Wednesday
at Compline [1, 2]
Psalm 33 (34)
I will bless the Lord at all times:
His praise shall be ever in my mouth.
In the Lord will my soul rejoice;
let the meek hear and be glad.
O glorify the Lord with me,
together let us extol His name.
I sought the Lord and He heard me:
and from my tribulations he delivered me.
Draw near to him and be enlightened,
and your faces will not be put to shame.
This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him:
and saved him from all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord shall encamp around those who fear Him,
and shall deliver them.
O taste and see, how sweet the Lord is:
blessed is the man who hopes in Him.
Fear the Lord, all you His holy ones,
for there is no want to them that fear him.
The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger:
but those who seek the Lord shall not be deprived
of any good.
Come, children, hear me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is the man that desires life
And loves to see good days?
Keep then your tongue from evil:
and your lips from speaking guile;
turn from evil and do good,
seek after peace, and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the just
and His ears unto their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against evildoers
to destroy their memory from the earth.
The just cried out, and the Lord heard them:
and delivered them from their every distress.
The Lord is close to the contrite of heart:
and He will save those who are humble in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the just,
but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
The Lord keeps watch over all of their bones,
not one of them shall be broken.
Wretched is the death of the evildoer,
and they that hate the just shall be laid desolate.
But the Lord will redeem the souls of His servants,
and none shall fail who put their trust in Him.
This night is the furthest of all nights from the dawn of His Resurrection. This point from which we look back with thanksgiving for the gift that banished death forever, will with the dawn become our renewed hope for life everlasting. We bring in to His presence now the burdens of our whole lives, the tribulations of our sojourn in this vale of tears, and we proclaim our faith that we shall not be overcome, for the eyes of the Lord our God are upon us and His ear hearkens to our supplications. So it is that our souls rejoice until our very being resounds with praise, for although we are much afflicted by a world that neither understands nor accepts us, we are not left alone to defend what is right and uphold justice in the face of the evildoer. The Lord has always been our strength and our song, our salvation from the foe, and our only hope when fear threatens to envelop us as the dark of this night.
Though sinners and unworthy, the Lord treats us not as we deserve – as he has dealt with the faithless and the wicked – but always with the tenderness of a loving Father, who sees the sorrow in our tears, windows as they are into our contrite hearts, and lifts us from our degradation to give us such life and good days as we could not even dream of if it were not for His grace. He calls us to be always better than ourselves, to be better than our enemies who have neither God nor His grace in life and strength in battle. Our God exhorts us to seek Him in all our works: to turn from evil and banish guile from our lips; to pursue peace even as our enemy’s battle cry rings in our ears; to surrender totally to Him, who jealously guards those who are His own and smites those who would rise in envy of our strength in God.
And so it is that we have learned the fear of the Lord, as we have stood in awe of His abounding love and of His power to draw us back from the edge of the pit, from the very midst of desolation. For our God is not one who weighs our souls before taking action: He saves first, calls to His side, and stirs within us love for Him who loved us first and loves us always more. So it was with Christ Jesus who came to deliver us before even our bodies took shape in the womb, who came to incarnate the Father’s love before we had even the notion of love or hatred, and who imparts the Spirit of God, that breath of life and fire of love that brings God to the very core of our being, so that we may respond in the love that was first His and be kept safe until the day of the resurrection, which seems so far from us now, but which draws nearer through this our nighttime liturgy of praise, and as we slumber while His Angels keep their watch of prayer over us.
at Compline [3]
Psalm 60 (61)
Hear, O God, my supplication:
be attentive to my prayer.
I have cried from the ends of the earth to You:
when my heart was in anguish,
it was You who exalted me upon a rock.
You have guided me; for You have been my hope:
a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.
In Your tent I shall dwell forever:
I shall be protected under the shelter of your wings.
For You, my God, have heard my prayer:
You have granted an inheritance
to those that fear Your name.
Days You will add to the days of the king:
his years will endure to generation after generation.
He shall abide forever in God’s presence:
who may fathom His mercy and truth?
So will I sing a psalm to Your name forever:
fulfilling my vows day after day.
What joy, to be the beloved of God! And for what other reason than for love, would the Creator lower His gaze upon earth and be attentive to the cries of a mere creature; to my sighs and supplications, Who made me to sing of His glory and yet listens with compassion to my pleas. Were it not for love, would He have stilled my heart, anguished by my daily failures and nightly need for His mercy and strength?
Though I stand in the desolate wasteland of my sins’ own creating, even from these ends of the earth He comes swiftly to my help, raising me, as though I were worthy, to the stability of the rock on which he places my soul. In this vow of stability to which only He may lead, shall I stand firm in His fortress, though the world convulse to the beat of the enemy’s drum. In stability is my strength; my God from age to age and unto ages unending defends me.
The Lord has heard the voice of the least of His servants and seen the cunning of our foe. He who created man’s heart sees our weakness even amidst our desire to walk only in His paths. He sees and is not ashamed to call us sons and be seen as our advocate and protector. He sees and sends the light of his countenance to guide our path: not one of retreat, but into the fray, to battle the vain tempter with the forces of Heaven, from the shadow of His wings into which the enemy dare not charge. So it is that we do not fear the enemy or run cowering from the hail of his assaults, but face and defeat him in the name of Jesus Christ, whose reign as King is established forever.
Our life would be naught had we battled alone, and had we not called upon the Lord we should have fallen to the foe. But He who is on high heard and answered, content not to see even the weakest of his children lose his life. Therefore, still, may our hearts be found this night, with no life in them, save for the life that He gives, which revives our mortal flesh, leading it to dwell in His Holy of Holies: the source of life for all who would die to self and rise with the dawn from the font of everlasting hope. Hope, that we shall prevail in His Truth against all manner of evil, and gather once again, here in the light of His new day, to sing Psalms to His glory.