At the outset of Holy Week, we meditate on the narrative that will unfold with intensity and drama in the coming days. In the Tenebrae prayer service, held on the eve of Holy Week, darkness becomes a symbolic representation of the context in which the passion and death of Christ occurs, a darkness that will eventually be broken by the light of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
With the meditative intonations of the Theological College Schola choir, led by Fr. James McKearney, P.S.S., participants are invited to contemplate the dark forces of sin and death, which are vanquished with the Resurrection. This service, dating back to at least the 9th century, is lit only by candlelight that is slowly extinguished, candle by candle, until only the Christ candle remains illuminated and is carried out before the Canticle of Zechariah. At the end of the service, the choir banged their books to simulate the sound of an earthquake, at which point the candle of Christ returned, in a dramatic foreshadowing of the Paschal Candle procession during the Easter Vigil.
“Our Lord was hidden in God by his holy resurrection, so that his life, that is his fleshly life, his human life, his life of weakness, was lost in God. For since he was consumed in God, like wood in the fire, there was nothing that appeared in him besides God, in whom he was lost, buried, and totally engulfed. This risen life of God in God is the hidden life that all Christians should aspire to…”
Fr. Jean-Jacques Olier
From the Rector
This Easter, may we be engulfed in the joy, love, and mystery of the resurrection of Our Lord, that it may permeate our mind, heart, and soul, experiencing the Interior Life of Jesus.
On behalf of the Theological College seminary community,
Be assured of our prayers for you, especially during this blessed time!
May God be praised,
