The outline of the Compline service is simple and consistent: Sunday night; a darkened church; lit candles; burning incense; and a liturgy of psalms, hymns, prayers, and short anthems chanted and sung by a small group of choristers. After the liturgy has concluded, the organ speaks for the first time to end the service.

This description is spare, but could serve as a sort of guide, leading a lover of Gregorian chant to come to the Chapel of the Cross on Sunday night, or someone who knows nothing of chant to stay away. A mention of Compline as the final monastic hour of the day would attract some but bore others.

The facts above give far too limited a glimpse of Compline at the Chapel of the Cross. As a member of the Compline choir, I have, myself, an incomplete understanding of the service. While I am concerning myself with keeping on pitch through a long chant or staying in time with those around me, my experience is necessarily constrained.

I have been fortunate enough, however, to gain some impressions of what I cannot know fully. From one person, I heard of the grace of simplicity in the service, easing a spirit content in the relative anonymity conferred by the setting and in the freedom to worship without having to do, say, or sing anything. From another, of the bursts of polyphony emerging from the even texture of chant. From yet another, of a peaceful end to the day and beginning to the week. And the “thank you” I heard on leaving the church one night is gratefully returned to the giver, with further thanks to God. All of this is Compline, and the church door stands open to all who come to worship.