Come and join us this coming Thursday for the Mass of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, followed by the Stripping of the Altars. The thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Eucharist is quickly followed by the darkness of Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal, and the kangaroo court when Our Lord is condemned to death. This is commemorated in the Stripping of the Altars, when the tabernacle on the High Altar is emptied, and the Blessed Sacrament taken to the Altar of Repose, whilst the choir sing Psalm 22, the psalm of desolation: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' The church is then plunged into darkness.