Prayer and sleep during Lent

[Richard McBride]

prayer & sleep during Lent

I have been told that the idea of “ceaseless prayer” was Paul’s, although I suspect the notion came from post Pauline sources. For glancing over his letters, I find nothing of ceaseless prayer (as Hesychasts refer to), rather such things as watching in all perseverance and petition concerning the saints (Eph 6:18); and being anxious about nothing, but in everything offering prayer (Phl 4:60); and similar such near misses to the precise point.

I am anything but diligent in checking out the matter, and I am quite prepared to believe more reliable sources than my own “research”. But the accuracy of the source is less the point than when I first heard of “ceaseless prayer”, I thought that the practice was not to be taken literally. It just did not seem plausible at the time, that anyone might really pray without ceasing.

Meanwhile, I have met Hesychasts and read a bit about their practises, and of course, the Philokalia is nothing if not an advertisement for continuous prayer (as it relates to seeking perfection in body, mind and soul).So, whether or not Paul really initiated the specific phrase of “ceaseless prayer” is to me beside the point. However, such is not my current understanding of the matter of sleep.

Sleep, of course, is the other side of the coin of Watchfulness. Thus, the purpose of being awake (the opposite of sleeping) is ultimately to be aware when Christ descends upon the Earth in the Second Coming, or Final Judgement. (Prior to that, the purpose of Watchfulness is to be ever vigilant against the inroads of the enemy.) Yet, I must confess to being double minded on the daily practice of this matter; for as yet, I cannot conceive of actually staying awake ceaselessly.

Saying as much is not to deny the importance and splendid beauty of the first three days of Holy Week, in the three Bridegroom Services. These are the perfect exemplars for staying awake. They are the most uplifting of all Lenten services, save for the final three days of Holy Week -- which are in a class by themselves.

Yet, while I wait eagerly during Lent for the Bridegroom Services, with their great warning that He comes as a thief in the night, at a time never to be anticipated -- realizing all that this implies, yet, I cannot quite grasp never sleeping, or staying awake ceaselessly in constant watchfulness. And this means that I merely hope that I shall be awakened by the sound of trumpets and the great chorus claiming the Lord’s presence at the end of history, because I am far more likely to be asleep than ceaselessly watching. (Lord save me, lest I sleep unto death in sin!)

My question then: Since in the beginning I took the practice of Ceaseless Prayer to be merely an aphorism (which I now know is not true, and that the phrase means in all reality exactly what it says), how may I relate to the matter of Ceaseless Watchfulness (not ever sleeping, which I have heard that at least one saint accomplished)? Can anyone else really achieve never sleeping, or is this phrase not meant literally?

Yet, the Bridegroom Services seem to leave no leeway except for literal interpretation.

perplexed subdeacon richard

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear in the Lord, Richard,

Regarding the injunction to pray without ceasing, it does indeed take its roots directly from the Pauline writings. One reads in the Apostle's first letter to the Church at Thessaloniki:


"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."
(1 Thessalonians 5:14-22, esp. v.17) (http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=1%2BThessalonians%2B5&version=NKJV&showfn=yes&showxref=yes&language=english)

It was, in fact, this very passage that piqued the curiosity of the pilgrim in The Way of the Pilgrim, and subsequently drove him to his wanderings and investigation into how such things could be possible. And it is upon the same concept, as you noted, that the writings of the Philokalia are focused.

The injunction to continual watchfulness is another of the great exhortations in the spiritual life: not only are we ever and always to be engaged in prayer; we are also ever and always to be watchful. The two do, in fact, go together. I think your explanations of the idea must be taken together as a single whole, in order to obtain some idea of what this concept means: watchfulness is not merely an attentive waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus, but it is also an attentive watch over the soul and body, such that the passions, emotions, desires and all works of the devil are not permitted room in the human individual who is engaged in prayer. Only when a person is thus situated, is prayer at its deepest; and only when a person is free from the attacks of such evils, can he or she watch with genuine discernment for the coming of Christ.

The relationship of watchfulness to sleep is actually quite interesting. There have been some saints who took the concept to mean that sleep is the antithesis of watchfulness, and thus itself was an 'evil' of sorts, and therefore attempted to go through life without it. Very few (but not all!) of these attempts were successful. http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif

The vast majority of the Fathers and Mothers, however, have realised that sleep is a necessary function of the physical, human body (which as the creation and handiwork of God is good and not to be despised, in any of its created aspects); it is a requirement and need for the human body, if it is to function properly in the world. Sleep is only to be 'despised' insomuch as we often let sleep 'rule' human life to varying degrees: sleep is expanded beyond a need into a luxury, which has harmful spiritual (and possibly physical) side-effects.

But, as the witness of the Church proclaims, sleep that is tamed to be in line with its created purpose, need not be a hindrance to watchfulness. Indeed, there are many writings on the possibility of watchfulness during sleep -- and, in fact, special prayers of repentance for monastics and others who realise that they have 'let down their guard' during sleep.

If you are interested in reading on this, some good texts include St Hesychios' On Watchfulness and Holiness (and, in general, the whole of the first volume of the Philokalia, which has much to say on watchfulness); the Ladder of Divine Ascent by St John Klimakos; and the Apothegmata (a.k.a. the Sayings of the Desert Fathers), all of which will have something to say of watchfulness and sleep.

What else have you read on watchfulness, Richard? Others?

INXC, Matthew

[Richard McBride]

I have been thinking of Matthew’s more holistic approach to the sleep versus watchfulness duality. Clearly, he is correct to point to the synthetic nature of this apparent duality, when he suggests that prayer, sleep and watchfulness, “must be taken together as a single whole, in order to obtain some idea of what this concept means...”
In fact, it seems a good idea to always remember that the very nature of discussion (not to mention argument) is deductive, in that it tends to pull things apart, to atomize them -- the honourable purpose being to come to grip with the parts, thus hopefully to better understand the whole. But too often we seem to leave the parts scattered about, like a sophomore’s clothes in his dorm bedroom. Still, I think it is usually understood that an end purpose is to put the ensemble back together again.

The reliance in biblical literature of the “watch” long ago struck a chord with me, as it must have with all sailors. Standing watch is a very large part of one’s existence aboard ship, and everyone in a ship’s company is subject to that necessity. Of course, there is similar necessity in every military organization. And the OT reminds just how militaristic were the Jews -- probably long before the Lord took them in hand as his special proteges. (It has been speculated, as the Jews exercised their nomadic careers on the perimeters of the “civilized” world before their acquaintance with Yahwey, that they sold themselves as “hired guns”, or mercenaries; so, their fighting nature may be more natural to them then their domesticated appearance implies.) Psalm 127 brings the two notions of the watchman and sleep together, as Matthew suggests:

“Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Now that Matthew has pointed it out, I see his meaning in Psalm 127.

To focus upon the watchman is to seek a special emphasis in the Word from both covenants -- the old and the new. For instance, the image of the watchtower is being used quite a lot this time of the year; one example is in the parable of the owner who leased his new vineyard to sharecroppers (in a not very veiled reference to the impending death of Christ). But the notion of watching is a large theme in the Bible. And I see that I had narrowed it rather too much in my earlier message.

Until Matthew brought it up, I had not paid enough attention to the whole ball of wax which contains the theme of watchfulness, and thus of sleep, prayer and discernment. In the earlier emphasis, “The Watch” now seems too easily concentrated on the Other. For, when The Watch is mentioned, immediately one thinks of that which is being watched, or sought. One’s immediate response to the condition of watching is to ask, Watch for what? One’s attention is syphoned away from the watcher to that which is sought. Thus, it helps gain perspective on the problem when Matthew reminds that we are also watching ourselves. We wish to become aware of that within us which yearns for the spicy titbits offered by the demons. And for such awareness we should pray for the gift of discernment.

Matthew also very helpfully mentioned several sources for learning about watchfulness: From Saint Hesychios, from Saint John Klimakos, from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and from the first volume of The Philokalia. Saint Hesychios is mentioned often in the four volumes of the Philokalia, but I have not read On Watchfulness and Holiness. I have recently started reading The Ladder of Divine Ascent, but I am not very far beyond Bishop Kallistos’ didactic introduction (it is the nature of all these writings that they are very compact, dense and aphoristic; one may only read at a snail’s pace, stopping often to contemplate).

But I have no new titles to add to Matthew’s list. I will simply append to his mention of volume one (for those thinking of taking up the habit of reading the Philokalia) that in volume three there is also a section by Saint Philotheosis of Sinai, titled, Forty Texts on Watchfulness; and immediately following that is Ilias the Presbyter’s work, The Gnomic Anthology. The first sentence from it reads, “No Christian believing rightly in God, should ever be off his guard.” Also, volume four carries the work of Nikiphoros the Monk: On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart.

richard sdcn

[Elisabeth]

In preparing for ‘The Watch’ St. John Klimakos mentions the relationship between food and sleep. Both too much and too little food can cause unnecessary sleep. He also warns that if we fail in one (sleep or food) not to punish ourselves with the other. He mentions those who overeat and then foolishly try to make up for it by standing up all night.

He says that we are all differentand have been given different gifts and paths to follow and that ‘God accepts and judges the offerings of each type in accordance with their intentions and abilities’. I hope you don’t mind me jumping ahead in your reading of ‘The Ladder’ Richard (though maybe you’ve read that Step now). You mentioned that you are reading Bishop Kallistos ‘Introduction’. He has said that we should eat and sleep just a little less than we feel we need, but not to overdo asceticism to the point that we fail to ‘function properly in the world’ as Matthew wrote.

In a newly published book ‘Sharing Spaces’ author Jessica Rose also writes about our individual paths ‘each person’s journey towards God is unique. The more we pay attention, the more we will be aware of this – of our differences as well as our common vocation’. Although the book concentrates on the relationship between prayer and counselling, it has much about the Fathers teachings in relation to contemporary life: about the ways in which the Fathers ‘tackled the thoughts which distracted them’ (from watchfulness and unceasing prayer).

Finally, another book which has some references to sleep and watchfulness is ‘The Spiritual Meadow’ These are stories about the Desert Fathers collected by monk John Moschos. They mention such things as not lying down and sleeping in a chair. Recently I was told that my family slept in deck chairs in an air raid shelter in London during the Second World War. That was not just for a night or two, but every night for a couple of years…and they went to work the next day! The book also mentions Elders who slept and were friends with lions ‘If we kept the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ these animals would fear us. But because of our sins we have become slaves and it is rather we who fear them’ Which leads us right back to inner watchfulness!

Elisabeth

[Richard McBride]

Elizabeth offered three new books on the Watchfulness theme; the Saint John Klimacos seems as pithy as we might expect of his work; I am anxious to get back to him, but since The Fast came on so rapidly (in spite of the three weeks of warning)I have left Saint John K for the moment, and have been trying to catch up on even earlier failures: Not having studied the Triodian enough. With it in hand, I have gotten out the Antiochian English interpretations of the chanting for the Triodian and was trying to dovetail that in with the words. I am convinced that mixing the chants with the admonitions of Bishoop Kalistos and Mother Mary will make a very rich stew; but again, I lag behind.

Particularly, I like the reference to Jessica Rose's book and will shoot for that first. This fits in with a project for discovering the Aesthetics of Space in the Orthodox tradition, which was suggested to me by Father Justin McFeeters.

Still, the “Spiritual Meadow” does sound intriguing.

Yes, sleeping with lions. WHat a nice thought. I very much appreciate your insight on this, Elizabeth. May you be accompanied by plentiful beautiful Angels in your journey.

richard

[Elisabeth]

Dear Richard, My sympathy with The Great Fast creeping up on one so quickly, and for me, speeding along now with not so much time left to try and realise all my resolutions!

However, the thought of being accompanied by beautiful angels gives me enormous encouragement. I have no new references on the theme of sleep and food, just a question.

I have a monastic friend who is living the solitary, eremitic life under the guidance of her Spiritual Father. I am her God Mother. Lately she has become ill with a variety of ailments and I am concerned about her diet. Her hero is the sculptor Giacometti and in her thinness she could be one of his sculptures! There’s never much food in the fridge when I visit. I havn’t made any comment because I am reminded ‘The Life of Anthony’ where others try to persuade him that fasting will damage his health. On the other hand, he emerged from many year’s solitary life neither having gained or lost weight, but was in a ‘natural state’. I am also reminded of a friend who has become a monk on Mount Athos. He was a faster, but his Abbot ordered him to reduce his fasting by eating extra plates of beans. I think the teaching was to emphasise that the more extreme levels of fasting are not for beginners, and should not stand out from others, but are grown into gradually under guidance and as far as is possible, in secret. I suppose I should consult my own Spiritual Father, but I wondered if you..or others, have any thoughts about this?

The ‘Aesthetics of Space’ in the Orthodoxy interests me a lot! Please keep me informed. My background is in visual art. I suppose I shouldn’t continue because it deviates from this theme? But I’d love to know more about the project.

God Bless your Lenten Journey.

Elisabeth

[Razhden Guriadze]

Greetings in Christ.

"Ceaseless Prayer" is for the soul. In "The Way of a Pilgrim". The man is admonished not to increase the number of times he said the "Jesus Prayer" very much without having a spiritual guide who had been that route.

Eventually, we are told, the soul starts saying the "Jesus Prayer". That is praying unceasingly.

Not all prayer is a "worded" prayer. Sometimes quiet communion with God is actually more effective.

I am always reminded of the verse "Be still, and know, I AM."

Kinda like "shut up an' sit down. I'll tel you what I want you to know." (I can type better than that.)

Sometimes active prayer ,vocalized or not,gets in the way of hearing God's answer.

I personally, take the admonition to "pray unceasingly" to mean "stay in touch with God constantly".Acknowledging who God is and who you are, and the relationship between the two of you.

God bless,
ICXC
Razhden

[Richard McBride]

Beloved of the Lord Elisabeth

Of fasting, I know so little. Of gluttony, I am become an expert. And while I believe in the ability of fasting to open many doors on the way to the Lord, I have also witnessed problems from overzealous fasting. One cantor, who is very holy, became so enthralled with the Great Fast that he wound up in the hospital -- it was not long after the Fifth Sunday; and he missed the great Summation of Holy Week itself. Happily, the Fathers of the Philokalia knew all this as well, and they passed it on to us in the form of several warnings. Thanks be to God!

Saint Makarios said:
“114. Fasting is good and so are vigils: ascetic practice and voluntary exile. But all these things are but the start, the prelude to citizenship in heaven, so that it is altogether senseless to put one’s trust merely in them. It sometimes happens that we attain a certain state of grace but that evil ... lying in ambush within us, plays a trick on us: it [evil] deliberately withdraws and remains inactive, thus making us think that our intellect has been cleansed... etc.” (This is a good passage to read in full: Vol.3; p.335.)

But there are many remarks which point to the problem of over-fasting. Evagrios the Solitary mentions:
“...when you are ill you should modify your ascetic labours for the time being, so that you may regain the strength to take them up again...To abstain from food should be a matter of your own choice and an ascetic labour.” (Vol. 1; p.36-7)

Then, Saint John Cassian begins his admonitions with “On Control of the Stomach”. Recounting the Holy Fathers, he points out that they have not given us just one rule for fasting, for there are many different situations. In achieving the goal of avoiding over-eating, he says, “They also found a day’s fast to be more beneficial and a greater help toward purity than one extending over ... even seven days.” In bodily illness he says we should give the body what it requires. “To eat moderately and reasonably is to keep the body in health, not to deprive it of holiness.”(Vol.1; p. 73-4)

Saint Diadochos of Photiki says this [I think of the problems of anorexy and vegetarians]:
“With regard to self-control in eating, we must never feel loathing for any kind of food, for to do so is abominable and utterly demonic. It is emphatically not because any kind of food is bad in itself that we refrain from it...
“It is in no way contrary to the principles of true knowledge to eat and drink from all that is set before you, giving thanks to God; for ‘everything is very good (cf. Gen. 1:31)” (Vol.1; p. 266)

And I love the way Saint Gregory of Sinai reveals the issue of fasting. In his section, “How To Partake of Food”, he begins with this statement: “What shall I say about the belly, the queen of the passions?” He then speaks of eating in the usual way, “A Hesychast ... should always eat too little, never too much.” But a little farther he says, “Because you are ill, you should be entirely free in partaking of food.” And when you eat too much, he says, “repent and try again.” (Vol. 4; p.280-1)

And there are so many other beautiful illustrations of proper eating. I see eating as the problem more than fasting to be the goal. (But again, I am a poor example of the latter.) Still, the consensus seems to be that too great a zealousness in fasting, too extreme an approach to it, opens the door to demonic intrusions -- especially so, when one is in a state of extreme sensitivity from deprivation. I wonder how close to anorexia is the problem of rabid fasting?

In sum, good health maintained in the temple provided to us may be at least as important as a regimen of deep fasting.

I know that you know that you are blessed, Elisabeth, to be so close to friends who have these lofty callings. So, I see it as your responsibility to speak to your Spiritual Advisor about this. Ask him if I am remiss in the quotations above, and above all, how you may help your mates to better understand the purposes of fasting.

Thank you for your blessing; richard

[Elisabeth]

Richard, many thanks! Your reply is most helpful, especially St. Gregory of Sinai who assumes that many of us are going to eat too much at some point but that we should ‘repent and try again’, and your comment that deprivation can cause extreme sensitivity (which can be difficult for others).
I was going to write about another aspect of sleep, prayer and fasting but first I read the message board about the Middle East conflict. Reading the messages made me feel that my small battles with the demons of desire were too insignificant to mention in relation to those who are fighting for their lives, country and culture. I suppose this relates to that old dichotomy of the active and contemplative life. I was reminded of a passage I read recently in the book ‘The Undistorted Image’ by Archimandrite Sophrony about his spiritual guide Saint Silouan of Mount Athos.
He writes about a father-confessor who had found a middle way in the relationship of prayer to the news (which today involves TV and web sites as well as newspapers).

‘The father-confessor was relating something he had read in the newspapers and, turning to Staretz Silouan, he asked:
‘What do you think, Father Silouan?’
‘Batioushka, I don’t like newspapers with their news’
‘Why not?’
‘Because the reading of newspapers darkens the mind and hinders pure prayer.’
‘How odd,’ said the father-confessor. ‘For my part I find just the contrary: newspapers help me pray. We live here in the wilderness, seeing nothing, and gradually the soul forgets the world and becomes shut up in herself. Prayer then grows weak. But when I read the newspapers I see how it is with the world, how people suffer, and that makes me want to pray. Then, whether celebrating the Liturgy or praying in my own cell, I entreat God for all mankind, for the whole world.’
‘When the soul prays for the world,’ said Father Silouan, ‘she knows better without newspapers how the whole earth is afflicted and what people’s needs are. She can pity men without help of newspapers.’
‘How can the soul know of herself what goes on in the world?’
Newspapers don’t write about people but about events, and then not the truth. They confuse the mind and, whatever you do, you won’t get at the truth by reading them; whereas prayer cleanses the mind and gives it a better vision of all things.’
‘I don’t quite see,’ said the father-confessor.
We all waited for Staretz Silouan to reply, but the Staretz sat on in silence, head bent, not suffering himself to explain in the presence of a father-confessor and older monks how the soul can, in spirit, know the life of the world and the needs and tribulations of men when, remote from all things, she prays for the universe.

Does anyone have any comments about this aspect of prayer?

[Moses Anthony]

Elizabeth,

Please take what I'm about to say with a grain of the proverbial salt.

In the Amplified Bible the Apostle Paul makes this (loosely quoted) statement, "forgetting what lies behind I press on that I may become more progressively, intimately related with HIm." But what does that mean in the realm of prayer?

At its most basic level prayer is nothing but communication, and in our case this is with Almighty God. As any counselor worth his/her salt will tell you, the more time -the more intimate - you are with someone the higher the level of communication. To me this is where the prayer of St. Silouan in his disdain for newspapers takes place. One thing I've learned in my short journey into Orthodoxy is this, in all jurisdictions there's freedom of interpretation. After all, look at the varied thoughts posted about cease-
less prayer, fasting and sleep.

If for whatever reason I've not acheived that level of intimacy with the Father, so that He has only to barely breathe a word for my ears to perk up, I see no reason not to use the varied news media as a way to direct my prayers.

By reason of my humanity I"m limited to time and space, by reason of my spirituallity I am limited only by my obedience to the Trinity.

HIS Unworthy servant,
subdeacon Moses

[Elisabeth]

Moses

Greetings in Christ

Thank you for this message.
With or without a pinch of salt it feels good! God Willing, may those whom we pray for and hold dear in our hearts, be remembered; and may we be forgiven for those we forget.

Elisabeth

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear James and Elisabeth,

This good discussion is remeniscent of Ecclesiastes 3 (http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=ECC%2B3&language=english&version=NKJV&showfn=on&showxref=on) ('To everything there is a season...'). Depending on one's state, one's lot, one's growth, one's struggle -- depending on all these things sits the 'usefulness' of so much in the world, whether newspapers or otherwise. What may be a hindrance to one person is of great, perhaps essential, support to another. When Fr Silouan suggested that he did not require newspapers, I do not believe he was passing judgement on such things as a universal principle, but for a given situation. His is guidance and truth for a certain level of spiritual life; a level which is attainable by all, but to which not all have attained.

St Irenaeus of Lyons had a marvelous analogy about different elements of life having usefulness for given situations. For those situations they are essential, but beyond them, or once they have served their purpose, they are no longer of the same importance. He speaks against the Gnostics, who apparently asserted that, since Jerusalem had been destroyed, it could not in truth have been the 'city of the great king' as prophecied in Scripture:


'Further, also, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they [the Gnostics] venture to assert that, if it had been "the city of the great King," it would not have been deserted. This is just as if any one should say that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these vine twigs have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also was it with Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage [...] when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her , and scattered throughout all the world' ([I]Against Heresies 4.4.1).

Even Jerusalem, the 'Great City' is useful only for its purpose, and that purpose is of infinitely greater importance than Jerusalem.

INXC, Matthew

[Elisabeth]

Matthew, thank you for developing the themes of levels of prayer, the value of ‘usefulness’, diversity and change, and Jerusalem.

In his book ‘The Orthodox Way’ Bishop Kallistos writes that it is customary to divide the spiritual way of prayer into three stages. The three stages developed by Origen, Evagrius and St. Maximos the Confessor are ‘praktiki’ or practice of virtues; ‘physiki’ or contemplation of nature and ‘theologia’ or theology and contemplation of God himself. He writes that these stages need not be strictly consecutive, or have sharp boundaries, for sometimes ‘direct glimpses of divine glory’ can be given to a complete beginner as a gift from God.
He says, that in the first stage of ‘praktiki’ discernment is necessary in order to develop the virtues. This is also necessary in order to judge a situation: whether to continue an activity or ‘let go’ and move on.

‘‘We must always find out which way the wind blows, lest we set our sails against it’
Quote: ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’ by St. John Climacus

This sensitivity to changing circumstances demands a use of relative values. As Matthew mentioned, something may be useful and of value to one person, but not another. Something may also be understood by one person in a certain way, but have a very different meaning for another because they view it from a different perspective.
This doesn’t exclude the value of an unchanging essence, but co-exists with it.
An example is ‘darkness’ which signifies diverse meanings but always with God at the centre. It is a sign describing the dark cloud where God dwells (Exodus 20:21) and also a state apart from God (Matthew 8:12). As Bishop Kallistos points out, the ‘darkness’ of being without God is not that God is absent, but that we have chosen to move away from God.
In Nature, it is a sign of the absence of sunlight and the approach of night when we finish work and rest in the ‘little death’ of sleep, and when ‘the wild beasts come forth’ (Psalm 104).
But for some, it is a sign of time to arise and begin the work of prayer at the start of a new day.

As we move towards Jerusalem, Palm Sunday and Holy Week, I am also reminded of the night of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (St. Mark 14:32-46).

May God bless us all, and through repentance may we be forgiven, healed and lifted to the peace and joy of Christ’s Resurrection;
‘The peace of God which passeth all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7).