Vigilance And Prayer

Quis vestrum habens amicum, et ibit ad illum media nocte, et dicet illi: Amice, commoda mihi tres panes... Nec solum media nocte Dominus, sed omnibus prope docet vigilandum esse momentis; venit enim et vespertina, et secunda, et tertia vigilia, et pulsare consuevit: Beati, itaque, servi illi, quos cum venerit Dominus, invenerit vigilantes. Si ergo desideras ut virtus Dei praecingat se, et ministret tibi, vigilandum est semper: multae enim insidiae sunt bonis, et gravis corporis somnus; quia si dormire mens coeperit, vigorem suae virtutis amittit. Excita igitur somnum tuum, ut pulses ostium Christi: quod aperiri sibi etiam Paulus exposcit, non solum suis, sed etiam populi orationibus obsecrans se iuvari, ut aperiatur ostium sibi ad loquendum mysterium Christi. Et fortasse illud est ostium quod apertum vidit Ioannes; vidit enim, et dixit: Post haec vidi, et ecce ostium apertum in coelo; et vox prima quam audivi tamquam tubam loquentem mecum, et dicentem: Ascende huc, et ostendam tibi quae oporteat fieri. Apertum est igitur ostium Ioanni, apertum est ostium Paulo; ut nobis panes, quos ederemus, acciperent. Perseveravit ostium pulsans opportune, importune; ut gentes mundani tramitis labore vexatas, alimoniae coelestis ubertate recrearet. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Liber VII Source: Migne PL 15.1721c-1722a

Which of you having a friend, and he shall go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves...' 1 The Lord teaches that one must not only be vigilant at midnight, but at nearly all times, for the evening came and the second watch and the third watch, and then He was accustomed to knock, and blessed are those servants who are found watchful when the Lord comes. 2 If, then, you desire that the virtue of God should gird you and minister to you, always be vigilant, for there are many plots against those who are good, and the slumber of the body is heavy, because if the mind sleeps, the vigour of its virtue is lost. Thus rouse yourself from your sleep, so that you may knock on the door of Christ, 3 that Paul beseeched to be opened for himself, and not even with his own prayers, but he begged that even the prayers of the people should help him, so that the door might be opened for him to speak the mysteries of Christ. 4 And perhaps that is the door which John saw opened, for he saw and said, 'After I had seen these things, behold, a door open in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking to me, saying, 'Come up here and I will show you what must be.' 5 Therefore the door that opened for John opened for Paul, so that they might receive the bread we should eat. He kept knocking on the door, in season and out of season, so that he might refresh the worldly peoples amid the toil of their ways with the food of heaven. 6 Saint Ambrose, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 7 1 Lk 11.7 2 Lk 12.37 3 Jn 10.7 4 Colos 4.2-4 5 Apoc 4.1 6 2 Tim 4.2,5