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And with Sweet Sleep Mine Eyelids - A Meditation on a Beautiful Hymn of the Night Msgr. Charles Pope • July 25, 2016 • One of the great night prayer hymns, “All Praise to Thee My God This Night,” appears in numerous hymnals of the English tradition. Sadly, it is not in our current breviary, but I hope that the new one might feature it. It was written by Thomas Ken in 1709 and is most often sung to the beautiful tune of Tallis’ Ordinal, which you can hear in the video below.Ideally, night prayer should include acts of...

The Night Prayer of the Church as a “Rehearsal for Death” By: Msgr. Charles PopeSome years ago I was addressing a group of young adults at a “Theology on Tap” gathering. I was asked by an attendee of some ways to avoid temptation. Among the things I offered was to meditate frequently on death, especially at night before going to bed. The bar got very quiet and everyone looked at me as though I had just been speaking Swahili. “What did he just say?…Could you repeat that?” Perhaps my remarks were the right answer but the wrong answer at...

ON THE PSALMS OF COMPLINE Commentaries on Psalm 4, Psalm 90, and Psalm 133 by Damasus Winzen, O.S.B. ©1975 by Mt. Saviour Monastery, Pine City, NY 14871 Anybody who wants to write a theology of the everyday life, or wants to practice such a theology, will find a starting point in Psalm 3, verse 6: "I lie down to rest and I sleep. I wake, for the Lord upholds me." Nothing is more basic in our life than this daily lying down, surrendering, giving in, accepting the fact that without rest we are unable to continue with the business of...

Introduction V/.   Deus X in adjutórium méum inténde.R/.   Dómine, ad adjuvándum me festína.Glória Pátri, et Fílio, *    et Spirítui Sáncto. Sicut érat in princípio, et nunc, et sémper, *    et in sæcula sæculórum.  Ámen. V/.   O God, X come to my assistance.R/.   O Lord, make haste to help me.Praise the Fáther, the Són, and the Holy Spírit    bóth now ánd foréver. The God Who ís, Who wás, and ís to come    at the énd of the áges.  Amén. A brief examination of conscience is made, followed by an act of contrition such as: Confíteor Deo omnipoténti...