Stay Awake! These are wise words for many areas of our lives.
When participating in sports and recreation, we are called to stay awake! to what is happening with the activity around us to be ready to jump in as a good teammate when the action moves our way.
In daily life, we are called to stay awake! by keenly observing what is going on around us, no matter what environment we are in, to keep us safe and ready to help others in emergency situations.
In our spiritual lives, we are called to stay awake! by spending time with God in prayer, seeking to grow in our faith life and fostering an awareness of his constant presence in us. Staying awake! to how God is working in and around us — especially noticing and giving thanks for the many God incidences and miracles that he blesses us with, can give a supernatural quality to our our everyday lives.
There are many calls to stay awake! in scripture. From Matthew 24:42, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” From Ephesians 5:14, “For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” From 1 Thessalonians 4:6, “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”
God calls us to stay awake!, to give him our full attention and to be completely sober (avoiding spiritual drowsiness) on our spiritual journey with him. We give thanks for the watchfulness of the shepherds, the three kings, and Simeon and Anna when the Incarnate Word came into the world as a tiny baby. We too pray to stay awake! and to be ready when Jesus comes again. May we be like the wise virgins who had their oil lamps filled and lit and ready for the coming of the bridegroom in the night.
Perhaps the most poignant call to stay awake! in scripture is from Matthew 26:40, when Jesus admonishes his disciples to stay awake with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Could you not watch with me one hour.” Here, it’s not so much about them physically falling asleep, as it is their lack of spiritual wakefulness for Jesus as he prepares to take up his Cross for the sins of the world.
At times, we can be like the disciples — falling asleep with the many burdens of life. We can end up looking for help with these burdens in all the wrong places by turning to sin instead of turning to Jesus. Our spiritual wakefulness can drift into spiritual drowsiness.
Let us ask God to give us more strength to stay awake!, to seek him more deeply in prayer, and to rely on the sacraments to help us surrender to his ways. May we stay awake! to become more fully alive in Christ.
Lord grant that I stay awake, remain watchful, stand firm in the faith, out of my love for you. Amen.