C
C.laypersona
Guest
Since two days ago was the Latin-rite celebration of Pascha (Easter), I greet you with: Christ is risen from the dead!
Pope Benedict XVI:
"…John known as [Sinaites or Scholasticus or] Climacus, a Latin transliteration of the Greek term klimakos, which means ‘of the ladder’ (klimax, ‘ladder’). This is the title of his most important work in which he describes the ladder of human life ascending towards God. . . .
"He became famous, as I have already said, through his work, entitled Climax [Paradisi, ‘The Ladder of Paradise’], in the West known as ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’. Composed at the insistent request of the hegumen [abbot] of the neighbouring Monastery of Raithu in Sinai, The Ladder is a complete treatise of spiritual life in which John describes the monk’s journey from renunciation of the world to the perfection of love. This journey according to his book covers thirty ‘steps’, each one of which is linked to the next. . . .
“All together, these ‘steps’ of The Ladder undoubtedly constitute the most important treatise of spiritual strategy that we possess.”
(General Audience, 11 February 2009)
A brief excerpt from The Ladder (4, 62):
“Do not be deceived, son and obedient servant of the Lord, by the spirit of conceit, so that you confess your own sins to your master as if they were another person’s. You cannot escape shame except by shame. It is often the habit of the demons to persuade us either not to confess, or to do so as if we were confessing another person’s sins, or to lay the blame for our sin on others. Lay bare, lay bare your wound to the physician and, without being ashamed, say: 'It is my wound, Father, it is my plague, caused by my own negligence, and not by anything else. No one is to blame for this, no man, no spirit, no body, nothing but my own carelessness.’”
Pope Benedict XVI:
"…John known as [Sinaites or Scholasticus or] Climacus, a Latin transliteration of the Greek term klimakos, which means ‘of the ladder’ (klimax, ‘ladder’). This is the title of his most important work in which he describes the ladder of human life ascending towards God. . . .
"He became famous, as I have already said, through his work, entitled Climax [Paradisi, ‘The Ladder of Paradise’], in the West known as ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’. Composed at the insistent request of the hegumen [abbot] of the neighbouring Monastery of Raithu in Sinai, The Ladder is a complete treatise of spiritual life in which John describes the monk’s journey from renunciation of the world to the perfection of love. This journey according to his book covers thirty ‘steps’, each one of which is linked to the next. . . .
“All together, these ‘steps’ of The Ladder undoubtedly constitute the most important treatise of spiritual strategy that we possess.”
(General Audience, 11 February 2009)
A brief excerpt from The Ladder (4, 62):
“Do not be deceived, son and obedient servant of the Lord, by the spirit of conceit, so that you confess your own sins to your master as if they were another person’s. You cannot escape shame except by shame. It is often the habit of the demons to persuade us either not to confess, or to do so as if we were confessing another person’s sins, or to lay the blame for our sin on others. Lay bare, lay bare your wound to the physician and, without being ashamed, say: 'It is my wound, Father, it is my plague, caused by my own negligence, and not by anything else. No one is to blame for this, no man, no spirit, no body, nothing but my own carelessness.’”