THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATION FROM THE ASPERGER PERSPECTIVE

 

VIEW FROM MY HERMITAGE

When some folks hear the term "meditation," the image that comes to mind is that of an old, long-haired Hindu holy man, dressed in the orange "gerua" color of the saints of that religion, with maybe a few strings of rudraksha beads slung around his neck, and some colorful paint on his face.

Or perhaps you have been attracted to the more austere practice of Zen and studied with a Zen Roshi, such as my friend, Roshi Prabhasa Dharma.

Meditation and its related practice of contemplation are common forms of prayer that are shared with a number of religions, including Catholicism. Generally speaking, Christian Meditation involves concentrating on a specific prayer, usually a sacred text, and examining it from various perspectives, such as in the practice of lectio divina.  Generous use of the intellect is involved. 

But in contemplation,  there is a deeper, more focused concentration of the soul on the Beloved Lord. In my personal practice, it is a quiet sitting with and gazing upon Him, without the noisiness and distraction of the activity of the intellect. 

I fully admit that the simple definitions I have offered, above, are just the beginning of the soul's comprehension of what a bare bones, basic approach would be, so I would like to add upon those with material from the Catholic Answers website, in particular, which is a wonderful resource. They present us an article about this topic from the original Catholic Encyclopedia published from 1907 through 1912, that I  cannot improve upon:

Definition of "contemplation" from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

"Contemplation, the object of contemplative life, is defined as the complacent, loving gaze of the soul on Divine Truth already known and apprehended by the intellect assisted and enlightened by Divine Grace."

According to Edmond Gurdon, St. Bernard considered contemplation to be the highest of all human worship because it is, essentially, an act of adoration and "utter self surrender of man's whole being." He further makes the point that time spent in contemplation is typically brief, since exterior action, "with the solicitude and cares attendant on it" naturally absorbs the attention of the spiritual practitioner, which is why those that yearn for the mystical union with God will naturally withdraw from the crowd and abandon all other pursuits to "lead a retired life entirely consecrated to the purpose of contemplation." 

Thus, throughout the last 2,000 years, we have seen scores of Christian hermits, many of them later regarded as saints, withdraw from society to pursue the Lord in the quiet of the desert, the forest, and the monastery, but it is in the monastery alone where one finds the organization and the protections so crucial to the hermit's peaceful experience of the contemplative life, which is recognized by Edmond Gurdon in this quote:

"It is evident that such a life can be led nowhere

 so safely and so easily as in those 

monastic orders which make

 it their special object."

Edmond Gurdon

I offer the entire text to the Catholic Answers page HERE 

Meditative Landscape

by Silver S. Parnell (c) Copyright 1998

All rights reserved

My thoughts on the general topic:

The distractions of modern life are many and persuasive. The typical American, no matter how attracted to the contemplative ideal of the hermit, will "naturally" be distracted by the comings and goings, the eatings and drinkings, the pull of society's dance. HOWEVER, it is slightly different from the perspective of the Asperger personality which contains in its nature both helpful impulses that make us at home alone with ourselves and enable concentration that facilitates contemplation, as well as unhelpful ones that can express themselves in a manner that interferes with group life.

There are some people who are uniquely temperamentally inclined to endure the privations of the hermit life due to special conditions of their intellect and their "neuro-diversity." I am not talking about the misanthropes who dislike other humans and all aspects of "normal" society. Those people are cynical egotists who almost despise their fellow man, which is the opposite of the state necessary for the love of God. One cannot love God and hate mankind.

No, I am talking about the religious person who also happens to be a member of a group to which I belong; the Aspergers among us. While those who are on the autistic spectrum are not necessarily automatically religious, those of us who ARE religious can make use of our common ability to concentrate very intently on one topic and put it in service to our love of The Lord. Many of us are also quite able to spend long hours of time by ourselves, and we easily tolerate routine and tedious schedules, and, in fact appreciate these things that are sources of boredom for many other folks.

Before my baptism and conversion to Catholicism, I was a nun in a Hindu convent, and I remember becoming a bit ill at ease on holidays when the schedule was changed. Unless I could look upon it as one of our "regular" or "routine" holidays, I couldn't wait for the day to be over, when others around me were enjoying the change of pace.

Mother Mary

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) Copyright 2013

All rights reserved.

I won't say that these natural inclinations always make it easier for me to endure my life as a hermit. It doesn't help me deal with the bullies, con artists and thieves that routinely assail vulnerable people like me in my day-to-day life, but it certainly has helped me to remain constant to my vow of 20 years ago when I decided to dedicate the remainder of my life to the contemplation of The Lord. I made the personal vow one day, then 20 years later, I suddenly looked up and realized that two decades had passed!

On the other hand, the "monastic orders" that Edmond Gurdon says offer a more ideal home for the contemplative soul will not usually be so tolerant with the peculiarities with which the autistic person is saddled, so we will do better on our own, as hermits, rather than as a contemplative in an organization. 

It is also true that many of us are devoted to our own peculiar "avocations" which we may turn toward the "work" portion of the "ora et labora," ("prayer and work") of the monastic life, and which may be too creative or offbeat for a typical monastic order.

Albuquerque Sky and Clouds

by

Silver S. Parnell

(C) Copyright 2020

All rights reserved.

The Asberger personality is often prone to obsessive compulsive disorders, by virtue of their capacity for intense concentration upon various hobbies and interests. 

 If one of our obsessions finds purchase in the mind of an Asperbergers personality and it is in line with a project that is welcomed by the institution, then it is a benefit to all concerned, and superiors may not notice the inflexibility that accompanies many such "hobbies." But if the obsession asserts itself in a topic that one's superiors find peculiar, then we are in trouble, all around.

Many of us develop interests at a very young age and retain those interests through adulthood. We develop what could be characterized as a devotion to a topic, almost as if it is our responsibility to always stay on top of new discoveries in the field, and we find it difficult to restrain ourselves from attending to new developments immediately, rather than during a time set out for such things by an outside factor, such as the schedule of a monastic institution. 

 

Hermitage in the snow

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) 2021

All rights reserved.

I, for instance, began writing haiku poetry when very young. I was also a painter from youth. My favorite painters remain the same as they were from my early years, and I am still intensely interested in the entire topic. It is very hard for me to put down a book about the topic, or a painting I am working on, or some poetry I am writing.

The Asperger personality is sometimes famous for talking at great length about favorite topics on which great swaths of information has been accumulated. This can be irritating, in group life, where more balance is wanted.

But, the Aspergerish hermit, whom I call the "accidental hermit," while ill-suited to group life, given her God-given idiosyncracies, is  in greater need of the protections afforded by the monastic institutions because we are more vulnerable to the dangers of life outside the convent or monastery, due to the Accidental Hermit's gullibly loving nature, on the one hand, and the predatory nature of many of the folks among whom she has to live in close quarters, on the other.  Our culture has moved away from the Christian norm, for instance.

Unfortunately,  modern Americans have grown increasingly avaricious and scheming, and, while there are pockets of small-town culture where the Christian standards remain the blessed norm, it is sad to see, in my experience, that loving one's neighbor usually results in your disabled urban hermit being taken advantage of by those neighbors who share nearby residence. One would think that only the poverty stricken would prey upon the hermit, but in my lifelong experience, it does not matter the socio-economic station of the neighbor. All it takes is proximity and greed. 

Through artifice and design, some neurotypical people attempt to befriend your hermit for the sole purpose of grasping onto a piece of furniture or other thing they learn that I possess and, as soon as they have it and everything else they want, they fall back into a hard-bitten hostility and gritty cynicism that expresses itself in bitter recriminations for manufactured slights that are used as a smoke screen behind which to hide their acquisitiveness. 

If your loving Aspergerish hermit cannot physically do the service that these neighbors want or if she cannot afford to let go of the furniture on which the neighbor has set her eye, the neighbor will manipulate the situation so that others gang up on the hermit in order to force the item or service from her. All pretense of friendship is dropped, and the neighbor begins the litany of complaints that he or (usually) she recites.

Being a gentle soul, the Accidental Hermit will not lower herself to bickering over these items, nor will she pour grievances on the head of the people who have drawn her into their selfish dramas, but she does feel a certain sadness that these people have given up the real value that is to be had in the association with a lover of God.  

Despite these very real (and seemingly perennial) distractions, I contend that the Accidental Hermit is uniquely suited for this vocation, as an urban hermit, hidden among other single women and men, living in city apartments, following their monastic schedule.

The one thing that is sometimes a struggle is to be able to put down whatever I am doing at the moment, in obedience to the schedule. Most of the monastic institutions, convents and monasteries, chant the Divine Office at specific hours through the day and night. One has to be able to put down one's work at the time for prayer, and likewise put down one's prayer when it is time for work, or lunch, or sleep! I find it very difficult to drop anything in which I am engrossed at the moment, whether it be work, play or prayer. This is typical of many who have the Asperger personality, and it is an area in which being part of an institution would be helpful, but which I have to call upon self-discipline to do while alone.  There are trade-offs in both situations.

Photo by Bryan Brittos

unsplash.com

Royalty free images

If I don't have a saint to discuss in my next post, I may spend some time discussing the monastic schedule, or the "Rule of Life" that I have adopted for myself, in particular the prayer schedule.  

Any reader that has questions about the hermit life is free to ask in the comment section and I will answer to the best of my ability. next time I post.

In the meantime, please do not forget the "Go Fund Me" link, above right. While I am self-supporting with my Social Security Retirement funds, it really is not enough for all my needs, and I am falling behind.

God bless us all!

Silver Rose

(c) Copyright 2024, Silver S. Parnell

All rights reserved

(This post talks about "Asperger Syndrome" which used to be its own category, but now the higher functioning folks on the autistic spectrum are included in the wider term of "autistic spectrum disorder." Many of us, however, prefer "Aspergers" and continue to use it for ourselves. For my ears, it sounds more benign or pleasantly quirky. I am a fan of self determination and will continue to use it for myself, but also allow that others may prefer "neuro-divergent" or something else, and I will use those favored terms for those individuals when speaking about or to them specifically, otherwise I use my favored term.)

HOW I ENDED UP AS AN URBAN HERMIT

1ST PLACE

SENIOR DIVISION

ALBUQUERQUE APARTMENT ASSOCIATION

CITY-WIDE POSTER CONTEST

2024

MONETARY AWARD - $250.00 

I did not plan to spend my life as a religious hermit in an urban environment. I had no plan at all when I left my abusive home at 17, with nothing but the clothes on my back and hippie sandals on my feet.

Despite my family being hostile to all religion, especially Catholicism, I had always been interested in God, and even though homeless, I was determined to somehow continue to pursue Him as best I could.

I crawled out of homelessness by taking advantage of my typing skills (a skill I had learned in High School.)  I was a beautiful young woman, and the only kind of help that anyone wanted to give me was not the type of help I wanted to take. Things were looking grim when the Scientologists scooped me up and gave me a place to stay, "employing" me as a communications secretary, which was mostly typing letters to people we hoped would join us. I worked 11 hours a day, 7 days a week. They gave me room and board and $10 a week as an "allowance."

In the religious sphere, I went from Scientology to Buddhism to Hinduism (Vedanta.) I was searching for the mystical heart of religion.

Photo by Jake Blucker

via "UNSPLASH"

In my working life, I had to support myself as best I could, usually as a legal secretary. I type 120 words a minute, and I usually understood the legalese and legal rationales. In my mid to late 20's, I spent a short time working at a TV studio during the day and writing stories for an episodic television show at night.  But when I was exposed to some horrifically tawdry and immoral aspects of "Hollywood", I became demoralized and just could not remain there. (The worst part of it was that it was my own father who was bragging loudly about having relations with starlets in his office, with the door unlocked, despite having his third wife living with him. I was horrified and felt defiled by having to hear this filth coming from a parent. It destabilized me.)

What followed was a series of very distressing and life-altering events that nearly killed me. My search for God, and peace and blessedness was kicked into overdrive. Fast on the heels of this pivotal moment in my life story, I searched through the Yellow Pages and found an organization that sounded very much as if they would teach meditation: the Vedanta Society.

Some time after that, my stint with the Vedantists ended up with me living in the Hindu-based convent that had been designed in imitation of the Carmelite convents of the Catholics. Unfortunately, the women were terribly mean. The swami trusted me, but they were jealous of that, on the one hand, (later admitting that they were afraid I would "run the convent from the bottom" on the other.)  I did everything I could to show my love to them, and they were not having any of it. Between the stress of their constant perturbation, and all of the physical work, my body took a real "hit" and I was in a wheelchair for some weeks. 

Divine Mother

by

Sonika Agarwal

via Unsplash

While living as a nun, I started reading the beautiful works of and stories about the Catholic and Orthodox saints and "doctors" of the church, and I just fell in love with the whole thing. I came to realize that every spot of emptiness and incompleteness that was lacking in the Vedanta faith, was answered and filled with the Catholic. I intended to leave the Hindu convent and try to enter a Catholic one. In any case I knew that I could not, indeed did not believe in the Hindu deities. The formless God of the Vedanta did not answer the yearnings of my heart.

Photo by Nick Castelli

on Unsplash

As told in more detail elsewhere, I did try to become a Catholic nun, but I could not even get them to BAPTIZE me because of ignorant prejudice. The nun in charge of the class had this weird idea that because I had been divorced after my stint with the Scientologists, I would have to endure several years of a Catholic annulment before baptism. She was completely wrong and completely adamant (as wrong people usually are!) 

At that time, however, I did not know how to process it. I didn't know any Catholics or other Christians and had no clue who to approach to fix this ridiculous impasse. I had left the convent to become a Catholic nun, and was distraught. I decided to get baptized by the Episcopalians and put aside my strong feelings for a monastic life. I wondered if God was telling me that He did not WANT me in that life, that He wanted something else. Was I supposed to be married? I wanted to do what He wanted for me.

Meanwhile, I hadn't a cent to my name, no one to help me get my secular life re-established, and a lot of work ahead of me, so I got on with the task of finding employment, working and saving. I was 40 by this time, and it was too late to think about college or career. I worked as a litigation secretary and office manager and did the best I could, taking the bus from Hollywood to Beverly Hills and back again, every day, until I saved enough money to buy a car.

BUS INTERIOR 

BY ASH GERLACHE 

ON UNSPLASH

One of the Vedanta devotees had offered to share her apartment with me, and it wasn't until after I moved out, a year later, that I learned she had charged me for the entire cost of the rent, while she tormented me with her bossiness. At one point, she moved her bed into the living room so she could use the master bedroom as her private "meditation" room, even though we lived half a block from the Temple. I was stuck, meanwhile, in a tiny, closet-sized room with no air conditioning and a super tiny window at the top of the wall, restricted from entering or leaving the apartment every time that woman took a nap. It was frustrating experience that saddened me. I had thought we were friends. ( I did not know, at that time, that I suffer from Asperger's Syndrome, which is an antique term for a high-functioning version of autism. Other folks can often sense our vulnerability and gullible, loving natures. They know we can be conned into all sorts of things just by befriending us.)

Every time I think about this particular disappointment with a person who pretended to be "helping" me with one hand while she picked my pocket with the other, I just had to remind myself that this type of selfishness is common in the world. Even though this woman did not have to work to pay her rent, for some reason, she had taken advantage of me when I was in a very vulnerable position. She had worked a little in the past, apparently, and she had wealthy parents who supported her in some fashion. She did not need to take advantage of a destitute woman with no such support.

Reading about the love of Christ while enduring the selfish cruelty of the Vedantists was a real learning experience.

I was seeking God, peace and blessedness, while my contemporaries were pursuing professional careers, money and real estate. The practical difficulties that I have at age 70 would have been much easier to accommodate if I'd taken another route and gone after money instead.

Some years after leaving the Vedantists, my physical problems that had first become visible while I was in the convent, worsened and multiplied, and within the next 10 years, I was fully disabled and had to stop working outside the home when I was 49.

Photo by Zachary Kyra-Derksen

on Unsplash

So, shortly after moving to the high desert of New Mexico from California, I found myself too disabled to work before I was even 50. I had not had time to even properly accustom myself to the town before I became home-bound. The monastic inclinations I had put aside a decade earlier began knocking on the door of my consciousness in full force. I decided to make lemonade out of lemons by dedicating the remainder of my life to God, as an independent hermit. Within three years, I was able to enter the Catholic Church, after decades of wanting to do it.

So - this is how I find myself rather poor, unmarried, without family to support me, and without any religious assistance either!  My pursuit of the Divine has left me financially bankrupt but spiritually rich, and I wouldn't exchange my wisdom and experience for all the money in the world, despite the great difficulties I endure on a daily basis. Nobody ever said that sickness and poverty were going to be easy.

Many women who enter religious life have financial support of family or institution. Some families are happy to support them in it, and I have known quite a few who, while professing the life of poverty, are actually quite wealthy. I don't begrudge it of them because they need that support, as the men are in charge of all the purse strings in this world. I'm glad these women have the support. I am just not one of them. I need to be clear about that.

I was supposed to have been one of those ladies supported by family money, except that, after my father got Alzheimer's, I was written out of my father's will by a woman he had cheated on during their entire relationship. Then he died under suspicious circumstances, and other people are now spending my inheritance.  It is a "morality play," but in real life. The moral is: Don't cheat on the woman in your life because, if you get dementia or another illness that makes you vulnerable, you do not know how your inamorata may retaliate.

My entire life, he had consistently told me, "when I die, kid, yer gonna be rich!"  The doctor that signed his death certificate never saw him, in life or in death, according to my sister. His body was quickly cremated, before I even knew he had passed on, and what could I do about it? No one saw the body before the evidence was cremated.

I had planned to get myself through my difficult, pain-wracked disability and ultimate death with the inheritance that my father had promised me for decades and, at first, the scam perpetrated on me and my poor father was a terrible blow.  But I keep telling myself that the humiliation of being forced to beg for survival is good for the soul. 

In February of 2023, I celebrated 20 years of living as an independent monastic solitary. I didn't know at that time what form my vocation would take after that. It is very difficult to continue without support, particularly since I am physically suffering. 20 years of unremitting physical pain, due to inherited arthritic conditions, a light version of ehlers danlos,  and other physical damage, have taken their toll, but probably no more so than if my asceticism had been artificially practiced with a hair shirt and continual voluntary fasts.

PRESENT DAY SITUATION

I am writing a novel and producing some paintings. I have sold both types of art in the past, as well as jewelry items I produced. So I hope to have a better financial condition in future, if possible. In the meantime, if you would like to help support a poor hermit's spiritual and creative contributions to the world, the "DONATE" button above, on the right, under my photo, still works. BUT IF YOU YOURSELF ARE LIMITED IN FUNDS: PLEASE DON'T STRAIN YOUR BUDGET.

Otherwise, I am very grateful for any help you can give. I have an Amazon wish list for these things, AS WELL AS art supplies necessary to make paintings, rosaries and jewelry for sale. I will research how to sell them online, but I am beginning talks with the manager of the parish gift store for the production of personalized bookmarkers, bracelets and painting .

My parish church is located in the oldest part of town and was built in the 17th century! We have a bookstore that is open throughout the week and which is very popular with local Catholics, and many visitors to our town. The manager purchases most of her wares from local artists.

Amethyst & Pewter Celtic Rosary

St. Margaret of Scotland Centerpiece

Thistle charm

Paternoster beads: silver tree-of-life

(Made for my use/practice piece)

Amazon has my address and will mail to me directly, once the items have been paid for. Just click on the following link:

AMAZON WISH LIST

As mentioned elsewhere, my landlord (the City of Albuquerque) which is SUPPOSEDLY renting apartments under a "low income program", has suddenly and drastically bumped up the prices of the rent in this complex where I have lived for 20 years, and I am sadly distracted by the need to find the money so I can continue to afford to live here.  I was ALREADY having a difficult time when they gave me this distressing news.

In addition to the financial strain, my landlord has demonstrated ignorance of the Fair Housing laws and a real antipathy toward the idea of accommodating disabilities. I have had to file a HUD complaint and get an attorney to help me to keep the landlord from stranding me in my apartment during upcoming construction which is slated to last a month. Their plan would require me to perform some physical tasks I can't do in order to leave the house. I am finding that most people are insensitive to the issues that disabled folks have to face every day.

A couple months ago, I won a city-wide art contest that relieved me of the anxiety around my ABILITY to produce art, due to my blindness in one eye. I have been reassured that, despite the lack of depth perception, I CAN still produce art, particularly with the help of the magnifying lamps.

In addition to selling my paintings and sketches in the past, I have also made rosaries, and jewelry items. I hope to pick that up again and sell them locally, mostly at the parish book store, mentioned above. THOSE supplies are also on the wish list.

Practice jewelry for local store

As for my primary activities, I have a routine of prayer, meditation, contemplation, and reading. At some point, I may open up this routine to the participation of other solitaries. I know there are many elderly ladies who live alone and are assiduously practicing a prayer-centered life. One day soon, I will open up my YouTube channel for them so we may pray together.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

July 3, 2024
(C) Copyright 2024

All rights reserved

DISABLED HERMITS, LAY CONTEMPLATIVES, THE UNMARRIED STATE OF LIFE

 

"Hermitage View"

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) Copyright 2024, 

all rights reserved

Even though I am an independent little hermit, and I have no official overseers, I still try to keep a monastic schedule that a contemplative nun in a convent would recognize. This means prayers at certain times during the day, meditation, contemplative, and study, as well as regular reception of the sacraments of confession, reconciliation and the Eucharist.

Trying as much as I can to meet these requirements, I fail more than succeed in meeting these duties on a rigid time schedule, due to the unwelcome intrusion of the effects of my physical disabilities, but I know that the Lord sees my efforts and is with me in each conflict that I am fighting. I can feel the Holy Spirit carrying me along when the body and mind are unwilling and that, regardless of my failures, He is with me in all things. Although I am humbled by all of it, I am also uplifted by the generosity of the Lord. I give Him so little, in the general scheme of things, and it is only through his help that I am even able to do that. It occurs to me that, since He gives us even the power to give ourselves to Him, reliance upon Him is not something to which we have to aspire, but which is the point entirely. He has done me the favor of allowing me to become largely disabled in my old age so that this lesson is before me at all times.

Putting into place one duty at a time, until it is established, seems to be the best option for my limitations, so I have gradually put into place the chanting of the Angelus in Latin at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. I understand that, in better days, all the church bells of most of the towns in Christendom used to ring at those times, in order to remind the faithful to stop their labors and remember the Lord and His Blessed Mother.  This was just one of the benefits of a Christian culture that is no longer in place, not because the administrators of the cities and towns have fallen down on the job, but because the population itself has become more secular and is turning its back on Him. The Catholic remnant is often seen complaining in the City Halls of government about this sad reality, as if the force of politics could repair the broken soul of society. It cannot.

No, it is each one of us who must struggle individually against our own sinful natures to reach for the Lord because the comforting arms of a supportive society and church are no longer wrapped around us, helping us toward the goal. Society and the church are preoccupied with their own survivals, to a great extent, leaving many of us to dog paddle in the shallow moat around the church, while the comfortably ensconced Catholic denizens pull up the draw bridge, making it impossible for the frail and needy to get in. Only the holiest of  members put their own worries aside for a moment to come outside the gates and bring us The Bread of Life to sustain us, and I am grateful for two holy friends who, despite their own cares and responsibilities, bring me the Eucharist and other necessaries of life.

In this gradual concentration of American Catholicism into itself, there are made some accidental hermits whom I am beginning to meet on the road outside the palace gates. They did not leave society so much as society and the church have shrunk away from them, in the process I have described above, and they are making the best of their situation. It isn't an easy life, once the hermit is aged and infirm - particularly if he or she has no support system in the way of caring family members who might alleviate the distractions that simple survival presents to the physically impaired person.

Some months ago, when I was communicating with the Vicar General of my area, I had suggested starting an online group for the independent hermits, which he said I could do, if I wished. It is lucky that I have a substantial education in contemplative life, which is the life of the hermit, and that there are many books I can recommend to these people that I meet on the way, as well as the natural wisdom of experience. I have lived as a hermit since before I became Catholic, and I have learned some helpful lessons in more than 20 years of solitary life. 

Basically, disabled hermits who live in the world are simply living what God intends for those people committed to single life.  According to Fr. Chad Ripperger, one of my favorite priests on the internet, God's will for the single Catholic is pretty much the same as that which is recommended for widows by St. Paul. As with all Catholics, we should be doing all we can to advance in holiness, aiming for a life of virtue and spiritual perfection. Our free time should be geared toward helping the church in whatever way the laity can do this, since ours is part of the lay state, although in some ways it mimics the contemplative monastic life in some of the routines and in our solitude.

For those of us with serious physical disabilities, our gift to the church is our prayers. My particular charism is for the reunification of the Orthodox with the Catholic Church, and I dedicated all my prayers for this purpose more than two decades ago, when I became disabled and promised myself to God.

For anyone considering discernment of God's will for them, especially if you are thinking of committing yourself to the hermit life , I am offering you a talk on "Discerning God's Will," given by Father Chad Ripperger, one of my favorite of the public priests who offers guidance on YouTube and elsewhere. Otherwise, he is also an exorcist and has published at least one book of special Deliverance Prayers, which I find very helpful. (I bought the paperback AND the kindle version, so I would have it with me always.)

Click Here for Fr. Ripperger's Talk

This is what Father's book looks like:

If you are also  a Catholic living as a hermit, accidental or not, contact me on my Facebook page:

Click here for my Facebook Page

Once I have had some input from at least 4 other Catholic hermits to ascertain whether or not there is a need for a hermit group, I will offer mine, which is already created but not yet open to applicants.

God bless you all!

Silver Rose

Silver Cottage Hermitage

Albuquerque, New Mexico