Imagine Jesus inviting you to come and spend time with Him in prayer, and your response is to sleep and runaway from Him. Peter, James and John were always asleep when Jesus called them into intimate prayer with Him. This happened on the mountain of Transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
What causes this sloth or sleepiness in our spiritual and prayer life? The answer is simply the flesh. The flesh dominates our spirit and weighs it down from engaging God in prayer and from listening to His sweet voice.
Imagine if these three usual suspects (John, Peter, and James) had participated in Jesus' prayer, they would have stayed strong during Jesus' arrest and would have consoled Him in His passion. Of course, John was the one who was faithful and did not run away because of the special grace given to Him at the Last supper when he laid his head on the chest of Christ. He received strength from the Sacred Heart of Jesus to fortify him to be at the foot of the cross.
So, today, let's ask St. John and especially our Blessed Mother Mary, to obtain for us the grace t
o be vigilant at prayer. In fact, ask them for the grace to pray.