Sunday of St. John of the Ladder
Today, we celebrate St. John Climacus.
He received the name “Climacus,” which means “ladder,” from a book he wrote: The Ladder of Divine Ascent.
There, St. John describes 30 steps, or rungs, for the monk to climb on his or her path to salvation.
Each step is about overcoming the passions, one way or another, and acquiring virtues.
St. John lived in the 6th and 7th centuries, and he primarily wrote for a monastic audience.
So, why should we pay any attention to his words today?
What does he have to say to a 21st century American who has the world in a smartphone?
Well, as we all heed “stay at home” orders, he may have more to say to us than we think!
Scripture: Hebrews 6:13-20 (click here to read)
Bottom Line: An exile is an opportunity to hear God.
Discussion Questions
- In your busy life, what keeps you from God? What distractions do you face? What temptations keep you from being who you want to be as a Christian?
- How has your life changed in light of the coronavirus? What new routes have you had to establish? What routines would you like to establish? How can you carve more time for God into your daily schedule?
- Pick one virtue that you’d like to acquire or work on during the rest of Lent. What’s one tangible thing you can do to take the first step to meeting your goal?
Moving Forward
Step 3 of The Ladder of Divine Ascent is entitled, “On Exile or Pilgrimage.”
This title may bring to mind the Hebrews wandering in the desert with Moses.
Or, it may bring to mind the Israelites in Babylon.
Or, you may recall Abraham, who, as we heard in today’s epistle reading, fled his homeland and went on a pilgrimage, trusting in God’s covenant to him.
For St. John, monastics were following in the footsteps of all these biblical figures.
By leaving the world behind and isolating themselves in the desert or in monasteries, they chose a particular pilgrimage to God, a self-imposed exile.
But, this separation wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, St. John praises the practice.
“Exile means that we leave forever everything in our own country that prevents us from reaching the goal of piety. …For exile is a separation from everything in order to keep the mind inseparable from God.”
St. John realized that there are many temptations in the world.
There are so many distractions, in fact, that it’s best that the monastic flee from the world.
There, away from the seduction of sin, the monastic can practice obedience to his or her abbot and work on acquiring the virtues, especially the virtue of prayer, which, he says, brings about reconciliation with God.
Unlike St. John’s original audience, we may not be monastics, but our “stay at home” orders can be an opportunity to take us away from the regular distractions that keep us from God.
We have the chance to embrace this “exile” and turn it into a moment of stillness where we can listen and hear what God is saying.
Perhaps, if we take St. John’s words to heart, we too can learn to pray and be reconciled with God.
Changing Your Mind
“So that, by way of two immutable realities, we who have fled for refuge should have a mighty encouragement to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18)