The Pilgrim's Rule
Chapter 14
Sleep and Divine Providence
When thou shalt sleep, thou shalt not fear: thou shalt rest, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
Each evening the body teaches a lesson that is slow to learn.
Throughout the day man labors, thinks, speaks, builds, plans, and strives. His hands are occupied, his mind attentive, and his strength spent in the duties appointed to him. Yet as the shadows lengthen and night descends upon the earth, there comes a moment when every labor must cease.
The strongest arm grows weary.
The keenest mind becomes clouded.
The most diligent worker must at last surrender to sleep.
Thus the Creator gently reminds man that he was never intended to sustain the world.
The earth continues its course while he sleeps.
The stars keep their appointed places.
The seas their boundaries.
The seasons advance according to the wisdom of God.
Children continue to breathe, the harvest quietly ripens, and countless souls awaken in lands far beyond his own.
Nothing depends entirely upon him.
How difficult this lesson is for the human heart.
Man gladly acknowledges that God governs the universe until his own plans are interrupted. Then anxiety begins to whisper that everything depends upon his vigilance. He fears what tomorrow may bring, replays yesterday's failures, and imagines burdens that have not yet arrived.
Yet sleep permits none of these illusions.
One who refuses to sleep cannot preserve his strength.
One who refuses to rest cannot prolong his life.
The body itself refuses to cooperate with .
Sooner or later, every man must surrender.
Sleep is therefore an act of written into our nature.
Each night the pilgrim places himself once more into the hands of God.
His eyes close.
His labors cease.
His vigilance is laid aside.
He entrusts himself to the Providence that neither slumbers nor sleeps.
How often Sacred Scripture speaks of the Lord as the unfailing Guardian of His people.
"Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel." (Psalm 120(121):4)
What comfort lies within these words.
The pilgrim sleeps because God remains awake.
He rests because the divine government of the world never pauses for a single moment.
The father may sleep while the heavenly Father watches over his children.
The shepherd may sleep while the Chief Shepherd never loses sight of His flock.
The weary laborer may sleep while the Creator continues to sustain every creature by His power.
Thus sleep becomes an image of confidence.
The child falls asleep easily because he trusts the one who watches over him.
The anxious heart often struggles to rest because it seeks to bear a burden that belongs to God alone.
The pilgrim therefore learns to examine not merely the length of his sleep but the disposition with which he enters it.
Has he finished the duties of the day faithfully?
Has he asked forgiveness for his faults?
Has he thanked God for His blessings?
Has he forgiven those who have injured him?
If so, he may lay his head upon the pillow with a peaceful , leaving tomorrow in the hands of Divine Providence.
For this reason the close of day should become a small school of holy trust. The pilgrim kneels before God, makes a brief examination of , gives thanks for the mercies received, asks pardon for his faults, renews his purpose of , forgives from the heart those who have offended him, and commends his soul and body to the keeping of the Blessed Trinity. Such night prayer does not lengthen the day with anxiety. It gathers the day into God's hands.
There are nights, however, when sleep does not come easily.
The sick endure pain.
Parents watch beside the bed of a suffering child.
The aged lie awake beneath the weight of years.
Others wrestle with grief, , loneliness, or uncertainty.
Even these wakeful hours are not outside the providence of God.
The Lord Who numbers the hairs of our head also numbers the hours of our sleeplessness.
No tear shed in the silence of the night escapes His notice.
No hidden prayer offered in darkness is unheard.
The pilgrim need not fear the night.
Darkness belongs to God no less than daylight.
The same Providence that governs the brightness of noon governs the silence before dawn.
Many of God's greatest works are accomplished where human eyes can scarcely perceive them.
The seed lies hidden beneath the earth before it rises.
The child grows while it sleeps.
The wound quietly heals during hours of rest.
So too the soul is often strengthened by God in ways that remain invisible until much later.
The pilgrim must therefore resist the to measure God's activity only by what he can immediately perceive.
Providence is ordinarily quiet.
It does not hurry.
It does not forget.
It does not lose its way.
The years that appear confused to man are perfectly ordered within the eternal wisdom of God.
How many sorrows have later revealed themselves to be hidden mercies.
How many disappointments have preserved souls from greater dangers.
How many delays have become occasions for deeper holiness.
Only eternity will fully reveal how wisely the heavenly Father governed every step of the faithful pilgrim.
Each night also prepares us for another sleep.
There comes a final evening when the labors of this earthly pilgrimage are completed.
The hands that once worked become still.
The eyes close upon the passing world.
The voice falls silent.
The body enters its rest, awaiting the resurrection promised by Christ.
For the faithful soul, this final sleep is not abandonment but expectation.
As one who retires at evening hopes to awaken with the dawn, so the Christian commits his body to the earth in hope of the glorious resurrection on the Last Day.
Thus every night's rest quietly rehearses the great act of confidence by which the pilgrim will one day surrender his whole life into the hands of God.
Blessed is the soul that has learned to sleep in peace because it has first learned to trust.
For he who rests each night beneath the care of Divine Providence shall more easily commend his spirit to God when the last evening of this life has come.
For Meditation
Do I carry burdens that belong only to God?
When I lie down to rest, is my heart filled with trust or with anxious striving?
Do I end each day with gratitude, repentance, and forgiveness?
Have I learned to recognize the quiet workings of Divine Providence, even when I cannot yet understand them?
Do I make the close of day a time of examination, thanksgiving, , forgiveness, and surrender to God?
Rule for the Pilgrim
Receive each night's sleep as a lesson in holy confidence.
Perform faithfully the duties God has entrusted to you, then surrender all that remains beyond your power into His providential care.
Before sleep, examine your , thank God, ask pardon, forgive your neighbor, and commend yourself to the keeping of the Father Who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
For the God Who watches over His children through every night shall never fail to awaken the faithful unto the everlasting morning of His Kingdom.