“A working couple once asked him, ‘Elder, when at night we return very tired to our home, we don’t have the desire for prayer.’ [The Elder replied] How do you have the desire to eat? Just as you don’t neglect food, no matter how tired you are, all the more so — and even more so –you should never neglect the food of the soul: communicating with God.
Don’t ever neglect prayer. At the table, in the morning, in the evening, at night. Especially, don’t neglect Compline for any reason, no matter how occupied and tired you are. It is a matter of self-sacrifice and mainly of love. When a certain person, beloved by you, calls you up very late at night, how is it that despite your tiredness, you hook yourselves to the receiver and, furthermore, sometimes one and two hours, without being impatient, but, on the contrary, you rejoice?”
– ‘Counsels for Life’