Entrance Antiphon and Collect
Antiphon
1. on this and the following day, by a most ancient tradition, the church does not celebrate the Sacraments at all, except for penance and the anointing of the Sick.
2. on this day, holy communion is distributed to the faithful only within the celebration of the Lord’s passion; but it may be brought at any hour of the day to the sick who cannot participate in this celebration.
3. the altar should be completely bare: without a cross, without candles and without cloths.
The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
4. on the afternoon of this day, about three o’clock (unless a later hour is chosen for a pastoral reason), there takes place the celebration of the Lord’s passion consisting of three parts, namely, the Liturgy of the Word, the adoration of the cross, and holy communion.
in the united States, if the size or nature of a parish or other community indicates the pastoral need for an additional liturgical service, the Diocesan bishop may permit the service to be repeated later. this liturgy by its very nature may not, however, be celebrated in the absence of a priest.
5. the priest and the Deacon, if a Deacon is present, wearing red vestments as for Mass, go to the altar in silence and, after making a reverence to the altar, prostrate themselves or, if appropriate, kneel and pray in silence for a while. all others kneel.
6. then the priest, with the ministers, goes to the chair where, facing the people, who are standing, he says, with hands extended, one of the following prayers, omitting the invitation Let us pray.
Collect
Remember your mercies, O Lord,
and with your eternal protection sanctify your servants,
for whom Christ your son,
by the shedding of his Blood,
established the Paschal mystery.
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
℟. Amen.
or:
O God, who by the Passion of Christ your Son, Our Lord,
abolished the death inherited from ancient sin
by every succeeding generation,
grant that just as, being conformed to him,
we have borne by the law of nature
the image of the man of earth,
so by the sanctification of grace
we may bear the image of the man of heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.
