Winter in the High Desert

The snows are such that we cannot get up to the hermitage property at this time. We have had more snow here than we have had in a number of years. In December we went up to the property after a snow and were able to place stakes where the entrance to the property will be so that we could get an address. We now have an actual streeet address for the property!!! We met with the architect, Terry Phelan of Living Shelter Designs on the feast of St. Antony the hermit and she presented us with the first scaled drawings for the guest hermitages. They will a real sense of solitude as each guest hermitage looks out on the desert and not on other hermitages. The hermitages will be nestled into the hill and so will be more easily heated and cooled. Our next stage is to get a perk test done and contact the septic system designer so that we can have all that ready to go when the ground thaws in the spring. Keep the prayers arising that we may be doing God's will and not our own and that God may be glorified by the building of the new hermitage.

Web site

We are in the process of creating a new website

Paperwork ... webwork ... pain!

Typing by way of a stylus is no fun. I just called a Yakima realtor to see about arranging for a place to live. She had mislaid my address.

This week I have had to update all of my ms products, which also meant getting use to a new user interface. A not very pretty sight! At the same time a neighbor got in web service that seems to be interfering with my reception. I feel invaded! Ended up playing a lot of "yubotu" and sudoku while waiting for painfully slow downloads.

Lord Jesus, help me to find a place to move to!

Val

A desert saint!

Today we celebrate the Birth of St. John the Baptist. The only births celebrated in the Liturgy are the births of Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist. When I posted earlier today I had forgotten to mention that this was the feast of "one crying out in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord!" What a perfect day to begin a blog that encourages the desert experience!

In the Heart of my Spouse,

Val

Welcome to Beit Mery Hermitage!!

Solitude: The mission to solitude is given by God for the whole Church. It is a call to live the stark reality that God is all. We are called to witness to the love of God in silence and pray for the needs of the world. Please email us with prayer requests. beitmery@earthlink.com

Purpose of Beit Mery Hermitage: The purpose of Beit Mery Hermitage is to foster and support union with God by contemplative prayer in the Christian eremitical contemplative tradition for the service of the Church and world community.

Beit Mery is located near Yakima, WA. At the present it is just land and the resident hermit is actually living in Yakima. The plan is that eventually there will be a common house, a chapel, and several hermitages including guest hermitages where our guests will be able to experience the call of Jesus to go to a place where they will be able to be alone with God - face-to-face as it were. If you feel moved to help with this effort you can email the above address and receive more information.

Sr. Jan Strong is the envisioner of this effort. Part of her growing up years were spent in the Middle East and she was influenced by the Maronite Catholics. Beit Mery means Mary's House in Arabic and one of her deepest wishes is for peace in the Middle East. Through the years she has been called more and more to the eremetic life eventually becoming a diocesan hermit.

Jan has a sense of humor. We are both converts and were baptized less than a month apart. She reminds me that she is the elder in the faith. I have known her and followed her spiritual journey since December of 1972.

In the Heart of my Spouse,

Val Means

"Love makes the lover like unto the Beloved."