[caption id="attachment_119936" align="aligncenter" width="800"] "God works when we are sleeping?" by Melanie Jean Juneau (CatholicMom.com) By Office de Lisieux (1940) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]
God can operate on us, purify us, heal us when we are asleep and can’t interfere or get in His way. St. Thérèse’s thoughts on prayer help clarify the truth that it is God who saves us, not our own efforts;  intense prayer does not mean OUR efforts are intense, no it is God’s efforts in us that are intense.

Sleeping Prayer

“I should be distressed that I drop off to sleep during my prayers and during my thanksgiving after Holy Communion. But I don’t feel at all distressed. I know that children are just as dear to their parents whether they are asleep or awake and I know that doctors put their patients to sleep before they operate. So I just think that God knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."
In fact, sometimes the most fruitful prayer times might actually occur when we are SLEEPING and can’t interfere or get in God's way. Listen to this astounding quote on the definition of a saint. Benedict XVI Reflects on 450 Years of Carmelite Reform-

In fact, a saint is not one who carries out great feats based on the excellence of his human qualities, but one who allows Christ to penetrate their soul, to act through their person, He being the real protagonist of all their actions and desires, who inspires every initiative and sustains every silence. 

To let oneself be led by Christ in this way is possible only for one who has an intense life of prayer.“

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Life in Christ is all about surrender, letting go of control, giving God permission to act through us. We are simply the aqueduct or pipe which the Spirit flows through. It is child’s play.

Matthew 18:3: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

I like to say that a child, frog, and tree are holy because they are who they called to be without a mask or false persona or large ego.

St. Thérèse

St. Thérèse understood and embraced a child-like spirituality.

“Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.”

I pray now by simply resting in Him, looking into the light and His eyes and He looks at me. l simply bask in the light and heat of His presence.

St. Thérèse said, 

"I say nothing to Him; I love Him.”

He looks at me. I smile. He smiles and immediately fills me with a surge of joy.

Simply be still and know that He is God; He will do the rest of the work in you, especially when you are sleeping.

Copyright 2017 Melanie Jean Juneau

About the Author

Melanie Jean Juneau

Melanie Jean Juneau

Melanie Jean Juneau is a mother of nine children who blogs at joy of nine9. Her writing is humorous and heart-warming; thoughtful and thought-provoking. Part of her call and her witness is to write the truth about children, family, marriage and the sacredness of life. Melanie is the administrator of ACWB, the Editor in Chief at CatholicLane, CatholicStand, Catholic365 , CAPC & author of Echoes of the Divine.