Good Friday Solemn Service and Veneration of the Cross

At the Solemn Service, we remember what Jesus did for love of us.  The priests and deacons of our church reach the Altar and lay prostrate in reverence to the Lord, and where we honor the Holy Cross.  With its beautiful music and the tradition where the pastor and others carry the large cross through the church, we participate in a Communion service (no Mass at this service), and the Altar is then stripped bare, and the Tabernacle is left empty.  The parishioners are asked to leave the church in solemn silence.