Denver Catholic

INDEX Archbishop's Column ......................2 The Catholic Difference ..................4 Nun of the Above quiz ....................4 Letters to the Editor .......................4 World/Nation................................... 12 Puzzle Page ......................................13 Bulletin Board ................................. 14 Service Directory ........................... 15 DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER FILE PHOTOS BY JAMES BACA LUCILLE Dupuis, inset photo, was a spiritual treasure for the Denver Archdiocese. As founder of Our Lady of Tenderness Poustinia (cab- in hermitage pictured above), located above Estes Park, she offered a unique Eastern Christian contemplative experience to the faithful. FEBRUARY 12, 2014 113 Years of Service to the Gospel Volume XC - No. 6 www.DenverCatholicRegister.org I Follow us on INSIDE RESPECT LIFE LEGISLATURE PAGE 3 PAGE 2 House votes on tax-code benefits for same-sex couples Life that was never meant to be inspires others LOCAL NEWS MARRIAGE PAGE 8 PAGE 10 Marriage prep gets engaged in FOCCUS Backpacks of hope: food bank helps chronically hungry students Poustinia Listening to God Advocates commit to reopening hermitage BY ROXANNE KING Death came suddenly for Lu- cille Claire Dupuis Jan. 27. But the poustinik was ready. As keeper of Our Lady of Ten- derness Poustinia (hermitage) in Estes Park, the 79-year-old had been cultivating her heart as a sacred place where God could dwell, and helping others to do the same. For 31 years, she prayed for her own salvation, that of the world, and for the Archdiocese of Denver. Poustinia, Russian for "des- ert," refers to the tradition of go- ing into the wilderness, alone, to fast, pray and listen to God. Dupuis felt led by God to es- tablish the poustinia on the se- cluded 80-acre site in 1983. As caretaker and spiritual director of the poustinia, Dupuis was a "poustinik," one who lives per- manently in the "desert" much like a hermit. With her death, due to com- plications associated with pneu- monia, Our Lady of Tenderness is closed. Anthony Lilles, professor of spiritual theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and close friend of Dupuis, said he and the other members of the poustinia's board of directors are praying and discerning how to continue the apostolate. "We think it's vital for our times," Lilles said, "because Christians now more than ever need places where they can find solitude and silence to listen to God." Poustinia adherent Father John Nepil, parochial vicar at Queen of Peace Church in Auro- ra, agreed. "(Theologian-priest) Karl Rahner once said, 'The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.' Lucille's life is an example of this response to our post-Christian world, as well as a radical witness against the ever-increasing activism of the new evangelization. Quietly and lovingly she is calling us to cease our work and return to the source of the Christian life—the poustinia of the heart, where the presence of Trinitarian love abides and invites us to 'come away and rest awhile.' Poustinia rest is unique, said Lilles, author of a book on prayer, "Hidden Mountain, Secret Gar- den: A Theological Contempla- tion on Prayer," and an advocate of poustinia. A spiritual tradition of Eastern Christians, poustin- ia differs from the outward, ac- tion-oriented piety of Western Christians. The poustinia experience "I will lure her out into the wil- derness and there I will speak to her heart," Dupuis told the Denver Catholic Register in 2002 quoting Hosea to describe the spirit of poustinia. At Our Lady of Tenderness people could go for a minimum 36-hour stay in a rustic cabin to fast on bread, water and tea and feast on the Scriptures—the only reading permitted. "Not everybody can go off into the wilderness and fast on bread and water for two to four days or longer," Lilles said, "but I do think that as part of our regular Chris- tian lives we need to make it a pri- ority to withdraw from the world to enter the silence of God—to renounce and to fast so there's space for God in our hearts, so we can see the truth. We as Christians Our Lady of Tenderness closes with poustinik's death See Dupuis, Page 5 GIANNA JESSEN

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