Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,
On the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the Church commemorates St. John Climacus — an ascetic who left us a spiritual teaching proven by his life.
He described the path to God as a ladder — a gradual ascent of the soul. Not through one effort or one decision, but through many small steps, through labor, through falling and rising again.
By this point in Great Lent, we begin to understand that fasting is not just an external rule. It is an inner work. And it often turns out to be much more difficult than we expected at the beginning.
St. John helps us see something essential: the spiritual life is a process. A person does not change all at once. The heart is not purified instantly. But it can be gradually healed by the grace of God.
He teaches that every step matters. Every effort. Every small overcoming of oneself. Even if we fall again, it is not the end of the journey. What matters is that we do not stop and do not lose hope.
At the foundation of this path lies humility — not weakness, but honesty before God: to see ourselves as we truly are, and still continue toward Him, without excuses, but also without despair.
Great Lent is precisely a time for this kind of ascent — not outward, but inward. We learn to pray more attentively, to live more soberly, to treat others more gently. And through this, the grace of God gradually begins to act in us.
St. John reminds us that the goal of the Fast is not simply to change our behavior, but the transformation of the heart. And this transformation does not happen by our strength alone, but with the help of God, who works in us if we do not turn away.
May this week help us continue the journey calmly — without comparing ourselves to others, without demanding the impossible from ourselves, but remaining faithful in small things, day by day.
And may the Lord strengthen us, so that, as we ascend our own ladder, we may come ever closer to Him.
