Evening prayer

“ If there should be a man or woman of the character that has been spoken of this morning, that wishes to go away from this people, I wish they would go. Every honest Latter-day Saint has felt and prayed, and his prayer has been in the morning, at noon, in the evening, and at midnight, that God would sweep his vineyard and purify it and prune it of all the dead branches, that they may be burned and blown away by the wind, like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor. ”

“ Although we constantly enjoy the blessings of God, the very breath we breathe being the gift of our Heavenly Father, yet certain seasons of the day, of the week, of the month, and of the year have been selected as especially fit for reminding us of God’s kindness, and predisposing our heart to devotion. Thus in the day, morning, noon and evening have been fixed for prayer; in the week, Sabbath; in the month, New-moon; in the year, the Festivals.
We have three daily Services: Maaribh, “Evening prayer;” Shacharith, “Morning prayer,”127 and Minchah, “Afternoon prayer.” ”

“ On smaller festivals and ordinary week-days only three are read. Some monastic rites have four lessons in each nocturne. In the Anglican Prayer-Book two lessons, much longer than those in the breviary, and of course in English, are appointed for morning and for evening prayer on each Sunday, festival, or week-day ”

“ Morning and evening prayer and grace at table should be earnestly recommended to all, because these are customs that have come down from the earliest times, and also because those who disregard them often come to neglect all prayer, or at least expose themselves to dangers or to the loss of precious graces. ”

“ Morning or Evening Prayer may be used in place of all that precedes the Peace and the Offertory, provided that a lesson from the Gospel is always included, and that the intercessions conform to the directions given for the Prayers of the People. ”

“ Easter Even. The prayers denominated collects in our liturgy are those of the day, and the 2nd and 3rd at Morning and Evening Prayer respectively; the Prayer for all Conditions of Men, which is called also a collect; the prayer preceding the ten commandments, the prayer for the sovereign in the Communion Service, and the six occasional collects following it; the prayer following the Lord’s Prayer in the Confirmation Service; the prayer preceding the psalm in the Visitation of the Sick, that in the Communion of the Sick, and the prayer preceding the blessing in the Burial of the Dead ”

“ From what time should we begin to read evening prayers (Shema) ? From the hour when the priests enter to partake of their offering till the end of the first watch, according to R. Eleazer; (other) sages say till midnight. ”

“ We sustain two prayer meetings every week, at the church Wednesday evening, and from house to house Monday evening; and I have begun a young people’s meeting Sunday evening half an hour before regular service, which opens with good promise. The Lord has given us one soul as a pledge of His readiness to bless. A bright, promising young girl has been seeking Christ for a long [13] time, but has been hindered by the general superstitious notion that she must have a vision or tangible evidence of God having heard her prayers. ”

“ And that then our minds are freest from weariness and worldly care. And so reason telleth us that the evening is a fit season to give God thanks for the mercies of the day, and to confess the sins of the day, and ask forgiveness, and to pray for rest and protection in the night. As nature and reason tell us how oft a man should eat and drink, and how long he should sleep, and what clothing he should wear; and Scripture need not tell you the particulars: so if Scripture command your prayer in general, God may by providence tell you when and how oft you must pray. ”

“ On returning from the public morning service, after he had dined, he sung a psalm, offered a short prayer, and then retired till the time of the afternoon service. In the evening he usually repeated the substance of both his sermons, in his family, when many of his neighbours came in: this he followed with singing and prayer, and concluded with singing two verses more, previous to the benediction. Before supper, he catechised the younger children: after supper, he sung the 136th Psalm, and catechised the elder children and servants ”

“ The clouds glide calmly across the heavens; the rays of the Sabbath sun rest sweetly on the face of nature. A dreamy, delightful serenity hovers over all the land. The incense of prayer rises from many a family altar, and the accents of praise tremble on many a lip. ”

“ Night, prophet of morning, wears her starry crown,
And jewels with hope her murkiest shades that frown;
Death's doubt is kernelled in each prayer we pray,
Eternity but night in some vast day
Of God's far-off, white flame of love's renown. ”

“ When thou wakest in the morning, let it be thy first thought to raise thy mind to Him, offering to His glory all thou shalt do or suffer that day, praying Him to assist thee by His grace. Then make thy other morning acts of devotion, acts of thanksgiving and of love, prayers and resolutions to live that day as though it were to be the last of thy life. ”

“ When evening falls the church bells ring,
And faithful voices pray and sing;
When morning comes the faithful feet
Tread to the altar-paces sweet.
The Lamb is with us day and night,
So, like high Heaven’s, our streets are bright. ”

“ All this, at least, we ought to study to do, and we ought also to pray often to the gods, both in private and in public, if possible three times a day, but if not so often, certainly at dawn and in the evening. For it is not meet that a consecrated priest should pass a day or a night without sacrifice; and dawn is the beginning of the day as twilight is of the night. ”

“ And you, faithful souls who have done your duty, who have found in this Feast a joy and comfort that passes understanding, know that the gladness of Easter is but an earnest of another day, the great day of eternity, which will open on the morning of resurrection, and which knows no evening; which has no need of the sun, for God is the light thereof; when God shall wipe away all tears; and death shall be no more; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Sermon XV. ”

“ Five prayers must be said daily: in the morning, just before [132] sunrise, at midday, during the afternoon, at sunset, and an hour and a half after the going down of the same. The call to prayer can be heard at these stated times, and it is curiously impressive to wake just as dawn is about to break, and to hear the long drawn-out wail of the muezzin from the minaret in the silence of the night. ”

“ Thou hast prepared the light and the sun,” [23] —do Thou now, O Lord, Thou lover of mankind, and Fountain of all good, mercifully accept of this our evening thanksgiving. Thou who hast brought us through the length of the day, and hast brought us to the beginnings of the night, preserve us by Thy Christ, afford us a peaceable evening, and a night free from sin, and vouchsafe us everlasting life by Thy Christ, through whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee in [24] the Holy Spirit for ever. ”

“ That is why born are included under Thursday. Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament generally unite prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with devotions in honor of the sublime Mystery of the altar. Friday is given to the Sacred Heart as well as to the Passion, but the prayers for Sacred Heart devotions will be found, as we have said, under Thursday. ↑ During this novena no particular form of prayer is of obligation. Any prayer to the Holy Ghost will suffice. ”

“ Morning prayer is our duty; we are the fittest for prayer when we are in the most fresh, and lively, and composed frame, got clear of the slumbers of the night, revived by them, and not yet filled with the business of the day. We have then most need of prayer, considering the dangers and temptations of the day to which we are exposed, and against which we are concerned; by faith and prayer, to fetch in fresh supplies of grace. ”

“ This time of Lent is marked by three distinctive features: (1) it is a period for serious reflection on death and its issues, joined, consequently, with prayer and works of mortification in imitation of our Saviour’s fast of forty days in the desert; (2) it is a time especially adapted to repentance and amendment of life, as in ancient days it was the season when the Cathechumens and penitents prepared for Baptism and absolution; (3) it is a prolonged vigil, fitting us to celebrate worthily the great week of the passion and the Feast of feasts of the Resurrection. ”

“ In the morning he is condemned by men as not fit to live on earth; in the evening he is reckoned good enough for heaven. In the morning nailed to the cross; in the evening in the Paradise of God, crowned with a crown he should wear through all the ages. In the morning not an eye to pity; in the evening washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb. ”

“ After the Spirit was poured out, as well as before, while they were waiting for him, they continued instant in prayer; for prayer will never be superseded till it comes to be swallowed up in everlasting praise. Breaking of bread comes in between the work and prayer, for it has reference to both, and is a help to both. The Lord's supper is a sermon to the eye, and a confirmation of God's word to us; and it is an encouragement to our prayers, and a solemn expression of the ascent of our souls to God. ”

“ If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,” darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike. Psalm 139:10‐11
The Officiant then says the Prayer for Light, using any one of the following or some other suitable prayer, first saying
Let us pray.
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light ”

“ This silence we must observe not only with our tongues, but also with our bodies and all our limbs, both out of respect to the presence of God and his altar, and also not to give the least occasion of distraction to others. Prayer is an action so sublime and supernatural, that the church in her canonical hours teaches us to begin it by a fervent petition of grace to perform it well. ”

“ You may count them like a rosary and make each one a prayer.
A moment in the morning—a moment, if no more—
Is better than an hour when the trying day is o'er.
'Tis the gentle dew from heaven, the manna for the day;
If you fail to gather early—alas! it melts away.
So, in the blush of morning, take the offered hand of love,
And walk in heaven's pathway and the peacefulness thereof.
—Arthur Lewis Tubbs. ———
AN INVITATION TO PRAYER
Come to the morning prayer,
Come, let us kneel and pray;
Prayer is the Christian pilgrim's staff
To walk with God all day. ”

“ On Sunday, when the bells chime their invitation, all sorts and conditions of men meet in the dim romantic precincts of the ancient church, and there is much pleasant gossiping when morning and evening worship are ended. ”

“ Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Silence may be kept, and free intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered.
The service concludes with the Song of Simeon with this Antiphon, which is sung or said by all
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
In Easter Season, add Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. ”

“ The mornings open with a reverent, fervent-sounding prayer of words; and then the days come after piling up petitions of ends, aims, tempers, passions and works, that ask for anything and everything but what accords with genuine religion. The prayer of the morning is that the son, the daughter—all the sons and daughters—may be Christians ”

“ A night of prayer, or a half night at least, a more or less protracted season must thus be spent before we can hope to receive the blessing we desire. Of course not one word can be uttered against spending seasons of prayer by day or by night in waiting upon God. We have the example of the Man of Prayer Himself before us in this. But this much must be said, that many a one has spent whole days and nights and weeks in earnest crying to God for the infilling of the Holy Ghost, and all in vain. ”

“ Let us play and take recreation to our hearts' content during other days, but on the Sabbath let us rest, worship, go to the house of prayer, partake of the sacrament, cat our food with singleness of heart, and pay our devotions to God, that the fulness of the earth may be ours, and that we may have peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. ”

“ I said my prayers and lay down to sleep. In the evening I pray better than in the morning; I understand better what I am saying and feeling. In the evening I do not fear myself, in the morning I do-there is much before me. ”

“ We may remember that among the primitive Christians the celebration of the Lord’s Supper was not as in our modern times a rare and unfrequent occurrence, coming at intervals of two, three, and even six months, but that it occurred every Sunday, and on many of the solemn events of life, as funerals and marriages, and that one part of the celebration always consisted in recognizing by a solemn prayer the unbroken unity of the saints below and the saints in heaven. ”

“ At noon,—because the soul like the body needs a mid-day rest; the dust of activity and the distractions of business will have dimmed the morning vision before the day is full gone, and it is good to refresh the nature by again, if it be only for a brief moment, [Pg 12] looking straight up into the face of the Most High. At night,—for the evening shadows find God's servant with soiled soul and drooping aspirations in sore need of that cleansing and cheer which the sight of God imparts. ”