Praying

There are many people, mostly elderly who need very little sleep, yet they are never tired. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) once said ‘when you cannot go to sleep, remember that there is someone in the world who needs your prayers.’ The British writer G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) tells us ‘do you pray before meals? Good. I pray before a concert, before I open a book, before I start painting,  before I swim,  before I go for a walk, before I dance, and before I dip my pen into the ink jar.’  Whoever can kneel down in front of God, can then stand up in front of everyone. It used to be said that if you cannot get to sleep, start counting sheep. But better yet, if you can’t fall asleep, talk to the Shepherd! And remember Fr Patrick Peyton's famous quote: The family that prays together, stays together.