“Rise From Sleep” (Day 2 of the Holy Rule)

“Run whilst you have the light of life, that the darkness of death overtake you not.”

Citing St. Paul yet again, our Holy Father Benedict reminds the audience that we are sleep walking through life's treacheries.  Both sin and death-- brothers of oblivion-- have taken their share of humanity in their second fall.  As we wake, we must stir ourselves from the torpor of the Void to the call of the Sun.

Open one's eyes to the dappled glow of the early morning:

"But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves from the stall." Malachi 4:2 (The definitive Messianic sun prophecy).

Christ as this same "Sun" rises yet again in the canticle of Zachariah:

"...because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:78–79 (Zechariah’s prophecy concerning the arriving Messiah)

The emphasis of St. Benedict's call to arise early is due to time's finitude.  There is only so much light in the day.  The opportunities to change are thus numbered.

This may wax poetic for the modern ear but the metaphor points to something all too real:

Death is a known limit, so we must not act as if our lives are without end. To delude oneself or hide from this certainty is irrational. This is a known truth of the Last End.  Our affairs must be worked out in order while there is time to do so-- just as a landed man with a vast estate should work out his own affairs in a well-attested will.  Otherwise, he risks squandering his wealth in the end on far less diligent inheritorswho cannot be true and deserving stewards of his legacy.

We must make preparations each day upon rising as if each day were the last.  In a sense, it always is.  Tomorrow will never be again.  It is forever lost.  And so, tomorrow, as a matter of course, is also wasted yet again -- if we do not change our ways.  The sloth of disobedience must give way to a response on our part to Christ who is identified with the Sun of Malachi's prophecy as repeated by the baffled father of the Forerunner:

"There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Matthew 17:2 (The Transfiguration)

Or mentioned again by St. John:

"In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Revelation 1:16 (John's vision of the glorified Christ)

Or, of the Apostle, speaking to his own conversion before a bored monarch:

"About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions...(and a voice then said) 'Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'" Acts 26:13 (Paul describing his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus)

And the Beloved, from Patmos, yet again:

Revelation 21:23 "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."

Revelation 22:5 "There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light."

Finally. Christ's own words claims to be the self-same light:

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12).

"Son," our Holy Father seems to shout, "get up!  Get up!  We've got lots to do!"