“Watch ye therefore, because you know not what hour your lord will come. But this know ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come.”
Watching is in keeping one’s eyes open when most are asleep, and so to watch in the Christian sense is to keep the eyes of the heart attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, doing the greatest act of love one sees before them, casting aside all that weighs down the soul from this love: “Let us, therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:12). While this can in one sense refer to the second coming, it is of importance to you now, Theophila, in that it refers to a vigilance of the heart, constantly attentive to the love of the Beloved, bearing Him in mind and in affection, letting yourself be His sanctuary: “For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his dwelling” (Psalm 131:13), and if He draws you to something, to do it with joy as a lover sees something that will delight His beloved and immediately purchases it. His second coming can also refer to the day of death, for this day comes to all people, and one does not know when this will take place. The master of the household, then, is your mind, and the house is your heart, for the mind is the guardian of the heart, but it is the heart that contains the true treasures of love: “For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:21). Thus, the enemy wars with your mind: “But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3), which you are called to reinforce with joy, devotion, hymns, and all that is holy and good: “Be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2), that he may steal the love in your heart and replace it with anything else: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). The thief can also be any false God image, which the devil will use, be it that of a dictator, a fickle lover, a distant parent, or anything besides a loving Father and the most gentle of lovers; these images come and tear down the fences of your soul with falsehood, spoiling the sweetness within: “Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it? The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it” (Psalm 79:13-14). This thief will not come in times of great consolation, when the sun is shining and all seems to be flowers and sweet scents: “While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof” (Canticle 1:11), but in times of external and interior trials, when things are dry and difficult, which is indicated by the night, for in these times you show yourself to be a lover rather than a mercenary, one that stands with the Beloved in desolate times rather than simply enjoying His gifts: “In my abundance I said: ‘I shall never be moved.’ O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled” (Psalm 29:7-8). Vigilance in these times, repelling the thief with the swords of Scripture and prayer: “Take unto you… the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)” (Ephesians 6:17); “Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1), is then of the utmost importance, because all dry prayer is from Satan: “And when they had kept this watch for full twenty days, the cisterns, and the reserve of waters failed among all the inhabitants of Bethulia, so that there was not within the city, enough to satisfy them, no not for one day, for water was daily given out to the people by measure” (Judith 7:11), who attempts to strangle your spirit with a lack of good feelings that you in your feebleness may cry out against God: “So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’” (Exodus 17:3). He is like a general, Theophila, surveying the walls of your soul for any weakness and assaulting it, using aridity, external difficulties, and trickery to sever the connection of love between you and God: “And he took by assault the renowned city of Melothus, and pillaged all the children of Tharsis” (Judith 2:13). Therefore, it is a call to guard your soul as the greatest treasure, for all the riches of the world are not equal in value to your heart: “If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing” (Canticle 8:7), which is done by much counsel, particularly in having a spiritual director and spiritual friends that can help you identify what is the Holy Spirit and what is a snare: “Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there is much counsel” (Proverbs 11:14); “But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings” (Proverbs 1:17), for just as Jerusalem was surrounded by cities and mountains to keep it from siege: “He shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it” (Psalm 124:1-2), so too does counsel keep you from the devil’s traps, particularly when these are mountains, that is, lofty souls that are both in love and learned. This is why it says in the Psalms: “Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and hills justice” (Psalm 71:3), for the hills are those with hearts enkindled but with not much wisdom, or conversely those that are very learned but do not understand the love of God, and these are of great benefit, but a mountain brings peace with them, having the mind and heart full of the peace of the love and wisdom of God. Therefore, Theophila, surround yourself with mountains: “He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise” (Proverbs 13:20), for you are a young maiden walking on a pathway littered with robbers to the house of your Bridegroom, and keeping company with fierce warriors for Christ will keep your soul nice and safe: “Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon? All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night” (Canticle 3:7-8).