A peaceful night and a perfect death

“The Lord grant us a peaceful night and a perfect death. Amen.”

The last prayer of the day that monks and nuns sing in their rounds of daily prayers (called daily Office) is called Compline. A line of prayer during Compline asks God to grant the prayers a peaceful night and a perfect end. I cannot now locate the source but I read somewhere that instead of the word ‘end’ the original prayer asks for a perfect death.

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.[a] 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon[b] came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon[c] took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

Song (or canticle) of Simeon:

At last, all-powerful Master, you give leave to your servant
to go in peace according to your promise.
for my eyes have seen your salvation
which you have prepared for all nations,
(the light to enlighten the Gentiles
and give glory to Israel, your people.)

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