The title just about says it all, but a little extra general information:
My father is a Russian Orthodox priest, and these are the sermons he gives during Sunday Divine Liturgy.
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent on which we commemorate St. John Climacus and his immortal work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. It is also March 25th on the Julian Calendar, which means it is the Feast of the Annunciation, when we remember how the Archangel Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary with the good news that she would bear the Christ. Orthodox will recall that the Virgin Mary is also compared to a ladder--at Great Vespers on the eves of her feasts we read the passage from Genesis about Jacob's dream of a ladder reaching to heaven on which the angels of God ascended and descended. This, the Church teaches, was a foreshadowing of Mary, who became the ladder on which Christ descended from heaven to earth, being formed into the New Adam in the Paradise of her womb. Indeed, we in the Book of Wisdom, it says that Christ leaped down this ladder from heaven to earth.
"For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne..." (Wisdom 18:14-15)
I do not at all mean to discount St. John and his sublime teaching on the Ladder of Divine Ascent. But, I must confess, that I have trouble ascending even the first step: the renunciation of the world. His ladder appears so steep and heaven unattainable by its means--at least for me. I am so prone to fall; surely I will be one of those who falls off and gets swallowed alive by hell. So I must seek an easier way, if such can be found. Alas, there is such a way---the ladder of Mary! And it has not 30 steps, but only one and it takes us directly to heaven...
When Mary uttered those few words, "Be it unto me according to thy word. " (Luke 1:38) like lightning Christ descended into her womb as the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her and there was formed in her that 'holy thing' which would be called the Son of God. Some call it her Fiat...just as in the beginning God said "Let there be light", so Mary said, "Let it be unto me" and the true Light entered into the world. Heaven came down, and glory filled her soul! And that's how it will be with us if we use Mary's ladder. We won't have to climb to reach Christ. Christ himself will descend that ladder into our souls and establish his kingdom there.
But note that it was when Jacob was in the stillness of sleep that he saw the vision of the ladder reaching to heaven which signifies the Theotokos. Likewise, the Book of Wisdom tells us that it was when "gentle silence had enveloped all things" that the Word of God leaped down from heaven into Mary's womb. It was Mary's "gentle silence"-- her stillness--her passiveness--her receptiveness to God's will that drew the Lord down from heaven. That is the rub when it comes to our harried, busied lives. God will not enter into chaos and confusion. Not that he doesn't want to, but he simply can't coexist with that which is contrary to his nature. So we must learn to cultivate stillness. Be still, and know that I am God. We must renounce this world and all its temptations and distractions Say again? Renounce the world? Alas, now we're back to step one of St. John's Ladder! But we needn't despair. We're not all called to be monastics. We just need to follow Mary's example, and in gentle silence say with her, "Be it unto me according to thy word".
Hail, O Celestial Ladder, by whom God came down! Hail, O Bridge leading earthly ones to heaven! —Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos
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