Catholic Night Prayers
At the close of day, examine your conscience with honesty, seek God’s forgiving mercy, and place your night under His watchful peace.
Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments,
but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
An Act of Contrition expresses sincere repentance for sins out of love for God (perfect contrition) or out of sorrow for having offended divine justice, resolving firmly with God’s grace to amend one’s life.
Hail, Holy Queen (Salve Regina)
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
Attributed to Blessed Hermann of Reichenau in the eleventh century, the Salve Regina is a loving prayer asking the Blessed Virgin Mary to look upon our earthly journey with eyes of mercy and lead us to Jesus.
Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The Sign of the Cross is the universal mark of the Christian, invoking the three Persons of the Trinity while tracing the redemptive cross of Christ upon one’s forehead, chest, and shoulders.
Canonical English doxology prayer text used in liturgical and private devotion across the United States.