6 min read

VI I. Hidden Chamber

May We keep Watch with Him

The day is said to retire within the bedroom—our movements, thoughts, and anxieties of the day—but that is not exactly what happens is it? While we come to a night’s closing, we then begin to enter into our second chamber—a hidden passageway through the heart. Many things are enclosed within this volume; more than the chambers we know of in the primary organ. We have yet to understand that there is an infinite dwelling. The subconscious tellings within the inner depths can be sometimes as vital as our transient…conscious…moments…

Once we take refuge within our sleep we begin to embark on a different journey, one that may involve an extensive glimpse of what we have gone through in the last hours or decades of our lives. Our baggage does not exactly hold up against the night’s ending. Yes, we have a clean slate the next day, but what are we doing with each new chapter if not learning from our past uptakes. Once the given day has reached its plateau, we live by an ancient tradition: the examination of conscience—a walk into our veiled resistance against holiness. As elusive as the struggle may be, who demands that it cease at our pillow’s end? There is a 9pm canticle that begins the motive to peer through:

Save us, Lord, while we are awake, protect us while we sleep; that we may keep watch with Christ and rest with him in peace…

—Compline

Dream x Intercessory...

Many people will cast off dreams as a distorted manifestation of worries and even overeating carried on the night of. Even if they do prove to be so, should we simply toss whatever gems of truths that linger within their waters; whatever defects begging to be scrutinized for our eternal sake?

Although you may be faintly unaware, waking up at certain hours of the night could be an inkling or a keen sign. If we are to be prayerful, we must also be spiritually sensitive, not entirely closed off. Yes, it can be hard. As our inspiration for one hour in adoration we use what God said to His apostles, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40), not to imply that it is easy—as the disciples wouldn’t sleep clearly out of indifference—but that it should have been a necessary concern and struggle. It can be a fight to stay close to God. God reminds us that we must still do our part to carry our cross in order to be closer to Him. When you have the strong but sleepy vague idea to pray even in those tiring hours, we must quickly do so with fervor, as we are told to pray unceasingly. What could have possibly been meant by praying unceasingly? If anything it would involve praying outside of the appointed times or during the day. This unceasing reference even applies to the middle of the night if necessary, as you have no idea how potent prayers can be in the nick of time.

However, what keeps us nourished in prayer? Sometimes prayer can remain lethargic and we need something or anything, intimate, troubling and close to us to start praying with sweet intensity. Nothing is closer to us than those moments we awake from our lingering dream or sudden nightmare. As fleeting as they are, perhaps don’t tell yourself that it is over or just a dream. Use that moment to intercede for someone, if you have dreamt of them, but haven’t seen or thought of them in years. Your Hail Mary could be curing an issue that they never become aware of. They could need your prayers at that hour. Yes, timely prayers change the trajectory of lives and prayers can also move in and out of time, proving to be just as distorted as dreams. Years of cumulative praying can go far and beyond our recitation and can open doors or break bonds for loved ones, or strangers. It remains all about what we cannot see. Remember, true faith is believing and not always seeing or receiving through the naked eye. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. (John 20: 29)

Spiritual Recollection

When we are conscious, it could be a gift to take note of what God could be telling us. Even out of the depths of our sleep, just as God can communicate with us, so can the enemy send his...click here to finish reading.