"God is Love" - I need to believe it or I cannot live.
Love b. JC

In two weeks comes the memorial of one of my dearest saints, Peter Celestine. Amazing just how many hermits there have been in history and that actually show up on the record books (although many many more likely were never seen nor heard of in this life :)

Also coming up is the feast of Joan of Arc, a woman whom I've grown to love greatly in recent years. Her example to women I know, young and old, is outstanding!

Love to you! b. JC

This week has seen the Memorial of the Carthusian Martyrs who died at the English Reformation, as well as the Eastern Church feast of the Righteous Prophet Job; I love both feasts because I love the Carthusians, and I received my own hermit's habit on the feast of Job three years ago. Praise be to God for His generosity! May we be his light in the world! Amen!

(JOB - by Fra Bartolomeo)

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return again. Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back.
Blessed be the name of Yahweh!";"Does Job fear* God for nothing?" - Job 1: 21; 9
*respect / trust

Solitary Living

Well, I'm reading bits of Merton's "The Inner Experience" and well, hermit's don't have it easy apparently.

If God is calling one to a life of solitude with Him, in contemplation and intercession then life gets to be very 'real', meaning, one sees it for what it is. Merton writes, "Be content to remain in loneliness and isolation, dryness and anguish, waiting upon God in darkness." He's referring a lot to my Father in Carmel, Juan de la Cruz. I'm trying to follow the path they show, I'm 'in it', but IT AIN'T EASY!!!

Anybody out there reading, do please pray for me. Hermitude is not easy. Love is not easy.

Peace to you in Him, b. John

Anglicans Coming Home

Well, my brother and sister Anglicans will soon be on the way home. What a GLORIOUS Day for the building of the Kingdom of God. Those who have felt the separation will be now feeling a sense of homecoming, a relief in their hearts. Praise be to You Father - Jesus - Holy Spirit. May they make it all the way home without the hindrances of he enemy. Mother of Our Lord, please Pray for Us. You Holy Saints, Cuthbert, Brendan, Anselm, Augustine, and Henry Newman, please pray for us! Amen

Byztex.com

I'm loving the blog byztex.com; GREAT!!!
Aside from that, SILENCE is the best answer
to the questions of today.

Jesus, please help us. Mother, St. Peter of Athos and St. Onuphrius, please pray for us.

Amen

Julie and Julia

I've found inspiration in the movie Julie and Julia!

I'm living in a highly 'ecumenical' Christian situation in my city. Additionally I study at a denominational grad school that isn't Catholic so I'm VERY ecumenically challenged there!

What can one say. A major issue today is that Christians don't agree on things pertaining to how people must understand God, so we disrespect eachother. Bad form.

God help us to do better!

New Day

I wish I could manage this blog better. I'm a bit of a techno slow learner and really not that into learning the stuff.
Anything worth saying today is here http://www.universalis.com/today.htm
:)
b. JC

Saint Albert of Jerusalem, Bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel

Saint Albert of Jerusalem

Bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel

September 17: Celebrated as a Feast with proper texts.



Albert Avogadro was born in the middle of the twelfth century in Castel Gualteri in Italy. He became a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected their prior in 1180. Named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184 and of Vercelli in 1185, he was made Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205 where, in word and example, he was the model of a good pastor and peace‑maker. While he was Patriarch (1206‑1214) he united the hermits of Carmel into one community and wrote a Rule for them. He was murdered at Acre on September 14th, 1214.

Prayer

Lord God,

through St Albert of Jerusalem

you have given us a Rule of life

according to your Gospel

to help us attain perfect love.

Through his prayers

may we always live in allegiance to Jesus Christ

and serve faithfully until death

him who lives and reigns

with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.


Scripture Readings

Ephesians 6:11-18; Gospel - Matthew 20:25-28.


Texts taken from the “Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,”

Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993
_______________________________________________________

And in Light of our hermit heritage and life in Christ on Mt. Carmel

John the Dwarf and the angels

This story is told in the latest Road to Emmaus (a very good issue if I may say so). I enjoyed the mix of comedy ajavascript:void(0)nd instruction.

“It was said of Abba John the Dwarf, that one day he said to his elder brother, ‘I should like to be free of all care, like the angels, who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God.’ So he took off his cloak and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door, he heard his brother say, before he opened it ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I am John, your brother.’ But he replied, ‘John has become an angel, and henceforth he is no longer among men.’ Then the other begged him saying, ‘It is I.’ However, his brother did not let him in, but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, ‘You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat.’ Then John made a prostration before him, saying, ‘Forgive me.’”

- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, pg. 86

St. Nicholas Cathedral - Washington, DC
H/T: Central Pennsylvania Orthodox

Posted by Josephus Flavius at 3:59 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Role of Pope of Rome said to be central to dialogue

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - A common understanding of the role the bishop of Rome played in the united Christianity of the first millennium is essential for resolving the question of the primacy of the pope in a united church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The pope met June 27 with Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Bishop Athenagoras of Sinope, who serves as the assistant metropolitan of Belgium, and Deacon Ioakim Billis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The three Greek Orthodox represented Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at the evening prayer service closing the year of St. Paul June 28 and at the pope's Mass for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.

Meeting the delegation privately before the festivities began, the pope said the year of St. Paul was a year "of prayer, of reflection and of exchanging gestures of communion between Rome and Constantinople."

The pope said the joint activities were the best way to honor St. Paul, who urged Christians "'to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace,' teaching us that there is 'only one body and one spirit.'"

The participation of the Orthodox delegation in the late-June liturgies "reminds us of our common commitment to the search for full communion," Pope Benedict said.

"You already know this, but I am pleased to confirm today that the Catholic Church intends to contribute in every way to making it possible to re-establish full communion in response to Christ's will for his disciples," he said.

Pope Benedict said the international Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission would meet in October in Cyprus "to face a theme crucial for relations between the East and West, that is the 'role of the bishop of Rome in the communion of the church in the first millennium.'"

Ecumenical experts believe agreement on how the pope, the bishop of Rome, exercised his ministry before Christianity split into East and West is essential for discovering the way the papacy could be exercised in the church if Catholics and Orthodox successfully reunite.

"I want the participants in the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue to know that my prayers accompany them and that this dialogue has the complete support of the Catholic Church," Pope Benedict told the Orthodox delegation.

"With all my heart, I hope that the misunderstandings and tensions encountered by the Orthodox delegates during the last plenary session of the commission have been overcome in fraternal love so that this dialogue will be more broadly representative of Orthodoxy," the pope said.

At the last plenary gathering, held in Italy in 2007, the Russian Orthodox delegation walked out to protest the presence of a delegation from the Estonian Orthodox Church, recognized as autonomous by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople but not by the Russian Orthodox Church.