Wednesday of Holy Week

Tenebrae, Latin for “darkness” or “Shadows”1

There are not many ways to God, but only one, and it lies through the depth of a person’s own soul, when he leaves his false self behind,* and is stripped, and alone like the myth heroes—goes into the darkness. The darkness may be a catastrophe, personal or communal, or it may be the yearly, daily round of ordinary living, continued when the first enthusiasm has died and there seems no reason to go on and do right except clinging to a laughable conviction that there is something worth going on for. And in the depth of this darkness is Christ, who passed from the world and the flesh that we know into the complete world and the whole person.

~ from Rosemary Haughton (quoted approvingly by Dorothy Day)

* OR “when she leaves her false self behind

1 Tenebrae (“shadows” or “darkness”) is a Holy Week service that is at least 1,000 years old. Originally held after midnight but later held at a variety of times, Tenebrae would be sung each day of the Triduum** in a church lit only by 15 candles. These were extinguished one by one until the church was left in darkness.

At that point, a loud noise (“strepitus”) would be produced – sometimes by slamming a hymnal or other book shut, sometimes by stomping on the floor – symbolizing the earthquake after Christ’s death.

Many Christian communities today have a Tenebrae service on Wednesday of Holy Week.

** Triduum, “three days” — refers to the Christian community’s high Holy Days immediately before and including Easter, that is, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday.