Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 31 May 2022

Lord, we worship You will all we are, all we have, and all You are in and for us.
Take the dust of the day from us and grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 30 May 2022

Laying all the day has been to rest and rejoicing in the forgiveness of God;
may the Holy Spirit of God bless and sanctify us so that we may be consecrated in the truth and wake to His glory. Amen.

Today (30 May) the Church celebrates and remembers the lives, ministries and actions ofJosephine Butler, Joan of Arc, Visionary, and Apolo Kivebulaya.

𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿 (née Grey) was born in Northumberland in April 1828, and baptized on this day in the same year. She married an Anglican priest in 1852.

She became incensed by the way contemporary society treated prostitutes, most of whom were forced into such activity through desperate poverty. From 1869, she campaigned for the repeal of the legislation which put all opprobrium onto the women concerned, and the issue became international after she travelled in Europe addressing meetings in 1874 and 1875. Her campaign succeeded with the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act in 1883.

She was a devout Anglican and a woman of prayer, basing her spirituality on that of Catherine of Siena, whose biography she wrote. She died on 30 December 1906.

𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝗰 was born at Domrémy in 1412, the daughter of a peasant farmer. 

She first heard voices of particular saints when she was fourteen years old, telling her to save France, which was caught up in the Hundred Years War with England. Though at first she was dismissed, her credibility increased when some of her predictions began to come true. She managed to identify the disguised dauphin – later to become Charles vii – whose approval she gained. She persuaded troops to be sent to relieve Orléans and rode at their head, wearing white armour. They were successful in battle, which increased the morale of the army and enhanced the reputation of Joan. 

When the dauphin was crowned king at Rheims, she stood at his side. Her voices had warned her that her life would be short yet she was dangerously naïve in not seeing the jealousies she provoked. 

 After some failures in battle, she lost favour and was eventually sold by the Duke of Burgundy to the English, tried in a court for heresy by the Bishop of Beauvais and burned at the stake on this day in 1431. 

Twenty-five years later, the pope formally declared her innocent. She was made second patron of France after her canonisation in 1920. 

𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼 𝗞𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗮’s first contact with Christian teaching was in 1884 and he was baptised the following year, becoming a teacher in the Church of Uganda. 

 He went as an evangelist and catechist to Boga in the Belgian Congo and was ordained priest in 1903. 

He built many churches and prepared countless catechumens for baptism. He spent the rest of his life at Boga, training teachers, supervising the school and evangelising the people of the forest. After his death on this day in 1933, the Church Missionary Society sent British missionaries to carry on his work.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 29 May 2022

O God, three in one, one substance in unity, the persons in union, perfect in communion - reside with us this night and surround us by Your love, redemption and indwelling we pray. Amen.

Today (28 May) the Church celebrates Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury and Scholar.

Lanfranc was born in Pavia, Italy, around the year 1005. At the age of thirty-five, he became a monk of Le Bec, in Normandy, where he founded the school which rose rapidly to renown throughout Europe.

In 1062 William of Normandy appointed him Abbot of Caen, then in 1070 Archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc was a great ecclesiastical statesman, overseeing administrative, judicial and ecclesial reforms with the same energy and rigour that the Conqueror displayed in his new kingdom.

Lanfranc did not forget his monastic formation: he wrote Constitutions for Christchurch, Canterbury, based on the customs of Le Bec, and appointed many Norman abbots to implement his vision in the English abbeys.

He died in 1089.

Compline (night prayer) - Friday, 27 May 2022

Embracing the things of the day and laying them before the cross of the ascended Christ
we sanctify this night that we might reside in the presence of our God who brings rest and healing to all creation. Amen.

Compline (night prayer - Ascension Day, 26 May 2022

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
The old shall dream dreams and the young shall see visions.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 22 May 2022

Though the world is in turmoil and pain and weeping are found in so many places,
we go to our bed trusting in the Goodness of God and his loving care for His creation. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 21 May 2022

In the stillness of the night may we hear Your voice and respond with the words,
“Speak, for your servant is listening.”
May we listen more and learn to be Your people. Amen.

Today (21 May) the Church celebrates the life and work of Helena.

The Empress Helena came to power in the Roman Empire when her son Constantine became Emperor, in the year 306.

Although she had previously been abandoned by her husband, her son raised her to a position of great honour.

As Helena was a Christian she gave her support to their cause and, in the year 326, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There she provided the wherewithal to found the building of a basilica on the Mount of Olives and another at Bethlehem.

According to fourth-century historians, she discovered the cross on which Christ was crucified. In the Eastern Church, she is commemorated on this day, together with her son Constantine.

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 19 May 2022

The burdens of the day laid to rest we take ourselves to our beds,
but not before we have prayed for people and places and their needs.
Lord, in Your mercy - hear our prayers. Amen.

Today (19 May) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Dunstan.

Dunstan was born near Glastonbury around 910 into a noble family. He received a good education and spent time at the court of the King of Wessex. 

A saintly uncle urged him to enter the monastic life; he delayed, but followed the advice in time, on recovering from an illness. 

Returning to Glastonbury, Dunstan lived as a monk, devoting his work time to creative pursuits: illuminating, music, and metalwork. 

In 943 the new king made him abbot, and this launched a great revival of monastic life in England. Starting with Glastonbury, Dunstan restored discipline to several monasteries and promoted study and teaching.

Under two later kings, he rose to political and ecclesiastical eminence, being chief minister and Archbishop of Canterbury under King Edgar. This enabled him and his followers to extend his reforms to the whole English Church. 

In 970 he fell from political favour but continued as archbishop, preaching and teaching. 

He died in 988.

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 18 May, 2022

Lord God, author of all and creator of all that is good,
as we go to our beds may we reflect on your grace, love and mercy
and heading for our beds, resolve to serve, love and bless all we meet in the new day. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 16 May 2022

Day ends - night falls, and all is laid to rest. Lord this night, grant us a quiet night (and should we not wake) a perfect end. Amen.

Today (May 16) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Caroline Chisholm

Caroline Jones was born in 1808. On her marriage to Archibald Chisholm, she took her husband’s Roman Catholic faith. They emigrated to Madras in 1831 where she set up a school for soldiers’ daughters. In 1838, the family moved to Australia and, almost immediately, Caroline began to work for the vulnerable immigrants arriving at Sydney.

She was especially concerned for the women, who were often lured and bullied into brothels.

She set up a free Registry Office to help them obtain legitimate work and a shelter and she campaigned for improved conditions.

She returned to Britain in 1846 to press for emigration reform and founded the Family Colonisation Loan Society.

Her Christian ministry and action led to the ending of what had virtually been the institutionalisation of the abuse of poor women.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 15 May 2022

The gentle caress, the comforting hand, soothes us as a parent soothes their child.
Under Your care, O Lord, we rejoice and go to our rest secure in You.
May we wake tomorrow to be Your Church, and if not, rejoice in Your glory. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 14 May 2022

Whilst people seek more power and wealth,
we pray for more humility and a poverty of the spirit that makes us like the Christ.
Not weak, not oppressed, but childlike in faith. Amen.

Today (14 May) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Matthias, one of the Apostles.

After the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, the apostles brought their number back to twelve by choosing Matthias to replace him. He was chosen by lot from amongst the disciples.

The author of the Acts of the Apostles sees apostleship differently from Paul’s interpretation of the rôle and seems to reflect the understanding of the gospel of Luke.

The number had to be restored so that they might ‘sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’.

It was conditional that they had to have been with Jesus during his earthly ministry and witnesses to the resurrection.

The point of being chosen by lot, rather than by some democratic method, indicated the election or choosing by God, rather than by mortals.

Compline (night prayer) - Friday, 13 May 2022

Day ends and night is before us. May we sleep and wake refreshed to rise to a new day in which we might serve you in all Your fullness and love. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 12 May 2022

Father, we thank You for all that is this night and, as we go to our beds, may we be refreshed.
And tomorrow be filled with Your joy that we may serve with a smile on our face and spring in our step. Amen.

Today (12 May) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Dom Gregory Dix

George Dix was born in 1901 and was educated at Westminster School and Merton College, Oxford.

After ordination to a Fellowship at Keble College, Oxford, he taught history before entering the novitiate of the Benedictine community at Pershore, taking the name Gregory. Shortly afterwards the community moved to Nashdom in Buckinghamshire, where Dix eventually made his life profession and was appointed Prior.

Dix was one of the most influential figures of a generation of Anglo-Catholics who worked enthusiastically towards reunion with Rome.

A gifted and popular preacher and spiritual director, Dix is best remembered as a liturgical scholar whose monumental work, The Shape of the Liturgy, has had an unparalleled influence over liturgical study and revision since it was first published in 1945.

He died on this day in 1952.

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 11 May 2022

The day is done and we reflect on the joy, the pain and the challenges of the day with gratitude for God's presence with us.

Lord, today we might have forgotten You - but thankfully You did not forget us. Alleluia!

Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Bed beckons, but what of those who have no bed?
Those who have no shelter, or place of safety?
Help us to never lose sight of the many blessings we have;
help us to serve the poor, marginalised and broken, we pray. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 9 May 2022

Lord give us the sense to discern all that this should have been,
the wisdom to understand the paths (and opportunities) missed
and discernment to make tomorrow different. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 8 May 2022

As we consider the day and all that it has contained,
help us in our weak faith and strengthen our steps
that we might run the race and proclaim Your glory in us. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 7 May 2022

Taking comfort in the blessings the God pours out on us,
and rejoicing in the hope of things yet to come,
we lift to God those who need to know his presence and power tonight.

Compline (night prayer) Friday, 6 May 2022

Fragments, like a broken mirror, reflect the end of day.
We think of victories won, foolishness done and the wounds this day contained.
Asking for healing and forgiveness, we lay down to sleep.
Be with us this night we pray. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 5 May 2022

Reflecting, repenting and rejoicing on all that this day has held,
we entrust ourselves into the care and mercy of God and head for bed,
looking to a new day in which we might serve better. Amen

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Reflecting on the example of the martyrs of the reformation, we thank god for his abiding Spirit to reassure, comfort and strengthen us in times of fear or doubt.

Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 3 May 2022

Laying all that has been and heading for our beds, we pray that the peace of God may give us rest this night and tomorrow enable us to make Him known in all our works. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 2 May 2022,

Almighty Father, whom truly to know is eternal life:
teach us to know your Son Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life;
that we may follow the steps of your holy apostles Philip and James,
and walk steadfastly in the way that leads to your glory. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 1 May 2022

As darkness surrounds us, we thank God for His light which comforts, guides and reassures us.