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An evening prayer of gratitude
Most people who look this up do not want a theology of prayer at eleven at night. They want words to say. So here is a prayer you can use as it stands, and then the short version of why it is shaped this way.
A prayer you can say tonight
Thank you for this day, which I did not earn and did not deserve.
Thank you for the parts of it I noticed, and for the ones I did not. For the people who were kind to me without knowing it. For anything I did today that was worth doing, and for the fact that you do not keep a ledger of the rest.
Whatever I got wrong today, I am sorry for. I am not going to carry it into the night; you did not ask me to.
Watch over the people I love, especially those I am worried about. Watch over the ones I did not think about today.
I am going to sleep now. Keep the night, and keep me in it.
Why gratitude, and not a list of requests
The Church's own night prayer has ended with thanksgiving for a very long time. In the Gospel of Luke, an old man named Simeon holds the infant Jesus in the temple and says he can now depart in peace, because he has seen what he was waiting for. The Church has sung those words at night ever since. It is a prayer of a man who has received something, not one who is still asking.
This is not a rule that requests are forbidden at night. It is an observation that gratitude at the end of a day does something requests cannot. It ends the day instead of extending it.
The five-minute version, which is the one people actually keep
There is an old practice the Jesuits call the examination, and it is much simpler than the name. Sitting or lying down, you go back over the day and ask three things. What was good today? Where did I fall short? What am I carrying into tomorrow?
That is the whole method. It takes five minutes. The version that works is the short one, done most nights, not the thorough one done occasionally.
If you only have energy for one question, use the first. Naming one thing that was good is the part that changes how the day sits with you, and it is the part people skip.
Bedtime with children
Children take to this faster than adults do, because they are not yet embarrassed by it. A short prayer, the names of the people they love out loud, and a guardian angel mentioned at the end is enough. The traditional line asks the angel to watch over the night, and children generally like having someone on duty.
Keep it under two minutes. The point is that it happens, not that it is complete. And let them say the names; hearing a child pray for their grandmother out loud is worth more than the prayer you would have chosen for them.
When the day was bad
There are evenings when gratitude is not available, and pretending otherwise in front of God is worse than saying nothing. If someone died, if the news was bad, if the day was simply long and ugly, the honest evening prayer is: this was a hard day and I do not have anything to thank you for. That is a real prayer. The psalms are full of exactly that, and they were not edited out.
You can also say nothing at all and just be there for a minute. The Church has always held that prayer is not a performance that has to be good.
When you cannot sleep
Do not turn the prayer into another task you are failing at. If you are awake at three, the useful thing is not a longer prayer but a shorter one, repeated. One line is enough: keep the night. Say it as many times as you need to, and stop trying to make it mean something.
Worry is loudest in the dark because there is nothing else to compete with it. A short repeated line does not fix the worry, but it gives the mind something else to hold, which is most of what anyone is looking for at three in the morning.
FAQ
Is there a set Catholic evening prayer?
The Church has a night prayer in its Liturgy of the Hours, and it has ended with thanksgiving for centuries. For personal use there is no required formula. Any honest words are a real prayer.
Do I have to pray at a particular time?
No. Before bed is the usual habit, but the evening is the evening. Some people pray when they put their phone down, which is the last thing they actually do.
What if I forget most nights?
Then you pray on the nights you remember. A practice done twice a week for years is worth more than one attempted every day for a month.
Can I pray for others in an evening prayer?
Yes, and naming them out loud is the part that tends to stick. You can also ask for a Mass to be offered for someone, which is the Church praying rather than only you.
What is the examination of conscience?
A short review of the day, traditionally three questions: what was good, where did I fall short, what am I carrying into tomorrow. Five minutes is the usual working length.