Here's To Waking Up Early

We Catholics are not living up to our own principles and beliefs.

I have yet again performed the successful feat of waking up at an ungodly hour, and it seems that my body would prefer it this way. For I am not only more awake when I let my internal clock do its own thing, but I am much more productive, doing far more than others around me.

And this has me thinking. When someone wakes up in our culture, and they see the inconsistencies, the half-truths and the unhappiness of those around them, shouldn’t that make them more productive than those who cannot see straight? And yet consistently Christians (who admittedly are only seeing through a dark glass themselves, 1 Cor. 13:12) seem no more committed to living up to the purpose of life than their contemporaries.

If life is ultimately about God, our loving Him and knowing Him, then I am completely at a loss as to explain the behaviour of those who have woken up.

Now if the purpose of life is really about pleasure as the hedonists say, well I can find quite a number who are living up to that program in just about any city or work place we might visit. And if this life is really just about acquiring stuff as the materialists tell us, well then it makes a lot of sense as to why the mall is consistently the largest building in many a rural area. But if life is ultimately about God, our loving Him and knowing Him, then I am completely at a loss as to explain the behaviour of those who have woken up.

To use the well known image of the Allegory of the Cave, we would hope that the Christian, freed from his chains after a life of staring, would get up and pursue what he knows to be true, but this is rarely the case. Many, baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sadly and inexplicably sit down again to observe with the hedonist and those who accompany him in his dreamy state. You see, they have gotten up early; they can see what others can’t, and yet the attraction of the images dancing on the wall in front of them seem too much to resist.

And this is why I will not go to bed though the hour makes no sense. For while sleep always seems like a good idea to me, I know that our Lord quite frequently disagrees.

“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed…” Revelation 16:15