Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, then, what you received and heard; obey it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Revelation 3:2-3

I have been pondering of late what it means to be awake and asleep as so often is referred to in scripture. Being awake is being aware of the Spiritual realm and reality that exists beyond what we can see. Being asleep is being taken in by the things of the world.

In the Gospel of Matthew we see the story of Jesus being asleep on the ship when a storm arises. 

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” Matthew 8:23-27

In this story the paradox is that Jesus, though He is physically sleeping, is the only one who is really awake (of course He is God!). The storm, be it a literal storm, or any other kind of storm life throws at us, distracts us making us look at the world and the things in it. It steals the peace of God, whose face we should be adoring. 

We all can relate to the Apostles in this episode, but really, all they had to do was look at His sleeping face and trust that if He is able to sleep through this, they would be fine. And not just fine but glorified. But they didn’t see the spiritual reality. They only saw the material reality of the world swirling around them. He is the keeper of these storms. After all the healings and all the good news they have witnessed prior to this boat trip, they still believed He would let them perish. Did they not know God’s goodness? They were the ones who were asleep. They had not yet become temples of the living God. 

Then we see later, while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He is asking them to stay awake and pray. Yet they physically fall asleep. 

Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.” Matthew 26:40-46

This scripture speaks about their eyes being heavy. Heaviness comes from carrying a weight that isn’t necessary.  Jesus is the Savior, praying to do the will of the Father, yet they still are not awake to the full reality of this. Why do you think he wants them to watch and pray? It is for their sakes. So they may not “come into the time of trial.” He wants them to spiritually see what is happening and pray – which unites them to the Father. It is for their sake He asks them to be awake. They are unable to. The result is that when the storm of the Passion comes, they run away. They deny and fight the Father’s will. They doubt what they have known. 

The only one of the Apostles who stood and saw the offering on the cross was John, who many mystics tell us ran to get Mary. She was awake and praying uniting her will to the Father. Her intercession was for all of them, but in a particular way for John. 

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”  Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. John 19:26-27

When we look at the Blessed Virgin Mary we can see the dogma of indefectibility. That is, we see the church herself is indefectible remaining the Institution of Salvation, founded by Christ, until the end of the world – because she was already perfected in the Blessed Virgin Mary through whom the sanctifying grace of God pours upon us. 

Mary is and always has been awake and she has appeared to us throughout the centuries to Mother the church back on the path of truth. She looks like we look in all the places she appears, showing us the image of God in our own faces. She warns us and calls us back.

It isn’t enough to pray a Rosary in fear of what is to come. We must pray in love and trust of the glory that God has promised; taking her as our Mother, so that we the church can be perfected without falling asleep.

You may right now be in a situation at your own church wondering if you should leave, seeing the weaknesses of your own Priests whose spirit may be willing but whose flesh is weak. It is here that Christ calls us to be awake, for our own sake. See the face of God instead of the storm. When we hide and run away from our crosses, it just changes the cross we carry. The reality is that no matter where we go, the storm is raging. We must pray like never before for our Priests and our families. We must be a lightning rod that grounds the lightning strikes in a posture of adoration that moves outward to those around us. We must trust that what comes our way is meant to bring glory, even when it feels like destruction. God only wants to destroy that which keeps us from Him. He makes it transparent first. 

If we unite ourselves in prayer and trust and place ourselves under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin, we will see more clearly. We will be awake. This is not easy. It is a suffering. Nothing draws you closer to God faster than suffering and still believing. It is a call to abandonment to the Divine Will.