WHILE EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP

Jer 7,1-11; Ps 83; Mt 13,24-30
28 JULY
There is a supernatural sleep, a natural sleep and a sleep of sin. When God wants to work some prodigies of his love, he sends a supernatural sleep.

So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken” (Gen 2,21-23).  As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. Then the Lord said to Abram: “Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth. You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age. In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then” (Gen 15,12-16).

So David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his men sleeping around him. Abishai whispered to David: “God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need a second thrust!” But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him, for who can lay hands on the Lord’s anointed and remain unpunished? As the Lord lives,” David continued, “it must be the Lord himself who will strike him, whether the time comes for him to die, or he goes out and perishes in battle. But the Lord forbid that I touch his anointed! Now take the spear which is at his head and the water jug, and let us be on our way.” So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul’s head, and they got away without anyone’s seeing or knowing or awakening. All remained asleep, because the Lord had put them into a deep slumber (1Sam 26,7-12).

Supernatural sleep is always for the greater good of men. The sleep of sin has as its fruit the destruction of the works of God. Against this sleep of sin, the prophet Isaiah has words of fire. For this sleep the people perish.

All you wild beasts of the field, come and eat, all you beasts in the forest! My watchmen are blind, all of them unaware; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Dreaming as they lie there, loving their sleep. They are relentless dogs, they know not when they have enough. These are the shepherds who know no discretion; Each of them goes his own way, every one of them to his own gain: “Come, I will fetch some wine; let us carouse with strong drink, And tomorrow will be like today, or even greater” (Is 56,9-12).

Today this sleep of sin has taken possession of many Christians. While they sleep, dreaming of foolish and senseless theological disputes and plans for advanced pastoral care, the enemy comes and sows his weeds and these grow flourishing and strong.

He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

The enemy takes advantage of every moment of distraction and inattention to sow his bad seed. To the disciple of Jesus the obligation never to fall into the sleep of sin.

Faithful Virgin, Angels and Saints ensure that we never become silent dogs unable to bark.