March 30
Juan Climaco
Monk
He died in Sinai around the year 649.
Biography
The name Climacus comes from his Scale (climax, that is, scale) of Paradise, a work well known in the East and the West for a long time. The Ladder is made up of thirty chapters or steps, which constitute the itinerary that the soul must climb until complete identification with God. Its author spent fifty years in the Sinai desert, either as a hermit or as a monk in the monastery of Saint Catherine. Byzantine icons where it is represented numerous times speak of the popularity of its Scale, as well as many frescoes in oriental churches, and even the Kremlin, erected by Ivan the Terrible (d. 1505) in the shape of a bell to remind visitors of the supernatural destiny of their souls.
Practical advice
With simplicity and joy, seek God in the most ordinary task of your day, remembering that holiness is built in the ordinary.