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| April 1997 Vol. 3 No. 3 |
- Back Issues
* Thoughts in Solitude: Excerpt from: Sources et Vie Dominicaine
* Poet Tree: Silent Encounter. Sister Verona Weideg, O.P.
* Canonical and Legal Reflections: by R.B. Williams, O.P.
* Sounding Solitude: From a letter to a hermit.
* Bulletin: Hermits of the Blessed Trinity.
MARABOU is a quarterly newsletter for hermits and those interested in the eremitical life. This newsletter seeks to affirm this life style since it is ecclesially recognized and endorsed by the Church. MARABOU is to be a collaborative effort and thus depends on the reflections, poetry, news and information from hermits themselves.Subscribers to MARABOU are limited to those who are hermits and to those who aspire to the eremitical life. The circulation of MARABOU is limited, but if you feel you would qualify to be on our mailing list, kindly indicate your hermit status.
Important Announcement
After a time in prayer and discernment I have come to the decision to relinquish the editorship of Marabou. Fortunately, there is a seasoned hermit with considerable writing skills who is willing to pick up the reins. She is Karen Karper who has written expertly of the eremitical life and has published in journals. I am most grateful that she is willing to continue Marabou and we can look forward to her creativity and new style; she will bring to the newsletter. I would hope to take on a supportive role by offering news and submit arcicles from time to time. This April, 1997 issue will be my last and Karen will begin with the July, 1997 issue. Please address all correspondence, articles, and payment to:Karen Karper Box: 562 Hot Springs, NC 28743Many thanks to many of you who have contributed to Marabou over the past years. Having experienced the usefulness of such a newsletter. I feel confident you will continue with your support.Bede Jagoe, O.P.
River Forest, IL
The annual subscription fee is $7.50. MARABOU (ma-ra-bu) also marabout, marabu, (a. French marabou), app. repr. an Arabic use of murabit, hermit. The stork is said to be mrabt, i.e. hole (Pagni in Daozy, Suppl. aux Dictt. arabes, s.v. murabit.). Marabou, a large stork or heron, leptoptilius marabou, or crumnifer, a native of West Africa.
Thoughts in Solitude
Whether it was the absolute solitude of the extreme desert or the mitigated solitude of the desert near an inhabited world, the eremetical life at the time of Anthony and Pacomius knew the most diverse forms. It must be said that the ascetics who withdrew into the deserts of Egypt, Syria, or Palestine were pioneers in the subject. Their efforts were without precedent and it is for that reason that they were familiar with the most extravagant forms of asceticism. However, with the passage of time two great forms of eremetical life evolved: anchorism in the strict sense of those who would live alone according to the example of Saint Anthony (251-356), and the cenobitism of those who would come together in community under the direction of an abbot, in the form inaugurated by Saint Pacomius (287-347). The line of separation between these two forms of life is not very precise. They include a wide span which covers monastic life almost imperceptibly from one extreme to the other.The question was raised very early on about the respective significance of these two forms of life. It was agreed that the anchorite life presented greater dangers than the cenobitical life, in as much as the one who is solitary is much more given over to himself. It is for this reason that it is generally asked of those who wish to commit themselves to the anchorite life to experience the cenobitical life first, according to the rule of Saint Saba expressed by this beautiful image: as the flower precedes the fruit, thus does the cenobitical life precede the anchoritic. On the other hand, opinions differ on knowing which of the two forms of life is the highest. Many will accord primacy to the anchorite life. Others, like Saint Basil who does not hide his deep reservations about the anchorite life, prefer from a distance the cenobitical life.
In order to go beyond this rapid and partial glimpse, nothing is worth more in the reading of the great classics of eremetical literature but to begin with the life of Saint Anthony by Saint Athanasius. The life of Anthony helps us discover in the lively and concrete manner of a book of images the trials and difficulties of life in the desert, at the price of such stripping away and such struggles that the monk comes to the point finally of abandoning everything to the "one thing necessary."
After having passed through numerous trials and feeling himself abandoned by God to demonic powers, Anthony lets out this complaint to God who finally manifests himself: Where were you? Why did you not appear to me at the beginning to make my suffering cease? Then a voice responds to him: "I was there, Anthony, I was waiting to see you fight.:" Does this dialogue between Anthony and his God reveal to us, beyond the geographic desert of the monks, that spiritual desert, the interior place, through which every believer, wherever he finds himself, must pass in one way or another in order to take part fully in the happiness that God promises, that place of stark combat, but also that place of nuptials?
(An edition of the life of Anthony has just appeared in the collection of Sources Chrétiennes.)
Excerpt from: Sources et Vie Dominicaine. Translated by Sr. Mary Ellen Green, O.P., No. 4, XXII.
Silent EncounterVaulted, blue sky,Woods encircling lofty trees Create nature's secluded, enclosed cathedral Beyond the solitary's hermitage picture window. Sunlight rays ebb in, out now here, now there Overcast sky, Cathedral's unadorned sanctuary: Sister Verona Weideg, O.P. |  |
Canonical and Legal Reflections
April 15th has assumed the status of a national institution because it is the deadline for paying personal income taxes. And yes, Hermits in many cases will have to file a personal tax return. At least, those Hermits who are not members of a religious order will have to do so. And my readers may recall that the Code of Canon Law does not make a Hermit a member of a religious order simply because they are a Hermit!In order to qualify for tax exemption, a person must be a member of a religious order with a vow of poverty. This religious order must be listed in the Official Catholic Directory. Furthermore, for the income to be tax exempt, it must come from a Catholic institution that is also listed in the Official Catholic Directory. A Hermit must pay taxes on any income that does not qualify in the above way. For example, a Hermit, not a member of a religious order, who holds a part time job somewhere, must pay personal income tax even if the Hermitage itself is incorporated. Or a Hermit who is a religious and works part time as a nurse or chaplain at a non-Catholic hospital must pay taxes on the income.
So, both the Hermit and the income must be exempt from taxes to avoid that dreaded deadline. The wise Hermit will find a C.P.A. or seek help from the diocesan business office to be sure that all the tax rules are being followed. This will insure that the peace and tranquility of the hermitage are not disturbed by an audit.
San Antonio, TX
Sounding Solitude
There are many people who do great things for God and are very successful at what the do. We hear about their stories on the news and read about them. They advance the kingdom of God on earth. What is our vocation as hermits compared to them? What do we have to show for all our efforts and sufferings? Ours is the most foolish of all vocations. We specialize in failure, that is our mark in the world. But we may have the most important job of all. There are always those who will be willing to move mountains for God but very few who are willing to explore the depths of their own poverty. This poverty is shared by all humanity.We enter this life full of hope of finding the One Great Love. As time passes all we find is our own poverty and through God's mercy we will be ever plunged deeper into this poverty. It is enough for us just to stay alive. Our lives are made up of the most mundane preoccupations and even in these we need God's mercy and constant help to carry them out.
In time all pretenses of prayer slips away and we are left alone with our thoughts which snap at the heels of our consciousness like little dogs. At one point we find that we are just empty tin-cans. This is the starting point. In this state we find that God loves this little empty space that we used to call "me" with an infinite love.
It is as if, in creating us, God took a part of emptiness and gave it the parameters which we call a human being. God looks on this little nothing and loves it dearly. At the center we are empty, nothing and this is the unknowable image of God planted in us. It is only through utter poverty/humility that we come to this blessed place of rest. Here nothing can disturb us for nothing can enter. We rest in this emptiness wiht the God of love, the God who is our Love.
Even in this state we do not see what is going on. The only thing we have is an unshakeable conviction that God is Love. This Love that purifies. We become a living temple of Love and we do not know it, we cannot know it; it is not for us to know. I cannot speak of what happens next or how God uses us for I do not know.
From a letter to a hermit.
Bulletin Board
A laura of hermits is being proposed and hopefully formed with a focus and direction centered on the Holy Trinity. It is based in Idaho and has tentative and adjustable characteristics:- To be called Hermits of the Blessed Trinity.
- Would look toward 6 women and 6 men.
- Would be composed of religious, lay and priests.
- Daily Eucharist.
- Take turns for perpetual adoration.
- Follow the rule of St. John of Matha.
- Each hermit responsible for hermitage and finances.
- Engender a Catholic spirituality.
- Would be marked by study and contemplation of the Trinity.
- Those interested may write to:
- Hermits of the Blessed Trinity
- P.O. Box 363
- Cambridge, ID 83610
- P.O. Box 363
Kindly take note that Marabou is for hermits and those who aspire to the eremitical life. Of late we have been getting enquiries and some subscriptions from New Age groups, curiosity seekers, and those who now find Marabou on the Internet. We are unable to meet the demands of those who are not aligned to the hermit lifestyle. When seeking a subscription, please let Marabou know of your eremitical status. Thank you!