"In the Still of the Night!"

“In the Still of the Night!”

The early mornings are the time when most evil occurrences take place.  I was told this during the night while I prayed as a night adorer to the Sacred Heart.  It was 3 AM while praying when I heard a horrible scream from outside my house.  Upon going outside and looking up and down the street, everything was serene.  Returning to my prayers the voice within spoke to me saying, “3 AM is the hour when most evil occurs, the scream came from the depths of hell, and pray for those souls in Purgatory.”  This is a reprint from an earlier article, and I felt it would fit into this title. 

There is a song with the same title and it can become a wonderful adage to how peaceful that hour can be.  Cole Porter, who wrote this song, had a story behind this hit.  ”Night and Day” is a song of longing, of aching, heavy want;  a love that’s under the skin, love as infection.  Cole Porter knew about such things.  He has what was, by most accounts, a close and loving marriage with Linda, an alliance that lasted 35 years until her death in 1954.  Reprinted from an item on the internet.  

How wonderful that thought may be, but in reality it just doesn’t occur in most cities, especially in heavy metropolis areas.  One only needs to watch the early TV news, or live in Chicago as one of the gang-ridden cities like the 1920’s.  Murder, especially in places where poverty seems to be rampant, appears to be one of the tragedies of a Godless environment we are all facing.

Yes, 3 AM for me was without any violent or gang-ridden problems, but the area I was living in as a Pittsburgh suburb was relatively free of that kind of uprising.  Even today we are still one of the cities where these difficulties have avoided our peaceful city.  Of course, as any place, Pittsburgh has its problems, but nothing like much larger cities around the country.  I would say, from a spiritual perspective, there still is a sense of Church affiliations and some areas of Christ-like worshipers that may very well have a positive example to this.  That is not to say that the larger cities are without any affiliation to Church attendance or large blocks of prayerful souls.   I am just writing what I see and sense as a deacon and my own faith.

How I wish that the days of Wine and Roses could become a reality for all people, without the greed for power by too many selfish people who are the self-motivated individuals with their own hedonistic interests before others.

When the themes of In the Still of the Night, or a time of Wine and Roses appear remember there is always someone who got there before the feelings of love and peace enters our vision of understanding.  It isn’t a lack of faith or hope for an imminent outcome that presents itself, it is the evil that occurs all around us and pressures our belief in a God who is on our side to support the faith we already have.  Prayer is the theme to pray always and hope for us to hold onto our faith.  Remember what Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “move from here to there’, and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Mt 17: 20 - 21).

Ralph B. Hathaway