“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”
It now seems long ago that we were meeting online for night prayer during the first year of COVID-19. There was a prayer from the service of Compline that seemed to be the favorite of those who gathered, one asking that the good and merciful Lord keep watch over the world. Over those who work while others sleep; over those who are up on watch through the night watching over those who are not well, sitting beside a friend in need, praying through the night that someone would be delivered from their suffering; over those who are grieving. It is a prayer attributed to St Augustine of Hippo but it is one that is in various ways prayed by many in the course of human life because it expresses our hope when the literal and metaphorical night sets in and we turn to the one who holds all things in his hands. “Keep watch, dear Lord, during these dark times in our personal lives and in all our lives.”
Each of us can name our dark moments. Some of those are in the past but we remember them well and they have left a deep wound. Some of us are currently experiencing suffering and some are shouldering the suffering of others. “Keep watch, over them and us, Lord.”
The prayer continues, “Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous.” Jesus was a man acquainted with human suffering. He wept at the death of a friend. Again and again we read that he sees and is moved by something deep within him that the Bible calls compassion. In this prayer, we call upon that eternal love to again behold and be compassionate toward the sick and the weary, the dying and the suffering, toward all who are experiencing the darkness that afflicts human life.
As we move into the season of Advent, we remember the first coming of the one whom we call upon to keep watch over us. We also remember that this is a season for our own watchfulness. Jesus tells us that he is coming again and that his second coming will be swift at an hour that no one knows but his father. His exhortation to his disciples is to be watchful. We watch in peace and in hope for the return of the one who watches over us. We watch in peace and in hope for the one who is full of compassion and mercy. We watch in the night with those who are not well and by the side of a friend whose parent, spouse, or child is not well. We watch and we pray because we believe in a Lord who watches and who hears and answers our prayers. We watch and we pray because we know this is how the Spirit of our Lord often incarnates into those dark hours.
So let us be watchful for that second coming and let us pray “Now and always, keep watch along with us, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”
Fr. Bill+