Week of the Immaculate Conception

As I mentioned in a previous post, our family (nuclear and extended) has been experiencing health problems. The hermit-novas understand, and are supporting the situation with their prayers.

Part of this added burden included my son injuring his knee on December 7, thus causing him to miss school on December 8. I told the Lord that if He wanted His novas to receive instruction, the matter was in His hands. Between drs offices, He showed me the time I had to visit the hermits' yahoo group.

Blessed Emilie had received her charism in Belgium at the very moment the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception had been proclaimed in Rome on December 8, 1854. Mary wanted other Marys to be with her Son in the Blessed Sacrament, to make the reparation on Earth that she could no longer do.

Well, with that accomplished (far longer than what I'm posting here), I went on with the "hermitage on wheels." The tidbits of instruction that I was able to give the hermits the rest of the week were: the three basic tenets of the eremitic life are silence, solitude, and simplicity; then I assigned them to research "acedia."

We are still reading Fr. Faber's "Bethlehem" through the Advent and Christmas Season. It has been quite enriching. Fr. Faber majored in mystical theology in his books, and his mystical explanations made some mysteries much clearer. At the end of Chapter 2, we encountered a "Godincidence." One member of Blessed Emilie's congregation was a mystic who kept a journal, and in it she talks of how Our Lady cared for the Child Jesus. Fr. Faber said the Trinity had given Mary special mothering skills for the sake of the Holy Child, and Mother Mary of the Lamb of God said she saw Mary saying to Jesus, "Is there anything I can do for you? How can I serve you?" A good lesson for all of us, I would think.

Blessings,
Gemma