We awake each day at 3:30 AM to get ready for the office of Vigils. Often when I share this tidbit of our life people just groan and say: WHY? Well the obvious answer is to pray. But there is something else here. We generally LIKE getting up that early. WHY? Well for example, take last week. It was the week of the harvest moon. The moonlight from the harvest moon is exquisite and it is bright. It illumines everything. You hardly need a light on to see. It has a quality that is different than any other full moon. How do I know that? Well, I'm up for every full moon and have the leisure of the early morning to enjoy it. It is a simple pleasure but a pleasure indeed.

We have been reading Julian of Norwich for our second nocturn reading on ferial days. Julian writes about the pleasure Our Lord takes in us in our prayer "Our Lord is very happy and glad with our prayer. He expects it and he wants to have it, because with his grace it makes us like himself". Listening to words like these is worth getting up for!

Sister Maggie