THE DOCTORS AND THE HERMITS SECTION
The first Hermit is Myles Joseph Gallagher, Hermit.
I met Joseph in Ireland in 2010 and he has written many interesting works, including two books entitled
The Holy Trinity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
And Pope John Paul II on the teaching of the Trinity.
His other works are listed below and are free for the asking. There will be some postage cost because hermits typically don’t possess or accept money, nor are they employed, for their life is steep in prayer and solitude. Most Catholic hermits, if not all, take vows, including poverty, but I will let Joseph speak for himself with his first writing. It is posted below and published in 2006, It is his last work, entitled
The Most Holy Trinity, The Greatest Mystery of Divine Love. This will serve as a sample of his writings.
Joseph is under obedience to one of Ireland’s bishops, who is responsible for a number of hermits throughout the country.
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The second entry is a woman hermit in a northeastern major city within the USA and answerable to her bishop. For the most part, hermits take the words of Jesus most seriously when he said in Luke 21: 26
Pray constantly for the strength to escape... and to stand secure before the Son of Man.
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The third entry is Sister Wendy Beckett (born 25 February 1930) is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became a celebrity ...
This woman hermit needs no introduction and her own sites can be found by writing her name in google and this will tell her story with over 100 sites and counting. Her earthly (if one can called it that) talents in the artistic genre are so amazing one might want to classify them as gifts of the Holy Spirit. She opens up for her readers such a grandeur never before realize that one can only wonder and beg God to touch us with her perspicacity.
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Our God is the Greatest Mystery of Divine Love and Jesus revealed this divine truth because he said he was the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is also the Son of the Father. These are miraculous words but this is only the beginning of this sacred mystery. God has outdone the mystery because our Lord has revealed to us The Most Holy Trinity. Thus, the below book is entitled :
The Most Holy Trinity is the Greatest Mystery of Divine Love: Father, Son and Holy Trinity.
On the inside cover of this book states: Compiled by Myles Joseph Gallagher, Hermit
Trinity Sunday 2006
100 years since the death of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
I dedicated this book to her.
[Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity is also included in the bestselling author's Joan Carroll Cruz new, intriguing book: Saints for the Sick It is subtitled: Heavenly Help for Those Who Suffer. It is posted as a sample on this site listed through a link on the sidebar on the homepage.]
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Bealtaine
Gort a’ Choice
Trinity Sunday 2006
My Dear Bishop Philip
Since my conversion three important milestones stand out in my life in my like’s journey toward Eternity. The first milestone was after my wife left me I went broken hearted in 1959 to a chapel in Wan Ganui New Zealand and knelt before the Tabernacle where I believed Jesus dwelt. From that memorable encounter a new man was born in me. From then on I was completely devoted to the Eucharist, the Churches entire spiritual wealth, mass communion and real presence.
After many years I was led in my love for Jesus to become his Bride. But even though I knew I was drawn by the Father and Holy Spirit towards marriage with the Son, the Lamb of God. I wanted to know if it was possible so I went to the Carmelites at Knock but they could tell me nothing and sent me to the Hermits in Sligo. But they could not help enlighten me either. At last my yearning was satisfied by reading St Bernard and St John of the Cross. These two Brides and mystical doctors confirmed to me that it was possible for me to become a consecrated Bride of the Word Incarnate
Now in my joyful communion I am led towards the goal of all human life that is perfect union with the three loving persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit One God and God is love. The mystery of the Trinity has a long history in the Church, until it was proclaimed in the Creed, as mystery of Faith. But it is only in our times after Vatican II that the Great Truth is made known that the three persons in God are united in love for all eternity.
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Like a faithful son of the church I have confessed my faith in the Trinity. And my two books one called The Holy Trinity in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. The other book: Pope John Paul II on the Teaching of the Trinity.”” Now I am doing my last book called The Most Holy Trinity The Greatest Mystery of Divine Love. Jesus said he who confesses me before the world I will confess before my Father in Heaven.
So I express my mature Faith, Hope, and especially Love in the Trinity my Last Testament before I die.
I am grateful to you loving Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I love you.
Bride of Crucified Love
Myles Joseph Gallagher
When we love God as St. Francis of Assisi loved him we can say with Francis, my God and my all. Or we can sing the song of songs in honor of the love mystics whose marriage is not consummated in heaven. Ours too will be one day with the whole church in unity [with] the bride of the Lamb. The spirit and the bride say: : “Come.” Rev. 22.
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The Trinity is the source of the creation incarnation, redemption, sanctification and glory, From all eternity the Trinity existed in love. We are called to share in the inner life of God as St. Peter says we are partakers of the divine nature. From all eternity the Father begot the Son and the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of Father and Son. This is the greatest of all the mysteries of faith. The mystery of mysteries. It was the Son, Jesus Christ, who made this mystery known during his life one earth and it is completed by the mission of the Holy Spirit who leads Christians to full communion, Eucharist and Trinitarian.
The Holy Spirit who has been sent to us by the Father and Son to love the Trinity. This experience of divine love in our hearts is the cause of great and glorious joy. God is love. 1 John: 4. We are called by God and we are called to unity in the three divine persons through the prayer of Jesus, John 17. That they may all be one as you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so the world may believe that you sent me. The glory you have given me, I have given them, so that they may be one.
As we are one in them and you in me that they may be completely one so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you loved me. John 17: 21-23.
The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Rom. 5:5.
The Spirit brings: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness Goodness, Faithfulness, Humility and self control. Gal 5:22
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Hence the whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons without in any way separating them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him. The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the mot Holy Trinity. If a man loves me, says the Lord, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, o my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery. Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there but may I be there wholly and entire completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring and wholly given over to your creative action – Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 259. 260
Now this is the Catholic Faith, we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance, for the person of the Father is one, the Son is another, the Holy Spirit is another, but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.
Athanasian Creed, Catechism of the Catholic Church. 266.
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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 2 Cor. 13-13.
Come Holy Spirit
Live in Us
With God the Father
And the Son
And Grant Us your
Abundant Grace
To Sanctify and
Make us One.
May mind and tongue, made strong in love and your praise through out the world, proclaim and may that love within our hearts set fire to others with its flame.
Most blessed Trinity of love for whom the heart of man was made.
To you be praise
In timeless song
And everlasting
Homage paid.
Hymn from the Divine Office.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
I have not said anything new about the Trinity but through the Holy Spirit he made me understand and
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experience in love all that Jesus the Son of God said in the gospel. The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all I said to you. John 14: 26 and because you are children, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba, Father. Gal 4.6.
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Veni, Creator
Come, O Creator Blest!
And in or souls take up Thy rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
Great Paraclete! To Thee we cry,
O highest gift of God most high!
O Font of life O fire of love!
And sweet anointing from above.
Thou in thy Sevenfold gifts are known,
The finger of God’s hand we own;
The promise of the Father, Thou!
Who dost the tongue with power endow.
Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o’erflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high
The weakness of our flesh supply.
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Far from us drive the foe we dread,
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may Thy grace on bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee through endless times confessed
Of both the eternal Spirit blest.
All glory while the ages run
Be to the Father and the Son
Who rose from death; the same to Thee,
O Holy Spirit, eternally. Amen
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Scripture Leads us to Eternal Life
St. Bonaventure, 1218- 1274
St. Bonaventure also taught that Scripture is our road to everlasting union with God:
The end or fruit of Holy Scripture is not something restricted, but the fullness of eternal happiness. These writings which contain “the message of eternal life” (Jn 6:63) were written, not only that we might believe in, but also we might possess that everlasting life which we shall see, and love, and be fulfilled of all we desire. Then we shall really know that “love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge,” and thus “be filled with the utter fullness of God” (Ep 3:19). This is the fullness to which the divine Scriptures would lead us, as it truly said in the words of the Apostle quoted above. Such, then, must be our goal and our intent in studying and in teaching the Scriptures, and also in hearing them.
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And that we attain this fruit and end rightly, by the straight road of Scripture itself, we must begin at the beginning. That is, we must reach out in a spirit of pure faith to the Father of all light, and kneeling in our hearts, ask to give us, through his Son and in the Holy Spirit, the true knowledge of Jesus Christ, and together with knowledge, love for him. By knowing and loving Christ, by being confirmed in faith and “planted in love” (Ep 3: 17), we can know the breadth, length, and depth of Scripture, and, through such knowledge and measureless love which is the Blessed Trinity. To this do the saints’ desires tend. This is the final state, replete with all that is true and good.
Lord Jesus Christ, pierce my soul with your love so that I may always long for you alone, who are the bread of angels and the fulfillment of the soul’s deepest desires.
May my heart always hunger and feed upon you, so that my soul may be filled with the sweetness of your presence. May my soul thirst for you, who are the source of life, wisdom, knowledge, light and all the riches of God the Father. May I always seek and find you, think to you and do all things for the honor and glory of your holy name. Be always my only hope, my peace, my refuge and my help in whom my heart is rooted so that I may never to separated from you – St. Bonaventure.
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Acts of the Apostles
“But you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to earth’s remotest end.”
As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky as he went, when suddenly two men in white were standing beside them, and they said, “Why are you Galileans standing here looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him go to heaven.
The Group of Apostles
So from the Mount of Olives, as it is called they went back to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a Sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Act 1: 8-14)
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Pentecost
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues of fire; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. (Act 2: 1-4)
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Sources used and compiled by Myles Joseph Gallagher, Hermit, Bride of Crucified Love
For any of this literature given free by the Hermit, you must pay the cost of mailing. You may write to Most Rev. Philip Boyce, Bishop of Raphoe, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Ireland.
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Make Your Home in Me As I Make My Home in You. Jn 15: 4
“Perfect Love Casts Out Fear” 1 Jn 4
“Who Could Ever Know The Mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his Counselor? Rom 11:34
“My secret love is no secret anymore.” – Song
“This is the time for the marriage of the lamb. His bride is ready.”
With Christ I am Crucified on the Cross and I live no more, not I, but Christ Lives in Me.
“How Can a Young Man Keep His Way Spotless? By Keeping Your Words.” Ps 119
My Conversion
“God is Love and Whoever Lives in Love lives in God and God lives in him.” 1 Jn 4.
A True Love Story for our Time. The Life of Myles Joseph Gallagher. Hermit. Bride of Crucified Love.
“St John of the Cross wrote these exalted words.” What Pearls they Are!! The Fruits of Holy Contemplation.
A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ by St John of the Cross
God’s Plan for my Happiness on Earth and in Heaven
“Love one another as I have loved you”. Jn 15. “Where there is hatred let me bring love.”
Famous People I Served
Holy Week Easter Ascension, Pentecost. A Journey to St Therese Doctor of the Church and Patroness of the Missions. “I will spend my heaven doing good on Earth.”
My Favorite Readings from the Bible.
Daily Reading with the Church. The gospel of St John, Chapters 14 to 17.
The Civilization of Love
A Selection of Psalm
A Path Less Trodden
The Peaks of the Mountains are His for He made them. Psalm.
Yearning for God in the Psalms and that yearning fulfilled in the Gospel
Francis Thompson “The Hound of Heaven" and Cardinal Newman’s: The Dream of Gerontius
The Gospel According to John and The Song of Songs.
The Alleluia’s for the whole Christian Year and the Trinity.
Spiritual Letters, Faith, Hope and Love.” 112 pages; Complete Final Edition. 2008
“Spiritual Leters- Faith, Hope and Love” 61pages; 40 Books, Published by Myles Joseph Gallagher, Hermit, 2002 - 2006.
For information on the Knock Shrine in Ireland and the extraordinary apparition that appeared there, see links below.
museum@knock-shrine.ie
www.knock-shrine.ie
www.musumsofmayo.com
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The second Hermit is Sister Mary Veronica as taken from The Catholic Review, P.O. Box 777, Baltimore, MD. 21203.
Mary Zimmerer, now Sister Mary Veronica, has publicly professed her temporary vows of poverty, charity, and obedience and serves as one of just two canonical hermits who minister in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
What is a canonical hermit? Canonical hermits are men and women who live separated from the world and who dedicate their lives to silence, solitude, prayer and penance. Also known as “diocesan hermits,” they take public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They may wear distinctive garb and use religious names. With the permission of their bishop, they sometimes have the privilege of reserving the Blessed Sacrament in their hermitage.
Essex – It once served as a fisherman’s shack on the banks of the Norman Creek.
Today, the small home has been transformed into a refuge of a different sort – a holy place whose lone resident is heeding Christ’s call to follow him and be a “fisher or men.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe Hermitage the home of Sister Maria Veronica of the Holy Face, a widow who is devoting her life to the ancient vocation of a hermit – someone who withdraws from the larger society to embrace a life of prayer and union with God.
Sister Maria Veronica publically professed her temporary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience during a Sept. 13 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.
She is one of just two canonical hermits who minister in the Archiocese of Baltimore. After a period of time under her temporary vows, she will eventually take her final vows.
Standing inside her hermitage’s newly established chapel, erected in the same room where her husband of 39 years lost his battle with cancer, Sister Maria Veronica said she finds joy in her new vocation. It’s a quiet and disciplined life of constant prayer.
“Prayer has a major impact,” said Sister Maria Veronica, who regularly consults a book of prayer intentions filled with request ranging from help in finding a job to healing for illnesses.
"I’m just the middleman,” she said with a laugh. “A lot of people don’t think they can ask for a miracle. I never hesitate.”
A lifelong Essex resident who attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary School, Mary Zimmerer knew from an early age she was meant for religious life. She was ready to leave to become a Sister of St. Joseph in Missouri at age 12, but her mother wouldn’t let her after Zimmerer’s grandfather suffered a stroke.
Zimmerer eventually married and raised a son, but she always felt the religious life tugging at her heart.
She became a lay member of the Secular Third Order of Discalced Carmelites, serving two terms as president. She was involved in bereavement ministry and volunteered at
Stella Maria Hospice in Timonium. Zimmerer also received professional training in spiritual direction and began working with people of all ages.
After her husband, John, died in 2006, Zimmerer began informally leading a hermit’s life before approaching the archdiocese and undergoing formation for a vocation that traces its Christian roots to the desert fathers.
Sister Maria Veronica has special permission to have the Blessed Sacrament present in her chapel, which also house a relic of Blessed Francis X. Seelos, religious icons, a large crucifix that once hung inside Our Lady of Mount Carmel, handmade Stations of the Cross and other spiritual reminders.
A hand-stitched sign given to her as a gift proclaims, “ShhhZZZ. I’m talking to God.”
The hermit rises at 5 a.m. each day. She prays the morning prayers of the church before leaving for Mass as St. Clement Mary Hofbauer in Rosedale, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St Clare in Essex or other area parishes.
Returning to her hermitage, she often works with individual seeking spiritual directions.
There’s time devoted to housework and errands before more prayer, Scripture reading, journaling and contemplation. Because a hermit’s vocation is devoted to solitude, Sister Maria Veronica does not have much contact with the outside world. She still sees family members and may talk on the phone, but those interactions are limited.
“God works in silence,” Sister Maria Veronica explained. “You don’t hear a crash and a bang when the stars come out. Hermits hear God working. We’re aware that the grass is growing.”
Sister Maria often prays for the intention of Archbishop O’Brien and asks God for more religious vocations. Her newborn grandson, John Maximilian Zimmerer, is also frequently in her prayers.
In his homily at Sister Maria Veronica’s vow ceremony, Bishop Denis J. Madden said that hermits serve as examples of Christ alive today.
“Hermits” prayers are not for solitary spiritual gain,” he said, “but for the good of the Church and all of humanity.”
John Zimmerer Jr., Sister Maria Veronica’s son, said her mother is “completely at peace” in her new vocation. The biggest adjustment has been not getting to see her at family gatherings.
“My wife and I, now our son, only get together with my mother privately, and much less frequently than before she entered the process to become a hermit,” he said, “but that makes our time together that much more special and cherished.”
A garrulous woman who loves people, Sister Maria Veronica said she has found a deep joy in her vocation.
“I’m so content it's pathetic,” she said with a booming laugh.” “A hermit is with the Lord the entire time. How could you not be happy?” – George P. Matysek Jr., gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
Posted September 30, 2010.
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Information on the third Hermit can be found from the data posted above, especially through Google. However, from one of her books found in a public library, you can get a glimpse of this contemplative sister whose main art is to look, study, and keep glancing at the face of God, and God's Jesus for humanity, through prayer, intercession, and living out her call for holiness, which is everyone's Father's business, as Jesus told us when he was 12 years old, in the temple in Jerusalem, to fulfill God's holy will.
Inside jacket of Sister Wendy My Favorite Things:75 Works of Art from Around the World.
Through her popular television series and numerous books on art, Sister Wendy Beckett has introduced millions to the pleasures of painting and sculpture. Now,
with My Favorite Things: 75 Work of Art from Around the World, Sister Wendy gives us her most personal and eclectic book to date.
In short essays, Sister Wendy conveys her affections for 75 favorite works of art...
A member of the Notre Dame, a teaching order of nuns, Sister Wendy Beckett studied for her degree in English at St Anne's College, Oxford University, England.
After teaching in South Africa, she returned to England in 1970 to take up the life of a contemplative nun at a Carmelite monaster in Norfolk. While Sister
Wendy has always maintained a passion for art, she began to devote herself seriously to the subject in 1980. Since then, Sister Wendy has become widely
known for her insightful and accesible art-related books and televison programs.
Jacket front:BBC
Jacket back: Youth with Head Ribbon.
Harry N. Abrams,Inc
100 Fifth Ave
New York, N.Y. 10011
www.abramsbooks.com
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The
background music is Andrea Bocelli's "Ave Maria".