Inasmuch as Chapter 2 is about getting up in the pre-dawn darkness, it's surely appropriate that Ford should give us some good news about sleep. He recommends it, especially as a spiritual exercise! For two reasons: first, as "embodied spirits" we need to pay attention to our bodies which God has designed for the pleasures and joy of rest; and second, God, who does not sleep, gives himself as our model for rest and sabbath. So inasmuch as God "made us to need sleep" and He himself knows how to relax, we find it a joy to slow down and periodically close our eyes as a spiritual exercise expressing our trust in God.Somewhere I've read that Martin Marty, the University of Chicago's distinguished church historian, lies down seven times a day (on the floor, I'm told, with his feet up on the coffee table) so as to take seven short naps throughout the day. Envisioning Marty so, I think of him as the patron saint of nappers, someone to emulate.
So here's my witness: this morning I went out to the workshop for Vigils about 5:00 a.m. Since today the Church is remembering St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, after Vigils I read a few pages from Augustine's Confessions, Chapter 9, wherein he tells us what we know about his mother. After some long pauses to reflect on things, I crossed the yard (now wet with the night's soft raining) and came back into the house and went back to bed for an hour. Absolutely delicious!
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