Can I Get Some Compline?
by Alexa Younes (Jun ’02)
I was up late, at the last possible minute, trying to finish this article, but no inspiration would come to me as I wrote. I called people I knew for ideas, I made lists of topics, and I even searched the Internet! I won’t go too deeply into it, but my thoughts kept coming back to our recent Parish Life Conference and the lesson that Compline taught me.
I was up late then as well, trying to write an oration for the Oratorical contest, but no thoughts were coming. I got up to take a walk around and I met someone in the hallway. Discouraged as I was, I related my predicament. This someone told me to go to the Compline service to pray and then everything would come. So I went to Compline, and right as Father was saying, “Let us pray to the Lord,” it all came.
As you know I’m sure, the theme for this year’s Conference is, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My Brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40) This is an awesome quote for us Orthodox Christians, because Christ is calling us to serve Him through one another. Living in a world where the selfish “I” is constantly emphasized, it becomes so important for us, especially the younger generation, to imitate Christ by serving others. While the world points to flowers and chocolates and Valentine’s Day cards to show us love, God points to the Cross and the triumphal Resurrection of His Son! So, it is in our works of sacrifice and service that we show the love of Christ to those around us.
In serving with love each other and those who are less fortunate, we not only bring the light of Christ into their lives, but we allow the light of Christ into our own lives. St. Maximos the Confessor says, “Nothing created by God is evil.” We are not only created by God, but we’re also created in His likeness, and hence carry His image inside of us. This is why when we serve even our worst enemies we also serve Christ.
The organization Teen SOYO provides incredible opportunities for youth to serve the “least of their brethren,” from volunteering in soup kitchens, to writing letters to orphans in Guatemala. One of the reasons SOYO exists is to provide teenagers with ways to reach out and minister to others through their actions. Some of my most memorable experiences come from Teen SOYO outings to hospitals, and to parishioner’s houses for Christmas caroling. In fact, most of us have had the chance to do these things, and perhaps even more. And while doing all these activities is wonderful, too often we overlook the importance and power of the smaller things in life: a kind word, a letter, a phone call to a loved one, even sharing the comics with a sibling. How many of us walking down the street offer a smile to a passerby? Christ Himself left time to be with children, to sit and talk with troubled hearts, and reassure His disciples even amid His great works of healing the sick and raising the dead. Sometimes experiences in life bring our spirits down and all we want is someone to listen to us. It’s incredible how much we can minister to the people around us by doing these simple things.
So I know what you’re thinking by now: “How does this have anything to do with Compline?” Well, Compline is a wonderful instrument that can be utilized to fulfill the commandment to serve the “least of our brethren.” Sometimes, as I know happens with myself, a few of us, especially the ambitious youth, try to take on the world. I suppose it’s a bit prideful to think that we can change everything like that, but nevertheless, we believe that we can. The truth of the matter is we can’t. We cannot physically serve or change everyone or everything in the world. However, there is different form of service that we’re called to perform for each other which allows us to serve every single person in the world — praying for them.
When I went to that Compline service, I came, like so many other people, with a problem. “Let us pray to the Lord” was the answer I got. It’s the answer that everyone gets, but I think a lot of people underestimate the power of prayer. Just look at the stories of the Saints. The Prophet Isaiah called down rain from the heavens by his prayers; St. George raised a dead man to life by his prayers; St. Thekla was hidden in a rock from evil men by her prayers. St. Paul says in his epistle to the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) How else can we bear each other’s burdens if not through prayer?
Prayer is the most powerful tool that God ever gave to us. We can serve each other in the fullest capacity through prayer because our prayers connect to Christ and reach out to everyone in the world. There are no boundaries or confines because our prayers surpass time, distance, space and yes, even death itself! As we said during that Conference Compline service, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He bestows life!”