WAKE UP, SLEEPY HEAD!

Thursday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 24:42-51

Some people are described in Tagalog this way: Madikit lang ang likod, tulog agad! They are people who fall asleep rather fast and easy. While some people are described this way, there are also people who are seen sleeping in any possible position and in any possible venue. There are those who can sleep while seated and those who can sleep even while up on their feet! And they can do it almost anywhere – inside the church, in a theatre, in a public transportation, in a bathtub, in the classroom, in the office…and yes, believe it or not, even in the senate!

While some people fall asleep easily and quickly, there are also people who are difficult and too slow to be wakened up. They are said to sleep like a log. In Tagalog, we say, “Naku, daig mo pa ang mantika kung matulog!” Sometimes their beds are already burning but these “logs” can hardly feel the heat as they continue snoring. Alarm clocks are embarrassed by this kind of sleepers.

But there are also those who are rather light sleepers. Again in Tagalog, they are described as “mababaw kung matulog” or “tulog-lamok”. They wake up at the slightest movement inside the room. Sometimes they even answer a question when asked even as they sleep. They also do not need alarm clocks because their biorhythm is on even before the alarm sets off.

Which among these three kinds of people are we?

“Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming,” Jesus warns us in the Gospel today. But how can we hear His warning if we are already sleeping and we sleep like a log?

By the way, are you still there reading this reflection or have I already lost you in dreamland?

Hoy, gising!!! (Hey, wake up!!!)