Night Prayer

Night prayer, called Compline in the older tradition, is the Church's last word before sleep. It is short by design, and it has kept roughly the same shape for fifteen hundred years.

The prayer

Lord, the day is over and I am handing it back. Forgive what I did badly and what I left undone. Thank You for what went well, including the parts I did not notice at the time. Quiet the things still turning over in my head — they will still be there in the morning, and they will be Yours then too. Guard this house and everyone in it. Give me sleep that actually rests me, and wake me willing. Into Your hands I commend my spirit. Amen.

History & tradition

Compline — from the Latin for 'completion' — is the last of the daily offices, fixed in the sixth-century Rule of St Benedict and prayed in monasteries every night since. Its shape barely varies: a look back over the day, a confession, a psalm, the Nunc Dimittis, a prayer for protection through the night. Anglicans kept it in the Book of Common Prayer, and it is the office most often taken up by people who pray none of the others, because it is short and it falls at a time everyone already has.

When to pray it

Pray it last — after the phone is down, sitting on the edge of the bed rather than lying in it. Under five minutes. The point of Compline is that it ends the day rather than being one more thing in it.

Three short alternatives

The Nunc Dimittis

'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation' (Luke 2:29-30). Simeon's words when he had seen enough to die content — prayed nightly as a rehearsal for that.

The examen, briefly

Two questions from the Ignatian tradition: where today was I most grateful, and where least? Answer them honestly, hand both to God, and stop.

Psalm 4:8

'I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.' A whole night prayer in one verse.

Pair it with daily practice

Quiethaven's prayer timer was built for exactly this — a soft start, silence, a soft end, and no notification afterwards. See also our evening prayer, which is longer and comes earlier.

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." — Psalm 4:8 (KJV)

Other prayers

• Morning Prayer
• Evening Prayer
• The Serenity Prayer
• The Jesus Prayer
• Prayer for Anxiety
• Prayer for Healing
• Prayer for Strength
• Prayer for Protection
• Prayer Before Surgery
• Prayer Before Meals
• The Prayer of St Francis
• The Apostles' Creed
• The Hail Mary
• Prayer for Guidance