Join Us For Compline

Compline (or Night Prayer) is the last prayer of the monastic day. From the Latin word completorium, Compline completes the day of praying the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours). Like Lauds (morning prayer) and Vespers (evening prayer), Compline begins with a call to prayer and praise as the hebdomadary intones the introductory verse “O God, come to my assistance” with the monks responding “O Lord, make haste to help me.” This is immediately followed by the “Glory be to the Father” for which we bow. Next comes the hymn, psalmody, a reading and responsorial, and closing prayer. Compline concludes with the ringing of the Regina Coeli during the Easter season or the Angelus during the rest of the liturgical year. Finally, after a short pause for reflection, the abbot or prior gives a knock at which time the community and guests come forward for the blessing with holy water. After Compline until the following morning after Lauds/Mass is a period of the “great silence” when monks do not talk (unless an emergency).

Compline is a masterpiece of composition, the work of St. Benedict himself, and can be called the ideal night prayer. Its symbolism is beautiful. The hour begins straightway, without any introductory prayer, pauses awhile for an examination of conscience and an act of contrition. Both in Holy Scripture and in the liturgy, the sun and light are favorite comparisons and figures for the Godhead, for Christ, and the divine life. Christ is the divine Sun, the Christian is a child of this Sun. Such thoughts as these recur frequently in this hour.
The opposite of light, night with its darkness, is also a favorite image in the liturgy and the Bible for the sinister powers of hell. This thought of night and of darkness predominates in Compline. The darkness we recognize as the devil’s trademark. Night is the mantle of the Prince of this world. The Christian, being a child of light, is afraid of this darkness, and like a little chick it scurries beneath the wings of the hen to escape Satan, the wheeling hawk.

In liturgical prayer we think not only of ourselves, but also of [humanity] for whom “night” is falling, whether the night of trial, of sin, or of death. And is it not true that the enemy lays his snares under cover of darkness? It is as though when night falls, hell disgorged all its inmates upon the earth, to prey upon [humanity]. How many sins indeed night enfolds in its darkness! And for this very reason the Christian prays at night for protection against the powers of hell, for himself and all [humanity].
Sleep too is a symbol, a figure of death. As man thinks of death almost spontaneously on going to sleep, Compline becomes also the night prayer of life, a prayer for a happy death. It contains many striking thoughts on this point. The blessing oat the very beginning is a crisp but thoughtful summary of these two ideas: “May Almighty God grant us a restful night and a happy death.”

For a historical-redemptive background for our prayer, we have the agony of Jesus at Gethsemane, and consequently we can pray Compline for the Gethsemane in our own life and in that of [humanity]. It is, then, prayer of petition. Contrition, plea for protection, and deep confidence are the chief ideas involved.

— Pius Parsch, The Breviary Explained (Herder, 1952), p. 40

Go to Compline begins: