Really? What do you consider a good person to be like?
"Well, I've never killed anyone (yet!), I don't steal."
Hmm. You know King David did kill a guy, and he did it to hide the fact that he had slept with that guy's wife. Yet God says that David was a man after his own heart. Does avoiding doing something really bad make you good? Really?
In the Orthodox calendar, today (10-April-2016) is the fourth Sunday of Lent and the day we remember St John Climacus, or as he is also known, St John of the Ladder. In the 7th century, John was a monk and eventually became an abbot (in charge of a monastery) because so many people came to him for spiritual help. Centuries before "The Purpose Driven Life", he wrote a book called "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" as a help to those who were seeking his advice. This book is still read around the world as a guide to becoming a "good" person.
He pictures the spiritual life as if it were a ladder with 30 rungs on it. It is not an easy ladder to climb, and in fact one of the big problems is that there are evil forces at work to topple you and make you fall off. One of the keys to success however, is that if you fall, you just get right up again. The devils are primarily trying to make you give up, and this you must never do!
The top of the ladder is union and communion with God, which is the real goal of our Christian life. Being "good" in itself is pointless. The purpose of our life is to know and love God. This is why Jesus came into our world, to open the way for us to have this communion with his Father. This is how we become men after God's own heart.
Here is a list of the chapter headings in the book, just to give you an idea of what John is talking about.
- Break with the world!
- Renunciation
- Detachment
- Exile
- Fundamental Virtues
- Obedience
- Repentance
- Remembering that you are going to die
- Mourning
- Meekness - letting go of anger
- Spiritual Passions ("passions" are shortcomings to be overcome)
- Remembering wrongs and malice against you
- Slander
- Talkativeness and silence
- Falsehood
- Despondency/tedium/boredom
- Physical Passions
- Gluttony
- Lust and Chastity
- Avarice (greed)
- Poverty
- More Spiritual Passions
- Insensitivity/Lack of awareness
- Sleeping too much, especially during prayer/church
- Alertness
- Fear
- Vainglory (=seeking approval/admiration from others)
- Pride
- The Higher Virtues
- Meekness through simplicity
- Humility
- Discernment
- Union with God (the ultimate goal!)
- Stillness
- Prayer
- Dispassion (=not being controlled by the "passions", see above)
- Faith, hope and love
Whew! That is quite a list. Here is some stuff to chew on! Most of us don't even really understand what half of these things really mean. Yet in our hearts we know that John is on to something important.
None of us in this life will ever perfectly achieve these things, and if we think we have, go back to the bottom of the ladder and start all over! But all of us can make a beginning and work on it. And in doing so, we become more like Christ himself and more intimate with His Father. And THAT is what it is all about.
For an easy introduction to The Ladder, I found this book really helpful. Thirty Steps to Heaven: The Ladder of Divine Ascent for all walks of Life, by Vassilios Papavassiliou, 2013 Ancient Faith Press.
None of us in this life will ever perfectly achieve these things, and if we think we have, go back to the bottom of the ladder and start all over! But all of us can make a beginning and work on it. And in doing so, we become more like Christ himself and more intimate with His Father. And THAT is what it is all about.
For an easy introduction to The Ladder, I found this book really helpful. Thirty Steps to Heaven: The Ladder of Divine Ascent for all walks of Life, by Vassilios Papavassiliou, 2013 Ancient Faith Press.
