{"id":142787,"date":"2026-03-30T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142787"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:44:52","slug":"st-john-climacus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-john-climacus\/","title":{"rendered":"St John Climacus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dear Clive,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have told you before that you will get yourself into trouble and waste precious time if you try to pursue holiness guided only by your own judgment. \u00a0The old saying that \u201cno one is a good judge in his own case\u201d has been verified too many times already; we don\u2019t need you to prove it yet again. All you need to do is find someone who loves and is obedient to the Church, and who is a little more experienced than you in the spiritual life. \u00a0All the saints had spiritual directors of some kind or another \u2013 God likes to work in our souls through human means; it helps keep our pride in check. Today\u2019s saint is a perfect example. <\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his later years, John himself was a much sought after spiritual director, even though he lived in a hermitage on the top of Mt Sinai in Palestine (they made him descend to become Abbot for a few years, but he soon connived his retirement and returned to his solitude). \u00a0He guided countless souls on their path to union with God, and composed the revered spiritual manual \u201cThe Ladder to Paradise\u201d (whence his name \u2013 \u201cladder\u201d is \u201cklimax\u201d in Greek). But he started out his Christian discipleship just like you \u2013 ignorant and imprudent. And what was his first move? \u00a0To find a good spiritual director. Thus began the discovery of his vocation and his advance to heroic sanctity, which yielded abundant fruit for many years after his own death. He put it beautifully when he described the benefits he received from his spiritual director: \u201cUnder the direction of a prudent guide, I succeeded in shunning rocks that I could not have escaped if I had presumed to steer alone.\u201d \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, my precocious nephew, be humble, don\u2019t go it alone, and become a saint.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your concerned uncle, Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Clive, I have told you before that you will get yourself into trouble and waste precious time if you try to pursue holiness guided only by your own judgment. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>St John Climacus - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-john-climacus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St John Climacus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Clive, I have told you before that you will get yourself into trouble and waste precious time if you try to pursue holiness guided only by your own judgment. 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