Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Friends of Little Portion Hermitage,

The Board of Directors sends blessings to you and your families on this Thanksgiving Day. We are grateful for you and for God’s many blessings to us, including the blessing of consecrated contemplative life in the Church.

We ask for your (continued!) spiritual and financial support as we, together, move forward toward our goal of establishing a place where prayers in the silence of solitude will be offered for the glory of God, the good of the Church and our world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

JonMarc, Seth, Billy, Wendy, Matt, Mike

Update on Our Fundraising Campaign

OUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

Thanks be to God, we are steadily closing in on our initial fundraising goal of $50,000.

We’ve enlisted the services of a devout and hardworking Catholic realtor and have begun visiting properties that have the potential to serve as a hermitage and enough land to build a guest hermitage to provide a space for anyone in need of a brief respite from the demands of ministry

Because of your ongoing generosity we will continue to foster the eremitic vocation in the Catholic Church: a vocation devoted to prayer for the greater glory of God, the good of the Church and the salvation of souls.

If you would like to make a one-time or an ongoing donation to help our effort, look for the Donate button at the bottom of the page.

Thank you and may God bless you!

~The Friends of Little Portion Hermitage Board of Directors

Eucharistic Adoration: Praise & Worship for Introverts

The folks at Nerdy Catholic Tees have created a T-shirt, 33% of the proceeds of which are being donated to Friends of Little Portion Hermitage. Please visit their site and order a T-shirt today. Not only will you be promoting Eucharistic Adoration, you’ll be supporting our worthy cause as well.

Congratulations Bishop-elect Steven Lopes!

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Bishop-elect Steven Lopes

Here is the text of the statement made by Bishop-elect Lopes during the press conference after the announcement that Pope Francis had appointed Msgr Lopes as 1st Bishop of The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

November 24, 2015

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Dear Friends,

It is with humility and in a spirit of obedience to our Lord that I accept this appointment to serve as Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Trusting in the intercession of Our Lady, the consciousness of my limitations yields to gratitude, hope, and joy.

I am grateful for the ecumenical vision of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who reminded us that unity of faith allows for vibrant diversity in the expression of that faith. I am grateful for the fatherly care Pope Francis continues to show for the Ordinariates, born from the rich patrimony of English Catholicism. Indeed, in the approval of the new Missal for the celebration of Mass, in the careful consideration of clergy who desire to join us, and in the appointment of the first Ordinariate Bishop, Pope Francis is making this model of communion-in-diversity ever more concrete.

Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson has been for me an outstanding example of wisdom, graciousness, and evangelical zeal. He truly has the heart of a Priest and I am confident that all of the faithful and clergy of the Ordinariate join me in saying: Thank you. We could not have asked for a better leader to lay the foundations for the Ordinariate in the United States and Canada.

Through my work at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I have come to know firsthand the Priests and communities of this Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. They have a passion for the communion of the Church and for the truth of the Gospel as contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition that fills me with hope. I see the vitality that the Ordinariate brings to the Universal Church, and I know that there is a bright future ahead.

It is a great joy and privilege to be joined to this Particular Church under the patronage of St. Peter and to share in its mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I stand among women and men for whom “Catholic communion” is no abstract concept. They have sacrificed for it. They have displayed courage and fortitude in favor of it. They have thrown wide open the doors of their hearts to the infinite possibilities of what God’s grace can accomplish in and through them. It can and should move the heart of every Catholic to witness this amazing courage and this vitality in our Church.

So here we stand, together, in this thing with a peculiar name, “Ordinariate,” but with a dynamism and beauty all its own. It is the Lord who has accomplished this in his Church, and great are the works of the Lord!

~ Rev. Msgr. Steven J. Lopes

Bishop-elect of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Tonight on EWTN Live: Mr. Kevin Lowry

Kevin Lowry, chairman of the board of the Friends of Little Portion Hermitage, is appearing tonight at 8 o’clock (ET) on EWTN Live w/Fr Mitch Pacwa. The show will be rebroadcast on Thursday, July 9 at 1:00 AM ET & Sunday July 12 at 4:00 AM ET

Kevin will be discussing ideas from his book “Faith at Work.” Kevin provides Catholics the tools they need to find a balance between faith and work, and ways they can represent the love of Christ, no matter where they happen to be. 

Hope you can tune in!

The Year of Consecrated Life

Pope Francis has declared that 2015 will be a year dedicated to the celebration and promotion of consecrated life in the Church.

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Watch this informative video regarding Consecrated Life.

This ‘Year of Consecrated Life’ [began] on 30th November 2014 and ends on February 2nd 2016, the annual World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. The Pope is asking the Church’s religious sisters, brothers and priests, together with other forms of consecrated life, to “wake up the Church” with their testimony of faith, holiness and hope. The year will be an opportunity for religious congregations to reflect on their particular charisms, the challenges they face today and on their continuing contribution to the mission of the Church.

Catholics often use the term ‘religious’ to describe those who have taken vows of poverty, chastity (or more precisely: lifelong celibacy) and obedience. The most helpful phrase to use is ‘consecrated life’. This is the way of life embraced by all those who dedicate themselves to the Lord by making these lifelong vows when they are recognized and accepted by the Church. These vows are sometimes called the ‘evangelical counsels’. 

Every Christian, of course, is dedicated to the Lord, and has promised through baptism to give his or her life to him. Every Christian is called to live a life of holiness. But those who consecrate themselves in this way are responding to a call to live as Christ lived, and to model their lives more directly on his own way of life – poor, chaste, and obedient – making their hearts more free for prayer and service. They show us more clearly something about the concrete reality of Christ’s love. They also give us a glimpse of the purity of the love we all hope to share in heaven, when our lives will be uncluttered by possessions or family responsibilities, and our hearts will be solely centered on God. The consecrated life includes [hermits], monks and nuns in enclosed communities, religious brothers and sisters in active communities, and also many others who live alone or who live and work ‘in the world’ who have taken the three vows. ~Adapted from the Vocations website of the Diocese of Westminster, UK

November 21: Pro Orantibus Day (“For Those Who Pray”)

 


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“[On] the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, we will celebrate the Day of Pro Orantibus, dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities. It is a good opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people who, in monasteries and hermitages, dedicate themselves to God in prayer and silent work. Let us give thanks to the Lord for the testimony of cloistered life and do not forget our brothers and sisters, our spiritual and material support to enable them to carry out their important mission.” ~Pope Francis, Nov 20, 2013

“It is an opportune occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many persons that, in monasteries and hermitages, dedicate themselves to God in prayer and in onerous silence, acknowledging in Him that primacy that belongs only to Him.” ~Pope Francis, Nov. 19, 2014

Catholics throughout the world are encouraged to honor the cloistered, monastic and eremitic life on Pro Orantibus Day, which is today. In observance of this special occasion, please pray for those who pray for usespecially any consecrated men and women in cloistered, monastic or eremitic (hermit) life in your own diocese. 

“The primary purpose of Pro Orantibus Day is to support–both spiritually and materially–the gift of the cloistered and monastic life,” notes Rev. Thomas Nelson, O. Praem., national director of the Institute on Religious Life.

In 1953 Pope Pius XII instituted Pro Orantibus Day, also known as World Day of Cloistered life, to recognize those men and women who so generously give of themselves to this unique vocation and who each day, from the various convents and monasteries and hermitages spread throughout the world, offer their prayers unceasingly to build up the Kingdom. Pope John Paul II later expanded its celebration and encouraged the faithful to support this special vocation in any way possible.

Last year at a general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis reminded the Church, “Let us give thanks to the Lord for the powerful testimony of cloistered life.” He urged the faithful to lend their spiritual and material support to these brothers and sisters of ours “so that they can carry out their important mission.”

++ Prayer in Support of the Cloistered Life ++

Eternal Father,

We praise and thank you for those sisters and brothers who have embraced the gift of the cloistered, monastic and eremitic life. Their prayerful presence is indispensable to the Church’s life and mission, and is the foundation of the New Evangelization.

As we celebrate Pro Orantibus Day, let us honor the holiness and glory of the Blessed Virgin. May she, who was presented in the Temple, intercede so that many young people might dedicate themselves entirely to Your divine service by hidden lives of contemplative prayer and selfless sacrifice.

May all of us be mindful of the spiritual and material needs of those who commit their lives to seeking God by fixing their gaze on those things which are eternal.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Defending The Faith Conference 2014

If you’re attending the 2014 Defending the Faith Conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH this weekend, please keep an eye out for our good friend Brother Rex. If you see him–an ugly little man sporting a beard, wearing a brown habit with a white cord around his waist and sandals on his feet–he would be grateful if you would introduce yourself.