I will always be "Aunty Mary Fiat, the Missionary Hermit." Yes, even if I live in a nice apartment in the middle of a little city right now. God allowed me years of time in and out of hermitages to form my heart into a perpetual hermitage. I experienced the Russian 'poustiniki' and studied the Greek hermits. Although I loved the Eastern eremetical life, I also spent years with those from the French tradition, as well as living as a simple American Diocesan Hermit. My hermit vocation started when I was really little and my brother BJ and I created OSP (Our Special Place) -one inside under the basement stairs where we would secretly read the Bible, and one in the woods by the golf course/creek where we would eat brown-bagged lunches and fish. I always loved the idea of silence and solitude, which is hard for people to believe at times after they encounter me (since I appear to be bubbly and social). What people have to realize is that a hermit (or a hermit heart like mine) does not withdraw into silence and solitude for the sake of silence and solitude -but instead to commune with God, for an intimate love relationship with the Man Jesus, and to draw all the world along with her heart into this mysterious love. And it is this time of silence and solitude with Jesus that is the source of all she gives to the world.
We all -regardless of our state of life or personality -could benefit from taking time (albeit small bites of time, if that is all that life allows) and to withdraw to a small place of silence, of solitude, to lend the heart's ear to God -to listen to His Word, His Breath, His Heartbeat -and to respond in love by waiting for Him; to respond in love by bringing to Him the cries of those hearts around us who are suffering and in need and who may not know the path to reach Him.
Silence is such a majestic teacher -silence is simple and yet there is something very noble about a heart that is able to communicate with God (and with others at times) through silence. A great flame lights up a room, but a candle does this without making a sound. When we withdraw into silence, God's love fills us like a flame and resounds out to the world around us -yet often this echo, this 'yelp' of His Love takes place in silence. People around us simply realize that through our presence and love (even in silence) they are changed -they are united to God.
Here are some quotes Catherine Doherty wrote about silence -take a minute today and read these and ask God to show you where or how you can implement one idea from them into your lives now. Silence full of God's love can teach and form, fill and guide any and every soul. I used to even give 'missionary hermit retreats' for young children. It was always amazing to me to see how God entered in and spoke to the children's hearts. A sister I once knew used to speak of us 'making our hearts as a resting place for the Holy Spirit.' I pray that you all can take a moment today to do just that.
(Pictures are from the hermitages where I have lived over the years...)
"...Those whom God calls into silence will enter a vortex which will shatter them into little pieces. Looking here and there you will see fragments of a human being. You will behold you own fragmentation and wonder why you do not die. I do not know why. God knows. But in silence, God will gather together your fragments. And when you emerge from the sea of silence you will be thunder. And this thunder will pass beyond the galaxies as if you were a bird sent forth to preach the gospel to the whole universe ... People will not know where the thunder is coming from, but it will be coming from your heart. God has entered it through silence. Having put together your fragmented self, God now tells you to go on a pilgrimage to preach the gospel in a silence that is more powerful than any words you have ever spoken. For, silence is more powerful than any words, except one: the Word. It is by entering the Word that to some the gift of utter silence, and therefore complete speech, is given."
~ from MOLCHANIE: THE SILENCE OF GOD by Catherine de Hueck Doherty
"...So often, we forget how to pray. We forget that there must be a time when we are silent so we can hear what God wants to say to us. Yes, my friends, we must pray, the prayer of two people in love with each other who cease to talk. Their silence speaks. This is the kind of prayer that the poustinia will teach you. Resting in God's love, you will understand the unity God wishes for you. Then as a pilgrim, you will go forth and shout and sing about this to all peoples.
Two people in love! When you are in love with God you will understand that God loved you first. You will enter into a deep and mysterious silence and in that silence become one with the Absolute. Your oneness with God will overflow to all your brothers and sisters."
~ from FRAGMENTS OF MY LIFE by Catherine de Hueck Doherty
"...A day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence, if the noises become for us the echo of the presence of God, if the voices are, for us, messages and solicitations of God."
~ Catherine de Hueck Doherty
.".. When one enters the mystery of God, the first mystery is silence. When one loves another, silence is absolutely necessary. Long before lovers can speak openly of their love, they speak by silence, a deep silence, especially when it deals with God. It is by entering the mystery of silence that slowly everyone becomes like our Beloved.
~ from DOUBTS, LONELINESS, REJECTION by Catherine de Hueck Doherty
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