Meditation 39
The Ladder of Eternal Life
As was stated above
(Med. 36) the dark red hue of the
sardius refers to the passion of our
Lord on the Sacrificial Hill of the Cross when He merited an eternal
life for the children of the light, all those who confess His Holy Name
in truth and He is the “Truth, Way and Life” (Jn 14. 7). The bronze
laver is thus inseparable from the virtue of the remembrance of death,just as the altar of burnt offerings proclaims the virtue of the
remembrance of God. In all the writings of the saints of the Western
and Eastern Church the virtue of the remembrance of death is highly
praised as an inseparable part of the Royal Way to Eternal Glory. At
the laver the soul dies from her sensuous disposition by turning her
eyes inwardly in the prayer of inner recollection and by the
efficacious purification of the pure water contained in the laver she
begins gradually to discern the real presence of her Royal Archetype in
pure faith in her heart.
Once the Holy Spirit was so gracious to reveal to me how this purification actually takes place. Two of the dignities of the Choir of the Virtues lifted this laver of blessing up and said,
This is indeed what takes place here at the bronze laver in the mystery of the invisible and spiritual world. That is why the enemies of our salvation – Satan and his demonic legions – try everything in their power in order to hinder the soul to approach this holy tool because its efficacious purification enkindles the growth of the virtues so the soul can rise up like an eagle in the live of grace. The virtues becomes thus rims in the heavenly ladder to eternal life in the Celestial City: the new Jerusalem. This mystery reveals the sustaining grace concealed in the twelve jewels and foundation stones of the heavenly Jerusalem as exposed on Fig. 39 above: they are indeed the Jacob's ladder of the soul to heaven. This ladder the soul finds in her own heart after her purification in the salvatic water of the bronze laver,
Or by the words of King of all Life, “For look, the kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17. 21). There we also discern hell and purgatory, the “toll houses” of the ancient Greek fathers when our spiritual eyes or spiritual perception has been cured, “See to it then that the light inside you is not darkness” (Lk 11. 35). The prince of the angels of darkness disguises himself as light in order to deceive souls on their ways through the toll houses, souls who have repudiated the holy apostolic tradition of the Church and the fathers. Saint Paul warned thus against counterfeit apostles,
When Pius XII declared the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin as an article of faith in the papal bull Munificentissimus Deus November 1st, 1950 he was emphasizing God's intentional plan for humanity, a living truth in the tradition of the Church which Theophilus of Antioch stated clearly already in the second century. This intentional plan of God was that humanity as his creation should progress toward Him and be taken into heaven, what Christ really proclaimed by His own ascension to heaven destined for all redeemed souls,
According to the apostolic tradition this mystery of grace takes place in all human beings who open their hearts to the light of truth, because the King of Life leads all who willingly receive the fruits of His atonement to His heavenly Father in glory, or by the words of Cyprian of Carthage, “We will be what Christ is, christs, if we make Him our pattern.” [2] The Blessed Virgin was such a christ in the purity of her heart and that is why the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is so precious to Christ's Church because in her role as Hodigitria she always stakes out the right way ahead of us in the live of grace.
In accordance with the apostolic tradition as exposed on the Icon of the Dormition the Blessed Virgin pleaded her Son to spare her the sad experience of the toll houses as she had already went through these trials on earth and thus she was “taken up.” We find two other examples of such assumption in the Old Covenant, “Enoch walked with God, then was no more, because God took him” (Gn 5. 34). God carried him off just as He took Elijah the prophet on “a chariot of fire” (2 K 2. 9-13). In the New Testament the Blessed Virgin was the forerunner of numerous among the saints in her assumption to eternal life in heaven. In the Old Covenant every Israelite had to pay a poll tax, a half a shekel of silver for his life,
From this fact the holy fathers derived their doctrine on the “toll houses” and referred frequently to these dreary places in their works. The toll houses or the poll tax stations are an admonition to souls that confessed their believe in Christ on earth, but did not follow in His footsteps and did not take up their cross: were just nominal Christians. Such souls fail in their calling on earth not confirming their faith with good works, do not show that the work of the Law of the Spirit (Rm 8. 2) was written in their hearts. Such souls run rather after their own will than the will of God and give no heed to their conscience testifying with them or accusing them and find always excuses for their conducts (see Rm 2. 15).
The poll tax stations or toll houses were widely used in the teaching of the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, exactly at the time when nominal Christians became problematic after Christianity was legalized as the official faith of the Roman Empire. As takes always place in times of need the Church emphasized thus this mystery of the faith as a warning to such souls or as metropolitan Macarius of Moscow said,
The references to this dreary places were as common among the fathers of the Western Church, in spite of the fact that they used not the word “toll houses” explicitly, and in the Our Father our Lord thought us to say, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Nothing is obscure in God's ordinance which He has revealed in the Church through the Holy Spirit. Souls enchanted by pride and presumptuousness on earth will be enchanted by the demonic legion of pride in the appropriate poll tax station and are thus unable to pay the double toll of love. Whore mongers and sexual abusers and sodomites will be as enchanted by the demonic legion of lust exposing for them beautiful naked girls or boys as they were on earth. The greediness after wealth and power will enchant its adorers in the snares of the demonic legion of glowing gold as on earth. And thus we can go on at length,
Let us give heed to the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria, “O soul, in the day of death! You will see frightful, wild, cruel, unmerciful and shameful demons, like dark Ethiopians . . . The holy angels holds the soul; passing with them through the air and rising, it encounters the toll houses which guard the path from earth to heaven, detaining the soul and hindering it from ascending further. Each toll house tests the sins corresponding to it; each sin, each passion has its tax collector and tester.” [6] And St. John Chrysostom was as explicit regarding this truth, “If when traveling in a foreign land or a strange city we are in need of guide, how much more necessary for us are guides and helpers to guide us past the invisible dignities and power and world rulers of this air, who are called persecutors and publicans and tax collectors.” [7]
How is this truth revealed by the holy images of the Bible as instrumental signs in the ascend of the soul after death? As exposed by the impediments of the common and Royal Priesthood of the New Covenant. The nine jewels of human sanctification are as love letters from God – a token of His love – and actually a Ladder of Love in the ascension of the soul to Him on the wings of divine and infused love as exposed on Fig. 39 above.
All who have approached the unfamiliarity of foreign cost in the darkness of night know by experience how indispensable help lighthouses give for safe navigation and without their guidance it were just a question of time when the ship would run aground. The seafarer can trust that the lighthouses will not fail him. As instrumental signs in the live of grace the same is valid as regards the nine jewels of human sanctification as exposed on Fig. 39 above. They are like shining stars in the darkest hours of the soul on its passage through the demonic toll houses. This the soul knows because she followed them through the dark nights of her prayer life on earth, or by the words of bishop Ignaty Brianchaninov,
This is the mystery of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle of the Heart and the jewels of the Celestial City are rims and safe token to the growth of the soul in the stature of Christ to its fullness (see Ep 4. 13). The soul walks in the footsteps of the Blessed Virgin as she follows her as the Hodigitria. Souls who have passed through the trials of the prayer life on earth have been cured of their blindness.
They walk daringly as they are not lame, their face is not disfigured by sin so the demons avoid them; they are not deformed because they carry the vestments of the High priest over all the Sanctuary of God. They do not hesitate on their walk as their legs are not injured and carry their burden as their arms are healthy. They walk in uprightness as they are not hunchbacks in the live of grace; do not suffer with rickets and see clearly as they suffer no longer of opthalmia and are fit soldiers of the Cross with neither scab or running sores. They are not eunuchs as they have begotten numerous spiritual children while they lived on earth. In short: they have been clothed in their Royal Image of Glory in their similitude with the founder of their faith: our Lord Jesus Christ. They will go through the bad inns, toll houses or poll tax stations in their after death experience accompanied by the Blessed Virgin and her court, the celestial hierarchies and the saints, just as they asked for their help on earth. The after death experience will be sweet and delightful for such souls,
Once the Holy Spirit was so gracious to reveal to me how this purification actually takes place. Two of the dignities of the Choir of the Virtues lifted this laver of blessing up and said,
“We will pour out of
this laver of blessings over you!”
This is indeed what takes place here at the bronze laver in the mystery of the invisible and spiritual world. That is why the enemies of our salvation – Satan and his demonic legions – try everything in their power in order to hinder the soul to approach this holy tool because its efficacious purification enkindles the growth of the virtues so the soul can rise up like an eagle in the live of grace. The virtues becomes thus rims in the heavenly ladder to eternal life in the Celestial City: the new Jerusalem. This mystery reveals the sustaining grace concealed in the twelve jewels and foundation stones of the heavenly Jerusalem as exposed on Fig. 39 above: they are indeed the Jacob's ladder of the soul to heaven. This ladder the soul finds in her own heart after her purification in the salvatic water of the bronze laver,
Within the heart are
unfathomable depths. It is but a small vessel, and yet dragons and
lions are there, and there poisonous creatures and all of wickedness,
rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasm. There likewise is God,
there are the angels, there life and the kingdom, there light and the
Apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace; all things
are there. [1]
Or by the words of King of all Life, “For look, the kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17. 21). There we also discern hell and purgatory, the “toll houses” of the ancient Greek fathers when our spiritual eyes or spiritual perception has been cured, “See to it then that the light inside you is not darkness” (Lk 11. 35). The prince of the angels of darkness disguises himself as light in order to deceive souls on their ways through the toll houses, souls who have repudiated the holy apostolic tradition of the Church and the fathers. Saint Paul warned thus against counterfeit apostles,
These people are
counterfeit apostles, dishonest workers, disguising themselves as
apostles of Christ. There is nothing astonishing in this; even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light. It is nothing extraordinary,
then, when his servants disguise themselves as the servants of
uprightness. They will come to the end appropriate to what they have
done. (2 Cor 11. 13-15).
When Pius XII declared the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin as an article of faith in the papal bull Munificentissimus Deus November 1st, 1950 he was emphasizing God's intentional plan for humanity, a living truth in the tradition of the Church which Theophilus of Antioch stated clearly already in the second century. This intentional plan of God was that humanity as his creation should progress toward Him and be taken into heaven, what Christ really proclaimed by His own ascension to heaven destined for all redeemed souls,
And when I am lifted
up from the earth, I will draw all to myself (Jn 12. 32).
According to the apostolic tradition this mystery of grace takes place in all human beings who open their hearts to the light of truth, because the King of Life leads all who willingly receive the fruits of His atonement to His heavenly Father in glory, or by the words of Cyprian of Carthage, “We will be what Christ is, christs, if we make Him our pattern.” [2] The Blessed Virgin was such a christ in the purity of her heart and that is why the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is so precious to Christ's Church because in her role as Hodigitria she always stakes out the right way ahead of us in the live of grace.
In accordance with the apostolic tradition as exposed on the Icon of the Dormition the Blessed Virgin pleaded her Son to spare her the sad experience of the toll houses as she had already went through these trials on earth and thus she was “taken up.” We find two other examples of such assumption in the Old Covenant, “Enoch walked with God, then was no more, because God took him” (Gn 5. 34). God carried him off just as He took Elijah the prophet on “a chariot of fire” (2 K 2. 9-13). In the New Testament the Blessed Virgin was the forerunner of numerous among the saints in her assumption to eternal life in heaven. In the Old Covenant every Israelite had to pay a poll tax, a half a shekel of silver for his life,
You will take that
ransom money of the Israelites (Ex 30. 16).
From this fact the holy fathers derived their doctrine on the “toll houses” and referred frequently to these dreary places in their works. The toll houses or the poll tax stations are an admonition to souls that confessed their believe in Christ on earth, but did not follow in His footsteps and did not take up their cross: were just nominal Christians. Such souls fail in their calling on earth not confirming their faith with good works, do not show that the work of the Law of the Spirit (Rm 8. 2) was written in their hearts. Such souls run rather after their own will than the will of God and give no heed to their conscience testifying with them or accusing them and find always excuses for their conducts (see Rm 2. 15).
The poll tax stations or toll houses were widely used in the teaching of the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, exactly at the time when nominal Christians became problematic after Christianity was legalized as the official faith of the Roman Empire. As takes always place in times of need the Church emphasized thus this mystery of the faith as a warning to such souls or as metropolitan Macarius of Moscow said,
Such an
uninterrupted, constant, and universal usage in the Church of the
teaching of the toll houses, especially among the teachers of the 4th
century, indisputably testifies that it was handed down to them from
the teachers of the preceding centuries and is founded on apostolic
tradition. [3]
The references to this dreary places were as common among the fathers of the Western Church, in spite of the fact that they used not the word “toll houses” explicitly, and in the Our Father our Lord thought us to say, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Nothing is obscure in God's ordinance which He has revealed in the Church through the Holy Spirit. Souls enchanted by pride and presumptuousness on earth will be enchanted by the demonic legion of pride in the appropriate poll tax station and are thus unable to pay the double toll of love. Whore mongers and sexual abusers and sodomites will be as enchanted by the demonic legion of lust exposing for them beautiful naked girls or boys as they were on earth. The greediness after wealth and power will enchant its adorers in the snares of the demonic legion of glowing gold as on earth. And thus we can go on at length,
Sicut, it is very
difficult for a man to swim, if he has not stripped himself of his
cloths in advance, it does not matter if he swims through water or sea.
It is far more strenuous for the soul to ascend through the air with
her burden of sins. [4]
.
La madre Fundadora – Teresa of
Avila – named this fresh water of terrestrial life which we are bound
to swim through “inns”, speaking of God's love and the penance,.
Remember here, my
daughters, the gain there is in love, and the loss of not having it.
Such a loss puts us into the hands of the enemy, in hands of so cruel,
hands so hostile toward everything good, and so found of everything
bad. What will become of the poor soul that, after being freed from the
sufferings and trials of death, falls immediately into these hands?
What a terrible rest it receives! How mangled as it goes to hell. What
a terrifying place! What a wretched inn! . . . we are well of here; the
bad inn lasts only for one night. Let us praise God; let us force
ourselves to do penance in this life. How sweet will be the death of
one who has done penance for all his sins, of one who won't have to go
to purgatory! Even from here below you can begin to enjoy glory! [5]
Let us give heed to the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria, “O soul, in the day of death! You will see frightful, wild, cruel, unmerciful and shameful demons, like dark Ethiopians . . . The holy angels holds the soul; passing with them through the air and rising, it encounters the toll houses which guard the path from earth to heaven, detaining the soul and hindering it from ascending further. Each toll house tests the sins corresponding to it; each sin, each passion has its tax collector and tester.” [6] And St. John Chrysostom was as explicit regarding this truth, “If when traveling in a foreign land or a strange city we are in need of guide, how much more necessary for us are guides and helpers to guide us past the invisible dignities and power and world rulers of this air, who are called persecutors and publicans and tax collectors.” [7]
How is this truth revealed by the holy images of the Bible as instrumental signs in the ascend of the soul after death? As exposed by the impediments of the common and Royal Priesthood of the New Covenant. The nine jewels of human sanctification are as love letters from God – a token of His love – and actually a Ladder of Love in the ascension of the soul to Him on the wings of divine and infused love as exposed on Fig. 39 above.
All who have approached the unfamiliarity of foreign cost in the darkness of night know by experience how indispensable help lighthouses give for safe navigation and without their guidance it were just a question of time when the ship would run aground. The seafarer can trust that the lighthouses will not fail him. As instrumental signs in the live of grace the same is valid as regards the nine jewels of human sanctification as exposed on Fig. 39 above. They are like shining stars in the darkest hours of the soul on its passage through the demonic toll houses. This the soul knows because she followed them through the dark nights of her prayer life on earth, or by the words of bishop Ignaty Brianchaninov,
The great saints of
God pass through the aerial guards of the dark powers with such great
freedom because during earthly life they enter into uncompromising
battle with them and, gaining the victory over them, acquire in the
depth of their heart complete freedom from sin, become the temple
and Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, making their rational dwelling
place inaccessible for the fallen angels. [8]
This is the mystery of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle of the Heart and the jewels of the Celestial City are rims and safe token to the growth of the soul in the stature of Christ to its fullness (see Ep 4. 13). The soul walks in the footsteps of the Blessed Virgin as she follows her as the Hodigitria. Souls who have passed through the trials of the prayer life on earth have been cured of their blindness.
They walk daringly as they are not lame, their face is not disfigured by sin so the demons avoid them; they are not deformed because they carry the vestments of the High priest over all the Sanctuary of God. They do not hesitate on their walk as their legs are not injured and carry their burden as their arms are healthy. They walk in uprightness as they are not hunchbacks in the live of grace; do not suffer with rickets and see clearly as they suffer no longer of opthalmia and are fit soldiers of the Cross with neither scab or running sores. They are not eunuchs as they have begotten numerous spiritual children while they lived on earth. In short: they have been clothed in their Royal Image of Glory in their similitude with the founder of their faith: our Lord Jesus Christ. They will go through the bad inns, toll houses or poll tax stations in their after death experience accompanied by the Blessed Virgin and her court, the celestial hierarchies and the saints, just as they asked for their help on earth. The after death experience will be sweet and delightful for such souls,
Therefore I beseech
blessed Mary ever Virgin,
blessed Michael the Archangel,
blessed John the Baptist,
the holy apostles Peter and Paul,
and all the saints,
to pray to the Lord our God for me.
blessed Mary ever Virgin,
blessed Michael the Archangel,
blessed John the Baptist,
the holy apostles Peter and Paul,
and all the saints,
to pray to the Lord our God for me.
[1].
Fifty
Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, London 1921.
[2]. Cyprian of Carthage, De idolorum vanitate, c. xv.
[3]. Seraphim Rose, The Soul After Death, p. 74.
[4]. Hómilíubók, pp. 28.
[5]. Way of Perfection, 40, 8, 9.
[6]. The Soul After Death, p. 74.
[7]. Ibid.
[8]. Ibid, p. 71.
[2]. Cyprian of Carthage, De idolorum vanitate, c. xv.
[3]. Seraphim Rose, The Soul After Death, p. 74.
[4]. Hómilíubók, pp. 28.
[5]. Way of Perfection, 40, 8, 9.
[6]. The Soul After Death, p. 74.
[7]. Ibid.
[8]. Ibid, p. 71.
