Sweet is the sleep of the labourer . . .
Ecclesiastes 5.12

Charles Péguy wrote, in Basic Verities, a marvellous poem about sleep:

Sleep is the friend of man.
Sleep is the friend of God.
Sleep is perhaps the most beautiful thing I have created.
I myself rested on the seventh day.
He whose heart is pure, sleeps
And he who sleeps has a pure heart.

In the quotation from Ecclesiastes the text continues, ". . . whether he eats little or much; but the rich man owns too much and cannot sleep." This is the heart of the matter: when one is filled with cares it is difficult to let go of oneself sufficiently for God's great gift of sleep to wash away the inner litter, and prepare a table so clean that the Eucharistic vessels may be set in place for us to eat at the heavenly banquet in the presence of our Lord. When we are full of the emptiness of simplicity, God can enter and bless our mind and body in the sleep of heaven, and so renew our full being for the heavy work ahead of us. For our work is heavy, even if we have little outwardly to do: we are to bear the inner burdens of those around us. As St Paul says, in Galatians 6.2: "Help one another to carry these heavy loads, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ."

In the poem of Péguy quoted above, I have purposely omitted the preceding line - "I don't like the man who doesn't sleep, says God" - because insomnia need not be a consequence of moral deficiency. It is not infrequently a symptom of clinical depression, and often accompanies states of morbid anxiety. Indeed, God, who I believe wants us all to be healed of our infirmities, surely does not like the agony of sleeplessness; but I cannot imagine his deep love being withdrawn from any of his creatures, even when they are much too busy with worldly schemes to spare a thought of gratitude for their Creator.

The secret of falling asleep, like so many other activities, is to let go, quite consciously falling into the sustaining arms of God. Sleep comes as a peak of untroubled faith; it is the point where trust in God is proved in the work of acceptance. None of us knows what will happen during the period of oblivion that follows, but we submit in joyful acceptance, just as we did when we were little children. The person with the burden of many possessions has greater difficulty in letting them go, as we all shall when we know that greatest sleep which we call death. And I am confident that then also we shall awake even more refreshed than during earthly life to share in God's heavenly banquet, before we are sent on to do the work ahead of us, which is to bring the day of God's glory closer to our world, and through it to the entire universe.

Shelley wrote, "How wonderful is Death, Death and his brother Sleep!" (in both "The Daemon of the World" and "Queen Mab"). It is not inappropriate to end with some more Péguy:

Nothing is so beautiful as a child going to sleep while he is
saying his prayers, says God.
I tell you nothing is so beautiful in the world -
And getting his Our Father mixed up with his Hail, Mary.
Nothing is so beautiful and it is even one point
on which the Blessed Virgin agrees with me -
And I can say it is the only point on which we agree.
Because as a rule we disagree,
She being for mercy,
Whereas I, of course, have to be for justice.

I thank you, Lord, for your beautiful gift of sleep. I pray that my life may be so dedicated to your glory and the service of my brothers that I may bring them that love that finds its proof in tranquil sleep.