"Awake, O sleeper, ... and Christ will give you light!"

St. Paul's words from his letter to the Ephesians in our second reading this weekend struck me.

"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light"

Sleeper. It's a convicting label. Have I been "a sleeper"? How?

Our Lenten practices awaken us. Through God's grace we have the desire to engage in them. Then, Christ shines His light on those things that make us dead, on those things that keep us from fully loving God and neighbor, on those things that keep us loving created things and not the Creator who made them.

He lets us see, so that we can ask for Him to heal us. Then, by allowing God to transform us with His light, we also become His light in the world. His loves passes through us to others. If we can just wake up.

I think Jesus has a sense of humor. I can imagine him answering my question this way, "If you ever ate a ham sandwich on Friday in Lent and didn't realize what you've done until you were standing in line for confession a week later, you might be a sleeper."

Sleeper.

Jesus, shine your light on me. Wake me up. Lent's almost over.