Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to wake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. (Rom 13:11)
St. Paul tells us that we should awake from sleep, but it seems like all I ever do is awake from sleep. I stay awake late in order to get things done, I get up long before I feel rested because the day has already begun and I have to get going… I do awake from sleep.
But am I really awake? St. Paul is talking about awaking from the kind of sleep that puts distance between the soul and God; that numbs the longing from within and the yearning to hear his voice. Am I awake to the message God has for me this Advent?
Mary, you were awake to the message God had for you. The Angel Gabriel didn’t find you sleeping; he found you wide-awake and receptive to the work of grace in your life. I want to be awake in the way that you were. Please open my heart and make it receptive to the work of grace in my life.
