LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP SEVEN
Step Seven = Being Realistic about Life
So far, we have examined six rungs: Renunciation, Detachment, Exile, Obedience, Repentance and Remembrance of Death. Now we are ready to look at the seventh: Mourning.
Mourning which is according to God is a melancholy of the soul, a disposition of an anguished heart that passionately seeks what it thirsts for, and when it fails to attain it, pursues it diligently and follows behind it lamenting bitterly…(1)
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
“The word penthos (mourning) has the same root as the word pathos both stem from the verb meaning “I suffer.” . . Joyful sorrow is the transfiguration of suffering and pain by grace. . .Penthos consists in mourning for the loss of God’s presence: it is the sadness and agony of his absence and an unquenched thirst for God. It is mourning, as in hunger, for God and His presence until it is achieved.
This is mourning over loss of fellowship with the Lord. The word for “mourn” is the strongest word in the Greek. At the heart of our mourning, then, is love for God. We weep because we long for God and the love that He alone can provide. It is a forgiving love. A love that forgives once and for all. Yet this longing is our hearts desire for His beautiful presence, and a desire that nothing in any way can cause or make separation from His presence.
The comfort here has to do with forgiveness. God directly comforts His people by forgiving their sin.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Is 40:1-2
PRINCIPLE: Those who mourn sense their personal bankruptcy and utilize God’s forgiveness.
APPLICATION: Spiritual poverty comes from conviction of personal sin. Those who seek close fellowship with the Lord mourn over their sin by seeing sin the way God sees it. They sense their spiritual poverty and unworthiness before God. Note how David viewed his adultery with Bathsheba.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Ps 51:17
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. (Psalm 42)
Do you or have you, while in prayer, or even contemplation, find yourself mourning for more of God? More of His presence? In tears at even the thought of the loss of His presence?
As a step on the Ladder, mourning yields abundant results:
Those who make some progress in blessed mourning are usually temperate and untalkative. Those who have succeeded in making real progress do not become angry and do not bear grudges. As for the perfect – those are humble, they long for dishonor, they look out for involuntary sufferings, they do not condemn sinners and they are inordinately compassionate. (4)
What does St. John of the Ladder mean by mourning, and how can we begin to mourn? Obviously, he means something different from simply mourning over our sin, because he has already listed the step of repentance. To mourn in this context is not to repent, although repentance is part of the mourning process.
To mourn is to embrace a sober view of life which takes into account the reality of human suffering (all a result of sin, which is how repentance and mourning are related), the shortness of human life (which is why remembrance of death leads to mourning), and the exactitude of divine judgment. It is to see ourselves as finite creatures who are caught up in a large web of sickening violence, exploitation, and abuse. It is to see the entirety of humanity as tragically deceived by the devil. It is to weep over the state of mankind and our involvement in and contribution to that tragedy.
To mourn is to echo the words of the Jews living in a foreign land who were asked to sing songs of joy:
That is why David, so I think, although he was a teacher and was wise, replied to those who questioned him when he was mourning: How shall I sing the Lord’s song in a strange (foreign) land… How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth. (Psalm 137:6) That is to say, the land of passions. (24)
To mourn is to abandon a pleasure-oriented way of life. To mourn is to stop living for fun. To mourn is to realize that my life is intertwined with all of humanity, and that I cannot live in isolation from the suffering masses. John’s advice:
Think of lying in bed as an image of the lying in your grave; then you will not sleep so much. When you eat at table, remember the food of worms; then you will not live so highly. When you drink water, remember the thirst of the flames; then you will certainly do violence to your nature… Let the thought of eternal fire lie down with you in the evening and get up with you in the morning. Then indolence(avoiding work, being lazy and idle), will never overwhelm you when it is time to sing the psalms. (18, 21)
St John of the Ladder also tells the story of a solitary named Stephen to remind us of the importance of everything we are talking about. This story, if taken into our souls, will teach us how to mourn:
A man called Stephen once lived here as a solitary. He spent many years in the wrestling-school of monastic life. Tears and fasting adorned his soul, as did many other fine achievements. His cell was on the side of the sacred mountain where the holy prophet and seer of God Elijah once lived. He became famous and later he decided to practice a vastly more effective, ascetic and strict life of penance, and moved on to Siddim, an abode of hermits. He spent several years there and lived very strictly. It was a place lacking every comfort and was rarely visited…
Near the end of his life, the old man returned to the holy mountain (Sinai)… After a few days he was stricken by the illness from which he would eventually die. On the day before his death, he went into ecstasy (a state or feeling of overpowering joy, rapture) and began to look to the right and to the left of his bed. He seemed to be rendering an account to someone, and in the hearing of the bystanders he said: “Of course it is true. That’s why I fasted for so many years.” Or again: “Yes, that is correct, but I wept and served my brothers.” Or again: “No, you are accusing me falsely.” Or sometimes: “Quite right. No, I have no excuse. But God is merciful.”
This unseen and relentless interrogation was a truly awful and frightening spectacle. Worst of all was the fact that he was charged with offenses of which he was innocent, and, what is extraordinary, regarding some of them this hesychast and hermit would say, “I do not know how to answer.” And yet he had been a monk for almost forty years and he had the gift of tears as well… So there he was now, called to account, and he died while it was happening leaving us unsure of the judgment passed on him, of his final end or sentence or of the verdict rendered him…”(50)
If these words do not convict us, then this certainly will:
When we die, we will not be criticized for having failed to work miracles. We will not be accused of having failed to be theologians or contemplatives. But we will certainly have some explanation to offer God for not having mourned unceasingly.
Such then, is the seventh step. May he who has been found worthy of it help me too. He himself has already been helped, for by taking this seventh step he has washed away the stains of the world. (70)
Washed away the stains of this world. What are the stains of this world? It is this step that we find the need for this, to wash away the stains of this world. We need washing of our hearts by His Word. It is the stain of sin that need to be washed away. We just need to allow the washing to be complete, not in part.
So far, we have examined six rungs: Renunciation, Detachment, Exile, Obedience, Repentance and Remembrance of Death. Now we are ready to look at the seventh: Mourning.
Mourning which is according to God is a melancholy of the soul, a disposition of an anguished heart that passionately seeks what it thirsts for, and when it fails to attain it, pursues it diligently and follows behind it lamenting bitterly…(1)
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
“The word penthos (mourning) has the same root as the word pathos both stem from the verb meaning “I suffer.” . . Joyful sorrow is the transfiguration of suffering and pain by grace. . .Penthos consists in mourning for the loss of God’s presence: it is the sadness and agony of his absence and an unquenched thirst for God. It is mourning, as in hunger, for God and His presence until it is achieved.
This is mourning over loss of fellowship with the Lord. The word for “mourn” is the strongest word in the Greek. At the heart of our mourning, then, is love for God. We weep because we long for God and the love that He alone can provide. It is a forgiving love. A love that forgives once and for all. Yet this longing is our hearts desire for His beautiful presence, and a desire that nothing in any way can cause or make separation from His presence.
The comfort here has to do with forgiveness. God directly comforts His people by forgiving their sin.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Is 40:1-2
PRINCIPLE: Those who mourn sense their personal bankruptcy and utilize God’s forgiveness.
APPLICATION: Spiritual poverty comes from conviction of personal sin. Those who seek close fellowship with the Lord mourn over their sin by seeing sin the way God sees it. They sense their spiritual poverty and unworthiness before God. Note how David viewed his adultery with Bathsheba.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Ps 51:17
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. (Psalm 42)
Do you or have you, while in prayer, or even contemplation, find yourself mourning for more of God? More of His presence? In tears at even the thought of the loss of His presence?
As a step on the Ladder, mourning yields abundant results:
Those who make some progress in blessed mourning are usually temperate and untalkative. Those who have succeeded in making real progress do not become angry and do not bear grudges. As for the perfect – those are humble, they long for dishonor, they look out for involuntary sufferings, they do not condemn sinners and they are inordinately compassionate. (4)
What does St. John of the Ladder mean by mourning, and how can we begin to mourn? Obviously, he means something different from simply mourning over our sin, because he has already listed the step of repentance. To mourn in this context is not to repent, although repentance is part of the mourning process.
To mourn is to embrace a sober view of life which takes into account the reality of human suffering (all a result of sin, which is how repentance and mourning are related), the shortness of human life (which is why remembrance of death leads to mourning), and the exactitude of divine judgment. It is to see ourselves as finite creatures who are caught up in a large web of sickening violence, exploitation, and abuse. It is to see the entirety of humanity as tragically deceived by the devil. It is to weep over the state of mankind and our involvement in and contribution to that tragedy.
To mourn is to echo the words of the Jews living in a foreign land who were asked to sing songs of joy:
That is why David, so I think, although he was a teacher and was wise, replied to those who questioned him when he was mourning: How shall I sing the Lord’s song in a strange (foreign) land… How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth. (Psalm 137:6) That is to say, the land of passions. (24)
To mourn is to abandon a pleasure-oriented way of life. To mourn is to stop living for fun. To mourn is to realize that my life is intertwined with all of humanity, and that I cannot live in isolation from the suffering masses. John’s advice:
Think of lying in bed as an image of the lying in your grave; then you will not sleep so much. When you eat at table, remember the food of worms; then you will not live so highly. When you drink water, remember the thirst of the flames; then you will certainly do violence to your nature… Let the thought of eternal fire lie down with you in the evening and get up with you in the morning. Then indolence(avoiding work, being lazy and idle), will never overwhelm you when it is time to sing the psalms. (18, 21)
St John of the Ladder also tells the story of a solitary named Stephen to remind us of the importance of everything we are talking about. This story, if taken into our souls, will teach us how to mourn:
A man called Stephen once lived here as a solitary. He spent many years in the wrestling-school of monastic life. Tears and fasting adorned his soul, as did many other fine achievements. His cell was on the side of the sacred mountain where the holy prophet and seer of God Elijah once lived. He became famous and later he decided to practice a vastly more effective, ascetic and strict life of penance, and moved on to Siddim, an abode of hermits. He spent several years there and lived very strictly. It was a place lacking every comfort and was rarely visited…
Near the end of his life, the old man returned to the holy mountain (Sinai)… After a few days he was stricken by the illness from which he would eventually die. On the day before his death, he went into ecstasy (a state or feeling of overpowering joy, rapture) and began to look to the right and to the left of his bed. He seemed to be rendering an account to someone, and in the hearing of the bystanders he said: “Of course it is true. That’s why I fasted for so many years.” Or again: “Yes, that is correct, but I wept and served my brothers.” Or again: “No, you are accusing me falsely.” Or sometimes: “Quite right. No, I have no excuse. But God is merciful.”
This unseen and relentless interrogation was a truly awful and frightening spectacle. Worst of all was the fact that he was charged with offenses of which he was innocent, and, what is extraordinary, regarding some of them this hesychast and hermit would say, “I do not know how to answer.” And yet he had been a monk for almost forty years and he had the gift of tears as well… So there he was now, called to account, and he died while it was happening leaving us unsure of the judgment passed on him, of his final end or sentence or of the verdict rendered him…”(50)
If these words do not convict us, then this certainly will:
When we die, we will not be criticized for having failed to work miracles. We will not be accused of having failed to be theologians or contemplatives. But we will certainly have some explanation to offer God for not having mourned unceasingly.
Such then, is the seventh step. May he who has been found worthy of it help me too. He himself has already been helped, for by taking this seventh step he has washed away the stains of the world. (70)
Washed away the stains of this world. What are the stains of this world? It is this step that we find the need for this, to wash away the stains of this world. We need washing of our hearts by His Word. It is the stain of sin that need to be washed away. We just need to allow the washing to be complete, not in part.
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