Compline (Night Prayer)
O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
This is an excellent moment for an examination of conscience. In a communal celebration of Compline, one of the penitential acts given in the Missal may be recited.
Now that the daylight dies away,
By all thy grace and love,
Thee, Maker of the world, we pray
To watch our bed above.
Let dreams depart and phantoms fly,
The offspring of the night,
Keep us, like shrines, beneath thine eye,
Pure in our foe’s despite.
This grace on thy redeemed confer,
Father, co-equal Son,
And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
Eternal Three in One.
Psalm 87 (88)
The prayer of one gravely ill |
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I cry out to you, Lord, by day and by night.
Lord God, my saviour,
I have cried out to you by day and by night.
Let my prayer come before you:
turn your ear to my request.
For my soul is full of evils,
my life has come close to its end.
I am counted with those who go down to the pit:
I am left without help.
I am one of the dead,
like the murdered who sleep in their tombs,
who lie there forgotten,
cut off from your care.
You have thrust me down into the pit,
to the gloom and the shadow of death.
Your anger weighs heavy upon me;
you have drowned me under your waves.
You have taken my friends away from me:
you have made me hateful in their sight,
I am shut in, I may not go out.
My eyes are weak from my sufferings.
I have called to you, Lord, all the day;
I have stretched out my hands to you.
Is it for the dead that you perform your wonders?
Will the ghosts rise up and proclaim you?
In the tomb, will they tell of your kindness?
Will they tell of your faithfulness in the place of the lost?
Will your wonders be known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
And so I have called out to you, Lord,
and in the morning my prayer will come before you.
With what purpose, Lord, do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
I am poor; from my youth I have been dying;
I have borne the terrors you sent, I am lost in confusion.
Your anger has overrun me, your terrors have broken me:
they have flowed round me like water,
they have besieged me all the day long.
You have taken my friends and those close to me:
all I have left is shadows.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
I cry out to you, Lord, by day and by night.
Lord, you are in our midst, we are called by your name. Do not desert us, O Lord our God!
Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
You have redeemed us, Lord, God of faithfulness.
– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
Keep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.
Now, Master, you let your servant go in peace.
You have fulfilled your promise.
My own eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples.
A light to bring the Gentiles from darkness;
the glory of your people Israel.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Keep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.
Let us pray.
Lord, let us be so united with your only Son that we become worthy to rise with him into new life, who lives and reigns for ever and ever, Amen.
May the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
A M E N
Hail, Queen of the heavens,
hail, Lady of the angels.
Root of our salvation
and our gateway to heaven,
the light of the world was born to you.
Be joyful, Virgin of glory,
most beautiful of all in heaven.
We greet you now, true beauty –
pray for us to Christ.
Ave, Regina caelorum,
ave, Domina angelorum,
salve, radix, salve, porta,
ex qua mundo lux est orta.
Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,
super omnes speciosa;
vale, o valde decora,
et pro nobis Christum exora.
The psalms and canticles here are our own translation. The Grail translation of the psalms, which is used liturgically in most of the English-speaking world, cannot be displayed on the Web for copyright reasons. The downloadable versions of Universalis do contain the Grail translation of the psalms.
