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The vigil

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb.Luke 24:1

The women went while it was still dark, expecting a body. What they found was an empty place and a question: why do you seek the living among the dead? Tonight is the vigil, the last night of the forty. Sleep early. Wake in the dark, well before the light, and sit until the sun comes up. Do not fill the time. Let it be a tomb, an empty place, and watch what the dawn does to it. This is what all thirty-nine mornings were rehearsing. The women did not understand what they saw, and did not need to. They saw it.

Today's practice

Sleep early. Set the alarm for an hour before sunrise. Sit, fasting, in the dark, with your single word, until the light has fully come. Then eat nothing yet; walk first.

The fast

Daily fast, Daniel table, supper early and light. The vigil is kept fasting; tomorrow you feast.

Kept on this device only.