Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
An Old Hermitess Friend
I have an old friend whom I have known since 1992. Almost 30 years. She was married, had three children, and after her husband died became a Canonical Hermitess. She lives in the same house that she raised her family in. She is a very strong-willed woman, intelligent, loving, and has a temper. She is very human, and she loves God with her whole heart, which means, as much as she can, but it moving towards loving God more each day.
I love talking to her, and over the years I would call her once, or twice a month. She is a very good listener, wise, and yes because of her life of prayer, and living alone, she has grown in self-knowledge. So she knows of her continual need for God’s grace in her life.
She is now 92 and starting to experience an aging spurt. Having some health issues that could be serious. So as we talk we discuss endings. Also about learning to let others do more for her. She has some trouble now with her back which is of course very painful. Just life for an older person. Old age is really not for sissies, as the saying goes.
She is truly contemplative and feels a deep connection to the world, and in her prayer life, the Holy Spirit is deepening that love for all others. She has a map of the world in her living room that helps her to remember, well, everyone.
When she was younger after her husband died, and her children were grown, she helped out with runaways in New York, which I can tell you, was often heartbreaking, but also with a lot of success stories.
When the Lord takes her, it will be difficult not to be able to talk to her. However, one of the beautiful aspects of being Catholic is that death is not a separation. Jean when the Lord calls her will dive deeper into the “Mind-Of-Christ”. This will entail healing/purification, where everything that separates her from union with God will be burnt away by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul covers that beautifully in I Corinthians:
(11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 13his workmanship will be evident because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. (1 Corinthians 11-15)
Each of us must face that fire. The healing fire of the Holy Spirit where the truth will be absolute, and all that is not based on the love of God, all that keeps us from loving God, will be burned away. As the saying goes: “In the end, we will be judged by love”.
She is a bright soul, filled with light, yet so very human, and thank God for that. She is the Salt of Earth type of person. Grounded, truthful, humble, and filled with love for others. So when the Lord takes her, she will continue her journey, but she will not be able to forget ‘us’, because she will put on fully the Mind-of-Christ Jesus. A process that starts in this life, and continues for eternity.-Br.MD
