“To Climb Di Ranks for Heaven: Di Golden Staircase Wey Lead to Di Glory of Di Seraphim” dey look deeply into di spiritual journey wey God dey invite every soul to make, toward di highest level of holiness for this life, wey go lead to di greatest eternal glory for di next life. We start by showing how every human being get di natural desire to dey happy. As each of us dey journey to fulfil that desire, we fit easily miss road because of di lies wey demons dey use deceive us, di influence of our fallen world, and di confusion wey desires wey dey pull us toward sin dey cause. To avoid this deception and confusion, Scripture, di teaching of di Church, and wetin di saints write dey help open our minds and wills to God truth, di only truth wey dey set us free.
Di highest truth wey we must accept na say God dey call each of us to listen to His Word, allow His grace to change us, and respond with all di generosity wey we fit show. Those wey do this to a greater degree go receive di reward of seeing God more clearly and experiencing di Beatific Vision more deeply for all eternity. Those wey do am to a lesser degree, but die for state of grace, go get perfect happiness as dem see God face-to-face after dem finish their purification for Purgatory. How clearly and deeply dem experience di Beatific Vision go match how much dem cooperate with God will for this life. Even so, envy no go dey for Heaven, and everybody go get complete fulfilment.
Even though na only part of di Celestial Hierarchy of di nine choirs of angels we know, and some of wetin we know na based on reasoning about wetin fit be, di teachings of some of di greatest Doctors of di Church and di private revelations of some holy mystics give us plenty things to think deeply about. These things give us strong mystical principles of faith to build our understanding of how di angels and saints for heaven dey arranged for ranks. Di mystical theology of di Church get deep riches and e don dey since long ago. As we trace that mystical tradition through di centuries, we reflect on di theology of two stages wey di early Church Fathers teach, wey highlight di active life and di contemplative life. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite expand this process of two stages into wetin come dey known as di Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive Ways. Writers wey come later, like Saints Bonaventure, Teresa of Ávila, and John of the Cross, develop this spiritual journey even further, and dem produce di richest works on mystical theology wey carry di greatest authority for di history of di Church.
As we join these great mystical theologies with di Celestial Hierarchy of Heaven, we use reasoning about wetin fit be to describe nine steps for our human journey for this life, wey go lead to nine matching levels of glory for di next life. With di mystical language of Saint Matilda of Hackeborn, we present these nine levels of eternal glory with a “golden staircase wey get nine steps, with plenty angels surrounding am for both sides.” These nine steps stand for human conversion for this world and give us encouragement to climb higher, with di help of grace. As we reason about how these nine steps fit connect with each of di nine choirs, we no only think deeply about their levels of eternal glory wey dey rise higher and higher, wey God dey invite us to share in, but we also understand better di role wey each choir dey play for our lives according to God plan.
Part Two of this book dey look deeply into di way wey practical pass and go help us pass to climb that golden staircase wey be picture of our spiritual journey, small-small: to imitate di human life of di Son of God. Even though di Son of God for human form dey perfect from di moment wey dem conceive Am, He choose to show His divinity small-small, to be not only di one and only source of salvation and grace, but also di example for our human journey. Since di mysteries of di Rosary dey carry us through di life of Christ according to how di events happen, and dey give us practical way to meditate with prayer, our reflections on these mysteries dey help us understand di journey wey all of us dey make and give us way to keep climbing for our spiritual journeys through prayer. As we use prayer and reasoning about wetin fit be to connect di mysteries of di life of Christ with di nine steps, we bring our individual spiritual journeys into line with how Christ show His holiness, so that we fit continue to climb through conversion.
Now wey you don finish to think deeply with prayer about di mystical theology above and di lessons from Christ life, di final section of this book dey offer guide wey you fit continue to use to connect your journey with di example of Christ life. Di meditations on di Rosary wey follow na important part of this book because dem give you practical guide as you continue to climb toward Divine Union for this life and di Glory of di Seraphim for di next life. Because of this, we strongly recommend make you use these meditations year after year so that di lessons wey you learn go continue to bear plenty good fruit.
Next: Daily Meditations for di Rosary
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