Raven's Bread

Food for Those in Solitude

---

---

Vol: 6 No: 3  August 2002

Raven's Bread is a quarterly newsletter (FEB-MAY-AUG-NOV) for hermits and those interested in the eremitical life published by Paul and Karen Fredette. The newsletter seeks to affirm and support this way of life. Raven's Bread is a collaborative effort and thus depends on the shared reflections, stories, news, notices, letters, and information from hermits themselves. The Raven's Bread Web page is an abbreviated version of our full printed newsletter, which also includes a Bulletin Board and Reader Forum featuring responses to a quarterly discussion topic.

Please send your written contributions, as well as address changes and subscriptions to:

Raven's Bread
18065 Hwy 209
Hot Springs, NC 28743

The annual subscription to the printed newsletter is $8.00 in USA and $10.00 US currency for foreign subscriptions. (Drafts drawn on US banks are the most convenient form of payment by foreign subscribers.) Any extra donations will be used to subsidize subscriptions for hermits who cannot afford the full cost.

To E-mail Raven's Bread directly click on this link:fredette@nclink.net

Raven's Bread (formerly Marabou) derives its name from the experience of Elijah, the prophet, in 1 Kgs.17: 1-6. A raven, sent by God, nourished him during his months of solitude at the Wadi Cherith (the Cutting Place).

zzzzzzThoughts in Solitudezzzzzz

By: Barbara Erakko-Taylor, Catonsville, MD
(Excerpted from Silent Dwellers, published 1999 by Continuum Publishing Co.)

Aloneness carries with it a certain poverty. While periods of aloneness can carry a deep richness, prolonged solitude carries a certain loss. The need to be alone is part of the human condition. Every person, no matter how extroverted, needs time to pause, to reflect, to simply rest in soulful silence. But the silent dweller, by choosing solidarity with one's own human aloneness thereby also chooses a particular form of human poverty and deprivation. The ingredient of companionship is absent when one embraces a life of deliberate solitude.

If true humanity is writ upon the soul, then the solitary – in communing so deeply with soul and spirit – lives out a deep expression of that humanity. It is in letting go of what seems necessary to be human – companionship, love, service, children – that one begins to touch the unseen roots that feed society and make it grow and thrive.

But this letting go is not abandoning, or turning one's back on humanity. It is letting go of the way such connections are held within the human heart. There is a woman within me who would clutch at God, determined to be one with God in her knowing much like the rich man who thinks he can buy solidarity with the poor by writing large checks to charity. A significant part of me has believed I can own God. I nurture this illusion by going up the mountain of human isolation – depriving myself of companionship – and equate this journey to oneness with the poor and dispossessed.

This is the dark side of solidarity with the poor. It has no life. It can only result in bitterness, human isolation, psychological death. The journey into authentic solidarity is very difficult, one which I am only beginning to understand. True solidarity requires a genuine connection to the pain and horror, the awe and beauty, of being human.

I have read many books about the holiness of aloneness, and the psychological neediness of loneliness. For me, both run together in a river. I am alone... and lonely ... in the same indrawn breath. I feel the awe and holiness of my aloneness; I feel the sharp wounding pain of my loneliness. The two become so intermingled, it is impossible for me to distinguish them. Like coffee mixed with cream and sugar, who can tell what part is bitter, and what part, sweet?

The first step toward true solidarity with the poor is accepting our own human poverty. That is hard – keeping one's heart open to the enormity of one's pain, and not run, rush back to human consolation. Why not run to our brothers and sisters? We are meant to be human, to be in communion. What strange disorder possesses the solitary to seek a solidarity that cannot be seen, touched, or affirmed?

Fear can seduce the solitary to abandon the quest. Within me, I often feel a horrible debilitating uselessness. During those times – and they are horrible – I feel utter emotional helplessness. I am terrified of a kind of human oblivion, a negation of my human spirit. Yet it is in precisely this poverty that the essence of my solidarity with all human beings is revealed.

The true solitary who sings adoration to God through the human condition is the embodiment of solidarity. In such a one, God and the world are inseparable and the world draws closer to the inexhaustible richness of God.

A Word from Still Wood

Some months ago, we were having some fun with the sanctoral cycle of the Church calendar. "How would you feel, " Paul asked, "if, after being canonized, you were assigned to be an Optional Memorial? Those holy men and women whose names follow the phrase: "And On the Same Day"? I admitted I would feel like I was in the "Also ran" or "Honorable Mention" category. One thing led to another and we were soon concocting new members of the ancient order of Holy Helpers, among whom are St. Barbara, (whose teeth were knocked out), patroness of dentists, and St. Dymphna, (who was beheaded by her own father), patroness of persons with mental health problems.

We suspect a certain holy couple has already been assigned to us: Sts. Frustratia and Futilibus. They are not the patrons of Lost Causes (St. Jude) nor of the Impossible (St. Rita). Rather they come to the aid of folk feeling totally frustrated; of persons who see how futile are their best efforts. Have you ever been visited by this couple? Their special gift is to help us see more clearly what in life really deserves our best efforts and what is merely a "chase after wind, vanity of vanities." After communing with them for awhile, time itself is seen differently. Instead of being a commodity that is always running out, it becomes a space in which we can find the nearest thing to heavenly bliss known on this earth - Contentment.

Contentment is the sweet gift of realizing that we already have everything we really need, even enough time to enjoy it! It requires the discipline of being aware of our life in the Present Moment and leaving the future (and the past) in Hands larger than our own. As hermits and lovers of solitude have discovered, Now is beautiful! Now is the timeless moment in which we know all is well. "From useless worry and futile fretting," may Sts.Frustratia and Futilibus deliver us!

We recently experienced a moment of frustration when we began editing this issue of Raven's Bread. We had not yet received a single response to the questions about Spiritual Direction which had been posed for August. How strange ... when we had thought it was an important topic! Perhaps everyone was hoping someone else would write about it? As we proceeded to set up the rest of the issue, two responses did arrive and others were promised. If you would still like to contribute to the discussion, we will be glad to publish reflections in the next issue about your experiences, frustrations, or desires re Spiritual Direction. Or you may address the other proposed topic: Degree and Nature of Interaction with 'the World.'

May we share a recent and long-awaited achievement with you? After months of seemingly futile efforts and frustrations, we have finally realized our dream of establishing a website for our fabric art enterprise, Faith Keeper Originals. Please check out www.faith-keeper.com and share our joy!

With Grateful love,
Karen & Paul

The 2001 Survey of Raven's Bread Readers

Since last year more than 620 copies of "The Survey" have been mailed to our readership, and we received over 175 responses. It continues to be a truly gratifying experience. The volume of returns stays at a fantastic 25%!!! It says something wonderful about everyone who cooperates in this project, making it truly reflective of what is happening in our own time re solitary lifestyles. We continue to receive requests each week for Survey Results and back issues containing the summaries we have printed thus far.

The current print issue of RB (August 2002) features the results of the Fourth of Ten Reflection Questions: "If you are a member of a religious congregation, what has been the reaction of the community to your choice of hermit life?"

…forty members of various religious communities responded to this fourth survey question. Among them were Benedictines, Franciscans, Carmelites, Augustinians, Dominicans and others who have remained members of their respective communties while living as hermits /solitairies. They report the various accomodations they must make in order to maintain this affiliation
(from editor's introduction, pg. 4 of August 2002 Print Issue)