March 30 Saint John Climacus & other Saints of the Day. by irapuato on 30.3.2015. Abbot (525-605) Saint John, whose national origin remains unknown, was called Climacus because of a treatise he wrote …More
March 30 Saint John Climacus & other Saints of the Day.
by irapuato on 30.3.2015. Abbot (525-605) Saint John, whose national origin remains unknown, was called Climacus because of a treatise he wrote called The Ladder (Climax) of Paradise. He made such progress in learning as a disciple of Saint Gregory Nazianzen that while still young, he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mount Sinai, where he was placed under the direction of a holy monk named Martyrius. Once that religious journeyed to Antioch and took the young John with him; they visited Saint Anastasius, a future Patriarch of Antioch, and the Saint asked Martyrius who it was who had given the habit to this novice? Hearing that it was Martyrius himself, he replied, And who would have said that you gave the habit to an Abbot of Mount Sinai? Another religious, a solitary, made the same prediction on a similar visit, and washed the feet of the one who would some day be Abbot of Mount Sinai.
Never was there a novice more fervent, more unrelenting in his efforts for self-mastery. On the death of his director, when John was about thirty-five years old, he withdrew into a deeper solitude, where he studied the lives and writings of the Saints and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. There he remained for forty years, making, however, a visit to the solitaries of Egypt for his instruction and inspiration. The fame of his holiness and practical wisdom drew crowds around him for advice and consolation.
In the year 600, when he had reached the age of seventy-five, he was chosen as Abbot of Mount Sinai by a unanimous vote of the Sinai religious, who said they had placed the light upon its lampstand. On the day of his installation, six hundred pilgrims came to Saint Catherine's Monastery, and he performed all the offices of an excellent hotel-master; but at the hour of dinner, he could not be found to share the meal with them. For four years, said his biographer, a monk of the monastery of Raithe, he dwelt on the mountain of God, and drew from the splendid treasure of his heart priceless riches of doctrine which he poured forth with wondrous abundance and benediction. He was induced by a brother abbot to write the rules by which he had guided his life; and the book which he had already begun, The Ladder, detailing thirty degrees of advancement in the pursuit of perfection, has been prized in all ages for its wisdom, clearness, and unction.
At the end of that time, he retired again to his solitude, where he died the following year, as he had foretold.
Reflection. Cast not from thee, my brother, says the Imitation of Christ, the assured hope of attaining to the spiritual life; thou hast still the time and the means.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4
Amadeus of Savoy
Clinius of Pontecorvo
Cronan Mochua
Fergus of Downpatrick
Irene of Rome
Joachim of Fiore
John Climacus
Julio Álvarez Mendoza
Leonard Murialdo
Ludovico of Casoria
Mamertinus of Auxerre
Maria Restituta Kafka
Osburga of Coventry
Pastor of Orléans
Patto of Werden
Quirinus the Jailer
Regulus of Scotland
Regulus of Senlis
Tola
Zozimus of Syracuse
—
Martyrs of Constantinople
Martyrs of Thessalonica - 5 saints
—
Antonio Daveluy
Donino of Thessalonica
Joseph Chang Chu-gi
Luca Hwang Sok-tu
Luca Martino Huin
Peter Aumaître
Secondo of Asti
Thomas Son Cha-am
catholicsaints.info/30-march/
by irapuato on 30.3.2015. Abbot (525-605) Saint John, whose national origin remains unknown, was called Climacus because of a treatise he wrote called The Ladder (Climax) of Paradise. He made such progress in learning as a disciple of Saint Gregory Nazianzen that while still young, he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mount Sinai, where he was placed under the direction of a holy monk named Martyrius. Once that religious journeyed to Antioch and took the young John with him; they visited Saint Anastasius, a future Patriarch of Antioch, and the Saint asked Martyrius who it was who had given the habit to this novice? Hearing that it was Martyrius himself, he replied, And who would have said that you gave the habit to an Abbot of Mount Sinai? Another religious, a solitary, made the same prediction on a similar visit, and washed the feet of the one who would some day be Abbot of Mount Sinai.
Never was there a novice more fervent, more unrelenting in his efforts for self-mastery. On the death of his director, when John was about thirty-five years old, he withdrew into a deeper solitude, where he studied the lives and writings of the Saints and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. There he remained for forty years, making, however, a visit to the solitaries of Egypt for his instruction and inspiration. The fame of his holiness and practical wisdom drew crowds around him for advice and consolation.
In the year 600, when he had reached the age of seventy-five, he was chosen as Abbot of Mount Sinai by a unanimous vote of the Sinai religious, who said they had placed the light upon its lampstand. On the day of his installation, six hundred pilgrims came to Saint Catherine's Monastery, and he performed all the offices of an excellent hotel-master; but at the hour of dinner, he could not be found to share the meal with them. For four years, said his biographer, a monk of the monastery of Raithe, he dwelt on the mountain of God, and drew from the splendid treasure of his heart priceless riches of doctrine which he poured forth with wondrous abundance and benediction. He was induced by a brother abbot to write the rules by which he had guided his life; and the book which he had already begun, The Ladder, detailing thirty degrees of advancement in the pursuit of perfection, has been prized in all ages for its wisdom, clearness, and unction.
At the end of that time, he retired again to his solitude, where he died the following year, as he had foretold.
Reflection. Cast not from thee, my brother, says the Imitation of Christ, the assured hope of attaining to the spiritual life; thou hast still the time and the means.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4
Amadeus of Savoy
Clinius of Pontecorvo
Cronan Mochua
Fergus of Downpatrick
Irene of Rome
Joachim of Fiore
John Climacus
Julio Álvarez Mendoza
Leonard Murialdo
Ludovico of Casoria
Mamertinus of Auxerre
Maria Restituta Kafka
Osburga of Coventry
Pastor of Orléans
Patto of Werden
Quirinus the Jailer
Regulus of Scotland
Regulus of Senlis
Tola
Zozimus of Syracuse
—
Martyrs of Constantinople
Martyrs of Thessalonica - 5 saints
—
Antonio Daveluy
Donino of Thessalonica
Joseph Chang Chu-gi
Luca Hwang Sok-tu
Luca Martino Huin
Peter Aumaître
Secondo of Asti
Thomas Son Cha-am
catholicsaints.info/30-march/
3 more comments from Irapuato
Monday of Holy Week
Book of Isaiah 42:1-7.
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands …More
Book of Isaiah 42:1-7.
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Psalms 27(26):1.2.3.13-14.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 12:1-11.
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said,
Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?
He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
(The) large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.
Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
"You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me"
dailygospel.org/main.php
St. John Climacus - The Rungs of His Ladder of Divine Ascent
Step 1. On renunciation of the world
Step 2. On detachment
Step 3. On exile or pilgrimage
Step 4. On blessed and ever-memorable obedience
Step 5. On painstaking and true repentance
Step 6. On remembrance of death
Step 7. On joy-making mourning
Step 8. On freedom from anger and on meekness
Step 9. On remembrance of wrongs
Step 10. On …More
Step 1. On renunciation of the world
Step 2. On detachment
Step 3. On exile or pilgrimage
Step 4. On blessed and ever-memorable obedience
Step 5. On painstaking and true repentance
Step 6. On remembrance of death
Step 7. On joy-making mourning
Step 8. On freedom from anger and on meekness
Step 9. On remembrance of wrongs
Step 10. On slander or calumny
Step 11. On talkativeness and silence
Step 12. On lying
Step 13. On despondency
Step 14. On that clamorous mistress, the stomach
Step 15. On incorruptible purity and chastity
Step 16. On love or money, or avarice
Step 17. On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards)
Step 18. On insensibility
Step 19. On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood
Step 20. On bodily vigil and how to use it to obtain spiritual vigil.
Step 21. On unmanly and puerile cowardice
Step 22. On the many forms of vainglory
Step 23. On mad pride and unclean blasphemous thoughts
Step 24. On meekness, simplicity and guilelessness
Step 25. On the destroyer of passions, most sublime humility
Step 26. On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues
Step 27. On holy stillness of body and soul
Step 28. On holy and blessed prayer
Step 29. Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection
Step 30. Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues
www.antiochian.org/node/17474
Saints of the Day:
Amadeus of Savoy
Clinius of Pontecorvo
Cronan Mochua
Fergus of Downpatrick
Irene of Rome
Joachim of Fiore
John Climacus
Julio Álvarez Mendoza
Leonard Murialdo
Ludovico of Casoria
Mamertinus of Auxerre
Maria Restituta Kafka
Osburga of Coventry
Pastor of Orléans
Patto of Werden
Quirinus the Jailer
Regulus of Scotland
Regulus of Senlis
Tola
Zozimus of Syracuse
—
Martyrs of …More
Amadeus of Savoy
Clinius of Pontecorvo
Cronan Mochua
Fergus of Downpatrick
Irene of Rome
Joachim of Fiore
John Climacus
Julio Álvarez Mendoza
Leonard Murialdo
Ludovico of Casoria
Mamertinus of Auxerre
Maria Restituta Kafka
Osburga of Coventry
Pastor of Orléans
Patto of Werden
Quirinus the Jailer
Regulus of Scotland
Regulus of Senlis
Tola
Zozimus of Syracuse
—
Martyrs of Constantinople
Martyrs of Thessalonica - 5 saints
—
Antonio Daveluy
Donino of Thessalonica
Joseph Chang Chu-gi
Luca Hwang Sok-tu
Luca Martino Huin
Peter Aumaître
Secondo of Asti
Thomas Son Cha-am
catholicsaints.info/30-march/