As an overthinker, too often I can lay awake while my mind runs races around the course of the same worrying thoughts. I’ve taken to turning on the EWTN app, going to OnDemand, scrolling down to the Homilies, Prayers and Devotions button, then to the Rosaries and Prayers.
As I first lay down to go to sleep, I turn on the15-minute version of Litany of the Sacred Heart, complete with Benediction at the end. More often than not, I will be asleep before the priest starts praying.
If, or rather when, I wake up about 2:00 or 3:00, I won’t let my mind get started, I’ll go to the Chaplet of St. Michael. If my mind has already started, I’ll pray along with Mother Angelica but I’m usually asleep before very many Salutations.
If I wake up about 4:00 or 5:00, I’ll turn on whichever of Mother Angelica’s Rosary is appropriate for that day and usually I’ll be asleep before she begins praying.
My mind is a battlefield. Worry is genetically, if not spiritually, inherited. Whether my restless thoughts are my own or inspired by darkness, these prayers are a good way to put my mind into neutral, allowing the Lord to direct my thoughts, bringing ‘every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.’
Last night, I awoke and couldn’t go back to sleep with something especially heavy on my heart. I grabbed my phone and went out to my prayer space where I have two pictures, one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and one of Mary.
The weather has begun heating up during the day, but the nights are still somewhat cool. Before going to bed, I opened the patio door and turned on the ceiling fan, which rhythmically squeaked with every rotation. Fortunately, I can’t hear it from the bedroom.
I lay prostrate before my picture of the Sacred Heart and turned on EWTN’s Litany of the Sacred Heart. The music began but the squeak of the ceiling fan was not in rhythm to the music. Mildly annoyed, I decided to ignore it and continue praying with the priest.
Interestingly, however, when the priest began praying the Divine Praises, the ceiling fan suddenly stopped squeaking.
After I finished praying, I went back to bed and slept soundly.
Sometime after I went back to bed and before I got up in the morning, the ceiling fan began to squeak again.
for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. ~2 Corinthians 10:4-5
