The Ladder Against the Wall
Updated: Sep 3
“You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”John 1:51
It leans there, slightly uneven, waiting. Someone will need it soon for a high window, a loose fitting, a place the arms cannot quite reach.
A ladder is an honest tool. It does not pretend the work is easy. It simply offers a way up, and a way down again.
Jesus spoke of climbing and coming down. He went up the mountain to pray, and he came back to the plain where people were waiting. He told Nathanael that heaven would open upon him: a way up and a way down, meeting in his own person. The work of the Kingdom moves in both directions.
Some tasks need height. A bulb. A leak. A window that will not close. Others need the humility of returning to the ground once the job is done. Staying at the top is not the point. Getting the work done, and coming down safely, is the point.
You do not have to stay high up. You do not have to prove that you can reach everything alone.
The Mass is that kind of meeting place. Christ comes down to us. We are lifted to him. Then we are sent back to the ordinary floor of the week. The altar is not a place to remain in order to look important. It is the place where the necessary gift is given, so that life below can continue.
The ladder is temporary. The wall remains. What matters is that the work was done, and that someone remembered to bring the ladder back down safely.