St. John Climacus felt that the very first rung on the Ladder of Ascent is probably one of the more difficult rungs. John sees the first step as renunciation of this world and things of this world. He says that every Christian is called to a life of renunciation. He bases his thoughts on a passage in the Gospel of Luke which says: If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. This passage then also adds: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it (Luke 9:23-24).

Why is renunciation an important first step? Think about it. God’s kingdom is not of this world because it espouses all of the values that this world seems to reject. For example, our modern world prizes individualism and tells us that we have to look out for Number One. Our society also sees success as amassing great wealth and having things which, of course, we can’t take with us when we die. Our society fosters hatred for those perceived as our enemies and promotes the idea of doing unto others as they would do unto us, a true inversion of the Jesus teaching. In a very subtle way our society seduces us into thinking that this earthly life is really all that there is and that we must do everything in our power to hang onto it.

What is interesting to think about is that our American society was built on the Christian idea that we are one nation under God. In this day and age this is becoming harder and harder to believe.

When St. John points out that renunciation is the beginning point of our spiritual journey, it is very evident that he means that we must reject the things of this world that are, in any way, opposed to Christ and to our salvation. It means rejecting the pursuit of wealth, vanity, pride and inordinate   and inappropriate carnal pleasure.

I shall continue, in the next issue, more thoughts on renunciation.