Before retiring they shall make the Evening Examen as formulated in Article VI.
After they are in bed, let them re member that Our Lord and many saints slept on the cold ground and how much they are obliged to love and serve Him, since His sweet bounty provides so paternally for their little comforts.
They should lie in the same posture they would take if they saw Our Lord with their own eyes, for truly He sees them as well in this action as in every other.
As they lie in bed, they shall consider that one day they will thus lie in the tomb and they shall pray God to assist them at the hour of death.
They should try to fall asleep always With some pious thought, because there Is a demon who haunts their sleep in Order to infect it with some bad imagination, and another who haunts their awakening to fill their spirit with a thousand vain and useless thoughts.
If God permits them to awaken during the night, they shall immediately arouse their soul with these words, "At midnight a cry was made. Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet Him." (Matt. 25:6).
COMMENTARY
In Article II of the Spiritual Directory, Rising, we saw how Jesus is the Alpha, the first, the beginning of each day of our lives. Now, in Article X, Retiring, we shall gee how Jesus is the Omega, the last, the end of each day of our lives.
Now that the day is ending and we are in bed, to whom does St. Francis de Sales bid us turn? To Jesus. To poor Jesus. To Jesus Who slept on the cold ground. To Jesus Who said, "The birds of the air have nests, the foxes have dens, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." How much we are obliged to love and serve Jesus Who provides so well for our little comforts and Who lacked them Himself! Thank Jesus for your comfortable bed, your clean linen, your warm room. Thank Jesus also, for having suffered on the cold ground in working out your salvation. This gratitude and love is as pleasing to God as the austerities of the Trappists. Our Lord does not want you to sleep on boards and straw, but He does want you to be filled with loving gratitude for the little comforts which He supplies.
These first moments in bed, these last moments of the day, should be given over to the practices of the Directory, These are moments of prayer, moments of union, moments of consecration of the night. Consequently, our posture should be as the Directory indicates. Later, we shall take the posture most conducive to sleep.
How wonderful and joyous is the thought that Jesus is looking at me as I lie in bed! Jesus is always looking at me with love. But, what is more important for me to remember is that I must be looking at Jesus all the time. He is the only model of Christian perfection. It is only by keeping my eyes on Him and following His example that I shall arrive at the perfection that the heavenly Father expects of one.
Next, St. Francis de Sales says: "As they lie in bed, they shall consider that one day they will thus lie in the tomb and they shall pray God to assist them at the hour of death." The story is told of one of the Popes who had a wax figure of himself made as he would look in death. Then he had it clothed in the purple vestments that all clerics wear in death and had it placed in a coffin. Every time that this Vicar of Christ had an important decision to make, he would go to this little oratory and kneel before this sombre spectacle. Then, he would ask himself this question, "What will you wish you had done when this day comes?" St. Francis de Sales is not less "dramatic." He tells us to reconstruct this thing-to-be every night as we lie stretched out in bed. He would have us ask ourselves, "What will you wish you had done when this day has come?" How very charitable how very humble, how very pure, how very detached from this world, how very attached to the Will of God we will wish we had lived when the day of death comes! Every night the true Christian is entombed and awaits the resurrection of a new day with Christ.
Our Saint tells us that we should try to fall asleep with some pious thought. Need we state what that thought should be? By now you know the answer. Our last thought of the day should be of Jesus. At the end of each day, we should sing de Sales’ hymn of triumph, Live Jesus! or his canticle of love, Live Jesus! I love Jesus. Live Jesus Whom I love! The Holy Name of Jesus is the most powerful name in heaven, on earth or in hell. The demons flee when it is pronounced with love.
Since it is the vocation of every Christian to continue the life of Christ in every possible way, our sleep should be the continuation of the most holy sleep which Jesus took when He was on earth. We should unite ourselves to the holy rest He took in the arms of Mary and Joseph, to the rest that He took in His humble bed at Nazareth, to the rest that He took in the boat on the troubled sea, to the rest that He took on the cold ground in Judea and, above all, to the rest that He enjoys in the bosom of His Father. Say to Him with all your heart, "My Jesus, I unite myself to Your holy repose. I give You every beat of my heart and every breath of my body during this night."
Prayer for Fidelity to the Article on Retiring
My Jesus, You are truly the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last, the beginning and end of all things. I will make You my Alpha and Omega by making You the beginning and end of each day of my life by great fidelity to the Articles of my Directory on Rising and Retiring. Please give me the grace to do this, which I know is so pleasing to You.