“Ascending the Celestial Hierarchy: The Golden Staircase to Seraphic Glory” explores the profound spiritual journey every soul is invited to travel toward the highest heights of holiness in this life, resulting in the greatest eternal glory in the next. We begin by highlighting the innate desire for happiness common to every human being. Our individual journeys toward fulfilling that desire are easily misdirected due to the deceptions of demons, the influences of our fallen world, and the confusion caused by concupiscence. To avoid these deceptions and confusion, Scripture, Church teaching, and the writings of the saints help open our minds and wills to God’s truth, the only truth that sets us free.
The ultimate truth we must embrace is that each of us is called by God to listen to His Word, be transformed by His grace, and respond with the utmost generosity. Those who do so to a greater degree will be rewarded with a clearer vision and more intense experience of the Beatific Vision for all eternity. Those who do so to a lesser degree, but die in a state of grace, will be perfectly happy as they behold God face-to-face upon the completion of Purgatory. Their clarity and intensity of the Beatific Vision will correspond to their degree of cooperation with God’s will in this life. Nonetheless, there will be no envy in Heaven, and all will be completely fulfilled.
Though the Celestial Hierarchy of the nine choirs of angels is known to us only in partial and speculative ways, the teachings of some of the greatest Doctors of the Church and the private revelations of some saintly mystics give us much to ponder. These provide solid mystical principles of faith to build our understanding of this ordered hierarchy of the heavenly angels and saints. The Church’s mystical theology is rich and ancient. By tracing that mystical tradition over the centuries, we reflect on the two-step theology offered by early Church Fathers, which highlighted the active and contemplative life. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite expanded this two-step process into what became known as the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive Ways. Later writers, such as Saints Bonaventure, Teresa of Ávila, and John of the Cross, developed this spiritual journey even further, producing the richest and most authoritative works on mystical theology in the history of the Church.
By integrating these great mystical theologies with the Celestial Hierarchy of Heaven, we speculatively delineate nine steps on our human journey in this life, resulting in nine levels of corresponding glory in the next. Using the mystical language of Saint Matilda of Hackeborn, we present these nine levels of eternal glory with a “golden staircase composed of nine steps, with a multitude of angels surrounding it on either side.” These nine steps signify human conversion in this world and provide motivation to ascend higher, with the help of grace. By speculatively associating these nine steps with each of the nine choirs, we not only ponder their ascending states of eternal glory in which we are invited to share but also gain insight into the role each choir plays in our lives by God’s design.
Part Two of this book explores the most practical and beneficial approach to slowly ascending that metaphorical golden staircase: imitation of the human life of the Son of God. Though the Son of God in human form was perfect from the moment of His conception, He chose to manifest His divinity slowly, becoming not only the exclusive source of salvation and grace but also the model for our human journey. Since the mysteries of the Rosary take us on a chronological journey through the life of Christ and provide a practical means of prayerful meditation, our reflections on these mysteries shed light on our common journey and provide a prayerful way to continuously ascend in our spiritual journeys. By prayerfully and speculatively associating the mysteries of the life of Christ with the nine steps, we align our individual spiritual journeys with Christ’s manifestation of holiness, so we can continue to ascend through conversion.
Now that you have completed this prayerful pondering of the above mystical theology and lessons from Christ’s life, the final section of this book offers an ongoing guide to associate your journey with the model of Christ’s life. The following meditations on the Rosary are an important part of this book because they provide a practical guide for your ongoing ascent toward Divine Union in this life and Seraphic Glory in the next. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you use these meditations from year to year so the lessons learned will continue to bear abundant good fruit.
Next: Daily Meditations for the Rosary
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