La Ermita – The Hermitage, Inc.

La Ermita - The Hermitage’s Mission Statement

La Ermita formally came into existence December 27, 1994 when its founder rededicated his life to Sophia, the Holy Spirit, before the Abbot of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery and some members and friends. He is known as a hermit in the marketplace, a man who desires to integrate, well, the life of contemplative prayer with daily living in a world of work and problems.

La Ermita is dedicated to proclaiming the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as the Divine Feminine of the Godhead, equal to the Father and the Son. She is the Spouse of the Father and the Mother of the Son, as well as the Divine Mother of the man Jesus. In order that She be accepted more fully as a Person of the Trinity, She wishes to be known as Sophia. La Ermita is also dedicated to help all experience a personal and intimate relationship with each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, the Father, Sophia and Jesus.

Sophia is our Heavenly Father’s most precious gift that he sent to us through Jesus at Pentecost. Her passionate desire is to fill all of us with Their Divine Love and with Her gifts. We are Her Family. Through Her love, our broken hearts are healed. By Her love we become one with our God, brothers, sisters and ourselves. With Her gifts we bless and heal others so that they too can become one with Them and us. Love is the first and foremost gift we need. In a sense, it is the only gift we need.

This love is the result of contemplative prayer experiences. This form of prayer brings us unity in body, soul and spirit. Consequently, La Ermita is also dedicated to show everyone how to let the door to this form of prayer open within the heart.

When we experience Divine personal Love and the power flowing through Her gifts, we feel the desire to share it with our brothers and sisters. A true lover of the Divine Persons cannot but share with others all that he/she has. This is the spiritual/social outreach that is essential to true self-integration of a loving child of Sophia.

There are various ways that one can be a member of La Ermita – The Hermitage. They may live in the “Home of Sophia,” the motherhouse of the community, or in their own home or apartment. They may be single, married, separated, divorced or widowed, male or female, young or old. There are no rules, nor fees. There is only love. There is only the desire to experience that love flowing from each person of the Trinity. There is only a desire to continue that experience through contemplative prayer and the sharing of that love with others.

At this moment there are 63 who receive La Ermita’s weekly Sunday Thoughts by email or postal service. There are another 40 who wish to be associated in some way with La Ermita. All live in 9 different countries.

The following is the Covenant of La Ermita – The Hermitage, and is the model for all its members who form community wherever they may be.

The Covenant

God made each and everyone of us in order that They could share the joy and happiness of Their life and love with us, whom They made like unto Themselves. Everyone is capable of a marvelous union with Them, a union that shares Their peaceful love continuously. For God is love and we, along with all creation, were conceived in love.

All human growth is a process of development in love - a process towards self realization in love - towards illumination in love - towards complete unity in love with one's self, one's God, others and all of creation. We are all called, and we all have the potential to receive this glory. Because the effects of original sin, which is the continuous conflict of good and evil within us, blocks love, our attainment of this complete maturity in love became possible when the Father and Sophia, the Holy Spirit, sent Their only Son to redeem us, to re-empower us with Their Spirit of Love. Through Jesus' life, resurrection and ascension we also learned how valued before Them we are as human beings, made of body and spirit.

We are to become, like Him, a glorified unity of body, soul and spirit. The spirit is superior, but it lovingly unites itself with the body and loves it just as the Son united Himself with flesh and loves it as Himself. It is love that convinces the body and soul that the allowing of our controlling desires (our fears) to die is the glorious pathway to the resurrected life, the fulfillment of all desires.

The living and enjoyment of the fruits of the resurrected life are to be a constant experience in our body, soul and spirit, in this life, as well as in the next, where Sophia will glorify with resurrected life, also, all the rest of creation. It is the living now of this resurrected life that has drawn us to La Ermita. Love is the power, the energy, and the food that gives us the ability to live the resurrected life, the ability to let go gradually of our enslaving desires that hold us back. Only love is necessary, and that love is Sophia, the Holy Spirit. All else flows from this source.

Living in the midst of society, we are obliged by love to work hard at allowing ourselves to be filled with love in order to be able to join the other saints in feeding the world with love. All have the right to receive the fruits of such a risen life, which are freely given, so that those who absorb these benefits may be able to form and live in communities of love in the world. Consequently, La Ermita will be open to all who are searching for, or are on the path of total unity in love, and who need to be refreshed from time to time by a peaceful and loving environment.

May Our Heavenly Dad, Sophia and Jesus be glorified by being known and experienced as a God of love through our lives. May Sophia consume us as She is consuming thousands of other saints living in our world today. Truly, They have done all things well. To Them be praise and glory forever. Amen