Step 19 of the Spiritual Ladder is, I believe, more difficult to understand. St. John places this step under the category of spiritual passions. This may seem curious to many. We do not tend to think of sleep as a spiritual thing. But just as too much food affects the condition of the soul, so too does too much sleep. Likewise, when a passion comes into conflict with our spiritual life, distinctions between physical and spiritual are irrelevant. Body and soul together: that is the principle of asceticism (the practice of a spiritual life). That is the only way spiritual life can be possible. Ever tried going to church without taking your body with you? And this is precisely why the desire for too much sleep is a spiritual passion.

John was not talking about physical tiredness; he was not talking about what the body needs (and the need of each person is different). He was talking about priorities. He said that when it comes to things we consider important, when we know we have to be somewhere at a certain time, we make sure we get up in time to do so. But many people do not apply the same urgency to prayer and worship. This is why the subject of sleep is treated in connection with prayer and participation in church services.

John describes how laziness can cut into our spiritual life in a way we can all understand even today: Wait until the first hymns are over…. then it will be time enough to go to church. And that was before the invention of snooze buttons.

The saints live for prayer and worship. If they could, they would not sleep at all in order to keep praying. Indeed, this is the purpose of vigils.

It is all a matter of what we choose to be a priority in our life. Do we choose to make worship of God a true priority? This step calls us to make prayer a priority.