Saints' Discussion Forums

'Once an Elder lived in solitude as a monk in the desert, beseeching God to grant him the following gift: that whenever a spiritual and edifying conversation was in progress, he would not grow sleepy; but whenever someone spoke idly or gossiped, a deep sleep would come upon him, so that his hearing would not be touched by the poison of those words. And, indeed, that which he asked, God gave him. Now, this virtuous Elder used to say that the Devil is a fashioner of idle talk and an enemy of every spiritual teaching. He confirmed this point with the following example:

"Once I was talking with some brothers who were visited me about various spiritual matters beneficial to my soul. My listeners grew so sleepy that they could not even move their eyelids. Seeing this sleepiness, I wanted to show them that this was an obvious operation of the Devil. I began idly to discuss various things. As soon as those with whom I was conversing heard this aimless talk, they immediately came out of their slumber and joyfully began to follow the conversation. So, I sighed," continued the Elder, "and said to my fellow conversants: 'Brothers, when we were talking of heavenly things, your eyes were overcome by sleep. But as soon as vain and unedifying talk came up, then all of you eagerly woke up. I implore you, then, my brothers: Reflect well on the action of the evil demon and be careful for yourselves, protecting yourselves from drowsiness when you do or hear something spiritual.'"'

- from the writings of the desert fathers

Stays with me. We must pray against the machinations of the Devil when we recognize them, and for the proper responses to conversation.  :crucifix:

Reminds me of the time the apostles slept while Jesus was suffering His Agony in the garden.

It's mental warfare, so much of this! The realm of the spiritual is the realm of the mind!

Our parish priest gave us a great sermon today on the existence of the devil and evil spirits and cautioned against playing with black magic, spells etc.  There were babies bawling loudly throughout the sermon which made it difficult to hear anything. Anyway a refreshing change to hear a priest speak openly about the existence of the devil. The church actually  clapped at the end of the sermon though they usually don't.

That little extract on drowsiness has confirmed something for me.
When I used to pray my rosary at home I usually get drowsy and found myself almost falling asleep.
I wondered if this was a ploy of the devil or just me being tired naturally, so I decided to go for a walk with my dog in a lonely place and pray the rosary while walking. I was blessed to have such a place nearby with winding paths leading to the top of a hill. At night it is so dark there that I have never encountered anyone else. I discovered recently that St Columba used to pray there at night and actually sleep on the hill with a stone for a pillow.
It has become a very special place to me now and feels like I'm alone with God and the Blessed Virgin, angels and saints and being outdoors and walking while praying means I never get drowsy. At home though when I pray the rosary with my wife and family (when I can coerce the latter to do so) I never get drowsy. I just be so happy that we're praying together to be affected by tiredness.  :D

A friend of mine sometimes calls round (and vice versa) and we have some good discussions on the faith but everytime the conversation turns to the merits of TLM, without fail he suddenly falls asleep. He has never been to a TLM and thinks I'm being a fundamentalist when I mention it.  :-\
I'm thinking now that maybe there's something else at work besides me being boring.   :sleepie:

I find walking helps me too Martin. . . Simply walking around inside the house even. . . though outside is more refreshing and inspiring. . .

I have always had a habit of walking around and about the house in thought.

I shall have to walk outside more in prayer!  :crucifix:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. . . Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. . .