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Soul Provider: Spiritual Steps to Limitless Love - Hardcover

Beck, Edward L.

 
9780385515528: Soul Provider: Spiritual Steps to Limitless Love
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0385515529 ISBN 13: 9780385515528
Verlag: Crown Pub, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

This contemporary look at the seventh-century classic The Ladder of Divine Ascent brilliantly illuminates the enduring relevance of centuries-old spiritual concepts.

In The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John Climacus described the thirty steps all seekers must take on the path to spiritual fulfillment. In Soul Provider, Edward L. Beck brings a fresh, modern sensibility to this classic work of Christian literature and its ideas, explaining how they relate to our lives today.

Using real-life stories and experiences and incorporating all of the major religious traditions, Beck shows how the thirty steps lead to a deeper understanding of the ideas that guide our journeys, provide for our souls, and draw us closer to God. Beginning each chapter with an illustrative anecdote, Beck explains the significance of each of the steps, discussing its importance in Christian tradition and offering thoughtful, inspiring ways to incorporate it into present-day spiritual journeys.

Soul Provider explores the connections between “old” spiritual notions and spirituality as it is practiced and expressed in modern culture. As Beck deftly weaves the past and the present, he reveals the true path to the limitless love we all desire.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

EDWARD L. BECK, C.P., is a Roman Catholic priest of the Passionist Community. In addition to giving retreats and workshops on spirituality nationally and internationally, Father Beck writes and develops mainstream television and film projects. He lives in New York City. His website is www.EdwardLBeck.com.

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Before the Climb


By the time we were on our way to the Sinai desert, I was weary of archeological ruins and artifacts. As part of a study program I had spent two months in Israel looking at old buildings and contemplating their historical significance. The expanse and desolation of the Sinai desert were a welcomed relief. As we camped out under a night sky that glowed like trillions of crushed diamonds, the psalmist’s words resonated: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place—What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4-5)

Although I was more enraptured by the stark beauty of the sky and the luminous granite rock than I had been by the ancient buildings, we had one more edifice to visit. We were making a pilgrimage to Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, the oldest monastery in the world. It had been constructed by order of Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565 CE at the foot of Mount Moses, where the great prophet had received the Ten Commandments and an epiphany of God in the Burning Bush.

We arrived in late morning with the sun already high in the sky, beating down on the imposing granite walls surrounding the monastery, which looked like a burnished fortress at the foot of the parched mountain. Some gardens and orchards outside the walls extended like a long triangle into the desert and created a startling oasis amid the rock.

When we entered the gates a minicity of buildings awaited us: churches, chapels, monks’ cells, a library, icon gallery, and even a mosque (supposedly built around the tenth century to appease the early Arabic rulers of Egypt and the local Muslims who served the monks). I soon discovered that the monastery has one of the largest collections of ancient illuminated manuscripts in the world, as well as one of the most impressive collections of icons, numbering over two thousand. It was the icons that left a lasting impression.

Although not well versed in the spirituality of icons, I had always liked the art form. The exaggerated stylistic depictions seemed more appropriate than realistic ones for images that cannot, and perhaps should not, be captured in their totality. The icon leads one to contemplate that which it symbolizes. The Christian Orthodox traditions venerated and worshipped icons, believing that the honor paid to the image passes to the prototype. At the monastery this reverence for the icons was on full display, as monks bowed before the sacred images and as countless candles illumined their shiny gold–leaf and subtle colors.

One icon stood out from the rest for me. I had seen reproductions of it, but apparently this was the original. It represented a ladder positioned vertically at a forty–five–degree angle, reaching up to the sky. Numerous men, presumably monks, were ascending the many rungs of this ladder to heaven. At the top a celestial welcoming committee was headed by Jesus Christ, who had his hand extended to the arriving monks. But farther down the ladder, black–winged demons appeared to be picking off some monks on the rungs with sticks and weapons resembling bows and arrows. It was an arresting image, leading me to speculate as to why some of the monks were falling prey to the demonic nymph–like figures.

I stood in front of the icon for a long time, unsure why I was so captivated by it. I assumed that the icon was based on the biblical text of Jacob’s Ladder from the book of Genesis:


Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants."
(Genesis 28:10-13, RSV)


A guide informed me that the icon was from the twelfth century and was inspired by a classic work by a monk, Saint John Climacus, who had actually lived at Saint Catherine’s Monastery. Born around 525, Climacus had come to the desert at age sixteen to be a monk at Mount Sinai and had lived in various hermitages. When he was about seventy–five years old, after forty years of living in one hermitage, Climacus was chosen to be the abbot of Mount Sinai at Saint Catherine’s Monastery. Having been entrusted with the pastoral care of the monastery, Climacus was advised by a fellow monk to write a discourse that would help those in his charge to reach spiritual perfection. Climacus, known to be a holy monk who had achieved a high level of spiritual acuity, was considered to be someone who could impart spiritual wisdom and advice through such a written manual. During his four years as abbot, he wrote his classic work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

While I vaguely remembered having heard about the work when studying theology in graduate school, it wasn't until I returned to the United States some months later, that finally I read John Climacus’s Ladder of Divine Ascent.

Though I was not initially enamored with the antiquated language or with some of the dualistic notions Climacus seems to espouse, the general themes captivated me and glistened with relevancy. The timelessness of the topics was uncanny—perhaps the best litmus test for a spiritual classic—prompting me to wonder how a seventh-century text written for desert monks could retain its relevancy through these many centuries.

Some years later a thirty–day retreat that I had planned gave me the opportunity to test the efficacy of my arcane spiritual guide. I decided that John Climacus and the thirty steps to spiritual fulfillment that he proposes in The Ladder of Divine Ascent would form the structure for my retreat. His book and my Bible would be my only companions on my sacred journey. I set out not sure what to expect and not even confident that the climb would be one worth taking.

The experience surpassed all of my expectations. Meditating on one of the thirty steps each day of my retreat was one of the most formative spiritual experiences I have ever had. Each step seemed to take me deeper into the reality of Spirit with which I so wanted to communicate. I was encouraged to face my vices and demons, assured that they didn't have the power to overcome me, and then to move on. With the virtues and limitless love at the top of the ladder beckoning me forward, by the end of my thirty–day climb, I had changed. And I knew it. The following pages bear testimony to that.

The structure of this book is straightforward, based on the thirty steps that are visually represented by the rungs of the famous ladder. Climacus chose thirty steps to represent the thirty years in Christ’s life before he begins his active ministry. (In Christian literature those years often are referred to as the hidden years, while the last three years of Jesus' life in ministry are the active years.) Of Climacus’s thirty steps, sixteen are vices to overcome and fourteen are virtues to acquire—a clear–cut structure for a book on spiritual mastery.

The following pages demonstrate the continued relevancy of Climacus’s steps. Most are perennial virtues and vices that have also been considered elsewhere in spiritual literature. They have endured because they hold universal truths that can lead to transformative insights. Perhaps that is why The Ladder of Divine Ascent is...

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Verlag
Crown Pub
Erscheinungsdatum
2007
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0385515529
ISBN 13 
9780385515528
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
287
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