We all know the Bible and saints put the interior life far ahead of the exterior life.  However, the enemy of human nature often convinces us that we're the exception.  Like fools, we take the bait.  But then something befalls us (eithr good or bad) to remind us how dependent we are on the Blessed Trinity.  We see it's exactly as Jesus told the Apostles:  Without Me, you can do nothing.—John 15:5.  Nothing is nothing is nothing.  Every drop of a successful apostolate (even online or on the streets) is dependent on union with Christ. In light of this, I've taken on some new resolutions of mental prayer and exercise [...]

More and more diocesan priests are becoming interested in becoming a diocesan hermit under Canon 603.  That's what I am.  (My rule of life with approved apostolates is here.)  Some traditionally-minded Roman Catholic priests have contacted me over the last few years because they want to offer the traditional sacraments and no longer want to do the Novus Ordo Missae (NOM.) What is interesting about the men contacting me is that they (like me) do not have the personality of being a hermit.  But they are more willing (and more likely) to live alone than to compromise their conscience anymore in typical parish life in the United States.  As more [...]