.  They have my address and can mail to me directly.

Just click HERE FOR FOOD DONATION

SAINT ERMENGILD OF ELY, WIDOW AND NUN

 

St. Ermengild

Queen of Mercia,

Wife of King Wulfhere (widow)

Became a nun upon widowhood

Feast day: Feb 13

My 4th cousin, 38 times removed

I could not find very many pictures of Saint Ermengild, but she seems to be a worthy object of interest. She managed to convert her pagan husband, King Wulfhere, of Mercia, to the Catholic faith. 

Wulhere appears on the right

Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield, Staffordshire, England

While I found little more than a mention and some bare facts about Ermengild, her royal and nobel family have quite a bit of information spread throughout the internet.  

Here are a few about her husband, Wulfhere:

Wikipedia of England

History by Nicklin

British History Podcast

There is a YouTube video about King Wulfhere that begins at the time when his father, King Penda, dies:

YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT WULFHERE

Her family tree was full of saints, of course, incluing her mother, sainted Queen Sexburga and her daughter, Saint Werburga (for whom there are a lot of photos of pictures, as well as some handsome statues!)

Saint Werburga

Saint Ermengild's daughter

Patron Saint of the City of Chester

in Cheshire, England

Feast day: Feb 3

My 5th cousin, 38 times removed

They are all descended from King Anna, all of whose children were either saints or royal rulers. Talk about a richly appointed background! These people are all related to me in some capacity or another - mostly saints. I find it interesting that we share some of the same blood becuase I hope to inherit as much of their good tendencies as I possibly can!

King Penda

Wulfhere's Father

Although she retired to the life of the widowed nun and managed two monasteries before she died, I am most impressed by Ermengild's ability to evangelize that pagan husband of hers. That is the real feat, as far as I am concerned! Husbands, especially in those days, are not famous for being receptive to learning from their wives. She must have been a remarkably influencial woman, and I would have loved to have met her!

Here are some links to websites that talk about her:

FROM THE ENGLISH WIKIPEDIA

CATHOLIC ONLINE

THE BLOG "THE HOLY ONES"

Her feast day is February 13th, which is also my dearly departed Grammy's birthday - the only relative who ever showed me an ounce of love and affection.

Lichfield Cathedral image

While the histories of this week's sainted ancestors are jam packed with tales of their influence on world affairs, as well as ecclesiastical, there is precious little real information about Ermengilda and the other sainted women, except that they were leaders of various numbers of convents and monasteries.

But that is exactly what I would expect of contemplatives and mystics. Sometimes, these monastics who have royal relatives will be found to make a mark on world history but, for the most part, their work is behind the scenes, hidden. You and I are living like that (and I am speaking to the other half-monastics and independent hermits here.) We know that, if we DO have any worth, it is only felt in the finest of spiritual realms. All of it is behind the scenes, somewhat clandestine and furtive. Meanwhile, the public face of our faith can be, at times, very grand.

Ely Cathedral

This Catheral had its origins in 672 AD

when my cousin St. Etheldreda,

daughter of King Anna,

built an abbey church here.

I know that it can be discouraging to have our time eaten up with the mundane: Paying bills, struggling with health issues, cleaning and organizing our homes, etc. The human heart naturally seeks the embrace of a loving recognition of our spiritual labors by Our Lord, whom we adore. However, we must always keep in mind that our job requires that we remain a bit mysterious and obscure, despite being crucially necessary to the welfare of makind. 

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when

thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;

and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:6

I don't know how, exactly, our Father in Heaven will reward us "openly" for our hidden life of prayer, but I trust that He knows what is best for us and, one day, he will reveal to ALL what He means by this.

In the meantime, we can say to ourselves and to God, "ah! what a beautiful thing!" And we can hold a firm confidence that He will hear us and see the exquisite nature of our holy labors.

My living room prayer wall

We also have one another, and I treasure the correspondence I receive from each one of you that joins with me in our holy labor of prayer and work for the Lord, each in our own little prayer closet or sitting in front of our personal prayer shrines. I love hearing about the causes for which you dedicate your rosaries and chaplets, as well as your other spiritual routines and practices.

May Saint Ermengild, Seaxburga and Werburga, as well as all the other saints who intercede for us at the throne of Our Lord, watch over all of us, and may we all be blessed!

Silver Rose

Back Room Prayer Wall

INVISIBILITY IS NOT A SUPER POWER

TUESDAY

The doctor walked into the exam room and introduced herself.

I said, "hello," and she said, "I'm fine, how are you?"

I hesitated for a moment then said, "I said hello."

She dissembled into a word salad that meant nothing and I just had to proceed with the conversation because clearly I was alone in the room.  Or she was. Either way - I knew that my invisibility had kicked in again and that I would probably not be able to get this woman to see or hear me. She was in her own head.

We talked about a couple things, but most important was the 3-month renewal of my medication. I told her several times what they were and how often they are taken. There are only two, but she could not keep more than one in her head. Of course, that information is in my file, but someone who is preoccupied with what is going on inside her head won't be able to see that either. 

We finished the "conversation," and she left the room saying that the medical assistant would be in shortly.

I waited. And I waited. And I waited. 20 minutes passed, and I just knew that when the doctor left the office she had promptly forgotten me and moved on to the next patient without telling the assistant that she was done with me. I wandered out into the echoing, empty halls and wondered if they'd closed for lunch and just locked me in!  Fortunately, no.  I wandered around saying, "anybody here?"  "Hello?" My voice echoed against beige medicinal walls. The rooms were empty. The nurse's station was unmanned.

Finally, I found my way to the waiting room and told the front desk clerk I had been forgotten. She looked at me blankly.  The assistant walked PAST me and I had to grab her and tell her, "did you guys forget me?"

She said that the doctor had not given her my file to let her know that she was done with me. I told her I had been waiting for 20 minutes, and her eyes opened wide at that news.

I told her that I would stay in the waiting room.

More chaos ensued.

She brought me a piece of paper that was supposed to have my future appointments and my medications on it. I tried to get her to stay with me and answer some questions, but she was just too busy, so she left me there to contemplate a list of appointments with doctors I have never heard of, and a long list of medications that I do not take.

"Hey!" I yelled after her, "This is somebody else's."

It took her a minute to understand, but when she did, she rushed over to grab it back from me.

From across the waiting room, another senior patient was watching this circus. I caught her glance.  She rolled her eyes and looked heavenward in an expression I completely understood. I was not invisible to her, and felt grateful for it.

I explained to the medical assistant that one of the medications was missing. ("How many times and to how many people do I have to repeat this?" I asked myself.) She left to fix it and returned with another paper that she thrust on me, then quickly left.

I sat down to read it, determined not to leave without it being fixed.

Sure enough, one of my two medications was still missing and there was no appointment listed with my regular doctor - the two things for which I had this appointment.

I called her back but she said she could not fix it and I would have to speak to someone later.

That was two days ago and the medication snafu is still not fixed. More phone calls to ensue!

WEDNESDAY

THE DAY AFTER the medical appointment, I dealt with invisibility again. There was a man sitting in a truck outside my apartment, with his truck sitting right in the middle of the lane, with various tools and a randomly placed red barrier sitting cattywumpus in relation to nothing in particular. "Mobile Screen and Glass" was emblazoned on one door. 

When I left on my mobility scooter, with my dog trotting alongside me,  he had been there for half an hour, reading his phone that was in his lap. I hoped he would not be there much longer because I needed to leave, but when the dog and I returned 20 minutes later, he was still there, meditating on his lap, blocking everyone.

I kept trying to talk to this guy to ask him if he could move to the curb instead of just sitting in the middle of the only exit lane, but every time I opened my mouth, he closed his window on me!  I could also direct him to a CLOSER parking spot, but could not get his attention. At one point, he said he wasn't going to move unless and until someone needed to leave, but I was obviously not going to be able to walk up two flights of stairs to FIND him and tell him when I needed him to move, so I got him to roll down the window again and asked him not to roll it up on me. He announced, "well, I was finished," and he rolled it up again, as I began to try to get a sentence out of my mouth. This was a different variety of invisibility. This was a self-involved, distracted man who wanted me to disappear and got mad at me for not complying with his wish. 

When people behave like this, the temptation is to take it personally. People will blame this invisibility on old age, presuming that old age is so unattractive that it calls out for invisibility. But that is not what is happening here, with this man or with the doctor I had to deal with the day before. The apparent invisibility is part of the overarching problem of egotism and self-involvement of the seer, not anything having to do with the SEEN. It just expresses itself in different ways, depending on the situation.

This is not something I concluded by my own little self.

THE PRESCRIPTION OF JESUS

One thing that helped me greatly while I was in the Hindu convent was the exposure to Catholicism that I received through the many books about the Catholic and Orthodox monastics and mystics which later inspired me join the Catholic Church, where Jesus addresses natural egocentrism with a prescription that is echoed throughout the New Testament in which he constantly admonishes us to get our minds off of ourselves.

He tells Peter to feed his sheep and feed his lambs. He tells us not to invite anyone to a banquet who can afford to pay us back. He tells us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner.  He tells us to examine the big plank in our own eye before taking the speck out of the eye of the other. He tells us only to criticize if we ourselves are without sin. He continually points our attention to "the other" who is unable to reciprocate. 

"For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me."
Matthew 25:35-36

I have read many times about how older folks "become invisible," but I believe it has much less to do with the seen than the seer.  It isn't "My" invisibility at all! It is just a by-product of the self-absorption of other folks whose minds are preoccupied with the dance of the mind that the Hindus and Buddhists called "Monkey Mind."

When the attention of the "seer" is focused on their own inner turmoil, what is seen is not the person in front of them. It is only when the SEEN appears to be able to satisfy that inner turmoil inside the SEER that the seer will turn their attention outward, but they are still really only seeing THROUGH their their own personal impulsions, desires, chaos...whatever. Rarely will they "see" the actual person standing there.

SEEING THE OTHER IS AN ACT OF LOVE

But isn't is wonderful when one feels seen and heard? You can tell when someone sees you. It is magical, partly because it is so unusual and, as such, an incredible release. It is the stuff that love is made of. Not specifically romantic love...but all love.

So - if we are going to love our "Neighbor," which means everyone with whom we come into contact, we have to make an effort to see them. Really see them.

As a side note, I will point out that gossip is typically a violation of love because it is not grounded in a love that sees the person being slandered.

The training that I received in  how to coach the mind to move off of itself and onto The Lord helped to demonstrate to me the remedy for the selfishness that is natural to most of us. (There are other ancillary bennies also, but I won't focus on those.)

When you think about it, this struggle toward purification of the ego and clarifying of vision harkens back to the stories about Satan who is the personification of egotism which, one way or another, we are encouraged to abandon. When we renew our baptismal vows, we renounce Satan. In doing that, we renounce egotism and every other evil thing Satan represents. The degree to which we are able to do that is the degree to which we grow closer to God and become "perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect."

It is a long process, and it is not easy. There are lots of bumps and hiccups on the way, but it is worth the effort.

Even Jesus's prescription to forgive those who have hurt us and pray for our enemies also serves to take our attention, once more, from ourselves (our feelings) and onto the other, instead. 

Knowing what I know about this process has enabled me to detach from the frustration I experience when I am treated as if I am invisible. At the very least, it is difficult to get the business of life accomplished, such as the right prescriptions for the right patient! 

I am reminded by Jesus to pray for these frustrating people, and, when possible, advocate for them and their welfare. 

Since becoming disabled and falling into a lower socio-economic strata, prayer and teaching meditation are the only things I can do for others. At times, I miss the other service projects, but I am working hard on accepting God's will for me in all things, including this, so, in addition to remembering to pray for friends and other good people, I have to make a point to pray for the people who exorcise their mental chaos on me.

Feel free to contact me if you have the need, and I will be happy to add you to my prayer journal. Likewise if you have any questions about meditation, I will be happy to talk about that as well. Leave your email address with a message in the comment section, which will NOT be published, and I will contact you.

In the meantime, may we all be blessed!

Amen.

Silver Rose

START THE NEW YEAR AS A SLAVE TO MARY

 

Some years ago, I made my consecration to Mary, but it was rushed, so I feel called to do it again - a refresher, which is a common thing to do. Some people regularly repeat the cycle, delving deeper and deeper into their spiritual life.

- First, between now and December 31, my plan is to re-read "St. Louis de Montfort - The Story of Our Lady's Slave," by Mary Fabyan Windeatt.

Available at Amazon, book and kindle forms: ST LOUIS DE MONTFORT - THE STORY OF OUR LADY'S SLAVE

- Then begins one of six suggested cycles of prayer listed in the companion book, Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis Marie de Montfort - published by Montfort Publications.

Available at Amazon: PREPARATION FOR TOTAL CONSECRATION

In addition, I recommend that you be sure to make a good confession at least once before you start the actual preparation exercises on December 31. There's not much point in doing it if not in a state of grace.  We want to give to God a bright and shiny spirit, right?

In the front of the second book I mentioned, above, there is a chart of 6 suggested schedules of preparation. I noticed that December 31 is the start of the next one, which dovetails with my typical "New Year" practices. Throughout my life, it has been my habit to celebrate the holiday with prayers and visualizations about how I am going to better myself.  I have never been interested in drinking and carousing, I am not fond of crowds, and the idea of getting on the road for any activity at a time when so many inebriated people are behind the wheel is not something I want to do. Now that I am mostly blind in one eye and I am over 60, my ability to drive at night is impaired anyway.  Definitely not a party girl!

I will be happy to join with you to whatever extent you would like to do that. I've always thought it would have been inspiring to have others involved when I did my consecration.  But it did not work out.  Perhaps now, someone will show up.  You can contact me about this on Facebook or here, in a comment. (Comments are not published automatically.) I read them and only publish them if that is the intention and we both feel it would be helpful to others.

God bless you all!

Silver Rose

                                                                   

THE FINAL POST - FOR THE TIME BEING

 

View from the hermitage

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) copyright 2020

All rights reserved.

As much as I love researching and writing this blog diary of my life in the modern urban hermitage, this will be the last post for some time.

At some point I intend to re-work the information about the mostly little-known saints, paint or sketch some representatives of them, and publish a small book. 

I am not finished researching the lesser-known saints, so it is likely that I will return to writing when I am feeling more fresh.

Almost all my posts have involved many hours of research and creative writing, but it is hard to find the time for this, since I am physically disabled and it is taking me longer and longer to accomplish basic tasks of survival. This is the primary issue that challenges me at the moment.

On the other hand, because I am able to do little else than sit in this recliner, the time spent while sitting here may as well be dedicated to working for the glory of God when I am not praying. 

Two years ago, I was approved for a caregiver of 28 hours a week, and I have tried throughout that time to get a caregiver through the approved agencies, but there are none to be had in the present economy. I have written about some of these experiences.

The problem seems to be that no one wants to do this type of work for what Medicaid will pay, unless they are a family member who is already taking care of a relative. This is why, every time I signed up with another agency in hope of finding some help, they also asked me, "don't you have a relative you can bring with you? 

There ARE some caregivers doing this type of work in this town, but apparently, most are demanding CASH payment, then hiding their income to avoid paying taxes. This is short-sighted, because when they themselves become disabled or retire, they will have to live off the money that other folks have put into the system, and will thereby drain it of its resources and hurt the economy and the taxpayers as a result. Even if I had the cash to pay one of these people, I would not want to participate in an illegal scheme. I will say, however, that this trend of refusing to pay people a living wage has got to change in America. It really does. Far fewer people will feel compelled to dodge the taxman with illegal schemes if they don't have to go hungry to stay within the law while working a full time job!

To be honest, it was never my idea to have a blog to begin with. It was suggested by a friend who, aware of the tradition of the laity supporting monastics, thought  it might help support me, but I suspect that she was as uninformed as I was about the practicalities of how this would work.

Also, the interest in connecting with other contemplatives has lessened while there have appeared a new crop of automated "prayer" apps for one's computer and telephone. This mirrors a general trend of people shifting away from contact with other humans, and replacing them with mechanical servants, which is really too bad. I think we will find, in future, that it is detrimental to the human spirit to do this.

I am already finding that hardly anyone will answer a telephone call any more. They flatly refuse to respond to anything but a text, which is difficult for a disabled person, especially those of us who are blind in one eye!

I will keep this blog active, and you will still be able to contact me through the comments, if the need arises, and the DONATE button (underneath my photo, above right) will also work. 

Please pray for me, as I pray for you, and look for my books in future. I will come here and tell everyone about it when we have a publication date.

In the meantime, may we all be blessed!

Silver Rose

SAINT WALTHEOF OF MELROSE, my great uncle, August 3, 2022

 

Saint Waltheol de Lis, Abbot

Second Abbot of Melrose Abbey

b. abt 1100 - d. 3 Aug. 1159

Saint Waltheol's mother was my 28th great grandmother, Maud (Matilda) of Northumberland, but not through my grandfather, David I, King of Scotland. Instead, his father was her other husband, Simon de St. Liz, so my relationship with Saint Waltheol is a bit more complex than is typical. I know it seems like I am related to every Saint in the calendar, but I assure you that it is not unusual because once you are descended from certain key figures in one of the noble houses of Europe, you are descended from or cousin to the whole lot of them, due to intermarriage. Many Americans are descended from these folks. In fact, a dear friend on the other side of town is a cousin of mine who is related to and/or descended from many of the same people I talk about in my blog. They are our family.

Why does it give me such joy to know that so many of my ancestors and other relatives are saints? Frankly, it increases my hope of Heaven. It is wonderful to know that I have family members in Heaven who can intercede for me before the throne of God. Yes, I can speak for myself and commune with the Lord in my meditations, but I feel like I can use all the help I can get, and because I am descended from these folks, it gives me a feeling of family that I do not have on earth. My natal family was always extremely small, and most have died. .  

Saint David I, King of Scotland

my 38th Great Grandfather

Saint Waltheof's Step-father

As a member of the nobility, Waltheol would have received that sort of education that would prepare him for that version of government that existed at the time, but he ended up as a monastic, which would not have been considered terribly unusual for at least one son to be given to the vowed life, usually in a monastery or at least for some time in a hermitage. Holy orders as a priest would sometimes follow. Sometimes, as in Waltheof's case, their royal connections would result in a quick climb up the administrative ladder of the church. 

First, he was an Augustinian Canon at Nostrell Abbey. Shortly thereafter, he became Prior of Kirkham in North Yorkshire. He was nominated to be the successor to Thurstan, Archbishop of York, when Thurston died in 1140, but because Waltheof was the step-son of King David I of Scotland (ALSO made a saint after death and was my 38th Great Grandfather) it was suggested that he may have had an allegiance that might have interfered with other people's plans for whoever became Thurstan's successor, so his nomination to the post failed.

(I suspect that there was one other thing that was actually more to blame for his losing the post to someone else. Waltheof had demonstrated real grit and an independent spirit when he had refused to agree to give the ecclesiastical manor of Sherburn-in-Elmet in the West Riding of Yorkshire to William of Aumale (my 2nd cousin, 26 times removed) who supported his nomination. I would like to think that my saintly relative refused to do this because it was wrong, rather than out of some selfish reason. It represented a very large and prestigious piece of territory, with a substantial church.)

The manor house was called "Athelstan's Palace" but I was unable to find any photos or illustrations of it. Apparently, it is in ruins. I don't know what, if anything, is left of it.

When trying to find a photograph of the manor, I DID find some photographs of the gorgeous church that belongs to it and lays nearby (All Saints.)  It exists today and has been in that smallish town for at least 1000 years and has a rich history. The church was meant to be the religious seat of a much larger area than is obvious at this time, which accounts for its sumptuousness. The first king of England, Athelstan (my 31st great granduncle), gave the manors of Sherburn and Cawood to the Archbishop of York in 938, when he defeated the Danes at Brunanburg. This would be a conqueror's thanks to God, in the form of an offering of a portion of the lands involved.

All Saints Church

Sherburn-in-Elmet

SEE this pamphlet that gives the history of All Saints

(Saint) William Fitz-Herbert ended up with the archbishopric, instead of Waltheof. Saint William Fitz-Herbert of York is my 1st cousin, 25 times removed. In case you are wondering what that means, exactly, it means that he is my first cousin, but 25 generations backwards in time. His father, Herbert of Winchester, is my 28th Great Grandfather. Thank God Ancestry figures this out for me automatically because I could never do it myself!

After Waltheol's nomination for the Archbishopric failed, he gave up on climbing the ecclesiastical ladder and became a Cistercian monk. (Cistercian's are contemplatives.) First, he went to Wardon Abbey, and then to Rievaulx. Melrose Abbey is a daughter house of Rievaulx, and he was elected as its abbot in 1148, a position he kept for the rest of his life.  Melrose Abbey, in Scotland, was founded by Saint David I, King of Scotland, (my 28th great grandfather and Waltheof's step-father.)

During his tenure at Melrose, he was offered a bishopric (St. Andrews) but he declined, and I wonder if his time with the contemplatives had adjusted his thinking about the direction and tenor of his life which had, in the beginning, looked like it may have at least partially been driven by the pursuit of position and power.

Saint Waltheof died at Melrose on August 3, 1159.

Melrose Abbey

After a few years of one abbot attempting to suppress the growing interest in the saintliness of Waltheof by the locals, a subsequent abbot went "all in" and the tomb of my cousin was opened by Enguerrand, the Bishop of Glasgow, in the presence of 4 abbots, twelve years after Walthof's death.  Waltheof's body and vestments remained intact - one of the miracles sometimes seen with the dead saints. I have a book at home about "The Incorruptibles." These folks are seen to be so pure that even their bodies won't rot after death.

When thinking about his life, it occurs to me that a person's saintliness only comes into clear focus after they have died and we have nothing left but their earthly remains and a few chicken scratches in whatever publication memorializes their time on earth. Waltheof's life, especially in the beginning of his monastic "career," did not appear to be particularly saintly, yet when the tomb was opened, the secret was exposed in a definitive way. Bodies do not naturally remain fresh and preserved years after death.

There were hints, of course. He could have opted for the power and prestige of life at court, at the outset, since he was born of a noble family and all sorts of positions could have been available to him. His step-father was king of Scotland, after all. But he chose a religious profession and, even though he pursued, for a time, a succession of ecclesiastical promotions, in the end he opted for the secluded life of a monk in a contemplative institution.

Of course, there were some miracles. One of the tales about the miracles of Saint Waltheof concerns a summer day, when Waltheof was visiting Rievaulx after their main meal of the day. All the monks were retired to the dormitory for the afternoon rest period, and Waltheof, who had stayed late in the church to pray, and not wanting to disturb them by arriving to the dormitory after they had already started their rest, tried to sleep in the cloister instead. It wasn't comfortable. He was probably very hot, so he decided to pray instead of nap, and he was visited by a monk who shone with "a glorious light, and his garments were resplendent with Jewels, and on his head there was a brilliant crown," (quoted portion from Thomas Merton's book.)

Following this miraculous being was a sparkling assemblage of followers who shone as brightly and richly as did their leader, who turned out to be the first abbot of Melrose. The rest were that abbot's spiritual children, monks and brothers who had passed on. Each jewel that decorated these holy souls represented someone who these monks and brothers had saved with the words or examples of their holy life.

Personally, I believe that these miracles are only possible for someone living an intensely holy life.

The story proceeds on from there, but this is the place in the narrative that gives us the point I think is most necessary right now. Aside from finding their body incorrupt, the thing that really reveals the holiness of a person is how they inspire others to likewise live holy lives.

The thing about contemplative life is that it is all "an inside job," in that it is a work that is almost invisible. You don't get rewards and money for a job well done in that field, do you? We have these ideas of how a saint may speak and behave, but plenty of scammers have been known to fake these things in order to manipulate others. I have met a few in my life alone! 

Saint Waltheof was said to be endlessly kind to the poor, very gentle in his handling of the monks in his care, modest and humble, and supposedly cured one man of blindness, which is the one rare spectacular feat I was able to find in his life. Of course, that one appeals to me, since I am mostly blind in my left eye and I am in the midst of fighting the disease that is threatening to blind me completely by taking my right eye as well! Today, I pray to my Saintly cousin for his help in this regard.

Some people close to Waltheof were convinced of his saintliness, but it seems to me that in order to recognize the holiness of another person, it is often necessary to oneself have a portion of that holiness in one's own soul! "It takes one to know one," is a cliche that is very true in this sphere of life. The suspicion of  holiness is sometimes confirmed when the body is found to be incorrupt, while it can typically only be telegraphed and guessed at while the person still lives.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of easily duped people who follow charlatans that are obviously deceitful con artists, yet the gullible devotees will swear up one side and down the other that the object of their devotion is practically the "second coming!" We see this in all arenas, from religious, to government, to families. The thing that gives this away, in my observation, is that the followers of charlatans do not typically adopt a more holy life. Instead, their selfishness and ego increase. Sometimes, they even take joy in the misfortune of others. We just need to pay attention and ask ourselves if our spiritual mentors inspire us to love our neighbor and pray for our enemies, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the prisoner, as Jesus asked us to do.

Do your friends inspire you to a holy life? Or do you keep people around because they make you laugh or they make you feel good about yourself? Do you make friends with people who are honest and kind, or is it more important to you that they be in a particular socio-economic class? I really think this topic is worth giving some thought.

As usual, may we all be blessed!

Silver Rose

P.S. All of the blog posts I write are independently researched and written by me and all of them are protected by legal copyright, so please just enjoy them here and leave them here where you found them and do not copy any of it to any other place for any purpose, as that would be against the law, and I will pursue my rights in this regard.

(c) Copyright 2022, Silver S. Parnell

All rights reserved.