Tonight we resumed our reading of Step One on the Renunciation of the world. The step fits into the larger context of a break with the world which includes, John tells us, detachment and exile. Here is where monks sought to remove everything from their lives that would keep them from focusing solely upon God and what He alone offers. As Christians we may not imitate the monk in living in the desert; yet, in reality, the desert exists within the human heart. The renunciation that John speaks of in this first step must exist within us as well. There are many ways that we have to let go of the things that hold us within their grip; the passions (sins that have become habitual), disordered desires that make us long for satisfaction and seek it within worldly goods and the fulfillment of the appetites.
In paragraph 4, John begins to define for us the various types of Christians. He does this not as an abstraction but rather as a frame through which we can view our lives. He paints with broad strokes and asks us to gaze deeply into the image to see if we recognize a reflection of ourselves. Are we an irreligious man (not thinking of God at all), a transgressor who distorts the faith in a depraved fashion? Are we a Christian who seeks to imitate Christ in word, thought, and deed - who believes in what God has revealed of himself to us; namely, believing in the Holy Trinity? Are we the lover of God who seeks to live in communion with all that is natural and sinless? Are we the continent man, who in the face of temptations and turmoil, struggles in order that he might be free? Have we interiorized monasticism in the sense that we seek a chaste love, purity of heart and mind? Do we remember death so as to cling to He alone who is our life? Have we set aside the things of this world voluntarily; not because they are evil but because we are a naturally attached to them more than we are attached to the love of God?
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IX: On Remembrance of Wrongs, Part II and Chapter X: On Slander or Calumny, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part IV
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IX: On Remembrance of Wrongs, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part VII and Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part IV and Hypothesis XXXIII, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part VI
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part V
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part IV
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXI, Part II and XXXII, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part III
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXI, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXX, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VI: On the Remembrance of Death and Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning
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