Saturday, March 26 : Saint John Climacus

If we feel urged to please the heavenly King, let us strive to only taste the glory on high. In fact, anyone who has tasted it will despise any earthly glory. But I could not be surprised that someone would despise this latter if he has not tasted the former. Whoever asks God for gifts as a reward for his efforts has set himself on shaky foundations. Whoever views himself as a debtor will suddenly receive an unexpected reward. (…) It is a glory coming from the Lord: in effect he has said: “Those who glorify me, I will glorify.” (1 Sam 2:30). And there is the man who draws from the artifices of the devil, for it is said: “Woe to you when all the world speaks well of you” (Lk 6:26). You will clearly recognize the first by the fact that, considering it to be a disaster, he pushes himself forward by every means and, wherever he goes, he hides his way of life; and secondly, by the fact that he does even the smallest things to be seen by men (cf. Mt 6:1). Impure vainglory suggest that we should feign the virtue we do not have, saying to ourselves: “That thus your light is shining in the sight of men so that they may see your good works” (Mt 5:16). (…) When our flatterers, or rather our seducers, begin to praise us, we should briefly turn our minds to remember the multitude of our sins, and we will indignantly turn away what is being said or done in our honor. (…) Simple men are not often contaminated by the poison of vainglory because the latter is the rejection of simplicity and the hypocrisy of our conduct.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team