The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part VII

Thank you one and all who participated in tonight's group. Your comments brought to life the already powerful writing of St. John Climacus in an extraordinary way!

Synopsis:

This evening we read the final four paragraphs of Step One of the Ladder “On the renunciation of the world.”  Climacus emphasizes the importance of letting the beginning of the spiritual life be good and strong so that the end of our lives may correspond to the start. To begin well is to end well. Thus, we want to begin the spiritual life with zeal and fervor for the Lord and without a fear of mortifying the flesh or depriving oneself. Lack of courage can mask itself as prudence and so prevent us from engaging in the ascetical life. As one Saint said, “Heaven is not for cowards.“ We are engaged in a spiritual battle and we wage war against principalities and powers who are relentless and seeking to undermine our efforts. Our determination then, to serve Christ, must be unambiguous. Whatever state we find ourselves in we must zealously pursue God and His love. All are called holiness and while we must be discerning about the path forward that we take we must clearly understand that we must invest ourselves more and more each day. 

St John also emphasizes the importance of community. There are certain dangers in traveling the spiritual path alone. If one falls -  there is no one around who will pick him up out of despondency. In this regard, St.John refers to the Lord's teaching: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” 

St. John concludes by asking one question: “Who is the faithful and wise (monk) person?” It is he who has kept fervor unabated until the end of his life and has not ceased daily to add fire to fire, fervor to fervor, zeal to zeal, love to love. It is such a beautiful way to end the first step on renunciation. What we renounce we renounce for one purpose - to free us in order to love God unimpeded.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:08:40 Robyn Greco: Hi Father, Hi everyone. Hope everyone is well this evenng

 

00:08:52 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: hello Robyn

 

00:12:53 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Happy Easter -- Great to be here -- Alleluia

 

00:13:17 Rachel: Happy Easter!

 

00:19:33 Anthony: In my opinion, only great love can motivate a person to do what is repugnant - self sacrifice, or even a Cross.  So maybe Love can overcome spiritual sloth.  You  need to find the love, though.  It must be almost tangible, more tangible than self-love or false prudence.

 

00:22:22 Robyn Greco: 2 small meals and one regular meal, is that really a fast though? it doesn't seem to be

 

00:24:21 Ren: This is why we should never resent those who enter the vineyard at the ninth hour, so to speak. There are so many great things to be gained by spending one’s youth, and whole life, laboring for Christ.

 

00:25:55 Debra: What was that book/author again?

 

00:26:38 Ren: Adalbert de Vogue

 

00:26:42 Eric Williams: A point worth considering: hundreds of years ago, it was normal to go to bed shortly after sunset, sleep 3 hours or so, get up for maybe an hour, and sleep again for 3 hrs or so. Humans haven't had biphasic sleep since the invention of electric light. Vigils seem less extreme when viewed in light of biphasic sleep.

 

00:26:49 Robyn Greco: Does St John have any of these spiritual actions for those who are not well in body or does he not get into that? Thank You

 

00:27:01 Debra: Thank you, Ren

 

00:28:11 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Benefits of fasting for the spiritual life:

 

00:29:07 Andreea and Anthony: I have always been troubled by devotions to saints that self-mutilate and that is exalted as proof of their holiness. Example St. Rose of Lima, a saint from my birth city. What you said about having the right balance between disciplining the body and torturing the body struck a chord with me. What are we to make of these saints?

 

00:31:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: We recognize that everything comes as a gift; Fasting purifies our eating; Fasting calls us to hunger for the Lord; Fasting deepens our sense of hope and expectation; Fasting stirs our repentance and compunction; Fasting controls our desires; Fasting intensifies our prayer.

 

00:35:15 Eric Williams: "Do not test the Lord, your God." Taking up extreme practices willy-nilly is testing God - a temptation for which Jesus demonstrated refusal.

 

00:35:50 Sam Rodriguez: Father, you made the distinction between mortifying the bodily passions and spiritual passions. St. John of the Cross represents that division as a progression. For example, in Ascent of Mount Carmel, it's a movement from the "Night of the Senses" (which is more bodily & our sensory engagement) to the Night of the Soul (leading to growth in Faith), then Night of the Memory (growth in Hope) and then Night of the Will (growth in Charity) as a culminating moment to the Journey. Similarly the first 8 chapters of Dark Night of the Soul is concerned specifically with the "spiritual" versions of the Seven Deadly Sins. Which presumably is for those who, if I'm not mistaken, have already passed through the Night of the Senses. If I'm wrong in giving this account, please correct me. But I'm curious whether St. John Climacus and other Desert Fathers would see this "progressive" approach as overstated--that it must all be addressed simultaneously and whether the same would apply for pursuit of the Theological Virtues.

 

00:37:43 Rachel: And Theresa of Avila! Among others..

 

00:38:17 Andreea and Anthony: Btw, what page/paragraph are we on?

 

00:38:31 Ren: Page 59. Paragraph 25

 

00:38:37 Andreea and Anthony: Thanks!

 

00:38:49 Rachel: Thank you Sr. Barbara

 

00:44:36 Ambrose Little: But he's gonna keep sayin it. 😄

 

00:45:12 carolediclaudio: 😊

 

00:46:06 Eric Williams: As I said above, vigils were less eye-popping for people - even children - when humans engaged in biphasic sleep (before electric light).

 

00:46:38 Robyn Greco: Biphasic sleep?

 

00:46:58 Debra: Robyn....Two distinct sleep periods per night

 

00:47:07 Robyn Greco: Thank you

 

00:48:56 Debra: CCD in the 70s...just be kind to each other

 

00:49:19 Sean: And make a felt banner

 

00:49:25 Robyn Greco: Do you think that's why we don't really have many saints today?

 

00:49:50 Debra: Sean...I'm feeling attacked LOL

 

00:50:10 Robyn Greco: You are a rare breed these days Father. Thankful for you

 

00:50:18 carolediclaudio: What page?

 

00:50:35 Carol Nypaver: 59

 

00:50:45 carolediclaudio: Thanks Carol!

 

00:51:00 Carol Nypaver: 😍

 

00:52:16 Ambrose Little: It takes time for canonizations to happen, usually. There are very many processes in progress—the Vatican office that handles this has more than it can handle, and quite regular canonizations of folks even in the last 60 years. And that's just the recognized ones.

 

00:53:20 Vicki Nichols: Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko, was martyred in 1984

 

00:54:00 Debra: Carlos Acutis was beatified in the 2000s

 

00:55:30 Art: Messenger of the Truth.  Great film on Fr. Jerzy P.!!

 

00:56:38 Vicki Nichols: yes it is a good film!

 

00:57:27 Robyn Greco: sadly, today, there are a lot of us left alone in our spiritual walk, we are parched In the desert

 

00:57:51 Anthony: St. Maximos Skete, Palmyra / Fluvanna County, VA.

 

01:01:07 Andreea and Anthony: What is meant by this? It sounds like relying on emotions, which are passing. Many times the fire and fervor are just not felt.

 

01:02:59 Bonnie Lewis: And we must do this each and every day. upon awakening.

 

01:03:54 Ren: I don’t understand the second to last sentence in paragraph 24. “For you will scarcely find anyone…who is determined to mortify his flesh, although he might deprive himself of many pleasant dishes”? Could you explain this a little more? How is this form of deprivation not a good example of mortification?

 

01:07:20 Debra: Do you need a spiritual director to do a daily fast?

 

01:07:26 Debra: oops

 

01:09:16 Art: To Love Fasting  downloadable PDF  https://archive.org/details/tolovefasting

 

01:09:40 Carol Nypaver: Thank you, Art!

 

01:10:06 Debra: Great discussion, I need to go....parish council...blergh

Bye!

 

01:10:44 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Thank you for the link Art.

 

01:10:57 Anthony: Yet, food is art.  It is true, good and beautiful - there is a natural law associated with food.  We don't whitewash walls like Puritans do (well, perhaps Carthusians do) but we have and celebrate iconography.  Judicious use of God's gifts within mortification is important.  Beautiful material art can degenerate to kitsch; beautiful food can degenerate to sumptuousness.  But, we LOVE icons and we LOVE food, both made and appreciated judiciously, per natural law and spiritual law.

 

01:11:18 Art: YW sister!

 

01:12:24 Anthony: Thanks, Father. :^)

 

01:14:01 Ren: Norway

 

01:14:15 Ren: Best. Movie. Ever

 

01:14:25 Sam Rodriguez: SUCH a great movie

 

01:14:32 Bonnie Lewis: I just watched the movie last week.  It's a beautiful movie.

 

01:14:49 Robyn Greco: Whats the name of the movie again? Thank You

 

01:14:56 Bonnie Lewis: It brought them a love for one another.

 

01:14:57 Ren: Babette’s Feast

 

01:15:03 Robyn Greco: Thank you Ren

 

01:15:06 Anthony: I would LOVE this movie.  Food is a gift we can give to others.

 

01:15:31 Ren: ““Stand on the edge of the abyss and when you feel that it is beyond your strength, break off and have a cup of tea.” - Fr. Sophrony

 

01:16:22 Cindy Moran: Great session Fr Abernathy

 

01:16:25 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you!!!

 

01:16:42 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you Father so good