The final three days of Holy Week are considered to be the most solemn days of the Christian calendar.  The Tridiuum, as it is known, begins on Maundy Thursday with the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  This is the remembrance of the final meal which Our Lord Jesus  ate with His disciples and during which He instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. 

At All Saints’, the Mass is solemn and dignified.  An altar is set at the head of the nave, in order to eliminate any feeling of distance or remoteness and to draw the congregation into an intimate celebration, reflecting the event of the Last Supper.  The use of the gold 16^th century chalice and paten helps to touch the ancient tradition of the Church, gathering the ritual which has taken place on the same site for hundreds of years.  

When the distribution of communion is over, the celebrant processes the Reserved Sacrament to the Altar of Repose – which reflects Jesus’ journey to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed with His disciples.  The procession, with two thuribles, one before and one after the Blessed Sacrament, with the entire congregation in its’ wake, makes its’ way to the ancient Anchorhold where the Sacrament is reposed in a Tabernacle surrounded by candles and a few simple floral tributes. 

All the lights in the church are extinguished, the ornaments and statues are removed and the whole building becomes a place of desolation.  There is no focus for prayer, no symbols of comfort; everything that cannot be removed remains covered in purple cloth; every image, hidden from sight. 

For the next three hours the Watch is attended by faithful parishioners who come and go, some of whom who remain and watch until midnight – the time when the soldiers came to arrest the Christ.  At All Saints’, we follow an ancient tradition ..... In the last five minutes before midnight, all the candles are slowly extinguished and these words are read ....Behold the time is coming, indeed it has already come, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home; and you will leave me alone; but I am not alone, for the Father is with me.  The congregation leaves the darkened church in silence.