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There are a few issues I have encountered from " out there" over the years this site has been online. First,OUR CAT SANCTUARY: I had some woman claiming to be a "hermitess",whatever that meant in fact (see my page on "Phony Hermits",who whined that she would contribute to the sanctuary IF we fixed the cats. So,in my usual blunt manner I wrote her back to send money earmarked for cat neutering/ spading and we would do just that. Of course I never heard from that whiner thereafter nor was there ever a check in the mail!. Let me paint u a picture of the situation here and the cat situation. We live in a tropical rainforest 3,000' above sea level at almost 19.5 degrees,over 3,000 mi. from USA,closer to Tokyo than LA. Technically we are a state but the state constitution belies that,more like a pile of hawaiian tribal beliefs than anything Jefferson wrote. In this forest are 1000s of feral cats. They were here when I first cut into this jungle to make us a space for our hermit cells. Many ran deeper into the bush but some realized that by hanging with us,they had a good deal going for them.That started it. These are not cutsy lil domestic felines one finds in the cities/towns of USA. They are and remain essentially feral while role-playing "domestics." They are NOT pets but partners in the enviornment we share together.You might say we are here with their permission. They are quite capable if they wished of making our lives so hellish that we would leave. As it is,they can be extremely irritating in their ways but we love them and cope with it.They have more "rights" to the land than we! They like to act dependent on us,esp for food but that is just part of their chosen "hustle." Fact is,there are untold 1000s of them within a 5 mile radius who live well,look well and plump and run from all humans. Some come to us sick and/or pregnant wanting our help. We do what we can. Over almost 11 years,I have spent a great deal of time/study on catcare sites and in reading books to be a fairly good amateur vet for them. If they are too hopeless and "gone",I relieve them from their misery with 2 simple shots but only after I have deemed them hopeless-beyond repair. Their food is good,canned and dry food daily,scraps from our own meals,lottsa love and snuggling when/if they want it. They have the run of the forest,no cages. They get their shots administered by myself with serum from vets empathetic to our efforts. We give what we can. So enough of these city- thinking whiners,"hermitesses" or others. The fact is their feral genetics are so strong that often at about age 5,having been loving companions,they opt for jungle life and we rarely if ever see them again. NEXT ISSUE: INTERCESSORY PRAYER. Sure,we do that ! We consider it an ESSENTIAL component of a hermit's life to pray for world and church in a general way. Then there are those who think that just because we are hermit-monks, we somehow OWE them specific intercessions and even free,and if it comes from me,PROFESSIONAL therapeutic advice. WHOA,Public!!! I became a hermit partly to get away from and close down that aspect of 20 years of public ministry ! Hang on,it gets rough from here!!! One time I kept getting these panicky letters from a wife-mother on the mainland. They read like they assumed I knew all about them and their lives-never heard of them before. The guy was going down from cancer in middle age with teenagers still at home. Ok, bad deal. I prayed. The letters kept coming like they were blaming me for the lack of recovery; as if I alone could heal anybody!!! I researched their address and found that they lived in one of the most upscale areas of the USA. Never a dime from them though, as if I was just another houseboy! The guy died. That is NOT how it works folks. The laity have an obligation to bring their offerings into "the storehouse",that is the place from which they are "fed" ,fed with prayer,counseling,teaching,all of which we provide here by email and teaching CDs and any other way we can think of which does not interfere with our essential solitude and silence so important to our fidelity to our vocations. "Muzzle not the ox which treads the corn" and,"Those who are teachers are entitled to a double-portion.",two very important scriptures in the New Testament by which God establishes His house rules-oikonomia. I am an ordained priest and retired archbishop,yes. I have an obligation to pray for all of you generally in my Liturgies,Offices and other prayers,yes. But if/when you want something beyond that.... This had to be said. I have said it. So be it......NOTE ON PIC: That is our blind -from -birth guy Quaker. Not a great shot but deliberately chosen to try to illustrate just how "wild/feral" this enviornment and all of us who live in it are. |
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