We recently had our children and grandchildren over for a dinner celebration. As we sat down to eat, we folded our hands to pray. One of the joys of being a grandparent is watching our little grandchildren (the oldest is not yet four) learn to say their prayers. We are so grateful that our children are teaching them to pray, and it is precious to watch them try to make the sign of the cross and then clasp their small, cherubic hands. Not only does it warm my heart to watch these innocent, precious children learn to pray, but also I know that it is their best defense against the challenges that they will one day face in life.
Today’s children are growing up in a world that is markedly different from the one in which I was raised. Of course, there is no generation that can claim a time period of perfect harmony. Yet, today’s children are coming into a world in which human relationships are suffering; division, distraction, addiction, violence, loneliness, and despair are on the rise; and faith and prayer are often mocked by elites in media, education, and politics. As a result, many young people are struggling with confusion, loneliness, mental health challenges, and a loss of hope.
As Christians, though, we know that there is hope. No matter how bleak the evening news might be, we know Who ultimately wins the battle. The victory goes to Jesus Christ and His Church. We also know that the God who lovingly and purposefully made us “for such a time as this,” is ever by our side, even giving to each person an angel to guard and to guide us.
Without question, faith is necessary for our eternal life, but it is also important for our temporal life. Countless studies show that having faith, regularly attending Mass, and the practice of daily prayer lead to better outcomes, including improved mental and physical health, longevity, longer lasting marriages, less substance abuse, and a greater sense of happiness compared with those who do not practice their faith.
Note that these studies confirm that it is not an occasional prayer here and there that leads to these positive outcomes; rather, it is the regular practice of the Faith, including a daily habit of prayer, that does.
Fortunately, there are resources to help parents and children grow in faith and develop a daily practice of prayer. One of these resources is Bo Bonner’s new book A Very Little Office of Compline: Night Prayer for Children. This little gem of a book is a beautiful way for families to develop together a habit of daily prayer.
As a Benedictine oblate, Bonner is familiar with the rhythm of ora et labora (prayer and work), that Benedictines commit to. This contemplative way of being in the world is distinct from the constant distraction and busyness of most 21st century Americans. A Very Little Office of Compline is a gentle introduction to this intentional, prayerful way of life.
Bonner has taken the monastic prayers of compline and made them accessible to both children and to adults who may be new to the office of prayers. The prayers, psalms, reading, hymn, and verse are short and set to rhyme, making them easy for all to pray.
Depending on the ages of the children and the family’s previous experience with prayer, families might initially pray a single page per night and grow into praying the entire book in a single session, or they may pray the entire book right from the start.
One of the challenges that the Church faces today is the number of people who stop practicing the Faith. One reason that some adults leave the Church is that they enter adult life with only a child’s understanding of the Faith. For example, these adults may have no more than a second grade understanding of the Eucharist or no more than a fifth grade understanding of the moral teachings of the Church. Therefore, when challenged in their faith, they are ill equipped to face the difficulty or respond to the misunderstanding.
A second reason that many quit practicing the Faith is that they stop praying.
This little Divine Office can guard against both of these challenges. To begin, the prayers in this small text, despite their brevity, maintain the depth of spiritual wisdom contained within the original, fuller prayers, psalms, readings, and hymns. This allows for catechesis to continue, through conversations about the prayers, their meanings, their context, and the universal Church’s practice of daily prayers.
In addition, these condensed prayers invite readers to grow in prayer, eventually building toward the full office of compline and other prayer practices as they reach adolescence or adulthood. In fact, a companion manual that assists with both catechesis of the psalms, readings, and hymns, as well as growing in prayer might be a great asset to this little prayer book.
Last, the brevity of this little office of prayer makes it easy to pray every night, helping families develop, commit to, and maintain a habit of daily prayer.
Not surprisingly, commitment to daily prayer was an essential part of life to even the youngest saints. For example, the young Blessed Imelda Lambertini, patroness of first communicants, began requesting to receive our Eucharistic Lord at the tender age of five. Her witness of piety and prayer, and her miraculous reception of Holy Communion spread far and wide when Pope St. Pius X decided to lower the age for Holy Communion from twelve years old to the age of reason (typically around seven years old). Likewise, the shepherd children of Fatima, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Dominic Savio, and the newly canonized saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati all demonstrate that children are capable of piety in daily prayer, and they can grow deeply in their faith by committing to its practice.
As our family dinner party concluded, my young grandchildren were changed into pajamas and secured into car seats for their ride home. I kissed them good night, waved goodbye, and called upon their guarding angels for a safe drive—with my prayers following them home.
Prayer is a needed practice in the wounded culture of today. As Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than repair broken men.” A Very Little Office of Compline: Night Prayer for Children is a beautiful way to begin this practice of building strong children through the life-giving habit of daily prayer.
