Tag: John Climacus
John Climacus: “The Ladder”
John Climacus, who lived approximately between 575 and 650, became famous with his treatise on the spiritual life, called the “Ladder to Perfection.” . . . can the Ladder, a work written by a hermit monk who lived 1,400 years ago, say something to us today? Can the existential journey of a man who lived his entire… Read More ›
Humility in Conversation
A man should know that a devil’s sickness is on him if he is seized by the urge in conversation to assert his opinion, however correct it may be. If he behaves this way while talking to his equals, then a rebuke from his elders may heal him. But if he carries on in this… Read More ›
We are like children learning to walk
Until we have acquired genuine prayer, we are like people teaching children to begin to walk. Try to lift up, or rather, to enclose your thought within the words or your prayer, and if in its infant state it wearies and falls, lift it up again. …If you constantly train your mind never to wander,… Read More ›
Fighting the Good Fight
Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we… Read More ›
Let us take up arms against them courageously
Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we… Read More ›
Repentance is a Contract with God
Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection, and carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance… Read More ›
Pope uses ‘ladder’ of St. John Climacus to promote conversion
Vatican City, Feb 11, 2009 / 11:44 am (CNA).- After 20 catecheses devoted to St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI returned to his teachings on the great Christian writers of both East and West, reflecting on St. John Climacus. The Holy Father held up St. John Climacus, whose name means “ladder,” and whose greatest work is… Read More ›