The "Bad Dream Prayer" Works
If your kids are having scary dreams—or if you are suffering from nightmares yourself—this prayer really works. It's from Compline, and you can look up the Latin which is "Te Lucis Ante Terminum" The authorship is credited to Saint Ambrose, but there are disputes regarding whether or not he penned the chant.
Our two oldest kids were having at least one bad dream a night between them for a couple weeks. We started saying this prayer before bedtime and the bad dreams were drastically reduced—only one in about 8 days! The poetic English translation is very good and my 4-year-old can almost say it by memory. A Catholic Priest told my friend about this prayer a long time ago.
To Thee, before the close of day
Creator of the world, we pray
That with Thy wonted favor, Thou
Wouldst be our Guard and Keeper now.
From all ill dreams defend our eyes,
From nightly fears and fantasies:
Tread under foot our ghostly foe,
That no pollution we may know.
O Father, that we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ Thine only Son,
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Shall live and reign eternally.
Amen.
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well this is such a significant post... i never knew of this prayer... it seems really helpful for the kids.... thanks for sharing it here...u can drop by My Inspirational Blog sometimes as well..... hope u will find it interesting...!!!
ReplyDeleteVia sitemeter, I've noticed that this post gets a lot of hits from people looking for prayers for protection against bad dreams. Please feel free to comment on the effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteMy 4-year-old has this prayer memorized. The results have been nothing short of miraculous for our family. I hope folks finding this post will add any stories they might have about this prayer in the comments. Thanks!
It continues to astound me how many people google "bad dream prayer", "prayer for bad dream", etc. I really would like to see some comments from folks who say the prayer.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I took my wife out, my 5-year old insisted that the baby-sitter repeat after him as he recited this prayer.
These poetic prayers are among my favorite. I know a very learned priest with 4 or 5 degrees who told me he prays the Angel of God prayer every morning and night -- so do I! It's another one which is consoling to children having bad dreams.
Well, I googled prayers for bad dreams and this site came up. My 9.5yo dd has bad dreams periodically, and keeps wanting to sleep with us. She prays before she goes to sleep, but is still having dreams. So I googled, and this is what came up. I taught it to her tonight, explained the significance. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Renai. I'm proud that this page on my site is the top hit for "bad dream prayer". The second hit is a Jewish prayer which is very good also.
ReplyDeleteBad dreams are not a small matter to kids and although prayers aren't "magic", this one has really seemed to have helped. We have 4 kids and one on the way and we recite this every night.
Thank you for this prayer. I prey that this works for my girlfreind. Who is having nightly bad dreams.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rich, and may God bless you and your girlfriend.
ReplyDelete