Tag: spiritual life
Ladder of Divine Ascent – Lenten Reading Schedule
The Ladder (from which St John received the ‘nickname” Klimakos – “ladder” in Greek) was written in response to another Abbot’s advice on promoting health spirituality in his monastery. St John’s reply proved such a thorough and clear exposition that it has become de rigueur Lenten reading in Eastern Christians monasteries all over the world. As St John’s writings are also… Read More ›
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 ›
Winning the Battle Against Temptation
Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich once quipped that if we could really see, that the fallen angels that surround us would blot out the sun. I am no skeptic – I believe it. Sometimes I wonder if we realize the real struggle going on in the spiritual realm in our day to day lives. Unlike monastics… Read More ›
Are You Loving Your Servitude Yet?
Aside from the political commentary, the following quotation is worth pondering on how we use, or are used, by technology. How do we send out spare time? How do we use our time on a daily basis? Is it really that important that we are right on top of the breaking news that we carry… Read More ›
God is always present
Expect a twofold help from God in the course of your spiritual life: correction and consolation. One controls the exterior, the other works within; the first curbs arrogance, the latter inspires trust; the first begets humility, the latter strengthens the faint-hearted; the first makes one discreet, the latter devout. The first imbues us with fear… Read More ›
The hard work of the spiritual life
Many people have romantic or idealistic notions about monastic life that are untrue. The image of the monk as a workman is a reminder that monastic life is not an idyllic existence but rather something ordinary, obscure, and laborious. The same is true of the spiritual life in general. By taking the Gospel seriously, we… Read More ›
Finding God … in service of our brothers.
There is a stage in the spiritual life in which we find God in ourselves – this presence is a created effect of His love. It is a gift of His, to us. It remains in us. All the gifts of God are good. But if we rest in them, rather than in Him, they… Read More ›
A Healthy Obsession
Spiritual life is not a hobby or a part-time occupation. It is nothing if it does not find expression in everything we do. There is no possibility of moonlighting: using some of our energies for other goals or for ourselves. Taking the spiritual life seriously means that it is not compartmentalized. It is a total… Read More ›
Our Response to High-Profile Meltdowns
By Fr. James Farfaglia, 5/21/2011: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) We need not be discouraged, shocked or worried Sexual sin is not the only sin, but it is certainly the battle of our times. It is quite possible that when we consider the demands of our spiritual life and the impact on us of the continuous bombardment… Read More ›
Awakening One’s Spiritual Self
There is and can be no special planned technique for discovering and awakening one’s inner self, because the inner self is first of spontaneity that is nothing if not free. Therefore there is no use in trying to start with a definition of the inner self, and then deducing from its essential properties some appropriate… Read More ›