Daily prayer

The church has prayed at these hours for over a thousand years. You need no book, no background, and no particular mood. Read it slowly, at your own pace. The old name for these set prayers is the daily office; you will hear it at some churches.

Prayers for moments

A couple of minutes each, for what you’re carrying right now.

All 12 ›

Anxiety Feeling alone Grief No words Someone who is sick My children A new baby Morning Before meals Before sleep Bedtime with kids Waiting for news

Prayers for the hours of the day

Morning Prayer (Matins)

Psalms, a reading and prayers for the day ahead. A calm way to start.

Pray it this morningAbout 15 min

Evening Prayer (Vespers)

Thanks for the day that has gone, the Song of Mary, and prayers for the world.

Pray it this eveningAbout 15 min

Night Prayer (Compline)

The shortest and gentlest of the three: a psalm, a confession and a blessing to sleep on.

Pray it before sleepAbout 9 min

Four Minutes

For the days you have nothing left: one psalm, one prayer and the Lord’s Prayer.

Pray it nowAbout 4 minutes

Luther’s daily prayers

On waking, at bedtime, before and after meals. From the Small Catechism.

Pray oneAbout 1 min each

Praying for peace

Two prayers from Fátima, Portugal, 1917, with the story of the children who first prayed them.

Pray for peaceAbout 3 min

The prayer for this hour is always waiting on today’s page, with today’s readings beside it.

Each prayer uses a psalm and a Gospel reading suited to its hour — Psalm 63 and Matthew 6 at morning, Psalm 141 and Luke 24 at evening, Psalm 91 and Matthew 11 at night. A congregation praying these every day would rotate through the whole Psalter over time; these fixed psalms are a deliberate simplification for prayer outside a gathered community.

From the library

Luther wrote A Simple Way to Pray in 1535 for his barber, who had asked him how. It is a method, not a theory, and you can use it tonight. →