The Ladder of Divine Ascent

Yesterday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, we remembered St. John Climacus,a a great monastic of the Orthodox Church. On of his most important works was his book "The Ladder of Divine Ascent". This powerful writing speaks to us about the steps of the spiritual life, and how easy it is to fall away from the path of righteousness. It can be a difficult book to read and understand, especially if we are just starting out on our spiritual journey. But no matter what level we are at spiritually, there are certainly aspects of the book that we can all use at any time.

In his book, St. John shows the spiritual life as a ladder reaching to heaven. The ladder is composed of 30 rungs, one for each year of the hidden life of Jesus Christ. The first rung, the first step on this ladder, St. John tells us, is the turning of our backs to this world. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn't to? In a monastic setting this is certainly the goal, but can we have the same goal outside of a monastic setting? Without a doubt!

For us outside of the monastic life, turning our backs on this world means, in essence, turning our backs on ourselves. In society today, we are encouraged to always put ourselves first, seeking what we want, as opposed to what we need. Our world is a world that values pride, arrogance and self-love. 

St. John tells that the the first step in the path to the kingdom of heaven is to reject these passion of this world and instead, search for humility and repentance. Our "feelings" and our "rights" have to be replaced by the love of God. Sadly, we even let this pride and ego often flow into the Church: "Liturgy too long", "Church is too far away"; "It is too hot/cold"; "We have other commitments". When we decide that the Church, that Jesus Christ, the salvation are less important than us, then we have not even begun to walk the path of salvation.

I would like to end today with a quote from St. John's book concerning who is a wise and faithful Christian: 

"It is the man who has kept unquenched the warmth of his vocation, who adds fire each day to fire, fervor to fervor, zeal to zeal, love to love, and this to the end of his life. This is the first step. Let him who has set foot on it never turn back.