Rev 11:19a; 12, 1-6a. 10ab/ 1 Cor 15:20-26/ Lk 1:39-56
To have insomnia is very frustrating. You can lie in bed and feel tired, and yet you can’t get to sleep.
And to think that everyone else is sleeping away, and even getting to sleep so easily, that can be quite depressing.
Of course, there are a few ways to induce sleep.
One is to take sleeping pills, but that won’t be good for the long term.
Or the other often used method is to “count the sheep”, but when the numbers get too big, it might create another problem.
I would want to suggest a better method, and that is to say the Rosary.
It is amazing as well as amusing, that whenever we say the Rosary, there seems to be this tranquilizing effect.
We may start off fresh and alert, and then along the way we seem to slow down to almost a standstill.
Yet that is one of the purposes of prayer – that we become still and know who God is (Ps 46:10).
And in the prayer of Mary in today’s gospel, the prayer that is often called the “Magnificat”, Mary affirms that the Lord will come to the help of His servants, mindful of His mercy.
And just as the Lord has done great things for Mary, the Lord will also do great things for us, His servants.
If the Lord raised Mary body and soul into heaven, won’t He grant us a good night’s sleep when we ask Him?
But if we can’t get to sleep easily, it may mean that we are either physically or mentally or spiritually not at rest.
By physically not being at rest, it may mean that we have pushed our bodies too much and our bodies now react against us.
By mentally not being at rest, it may mean that we worry and are anxious about so many things, but Jesus tells us that all our worrying will not add one cubit to our life (Mt 6:27), nor does it solve any problems at all.
By spiritually not being at rest, that may mean that our hearts are not with the Lord and that He is not in the center of our hearts.
Yet Psalm 126 has this to say: If the Lord does not build the house,
in vain do its builders labour; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil. In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat, when He pours gifts on His beloved while they slumber.
Yes, the Lord pours forth His blessing on us even while we sleep in slumber.
Yet we must look to Mary our Mother and learn how to live and move and have our being in the Lord.
In her humility, she accepted God’s will to be His handmaid.
In her charity, she was of service to her cousin Elizabeth in her time of need.
In her fidelity, she stood by the cross of her Son and accepted to be our Mother also.
And even now from her place in heaven, she continues her mission of being our Mother by praying for us and helping us to follow Jesus.
Yes, Mary holds us close to her heart so that we can be at peace and rest secure in the Lord.
Let us pray to her with the Rosary, not only when we can’t sleep, but also whenever we are faced with the turmoils of life.
For with Mary, our salvation will lie in conversion and tranquility, our strength in complete trust in the Lord (Isa 30:15).