ANOTHER
SERMON VI
OF THE NIGHT WATCHES AGAINST THE ASSAULT OF SLEEPINESS
SIMON, sleepest thou? Could you not watch one hour with Me? Watch ye, and pray: that you enter not into temptation. This voice, beloved brethren, is the voice of the heavenly King and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Who urges His soldiers to watch in the camp against the temptations of the devil, the enemy of the human race. What therefore the Lord watchfully addresses to blessed Peter and the other disciples: this also undoubtedly He says to us all. Therefore, when the sacristan comes round at midnight and arouses us: let us be wakeful at once at the sound of the bell: and make ourselves ready by devout prayers to enter the choir: and hasten to meet the heavenly Bridegroom with burning torches. Let us endeavour, dearly beloved, manfully to cast off the sloth of the body: and sleepiness from our eyes. Let us lift up our hands to Heaven, to praise our Creator with joyous voices and pure minds: lest perchance the most cunning enemy prevail against us: and mock at some gaping, others singing but little, others out of tune in their voices. It is a very bad habit of some and it is to be hoped not of many, which I should be ashamed to say; who in the dormitory or in bed lie long awake idly dreaming: and in the church and in choir slumber for lack of devotion. These often harm themselves and others: they neither serve Christ manfully: nor pray faithfully for benefactors and the afflicted. For they offend God seriously, rising slothfully, often coming late: chanting lukewarmly, mispronouncing the words, often yawning, carelessly looking about them: paying little attention, making the inclinations heedlessly, wearying of the length of the psalms, and hastening to the finish. They rejoice at the signal for the refectory, they dread the bell for chapter: they hasten to a gossip, they enter their cell but slowly: they have little interest in their work, they are eager over dishes well prepared. All these are signs of little devotion, of great ingratitude: and of deep shame. Alas, the fear of God is not before their eyes: nor the love of God in their heart, nor His praise in their mouth: but perfidy in their voice, and luke-warmness in their deed. Where is God, where the angels: where all the saints of God? Where is the superior, where the sacristan, where the cantor; where the lector, where the suscitator? Everything fades away before the eyes of the sleeper. “Awake, ye just, and sin not,” says the apostle. ye and pray,” saith the Lord: “lest Satan tempt you, idle through want of spirit.” For he goeth about day and night seeking whom he may devour: how to deceive the simple, distract the devout: and disturb the peaceful. He is very glad if anyone does not chant, or reads ill: if he closes his eyes and slumbers: if with unguarded eyes he looks about and neglects himself He is speedily at hand to snatch the verse from the mouth of the sleepy: and to throw into his sack the fragments of words. O silly brother of the race of sleepers and of the number of the foolish virgins, whose lamps, we read, went out in the night: if thou dost not fear God, or respect the angels, or feel shame to scandalize thy brethren; why dost thou not dread the devil laying snares for thee, who diligently records in his book all the neglected and imperfect words? For as the holy angels present devout prayers to God, and love and praise them that sing fervently; so Satan with his followers lies in wait for them that pray, to distract and hinder those who sing psalms together in unison: and to have points not a few against them, of which to accuse and punish them. But since thou dost not heed or fear so cruel a thief, so crafty a spy, so severe a creditor, so unsparing an accuser, and harsh executioner, and seldom or but little dost weigh the evils to come and the pains of hell: therefore thou growest weary and dost slumber: and as one dead in the grave dost lie still and silent. There is no toil so heavy, no sorrow so bitter: but that it becomes lighter by comparison with the fire of hell. Alas, what shalt thou do at the moment of death: when the devil runs to meet thee with a terrible countenance and breathing fury? Where then the faithful friends: where the fine banquets and all the honours of the world? Wilt thou escape these terrors: and not fear the demons? Arise, watch, pray: sing, read, toil. Be silent before wrongs, bear injuries, love insults: spurn honours, forgive sinners. Let not the mourning of the damned depart from thy eyes, the fearful clamour of the demons: the most grievous banishment from the presence of God and the joyous fellowship of the saints. Thou art often afraid seeing the fire of a burning furnace: thou tremblest at thunder and lightning: thou dreadest storms, and great frosts: and dost scarcely dare to go to sleep and abide in thy cell. Since thou hast heard and read that many have come to an end by a sudden accident and sickness: why dost thou not fear that the like may happen thee? Know that more terrible torments threaten after death. Set in thy mind the things that are naturally dreadful, namely a blazing vessel full of pitch, stinking of sulphur: think of roaring lions, dogs biting, serpents hissing: toads gnawing, dragons devouring: and thou shalt more speedily overcome the vile sins brought thee by the devil to stain thy heart: and thou shalt drive farther from thee sloth of mind, sleepiness of body, and the desire of most empty praise. I tell thee that long vigils, long lessons, the daily Hours, silence, toil, and fast make a short Purgatory: and bring great joy, after the space of three or four hours. It is strange that thou dost so easily feel weariness in the choir chanting or reading: and dost not grow weary with long conversing, or hearing news of the world. Understand that this is the work of the devil: who strives in every way to hinder the divine worship: and to draw thee away from the church and the gathering of them that sing psalms: that he may have a companion to burn for ever in hell. Then they shall yell and howl for exceeding heat and pain: who do not now praise God in heart and mouth with great fervour. If it pleases thee to discourse with a friend for the sake of receiving some relief: how much more oughtest thou to hasten and pant to hear the things of God: to speak with God in hymns and canticles, leaving aside all other cares and fancies. But since facts often move more than words: some examples are to be added at the end of the sermon, for the sake of instruction. Imitate the good which pleases: be on thy guard against the evil which displeases.
AN EXAMPLE
A certain brother began to sleep a little at Matins. Noticing which, the brother seated next to him: quietly cast into his ear just this word: “Hell!” On hearing this, suddenly terrified and awakened: he cast off all drowsiness from him. Think therefore, slothful one, of hell: and thou wilt not slumber in choir, tired through weariness.
ANOTHER
Another brother also was singing but little, and when his neighbour did not hear his voice: he remonstrated with him that just then Matins were being sung. “Simon, sleepest thou?” And he, aroused by these words, became aware that he was remarked in his drowsiness: and in surprise and shame he was abashed before him that rebuked him.
ANOTHER
There was a certain brother in the Order of Regulars devout to God and well read: an artistic singer, and a zealous lover of the divine praise. He was speaking once familiarly with another brother on the sweetness of the divine chant: and of the solemn office which is performed in the church on the chief festivals. He said therefore to him by way of edification to encourage his weakness: that he might cheerfully sing in choir. “Brother, praise be to God, I have never had weariness in the Divine Office: however long it might be. For on the Feast of Palms, although compared with other days the divine service seems very long: nevertheless I was not weary of the length of the singing: but I felt myself so ready to sing, that if anyone had wished to begin the whole from the beginning again: I should willingly have commenced and chanted with him.” Hearing this, the aforesaid brother was edified: and rendered more eager for the chant. This elder should be well believed; for he was always among the first to come to choir, he seldom went out, if he went out for some need he speedily returned: while there he faithfully helped according to his power, and he did not turn his eyes to other matters.
ANOTHER
Another brother of the same Order, on fire with the zeal of God, struggled hard against drowsiness: and did violence to himself as follows. For weighed down by sleep in choir, he pulled out the hairs of his head with his hand: he roughly rubbed his beard, he pricked his nose with a pen, he made his eyes smart with spittle: and sometimes he placed under his chin a hard piece of wood, that he might drive away sleep. And when he felt the motions of the flesh, he thought on the flames of the fire of hell: and he sharply tore the skin of his body with his finger nails, and inflicted red wounds on his prurient flesh: until the illicit movement, aroused by the devil, wholly ceased.