First Monday of Lent

Day Six

Part 1 Chapter 6 

“Promptness in Rising”

 

"I'm not a morning person."  I don't know when this concept first entered our culture, but it has been my 'go to' excuse for neglecting a number of solid spiritual practices over the years.  Early rising, charitable speech, a healthy breakfast (more as a child and teenager), morning devotions before the duties of the day, morning Mass, were all casualties of my natural preference toward a late bedtime and grudging rising.  

 

Last year when one of my daughters was preparing to make her First Holy Communion, we bought "The King of the Golden City" and read it together daily.  In one of the chapters (I just lent out my copy, so I can't tell you which chapter.) the guardian angel tells his charge about the necessity to take charge of "Self" as soon as "Self" awakens.  He explained how skillful "Self" is at argumentation and persuasion at that moment and how ill-equipped we are; that is why it is better not to listen to a single pleading it offers.  The description of how the rest of the character's day went when the angel's advice went unheeded was an uncanny description of some of my days when I indulge in extra sleep.

 

Saint Josemaria Escriva wrote in "The Way" about rising promptly.  He called it "the heroic minute" (I've also heard it as "moment").  "It is the time fixed for getting up.  Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and ... up!  The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body."  The saints quoted in our chapter today are even more revealing of the necessity of having an early rising time and firmly adhering to it as a spiritual practice.  If you are naturally disposed to rise early, this practice may not challenge you as much as others discussed in this book.  If, however, you are also not a "morning person" then this is an area of true sacrifice.

Perhaps rather than setting a rising time "before the rays of the sun", simply set a reasonable rising time at first and work to stick to it.  If you set a time (preferably before your children wake) and still find yourself "unable" to be faithful to it, then praise God that your underlying issues have been revealed and can be confronted. 

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Notes
"Give the enemy no quarter!" references the military practice of giving lodging to soldiers, which is called quartering.
Monsignor quoted a verse from the book of Proverbs--"love not sleep"; it is Proverbs 20:13.

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Additional resources: 

This is the edition I would recommend for "The King of the Golden City": http://www.amazon.com/King-Golden-City-Allegory-Children/dp/1934185035