{"id":2920,"date":"2015-05-01T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T00:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2920"},"modified":"2022-04-22T10:19:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T02:19:42","slug":"127-climbing-the-celestial-and-worldly-ladders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2920","title":{"rendered":"127. Climbing the Celestial and Worldly Ladders"},"content":{"rendered":"

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.<\/strong> <\/span>[Psalm 62:5<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[L] St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. [M] The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator.\u00a0[R] Interior view of church at St Catherine\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing on \u2018Jacob\u2019s ladder\u2019 in the previous post reminded us of St Catherine\u2019s Monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt. Built between 548 and 565 A.D., it is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. The first building on the site was commissioned by St Helen, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, in 330 A.D., upon requests from the monks. The oldest continuously occupied and existing monastic community in the world, St Catherine\u2019s houses some very old icons, including the oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator. This venerable institution has survived desert storms, drought, civil war, famine, flood, the Islamic conquest, the Crusades, conquest of the Ottomans, two world wars and most recently, the Arab Spring. An Orthodox monastery, it is listed as a UNESCO<\/a> World Heritage Site<\/a> and is a revered place to Christians and Muslims alike.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following from the last post, the link that draws our reflections to this monastery is of course Saint John Climacus, also known as St John of the Ladder. He became an abbot of St Catherine\u2019s monastery in the 7th<\/sup> century and wrote, amongst other works, The Ladder of Divine Ascent<\/em>. St. John is so highly regarded in the East that two days of the Eastern Orthodox Church year are dedicated to him. Written at the request of the Abbot of the monastery at Raithu some time in the late sixth century or early seventh century, his book enjoys such high esteem that it is still read during meals in the monasteries of the Church every year during lent.<\/span><\/p>\n

While originally written to aid those pursuing the monastic life, this great monastic treatise yields many lessons that apply to all struggling to live faithful Christian lives outside of the monastic walls. For the spirituality of the lay people, \u201cdesert\u201d and \u201cmonasteries\u201d are not places in their daily lives, but an attitude, a desire to stay connected with God, the source of life and spirituality. And so, of the thirty steps that make up St John\u2019s Ladder of the Spirit, today\u2019s readers who seriously desire to meditate on them can easily glean a list of topics for their own silent contemplation. The following three selected and modified entries are common to the lists of all truly spiritual people.<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Be still and silent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Silence \u201cis so lacking in this world which is often too noisy, which is not favourable to recollection and listening to the voice of God,\u201d Pope Benedict XVI said. He urged us to \u201ccultivate interior recollection so as to receive and keep Jesus in our lives\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our noisy life demands increasing levels of stimulations to fill our boredom. The more we are conscious of the clamours of the world around us, the more we experience an inner call to silence as an alternative consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remaining conscious of what one is doing, one inevitably concludes that the two correctives of all spirituality are silence and service. When either of these is missing, our spirituality spirals into un<\/em>-truth and dis<\/em>-ease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Silence is such a strange thing. Without it, we do not seem to experience<\/em> our experiences. On the one hand, without silence, nothing has the power to lift or awaken us, or to give us that \u201cjoy that the world cannot give\u201d (John 16:22), however much we may try to \u201cserve\u201d. On the other hand, without clear, free and serious acts of service that springs from the heart, no spirituality could lead to restful authenticity that has no fear of being called into question, even by one\u2019s own conscience. Where there is a deep interior tranquility, a new way of seeing the world begins to unfold.<\/span><\/p>\n

So we come to comprehend that <\/em>\u201c<\/em>the opposite of contemplation is not action, but reaction.<\/em>\u201d The spiritual giants of the Church teach that to execute pure action, we need to engage in contemplative silence, <\/em>so we may <\/em>listen anew to truth and to what is really happening. From spiritual silence, one begins to meet the demands of a deep presence to oneself in the moment, to attempt to be present to God, and to attend to the silent-presence of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Captured by silence, we hear<\/em>,<\/em> which we otherwise could no<\/em>t<\/em>.<\/em> In silence, we see<\/em>, which we otherwise would not. With silence, there is new \u201cknowing\u201d which is not thinking, and certainly beyond mental analysis. True silence relativises our ordinarily aggressive mental activities, limiting such compulsive brain-driven patterns, and compelling us to finally surrender ourselves to the primal being and identity that we have in God. Silence requires no stimulation, but bans it. God is only found at the depths of things, including the depths of our sin and brokenness. And in the depths, it is always silent. Silence is where we must go when we want to be truly spiritual, to stay connected with God, to let God speak to the heart.\u00a0Mystics find God in the depth of their silence. In monasteries, silence is golden.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Pray ceaselessly, staying constantly connected with God<\/span><\/p>\n

To pray ceaselessly is to stay constantly connected with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we pray without ceasing, we shall not be in want of things before we can give thanks. Rather, we shall have cause to give thanks for apparent lack as well as in plenitude, for successes as well as for afflictions. We rejoice more if we pray more. In constant prayers, we learn not to quench the Spirit. So St Paul urged his young converts in Thessalonica to never stop praying:<\/span><\/p>\n