Haunted by John Climacus' Prison

"On arriving at this place of penitents, the dwelling of grievers, I observed (if I am not too forward to say) that which the eye of most carefree people have never seen, and what the ear of lazy, amenable people has never heard, and what has not come to mind of the meek. It was to see such actions and to hear such speech as would lend God to pity, such deeds and motions as would readily bring His love for mankind." (Climacus, John. The Ladder of Divine Ascent (p. 32). Kindle Edition.)

In reading The Ladder of Divine Ascent, the most heart-wrenching and confounding passage for me describes the visit of Climacus to a monastery renowned for its place of penance referred to as "The Prison". What the penitents who placed themselves in this dwelling of grievers took upon themselves to suffer in expiation for their sins is beyond most folk. In our common history of the Sacrament of Penance we are usually given to understand that auricular confession, brought to continental Europe by the Irish monk missionaries, offered a whole new way to accommodate the vast majority of penitents, who could not be really classed as public sinners. "The Prison" does not speak first and foremost to mere externals. It speaks to the living and sincere penitential practice handed down from the Apostles and at least practiced by the desert fathers. It is not a holdover from an imagined "before" the arrival of these prudent Irish confessors, but speaks with confounding eloquence to the anguish of heart of those who recognize the gravity of their offenses against our loving Lord.

Living amidst diplomats in a very international circle, ambassador friends ask about the observance of Lent by Catholics wanting to know how it is different from Ramadan, or they ask why Orthodox Christians would also abstain from eggs and dairy during Lent. In comparisons, not only does the post-Conciliar Church come off wimpy in its rules for fasting and abstinence, but the "Climacan" anguish of heart seems nowhere to be found. That haunts me perhaps as much as the vision of "The Prison" in his book.

My prayer for myself and for fellow Catholics, overtaken as we have been by Holy Week again, is that we might be graced with a "Climacan" heart. May we find and abundance of anguished tears in the shadow of His Cross!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI