Compline (Night Prayer)

 

Nighttime can be especially difficult when we are in physical or emotional pain, exhausted by grief but unable to surrender to sleep.

The Church has long understood this, and among our treasures are a pattern for night prayer, as preparation to enter darkness at the end of the day.

Here are two such prayers:

Be present, O merciful God,
and protect us through the silent hours of this night,
so that we who are wearied
by the changes and chances of this fleeting world,
may rest upon your eternal changelessness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

or,

Visit this place, O Lord, we pray,
and drive far from it the snares of the enemy;
may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace,
and may your blessing be always upon us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.