Winter Solstice

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

"There comes a moment when attention must be paid.... A time to embrace mystery as my native land. And silence as my native tongue" (John Kirvan)


Every day is a new life. If that be true, then every night is a new death. Is not sleep an act of faith? If it God in whom we trust to carry us through each day, then how much more is it not God who keeps us in his love, keeps us safe, keeps us breathing, all through the night?

"I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety" (Psalm 4:8).

And even if the breathing stops, we know that God will carry us through the night. And this is not a morbid reflection. Jesus said, the one who wants to save his life will lose it, the one who loses her life for me will save it. Joy comes in the morning.

So if every night be a type of death and every morning a resurrection, then tonight -- the Winter Solstice -- the longest night -- is a night when it is even more appropriate to pray the prayers of Compline or "The Great Silence" as Macrina Wiederkehr describes it in Seven Sacred Pauses.

Here are some prayers from that book:

Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep,
that awake, we may keep watch with Christ,
and asleep, rest in his peace.

(The Liturgy of the Hours)

O Most High, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

(Psalm 56)

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee,
all through the night.
Guardian angels Love will send thee,
all through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I, my constant vigil keeping,
all through the night.

While the moon, her watch is keeping,
all through the night.
While the weary world is sleeping,
all through the night.
O'er thy spirit gently stealing,
visions of delight revealing,
Breathes a pure and holy feeling,
all through the night.

(Traditional Welsh)

And to close, one of my own favorites, which we often sing to the same Welsh tune as "All through the night." In Welsh, AR HYD Y NOS.

Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone.
Waking, sleeping, I am with you, you are my own.
In my love's baptismal river,
I have made you mine forever.
Go, my children, with my blessing, you are my own.

(Jaroslav J. Vajda)