STEPS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 14^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Steps.”

FIRST READING

In today’s first reading from Genesis 28: 10-22a,  there is mention of a stairway to heaven. It’s also called Jacob’s Ladder.

In a dream Jacob sees a stairway that rests on the ground - and its top reaches to the heavens. He sees God’s messengers going up and down on that staircase.

METAPHOR OR IMAGE

In various religions and philosophies - the ladder or steps or a staircase has often been a metaphor of growth - a step at a time.

We've all heard teachers, coaches, parents, urge us to be better, climb higher. We've all heard the cry, "Excelsior!" I love it that it means, "Excell!" - but it also means wood shavings that served as stuffing for matresses. To me the laugh is, when striving for greatness, be aware of being humble and not being inflated while climbing the top step to receive the first prize for winning it all.

Jesus put it this way, "The first shall be last!" 

When his disciples wanted to be on his right and left in the kingdom, Jesus warned them about wanting to be great. Rather strive to serve others. [Cf. Matthew 20:21-28.]

So steps and striving for holiness is great - but sometimes the silent secret is to step down or into the background.

I have a collection of these various steps in my work in teaching spirituality.

CLASSIC 3 STEPS: PURGATIVE, ILLUMINATIVE, UNITIVE WAY

The class 3 steps are the so called: Purgative, Illuminative and Unitive way.

We clean out the room. We fill it with food. We invite God or others in for communion.  The first step in growth is cleansing ourselves of sin or bad habits. The second step is taking on the positive after cleansing ourselves of the negatives and then comes the third step: union with God. [1]

JOHN CLIMACUS - 30 RUNG LADDER

In Eastern Orthodox Spirituality one finds the famous John Climacus and The Ladder of Divine Ascent. John Climacus was a 7^th Century Christian monk on Mount Sinai.

It has 30 steps. The first 7 steps present 7 general virtues to climb for a richer ascetic or spiritual life. The next 19 steps deal with overcoming vices and the corresponding virtues to acquire. The next 4 are the higher virtues that help us reach the top. The top rung - Love - Agape - is beyond prayer and stillness and apathy. 

Check it out on Google and look at the pictures of angels helping people to climb that ladder and demons shooting arrows and trying to pull people off the ladder. [2]

GUIGO II - THE LADDER TO PARADISE - 4 RUNGS

Check out Guigo II, a Carthusian monk - who died either 1188 or 1193  - who wrote about the 4 step method of prayer - that has been taught in many retreat houses and conferences on prayer. He called it The Ladder to Paradise [Scala Paradiso or Scala Claustralium].  Guigo II starts with Jacob’s ladder in today’s first reading and says this is a good way to pray:

·       Lectio - Read the sacred scripture

·       Meditatio - Think about what you read

·       Oratio - Pray, talk to God about what you’re thinking - what hits you.

·       Contemplatio - Become quiet, let it sink in, deepen. [3]

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Many people have heard about the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. [4]

I remember someone talking about the 12 steps that led up to Dr. Bob’s house in  Akron Ohio. It’s true but I don’t know if they were in the original house.

Since the number 12 is key to the program, there are 12 steps leading to the front door of Dr. Bob’s home.

I did find the following in some notes about Dr. Bob’s house on 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron, Ohio. “The original house had 11 corner slats in the floor of the dining room and 13 in the living room and now there are 12 in both rooms …. This change was made as a labor of love by another one of the volunteers at the home.”

Here are the 12 Steps. They are also used for other addictions, food, drugs, sex, etc.

1.    We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.    Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3.    Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4.    Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5.    Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6.    Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7.    Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8.    Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.    Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10.          Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11.          Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12.          Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

THE 8 SECRETS OF HAPPINESS

I’ve been working on a book entitled, “The 8 Secrets of Happiness.”

I’ll get it done some day. I put a lot of work into it already, but I’m not rushing - because I have other books in progress and there are already many books on happiness.

CONCLUSION

The idea behind the image or metaphor of steps or ladders is to get higher, better. 

When I was doing a lot of work in spirituality I noticed that the key noun after the verb, "is" is "way" - as in road, path, steps, climb, movement...."  As in Spirituality is a way to ...."

Robert Frost features the word "road" - as in "The Road Less Traveled [Cf. M. Scott Peck's, best seller The Road Less Travelled" - or Two roads diverged in a yellow wood."

Taoism - pronounced in English "dowism" - has at its root the word "tao" meaning way.

Buddhism talks about the 8 fold path.

Today I'm stressing the image of steps.

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NOTES: Drawing on top by Escher

[1] Cf. Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill; The Varieties of Religious Experience

[2] John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine  Ascent (The Classics of Western Spirituality) Translator: Norman Russell

[3] The Three Ages of the Interior Life - Reginald Garrigou Lagrange, Chapter 15


[4] Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book, 4th Edition