COMPLINE BY CANDLELIGHT
The Psalterium Institute Chamber Choir and Boy Choir Schola Cantorum will be providing the music for sung Compline (Night Prayer) at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on October 27th at 8:00pm.
What is Compline?
The simple answer is that Compline (coming from the Latin meaning “completion”) is the prayer of the Church at the close of the day before going to sleep. This liturgy includes an examination of conscience, a hymn, a psalm, a reading from sacred scripture, a canticle from the New Testament, a closing prayer, and a hymn to Our Lady.
Compline is only part of a larger liturgy in the Catholic tradition called The Liturgy of the Hours (also known as The Divine Office or Opus Dei) which finds its roots all the way back in Jewish prayer traditions that Jesus himself would have known. I won’t give you an introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours here because many people have done a great job of that already. If you want to know more, consider visiting this page from the USCCB or this page from the Monastery of Christ in the Desert (this second link is a much more in-depth series of articles).
What I would like to focus on in this post is the experience of praying one of the hours, and especially Compline when it is chanted (as it will be on 10/27/2023 in Portland. Be there!). Compline by Candlelight a contemplative experience. That might sound a little scary or at least uninteresting. After all, we are all on our respective hamster wheels to keep the lights on, keep the family going, maintain our physical, mental, and spiritual health, etc. etc. Combine all of that with the constant deluge of digital media through our phones, workplaces, and televisions …contemplation is not often on our radars (if ever).
So what might you encounter if you come to Compline by Candlelight? You will encounter warm light. Peaceful silence. Beautiful singing that welcomes you whether you want to join in or simply unite yourself through deep listening. One of the most compelling things about the Liturgy of the Hours has to do with its structure and rhythm. Pray this way for any length of time and you will feel yourself sink into a tidal rhythm of a prayer that has sustained and consoled many thousands of people over the centuries. Even Christ himself certainly prayed the psalms as all Jews did. Come and see!
What is very exciting these days, is that many people and parishes have begun to rediscover this beautiful prayer. There are a million resources to make it easier than navigating giant tomes with 5,000 ribbons. Word on Fire. DivineOffice.org. IBreviary. Take your pick. Dive in! Christ prayed the psalms. Will you join him?
