What do you call a priest in charge of the school play?

–What do you call a priest in charge of the school play?
The spiritual director.

This is a joke but in all reality, it is the fourth in our series of articles about spiritual direction.  Spiritual direction is not a laughing matter.  It is serious and this joke reinforces that idea that goes long in the parishes all across the world- the idea that somehow the priest is the spiritual director for his entire flock.

Brothers and sisters, none of this could be further from the truth, the Priests have an important position in the Church.  They have been ordained to do their job, not your job.  We are not protestant and we know we can not safely sit in the back row of the Church and watch others work out their salvation.  We must work out our own salvation.  Our Parish Priest can help us, but we must do it with God’s help. 

Many of the saints had spiritual directors. St. John Climacus said that to some degree we all need the direction of another in the spiritual life:

Those who have surrendered themselves to God deceive themselves if they suppose that they have no need of a director. Those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their guide…[they needed] a helper, an angel, so to speak, or at least one equal to an angel. For in proportion to the corruption of our wounds we need a director who is indeed an expert and a physician.

St. John Climacus

“A servant of the Lord stands bodily before men, but mentally he is knocking at the gates of heaven with prayer.”

 St John Climacus

“When the soul betrays itself and loses the blessed and longed-for fervor, let it carefully investigate the reason for losing it. And let it arm itself with all its longing and zeal against whatever caused this. For the former fervor can return only through the same door through which it was lost.”

--  St. John Climacus

“Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes.”
--  St. John Climacus

“A servant of the Lord stands bodily before men, but mentally he is knocking at the gates of heaven with prayer.”
-- St. John Climacus

“When a man has found the Lord, he no longer has to use words when he is praying, for the Spirit Himself will intercede for him with groans that cannot be uttered.”

St. John Climacus

“Humility is the only virtue that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons.”
St. John Climacus

Who was St. John Climacus?

Of John's literary output we know only the Κλ?μαξ (Latin: Scala Paradisi) or Ladder of Divine Ascent, composed in the early seventh century at the request of John, Abbot of Raithu, a monastery situated on the shores of the Red Sea, and a shorter work To the Pastor (Latin: Liber ad Pastorem), most likely a sort of appendix to the Ladder. It is in the Ladder that we hear of the ascetic practice of carrying a small notebook to record the thoughts of the monk during contemplation.

The Ladder describes how to raise one's soul and body to God through the acquisition of ascetic virtues. Climacus uses the analogy of Jacob's Ladder as the framework for his spiritual teaching. Each chapter is referred to as a "step", and deals with a separate spiritual subject. There are thirty Steps of the ladder, which correspond to the age of Jesus at his baptism and the beginning of his earthly ministry. Within the general framework of a 'ladder', Climacus' book falls into three sections. The first seven Steps concern general virtues necessary for the ascetic life, while the next nineteen (Steps 8–26) give instruction on overcoming vices and building their corresponding virtues. The final four Steps concern the higher virtues toward which the ascetic life aims. The final rung of the ladder—beyond prayer (προσευχ?), stillness (?συχ?α), and even dispassion (?π?θεια)—is love (?γ?πη).

Originally written simply for the monks of a neighboring monastery, the Ladder swiftly became one of the most widely read and much-beloved books of Byzantine spirituality. This book is one of the most widely read among Orthodox Christians, especially during the season of Great Lent which immediately precedes Pascha (Easter). It is often read in the trapeza (refectory) in Orthodox monasteries, and in some places it is read in church as part of the Daily Office on Lenten weekdays, being prescribed in the Triodion.

An icon known by the same title, Ladder of Divine Ascent, depicts a ladder extending from earth to heaven. Several monks are depicted climbing a ladder; at the top is Jesus, prepared to receive them into Heaven. Also shown are angels helping the climbers, and demons attempting to shoot with arrows or drag down the climbers, no matter how high up the ladder they may be. Most versions of the icon show at least one person falling. Often, in the lower right corner John Climacus himself is shown, gesturing towards the ladder, with rows of monastics behind him.

Saint John's feast day is March 30 in both the East and West.

Why Spiritual Direction?

The Holy Spirit gives to a certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith, and discernment for the sake of the common good which is prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer.

According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should ‘take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is, so will be the son.’ And further: ‘In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced… If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to, and he will not even understand them.’

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2690