Grant us Master Rest for Body and Soul

With only two days left in our Daily Lenten Journey, today we conclude our review of the prayers of Great Compline. Following the prayer in front of the Theotokos, our attention is directly in front of the Icon of Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

And grant to us, Master, as we depart for sleep, rest of body and soul, and preserve us from the gloomy slumber of sin, and from every dark and nocturnal pleasure. Arrest the drives of passion; extinguish the burning arrows of the Evil One which insidiously fly in our direction; suppress the rebellions of our flesh, and calm our every earthly and material thought. And grant to us, O God, alert mind, prudent thinking, sober heart, light sleep free of any satanic fantasy. Awaken us at the time of prayer rooted in your commandments and having unbroken within us the remembrance of your ordinances. Grant that we may sing your glory through the night by praising and blessing and glorifying your most honorable and majestic name, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Something I find myself reminding people often, is that it is not a sin to tell God you are tired. “God, I’m exhausted. I don’t know what else I can do.” These are words of deep intimacy between us and God. Let’s face it. It takes a lot to admit we are on our last bit of energy.

As we make our final communal preparations (and in our private prayers during the Small Compline) this prayer expresses to God that we are tired from fighting sin and temptation throughout the day that is past. We need some rest. We will pick up where we left off tomorrow.

This is the work that makes every Christian worthy of God’s blessings. We fight sin and temptation, which takes all our energy. If you’re night exhausted by the end of the day, you didn’t fight hard enough.

Now that we will rest, we beg God to protect us from sin and temptation that lurks in the night. Once rested, we will awake again tomorrow ready to fight another day, but for now we need rest. Even God rested from His work.

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Genesis 2.2

It wasn’t that God ‘let His guard down’ on the Seventh Day. He was teaching us there are times for work and times for rest, but never times to ignore the dangers of sin and temptation. It was when Adam and Eve let their guard down that they sinned.

As we wind down our Daily Lenten Journey we are exhausted from fighting the added temptations of Great Lent. We are tired from fasting physically and mentally. We need some rest before we forge ahead into Holy Week.

The Church will provide us with that rest in a couple days. The Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday are neither Great Lent nor Holy Week. The Church experiences two days of celebration as rest from the week that is to come.

It won’t feel like rest if you haven’t started fighting yet. That’s ok too. It is never too late to start the fight. In the meantime, ask God to protect you in your rest. Then, when you awake, ask Him to help you fight.

Happy praying. Tomorrow is our last day of Great Lent and the end our 2025 Daily Lenten Journey, but it is not the end of our Christian journey. Get some rest this weekend. The work is just beginning.