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Holy Week opens as the congregation gathers outside to receive palms and process into the church, re-enacting Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The Passion according to St. Matthew is sung in full as part of the service — a rare and striking way to encounter the breadth of Our Lord’s suffering before the sermon is preached.

Compline is the ancient prayer office that brings the day to a close with psalmody, a brief reading, and the canticle “Nunc Dimittis” — Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. The singing of St. Mark’s spare, urgent Passion account deepens the week’s meditation on the road to the cross.

This quiet mid-week gathering offers a contemplative pause in the rhythm of Holy Week, commending the day and the congregation to God’s keeping as the darkness of Good Friday draws nearer.

St. Luke’s Passion is distinguished by its tender mercy — the weeping daughters of Jerusalem, the thief on the cross, and Christ’s prayer of forgiveness from the wood. Hearing it sung at the close of Holy Wednesday draws the heart toward both the sorrow and the compassion of the cross.

On the night in which He was betrayed, the congregation receives the body and blood of Christ in the same Supper He instituted for His disciples in the Upper Room. Afterward, the altar is stripped bare as the choir and congregation sing Psalm 22 — all paraments, candles, and adornments removed — leaving the sanctuary in austere darkness as the watch of Gethsemane begins.

The ancient noon service marks the hour of the crucifixion with the haunting Reproaches — Christ’s voice from the cross calling His people to remember His redeeming acts — followed by the Solemn Collects, the Adoration of the Holy Cross, and Holy Communion from the pre-sanctified elements reserved from Maundy Thursday.

Tenebrae — Latin for “darkness” — is a service of candles extinguished one by one as the congregation moves through Christ’s suffering and death, until a single light remains and then is taken away, and the church sits in total darkness. St. John’s Passion, with its royal and theological depth, crowns the day: “It is finished.”

The Great Vigil is the oldest of all Christian services, beginning after nightfall as the Church watches and waits at the threshold of the Resurrection. A new fire is kindled in the darkness, the Paschal Candle is lit and carried into the church, the Exsultet is sung, and the night culminates in Holy Baptism and Confirmation as new members are received into the Body of Christ just as the Easter feast begins.

All of Holy Week’s fasting, vigil, and sorrow gives way to the gladness of the Resurrection as the congregation gathers for the sung Mass on the highest feast of the Church Year. He is risen — and with Him, all who are baptized into His death and life.