NIGHT PRAYER:
If tonight the soul finds her peace in sleep and sinks into oblivion, and in the morning we wake like a newly opened flower, then we will have been dipped again in God so as to reveal a new blossom in us.

IMMERSED IN GOD:
“The human heart is drawn by love.” “The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.”
“Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”
(Catherine of Siena)

Tom Schwanda wrote: God's presence is not something we create by our efforts, it is God's gift to us totally independent of what we do. For in reality God is always present; it is we who need to be awakened to God's presence.

GOD'S PRESENCE:
We may ignore, but in no way evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with him, he walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact to come awake, still more to remain awake!

Wrens are like some opera singers in as much as we often say how can so much power come from such a petite frame. e.g. Katherine Jenkins... Not Luciano Pavarotti! Haha! ( Sound on please )

GOD IS PRESENT everywhere. We're reminded of this through the beauty of Creation.
Ps 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” In this way God reveals himself to us even though we may not, as yet, be imbued with the faith of Christ.

HERMIT RULE - General Introduction:
Retreat from this world and follow the Lord. Don't doubt for an instant. Neither gaze at the road stretching behind you nor worry about the future. But here be recollected to God’s constant presence in all things at all times.

God's portal... doorway to perception, forest dwellers only! Pax, Bod.

Friends lean on each other when things get tricky.
When life gets really hard, lean on God.

Anchor into presence

'The menu is not the meal.'

Alan Watts

THE ANGELUS: Jean Francois Millet
The beauty of this prayer is in its simplicity. Amidst the busyness of the day we are invited, by the sound of bells, to pause and consider the mystery of the incarnation, Mary’s unconditional ‘yes’ which enabled Love itself to dwell among us.

Despite recognition, eremitism remains essentially a hidden life and like a clear pane of glass, exists only to admit the Light while the hermit disappears. In a unified creation their quiet prayer is all the more needed to restore imbalances & redress the ravages of ‘progress’

MANY OF TODAY'S HERMITS benefit from an amalgam of practices embracing interreligious dialogue as promoted by Merton & Keating. Sharing truths emerging from the deeper reaches of prayer and silence serve to understand and hold the whole world and not just one community or faith.

FREEDOM?
Yes! hermits enjoy more than most. They know there are dozens of ways to cultivate their prayer garden. It is their privilege to nurture whatever perennials and annuals they wish in the landscape of their tradition and always to God’s delight.

HERMIT RULE - GENERAL INTRODUCTION:

Para los que vivimos en cualquier parte. En el mundo o fuera de él más allá de todo mundo y en cualquier tiempo.
For those of us who live anywhere; In the world or outside it or beyond all the world and in whatever time.

HERMIT FREEDOM:
Another freedom comes from separation. No one cares if you wear sackcloth or fast on sea kale (we don’t..!) There is a great truth in the old saying, “We will worry much less about what others think of us when we realise how seldom they do.”

SHHH... Be Quiet...
Be quiet in your mind, quiet in your senses, and also quiet in your body. Then, when all these are quiet, don't do anything. In that state truth will reveal itself to you.

PONDER:
Go deeper. Past thoughts into silence. Past silence into stillness. Past stillness into the heart. Let love consume all that is left of you. ~ Kabir

NIGHT PRAYER:
We weave a silence upon our lips, into our minds and deep within our hearts. Calm us O Lord as you stilled the storm, Still us O Lord and keep us from harm. Let all tumult within us cease. Tonight Lord, enfold us in your love and your peace.

SPARROWS:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without the Father noticing or caring.” (Matt 10:29).
Why did Jesus choose sparrows for this illustration?
They’re so small and common.  (Have you ever felt unimportant and ordinary?)