30th MARCH 2003
ST JOHN CLIMACUS
ABBOT CONFESSOR ( c.525-605)
LIFE:
Syrian by birth, he lived in a cave -hermitage at the foot of
Mount Sinai in the desert of Thola, studying the lives of the Saints
and gaining a reputation for profound learning.When he was 75 years of
age , the mount Sinai monks elected him Abbot , and such was his holiness
and wisdom , that even Pope St Gregory the Great was informed of it
and send him a contribution for his hospital and pilgrimes hostel and
asked for his prayers. St john resigned his office after four years in
order to returned to his hermitage and prepare himself for death.
The most important of his writings is entitled ` Ladder to
Paradise`, and from its latin title "climax" has been derived his
surname.This ascetical treatise , which attained great popularity throughout
the church 7 was transalated into many languages, its 30 chapters - in
memory of our Lord`s 30 yeras of hidden life - treat of the vices to be
subdued & the virtues to be cultivated in order to attain the greatest
spiritual perfection.The practical application of the percepts is richly
illustrated with parables and historical facts.
He died in his hermitage on March 30, 605 .
REFLECTION:
A man is truly dispassionate -- and is known to be such -- when he
has cleansed his flesh of all corruption; when he has lifted his mind above everything
created, and has made it master of all the senses; when he keeps his soul continually
in the presence of the Lord and reaches out beyond the borderline of strength to
Him... Its effect is to sanctify the mind and to detach it from material things, and
it does so in such a way that, after entering this heavenly harbor, a man, for most of
his earthly life, is enraptured, like someone already in heaven, and he is lifted up
to the contemplation of God.
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A man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who loves
possessions prays to material images.
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(ST JOHN)
**O Jesus ! Who for love of me,
Didst bear Thy Cross to Calvary ;
In Thy sweet mercy grant to me
To suffer & die with Thee...**
S.THOMAS
NOTTINGHAM
ENGLAND
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