✙ how can I help you?
Traditionally, in its value for others, the apostolate of a hermit is described as an apostolate of prayer and presence, particularly during times of suffering, grief, or need.
This apostolate (sometimes also referred to as a ministry of presence) is traditionally defined as rooted in the biblical understanding of God's presence with His people and the call for believers to embody Christ's love through their presence with others.
As phrased more elaborately in ’The Way of the Pilgrim’ and ‘The Pilgrim Continues His Way’:
"In the measure that the hermit ministers to his own improvement, he benefits others. Because by communicating his inward experiences, the hermit promotes the spiritual progress and the salvation of his brethren. For his presence persuades others to progress in the search for God. And his practise and study of silence, received from all the centuries that are past, must be kept for the generations to come. The people who do this in the Church, are hermits, recluses, and anchorites. They are like pillars supporting the devotion of the Church by their secret continuous prayer.” (edited for length, unity, and clarity)
Therefore, while I’m on this lifelong trajectory, it is my offering to God - besides living out my personal calling and vocation as described on this previous page - to pray for everybody (if and when you want: including you), and where possible to help you and everybody else (in as far as possible and needed) with the knowledge, fruits, and experiences that my life’s vocation has brought me thus far. As a hermit and fool for Christ, this finds its expression most in providing practical and convincing answers and solutions to your Christian questions and struggles, and in helping you to improve and deepen your daily prayer life in order to enable you to live a more fulfilling and effective Christian life in this world through growing in self-emptying, dispassion, and unconditional love. For comments and commentaries of others on how I try to do this, you can visit this page.
However, this is obviously only possible and necessary when we both are of the opinion that I would indeed be in a position to help you. Therefore, according to the tradition, the experience, and the advice of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, I’m only allowed to do any or all of the above for you:
- insofar as you ask it of me explicitly
- as long as I do it in line with the traditional roadmap and safeguards as established by the Desert Fathers and Mothers
- as long as my spiritual director (a priest) allows me to do it
These and many other ‘Desert Rules' were established (i.a.) to minimise the risks - on the hermit’s side - of jeopardising his (or her) personal calling and vocation before God (+) and of being overbearing or overwhelming others with unsolicited, unwanted, and maybe even unnecessary or detrimental advice. And - as the opposite side of the same coin - it helps you and everybody else to be fully self-conscious, clear, and honest about whether they need help, whether they want help, and - if so - for what and from whom.
Therefore, don't take offence when I don't react according to your implicitly stated social expectations. Because I do understand and feel them. And like everybody else I’m inclined to react to those implicit social expectations. However, in order to train and protect my own heart, body, soul, mind, and vocation I try not to unless explicitly being asked or compelled to do so.
So just know that you are free to ask me for my help, but you have to do so explicitly.
Be it to pray for you, to help you find practical and convincing answers and solutions to your faith related question(s), and/or to try to improve and deepen your daily prayer life in order to enable you to live a more fulfilling and effective Christian life in this world through growing in self-emptying, dispassion, and unconditional love. Because you are always truly welcome.
One way of reaching me is through the contact form on the homepage.
And for those who think I’m an irritating imposter, a failed buffoon, and/or a sinful scumbag… you are probably right too, because I’m still far from perfect. Therefore, if and when I’ve caused you to take offence without any form of perceivable justification, then please ask me why I did so (because it probably wasn't my intention), pray for me, and above all: please let me know that I have offended you even if you don’t want to discuss it any further. Because only in that way can I sincerely ask you for your forgiveness, repent from my sins, grow as a Christian and hermit. And rediscover God’s Light.
Whenever you ask someone for help, do keep in mind, that - no matter who you ask for help - lives and personalities differ.
Therefore, my road through and around common and less common obstacles might not be your’s. And as long as we’ve not been perfected by God’s Holy Spirit we all carry a major beam in our own eyes. I’m no exception to that rule.
As a matter of fact: I’m far from perfect and probably still less than half the servant I ought to be. And truth be told, nowadays this is probably true of all Christians including those within the ordained and monastic state.
In other words: in our modern times you should never outsource the responsibility for your own spiritual progress and wellbeing to someone else (a spiritual father, a guru, etcetera).
Because God (+) gave us all a free will. And this means ultimately that you’ve always been - and always will remain - responsible for your own decisions and spiritual progress.
See in more detail the wise words of Ignatius Brianchaninov, an Orthodox bishop, quoted below.
In the wise and experienced words of the Orthodox bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov (1806 - 1867):
“In our modern times we face a total paucity of spirit-bearing instructors who can see directly into people’s souls. For this reason, the only road to Christian progress left for us in this current age is a Christian life lived under the guidance of patristic writings, combined with the counsel of contemporary brothers and sisters who are seen to be successfully progressing in line with those writings.
But be extremely cautious. Don't be caught up in their contemporary counsel according to its first effect upon you!
Test the contemporary counsel of your brothers and sisters always thoroughly against the writings of the Fathers: it should be found to be in accordance with it before taking it to heart.
Also remember that counsel never demands unquestioning execution. Instead, counsel should leave you free to follow up on it, or not. [And should you have a specific spiritual director or religious father] see to it that he brings you and your soul to Christ, not to himself. Let him consider himself as nothing, like the great and humble John the Baptist.
Guard yourself against passionate attachment to spiritual instructors."
(collated and edited for length and clarity)
Many schools of thought
There are many pillars upholding the Roman Catholic Church’s unified teaching and core dogmas.
To name just the two primary among these different pillars: on the one hand there is Thomism (with a focus on reason and the Aristotelian method), and on the other there is Augustinianism (with a focus on Divine Grace). However, there are more and they all can be further divided into differing subsections. For example: Thomism and Augustinianism can be further divided into - respectively - the Jesuits and Opus Dei on the one hand, and the Franciscans and Carmelites on the other. And then to the left and right of all that came quite recently the so-called modern movements (like the Nouvelle Théologie, Liberation Theology, Communio, and a variation of pentecostal-style charismatic groups). This only constitutes a general overview, but there is much more to find and to distinguish when you were to search for it.
This multiplicity is both one of the Roman Catholic Church’s core strengths and weaknesses.
- It’s a strength, because anyone can find a road towards understanding and following Christ that fits his or her capabilities and proclivities at any one moment in one’s life and stage of personal (and Christian) development.
- It’s nonetheless a weakness as well, because - how to phrase this somewhat saintly…? - one pillar might not always look so straight and stable when seen from inside another pillar, and so it regularly leads to implicit and explicit strive and confusion among the adherents of different pillars and subsections thereof.
Personally, I think they are all correct in their views, as they all stem from God (+) who in His triunity is both one and all. Therefore, God (+) will per definition always remain in His Fullness beyond our individual capacity for understanding and perception, and so we all observe and understand Him (+) only partly depending on our personal lenses of perception. Unfortunately, this leads to many paradoxes that to us individually seem to be in conflict with each other, but - as is always the case with paradoxes - are in fact formed by the different sides of the exact same coin when seen from a more unified point of view.