A new addition to the blogroll deserves a mention: AnchoressNun's Weblog.
Sister is an anchoress living in Ireland, and her blog is truly a wonderful adventure of prayerful spirituality and plain good sense, coupled with such a deep, deep love of nature and of all the lovely creatures God has made, that it does my heart good to read it.
A few lines from Sister's post of May 22 2006:
Sister is an anchoress living in Ireland, and her blog is truly a wonderful adventure of prayerful spirituality and plain good sense, coupled with such a deep, deep love of nature and of all the lovely creatures God has made, that it does my heart good to read it.
A few lines from Sister's post of May 22 2006:
There have been so many misunderstandings of this calling of anchoress because of a few badly researched fictional books dramatising and because some hermits started using the title without fully understanding the full meaning.
It is a degree of physical separation far greater than that of a hermit, simply. A degree also of enclosure that a hermit generally does not take. This is what defines it.Do yourself a favour, and investigate - and don't forget to subscribe to the feed!
Here in Ireland... the pattern was never of a cell attached to a Church. But in a remote and wild setting. Totally isolated thus. Yet reaching out from the isolation of prayer.
Julian and others would have revelled in the internet and webmail! All who love Jesus love His people too, of course. And reading between the lines of the old hermits, they were kept very busy indeed by the needs of others.
The degree of physical isolation is a protection in many ways, and a resource for prayer. The old Irish bishops never knew how to handle anchorites, these "wild eyed" ones of prayer, so often they put them in the care of abbots and abbesses. It is a rare calling in its fullness. You can see why...The Irish anchorholds tended to be in the remote wilderness places which still abound in Ireland. Wild and lonely, away from towns and villages. One lived in the 14th century lived on a small island in the middle of a lake set in deep forests... another in a cell on a bare mountainside overlooking a now-ruined Benedictine Monastery... And many more are only remembered in old names of towns and villages now. Lives lived hidden, alone with Jesus; never lonely.
3 comments:
Mike, thanks for the link.
Dear Mike.. for the reference we thank you most sincerely. May we also point out, as we are sure is clear from entries, that I am a Life Professed Nun in an Order, living as many of us do, as a Solitary. My Vows are with the Order.... Just now I am active if the Order needs me to be here; so I am out supporting our work of great mercy maybe two days a week, the rest in total seclusion, a happy balance indeed... all the old anchoresses worked for the poor in their own way of course.And met so many at their windows.. Blessings this day
Thank you, Sister - it's odd, I had actually typed something to the effect, but deleted it on the grounds it was making the post too long! I am sorry... To make amends, I'll repost your comment as an actual post, as I don't think half our readers ever click through to the comments ;-)
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