Sleep humbly and dream of angels; Angels: Day 090

Sleep humbly and dream of angels

Jacob had a stone for his pillow when he had his vision of the heavenly ladder, St. John Chrysostom reminds us. How can we expect to see visions of angels when we sleep in luxuries, and deny even the necessities of life to the poor?

Shall I show you another bed? I mean that of Jacob. He lay on the ground, and a stone was under his head. Therefore also, he saw the symbolical stone, and that ladder on which angels were ascending and descending.

We should have that kind of bed, so that we may see such visions. If we lie on silver, we not only gain no pleasure, but also endure trouble. For whenever you re- member that in the severest cold in the middle of the night, while you’re sleeping on your couch, the poor man lying on chaff in the porticoes of the baths, covered with straw, is trembling, numb with cold, and fainting with hunger, even if you really had a heart of stone, be assured that you’ll condemn yourself for being con- tent that, while you luxuriate in excess, he can’t even enjoy the necessaries of life. “No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits,” says the Apostle

(2 Tim. 2:4). You’re a spiritual soldier. But such a soldier doesn’t sleep on an ivory bed, but on the ground. He doesn’t use scented oils—that’s the habit of sensual and dissolute people, of those who live on the stage, or in indolence. It’s not the smell of ointment that you should have, but the smell of virtue. The soul is no purer when the body is scented. In fact, this fragrance of the body and clothes may even be a sign of inward corruption and uncleanness. For when Satan makes his approaches to corrupt the soul and fill it with all indolence, then he also uses ointments to stamp on the body the stains that mark its inner defilement.

For nothing—nothing is worse than luxury. –St. John Chrysostom, Four Discourses, Chiefly on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Discourse 1, chapter 8

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

What luxuries could I give up so that I might live a more angelic life?

CLOSING PRAYER

Guardian Angel, always keep the poor, the needy, the widows, the foreigners, and the orphans before my eyes and in my mind, so that I may serve them, and serve Christ in them.

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