Staying Awake

34th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday (1 December 2018)

Revelation 22:1-7. Psalm 95:1-7. Luke 21:34-36.

“Stay awake, praying at all times for strength.”

Today is the last day of the liturgical year; and we begin the last month of the year 2018. (Just above 8% of the year is remaining.) The readings are about the Second Coming of the Son of Man, and the end of the world. The Parousia or the Second Coming is an eschatological reality: that which is already happening, and that which will be fulfilled only in the future. So when Jesus asks us to stay awake, it does not only mean for the future, but more importantly for the present. Spirituality is about being awake here and now.

Stay awake. Those words are a way of saying: “Pay attention!” Pay attention to what is going on, and pay attention to what is going to follow. We could easily miss the presence of our Lord by our lack of awareness. We should be aware of Jesus’ presence in us at all times, when we begin to pray, when we listen to his words, when we share his body and blood while breaking the bread and sharing the wine, and also when we are sent out in the world.

To be aware does not mean to continuously think about God. That is impossible. Awareness is a way of opening ourselves to reality, and thus to God. It is not a mental gymnastic that we have to do it continuously, but it is an inner presence to the One who loves us continuously. It is a continual yearning of the human spirit towards God. It is a relationship.

We can’t escape our monkey mind. Or very often our inner being resembles a banana tree full of jumping monkeys. So it is crucial to have a daily prayer practice to help us live in the now. It takes constant intention and practice to remain open, receptive, and awake to the moment. We live in a time with more easily available obstacles to presence than any other period in history. That's why repeated practice is needed.

Therefore, to pray unceasingly would be completely impossible if it meant to think constantly about God. It means to think and live in the presence of God. But if we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thought about people and events, we remove God from our daily life to pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. To pray unceasingly is to lead all our thoughts out of their fearful isolation into fearless conversation with God. When we see the life of Jesus it was a life lived in the presence of God his Father. He kept nothing hidden from his Father’s face. His joys, his fears, his hopes, and his despairs were always shared with his Father. Perhaps this is the best way to understand being awake at all times.