Pope Benedict XVI in English - Weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we recommence our catechesis on the great Christian
writers of both East and West. John Climacus, whose name means “ladder”, was born
around 575, and wrote an outstanding tract near Mount Sinai on the spiritual journey
leading from renunciation of the world to perfection in love. The journey takes place
in three stages. The first involves detachment from worldly goods in order to return
to a state of Gospel innocence and enter into a deeper communion with God. In the
second phase, the soul engages in a spiritual battle with the passions by cultivating
virtues corresponding to each. When purified, these passions can show us the way
to God through self-denial and grace. In the third phase, John emphasizes the importance
of discernment: we must examine every aspect of our behaviour in order to ascertain
our deepest motivations and reawaken a “sense of the heart”. This leads to tranquillity
of soul – esichía – which prepares us to probe the depths of the divine mysteries.
The last “rung” of the ladder consists in faith, hope and charity. John’s account
of charity includes eros, or human love, which points towards the nuptial union of
the soul with God. May John’s spiritual “ladder” remind all of us who share in the
death and resurrection of Christ through Baptism that we are called to continual conversion
and purification with the help of the Holy Spirit. *** I am pleased to greet
all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, especially pilgrims
from Japan, Taiwan, Denmark, England, Ireland and the United States. God bless you
all!