Night Prayer

Daily Prayers

Prayer Before Sleep

The Church’s own way of closing the day, in her words and yours.

Night Prayer — Compline in the Liturgy of the Hours — is the last prayer of the day. Its shape is simple and very old: look back over the day, ask pardon for what went wrong, commend yourself to God for the night. It takes three minutes, and it is the prayer most likely to change how you sleep.

The Prayer

O my God, I thank You for all the favours You have bestowed upon me this day.
Give me light to see what sins I have committed,
and grant me the grace to be truly sorry for them.

Visit, we beseech You, O Lord, this dwelling,
and drive far from it all snares of the enemy;
let Your holy angels dwell herein to keep us in peace,
and let Your blessing be always upon us,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

How to Pray It

  1. Make the Sign of the Cross and quiet yourself for a moment.
  2. Look back over the day: where was God present, and where did you fail?
  3. Make an Act of Contrition for anything that needs forgiveness.
  4. Pray the words above, or the Church’s own Compline from the Liturgy of the Hours.
  5. Close with the Hail Mary, or the Marian antiphon of the season.

About This Prayer

Compline ends every day of the Church’s year, and it always ends the same way: with the words of Simeon, "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace." The Church teaches us to lie down each night as though it might be the last, which is not morbid but freeing. Nothing is left unfinished if the day has been given back to God.

This differs from the Evening Prayer many Catholics pray earlier — Evening Prayer (Vespers) is the prayer of the closing day, while Night Prayer is the prayer of the closing eyes.