Holy Mass was offered just as the first glimmerings of hope that dawn might be breaking soon visited Holy Souls Hermitage.
However, right after Holy Mass, this ad orientem view was to be seen of this blue ridge mountain rain forest.
I looked closer outside, and, sure enough, there were mist clouds hugging Holy Souls Mountain, as usual. The humidity always hangs around 99%. The forest floor is almost always soaking wet, a mat of rotting pine needles and dead trees, even while that which is alive reaches to the heavens, still full of sap, still green.
Taking a closer look… yep! It’s a rain forest all right:
I’m guessing that there are some prayers going up for me, since I all of a sudden seem to have the gumption these days to do what I haven’t done for a very long time, which is to work on the hermitage. Perhaps it’s also a fear that this winter will be very long and very cold indeed. I took a gander at the plastic high up on one “wall” and tore it down, this being the result early this morning:
Not very weather-proof, you say? You would be right on that. So, after a bit of prestidigitation with hammer and saw, this was the result:
That will tend to keep the heat from the wood-stove inside just a bit more efficiently. The first winter in the breezy loft of the barn, and the second winter under unrolled tacked-up polyurethane, and now, the third winter coming up, what with some actual wind-breaking construction, all make and will make for unique experiences of the great outdoors such that, this winter, one might even be tempted to call it indoors!
Amidst a day of sunshine, then rain, then sun, then rain, etc., this was to be seen in the evening looking to the West of the hermitage:
And this was spotted while putting the chickens away for the night. Praise the Lord for all His creatures, great and small!
Did I mention I also saw two lynx together today, about 200 yards from the hermitage? Totally cool. I’m guessing that they are this years litter of the lynx I saw last year in almost the same place.
I write this post with a somewhat heavy heart. It seems that the security of the property on which the hermitage is situated might be a bit tenuous. More news on that coming up on 30 August, 2012. We shall see. A Hail Mary for that intention, please: Hail Mary…
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
I’ll send a few more prayers you way, Father. The Hermitage is looking good.
Awesome photos; thanks for sharing them.
Hi Father George,
Prayers go up for the security of the hermitage.
Would you pray for me, as I am to talk with the bishop at the end of August about vocation. Possibly, the path is to found a community in an area poor in resources, many people addicted, and many who are marginalised.
Or, I may be called to eremetical life, I think God is calling me to ‘ put my hand to the plow’, but I need to pray for how He wants me to serve.
The charism is to honour Mary, as our Mother of Sorrows. Take care,
Diane
I will say a prayer for you Father at the Mass today. Picture are beautiful!
Just incredible. Beautiful. God love and keep you all
Dear Father George, thank you for sharing these wonderful sights. It makes you want to break out in praise and glory for a great and glorious creator!
The Divine Mercy Chaplet has proven to be a powerful gift from God for all situations. I have been gifted with the spirit of great confidence in this devotion. Jesus said to St. Faustina:”I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: “Jesus, I trust in You”(327). By means of this image I shall be granting many graces to souls”(570).”
The prayer I found to be said before praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is this:
Lord Jesus, through this image of your mercy, please grant us your grace. Whenever we look at it, help us to remember your love and mercy and fill our hearts with trust. Just as your mercy is depicted in this image as going forth from your pierced Heart, surround our home (the Holy Souls Hermitage) with the rays of your mercy. May the blood and water that flows forth from your Heart always be upon us! Jesus, we trust in you.”
The reason I mention this is that I remember the picture you took a short while ago that depicted of the Image of the Divine Mercy when the rays of sunlight graced the crucifix on the altar in the hermitage reflecting red and white rays: blood and water of Christ. I thank God ahead of time for whatever decisions he sends your way Father George. I pray that the hermitage be preserved in order that you may continue your mission for the Priesthood and Holy Mother Church. Of course, whatever decision is made will be God’s Will. I will keep praying for you Father. God is in control and will place you where He wants you to be. No suffering is ever wasted when it is offered, as I am sure you always do. Bless you Father George!
Thank you very much, Catherine D., and to all of you who are praying for this intention. Yikes!
Prayed for your intentions at mass this morning for your intentions, Father, especially this.
This morning at Mass I thought of you and your hermitage
and all the good that you do there and asked God to be with you and with all of those who follow your adventures online.
St. Michael be with you. I loved the picture of the little creature (salamander?)
Oh good work Father!!! You have some really beautiful photos too. I love seeing and reading about life on the mountain there, rough but full of wonder.
Father, I prayed for the preservation of your hermit life on the land there… a rare and precious good. Diane, I prayed for you and it sounds like we have somewhat similar vocational longings. Jesus, purify all our desires and fulfill them in the way You intend!
Someone pray for me, I get almost nothing done at home and seem to have no self discipline, and I am in a poor psychological state partly because of efforts in regards to my vocation and a key relationship seeming to really fall apart due to my faults partly related to asperger’s syndrome, emotional problems and wounds in life. But I have a new part time job visiting and doing chores for an elderly lady in her home, mother of a priest. On one level it is very easy and probably a great fit and being able to talk about Catholic things is a huge help to connect, but my various flaws will make it challenging anyway. Oh other people have much worse problems than me, God give me virtue, charity.
Elizdelphi: Aspergers is NOT a drawback! nor are any of the other things you related. The one who says they have all their emotions in order is a liar, for emotions all over the place are an effect of original sin. And, wounds in life?! Thank God daily that you recognize them! Everyone has wounds, but not all even want to recognize this. You’re way ahead of about six and a half billion people. Blessings upon you. And, prayers in solidarity!