In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory
to the Father. Beloved of the Lord, we have now
arrived at the fourth port of call. Remember
way back when, Father Nicholas described Lent
using the language of some of the hymns as a
sea voyage. Well, we're at the fourth port of
call on our Lenten voyage, the Sunday of St.
John of the Ladder, St. John Klimakos. Do you
know why we call Lent, Lent? I probably told
you this before. Lent's an old English word meaning
to make longer, to lengthen. It's not just services
that are longer during Lent. The days are getting
longer. It's an opportunity. for more growth
in nature, of which we're part. So give God,
allow God some space within yourself to warm
up your heart if it's cold or stony. He'll warm
it up with his divine love and patience. You
be patient too. Each Sunday of Lent, actually
each Sunday of the entire year, not just Lent,
leads and flows and expands into the following
Sunday. So last week, I won't go all the way
back to the beginning of Lent. Last week, though,
we marked the third Sunday, that of the veneration
of the precious cross. And we heard, we understood
from that celebration and from the hymnography
and from the reading of the gospel and the epistle
that the cross is our strength. It's our refreshment.
We hear the joy came into the world through the
cross. It's pointing the way to Holy Week and
Holy Friday and Pascha. And we were reminded
in the gospel to seek the life of Christ. and
thereby find ourself. And the other way around,
you will suffer complete loss. That's what he
says, basically. Well, how do we do that? How
do we seek the life of Christ the way he laid
it out in that gospel? Well, today, thankfully,
we are instructed where we can find encouragement
and help for that question, precisely how. and
obviously it's the Gospels. You heard two selections,
one from Mark about the man with the son who
is demonically possessed, and Christ healed him,
and he healed the man of his lack of faith. Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief. And he healed the
apostles, and he told them how to pursue this.
And we heard the epistle. The epistle told us,
it's interesting, isn't it, about hope. in Jesus
Christ, who is our anchor. This hope we have,
it says, as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast. I'd love to do a sermon just on
that. But we also today learn we not only have
an anchor, we have a ladder. We have a ladder.
The saint that we commemorate today, our venerable
and God -bearing father, John Klimakos. reposed
on March 30th, today is the anniversary of his
repose, in the year 649. Klimakos is the latter
in Greek. It's not his last name, St. John Klimakos.
That's not his last name. It's the title of the
book he wrote when he was abbot in the 7th century
at that monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai
where Moses was. Possibly the oldest Christian
monastery in the world. Still operating. And
he came to that monastery and became a novice
when he was 16. And when he died in 649 on March
30th, he was the abbot. He wrote as a favor to
someone. That most famous book, Father Nicholas
had it last night. He read a few passages. That
book called The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The
book might be described, and I agree, as one
bishop said, as our modern Christian survival
guide. We would do well to read it and understand
what we can take from it and be inspired, even
though we are not monastics. Well, today is not
just the usual fourth Sunday of Lent, which is
dedicated to St. John, his icon's here in the
middle, but it's also... Providentially, 1 ,376
years, if I got my math right, from the time
of his death. And he is still relevant. You will
see that. I'll read a few passages, but you will
see it if you take this book. After the Bible,
and after the liturgical books, there is no book.
I've been told. You can check your computer.
No book in the history of mankind that has been
read, translated, and published more than The
Ladder of Divine Ascent. And if you want a really
nice piece of historical trivia, you should know
that the very first book, the very first book
of any kind ever published and printed in the
New World was The Ladder of Divine Ascent, printed
by a Spaniard in Mexico in 1535. It's relevant
to them. It's relevant to us. The ladder of divine
ascent, our modern way of thinking, we like ladders.
Ladders as a concept. Maybe you don't like to
get up on one. Ladders are kind of dangerous
things to put in the hands of a modern Christian.
We like the idea of upward mobility, that we're
always getting better. Well, St. Paul said, Walk
circumspectly. Be wise for the days are evil.
Do you think they've improved that much since
about the year 60 AD? So this idea of ladders
and upward mobility, continuing improvement,
moral progress, that's sort of the way we think
in the modern world. We have our career ladders.
We have the ladder of success. We have exercise
goals. Become whatever you want. Be all you can
be. With the help of Jesus, he can help. Last
week, I think the week of the cross should have
convinced us otherwise that we are not saved
by being better people, by finding ourself. Many
of us, brothers and sisters, are not moving towards
heaven like we should. We're falling into the
trick. of thinking that this life is where we
need to place most of our energy and our hope.
It's a vain quest. We might hear about the ladder
of divine ascent. We might see the ladder of
divine ascent. We might even interact with people
that are climbing the ladder of divine ascent.
But are we ourselves on the ladder? We were joking
in the altar this morning. I said, well, I'm
on the stairway going down into the basement
most of the time. Or are we preferring to stay
where we are? Because it's safe. It's supposedly
secure. Ladders have destinations. And this one
is to make us Christ -like. God is calling me
and you to get on that ladder, to at least put
our foot on that first rung. Do you know what
the last rung is? Father Nicholas mentioned it
last night. The last rung of the 30th step? That's
right. It's love. Here are a few words of St.
John of the Ladder on the topic that concerned
most of us. Most of us have to confess that we
judge other people. Here's what he says about
that. Fire and water are incompatible. And so
is judging others in one who wants to repent.
If you see someone falling into sin at the very
moment of his death, even then do not judge him,
because the divine judgment is hidden from men.
Some have fallen openly into great sins, but
they have done greater good deeds in secret.
So their critics were tricked, getting smoke
instead of the sun. He says, the demons, murderers
that they are, push us into sin. Or if they fail
to do this, they get us to pass judgment on those
who are sinning so that they may smear us with
the stain which we ourselves are condemning in
the other person. And in that final chapter,
step 30 on love, the highest of the virtues,
here are a few of his words. He who loves the
Lord has first loved his brother because the
second is proof of the first. One who loves his
neighbor can never tolerate slanderers but rather
runs from them as from fire. He who says he loves
the Lord but is angry with his brother is like
a man who dreams that he is running. Love bestows
prophecy. Love yields miracles. Love is an abyss.
illumination love is a fountain of fire in the
measure that it bubbles up it inflames the thirsty
soul love is the state of the Angels love is
the progress of eternity what profound words
so simple so true this is what you will read
if you get that book we preachers love to say
things like you know God became so that man can
become God by grace. And it's true, and it's
beautiful. But at this point of Lent, maybe we
are learning that's a little more difficult and
that God does not meet us in the middle. He does
not remove our crosses. He meets us at the bottom,
because that's where we are, bottom of that ladder.
And asks us to meet him there as well. And the
gospel passage today illustrates that fact for
us very, very vividly. How low Christ has to
stoop, or as we say, condescend to us to help
us. What a scene in the gospel. How tragic. How
miserable that wretched man was. Demon -possessed
young man. And how miserable was his father.
And how confused were the apostles. And Jesus
says, O faithless generation, let that go into
your heart. Let that penetrate to grant some
compunction. But then Jesus does what he does.
He heals the father. How? He grants him the grace
to see him more than a teacher. And he answers
that prayer. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
And then he heals the boy. He lifts him up. He
raises him, as it says, as if he were dead. Catechumens,
be strengthened because you're going to experience
this. This raising up into the new life of Christ.
This is what we have to listen to and to prepare
ourselves for Pascha. The Lord's words also in
that gospel about prayer. Prayer and fasting.
The exact things we need to be reminded of at
this point in Lent. If you have not yet begun
to fast, if you have not even begun to pray more,
well, that's not good. Not at all. If you haven't
been praying and attending Lenten services, that's
not good. How will you be able to celebrate Pascha?
To enter in, except as an observer. But begin
this week. Begin this week. The Lord is always
waiting for us. We are going to hear on Pascha
that most amazing sermon. Even if you have delayed
to the 11th hour, have no misgivings, for the
Lord is gracious and beneficent. The table is
rich laden. So begin this week. We have longer
services. As the days are getting longer, our
services will too. Those of you who have not
participated in Lenten services, you can make
up for it with those longer services. You can
be strengthened and your heart will be at peace.
Begin again. God will help. May the Lord be with
each of us and stay with us as we continue on
our Lenten ascent, one step up the ladder at
a time.