The Office of Darkness, the Officium Tenebrarum in Latin, comprises the offices of matins and lauds traditionally sung or recited in the evening for the last three days of Holy Week, what we call the Sacred Triduum. In the Philippines, this office is often called in its Spanish name, tinieblas, which has also lent its name, at least in some localities, to the large wooden clapper installed in the belfries of those times, more widely known as matracas, apparently because when the time of the customary noise was come, the belfry clapper was also sounded.
We are in the week that changed the world, Holy Week, and its last three days, the Sacred Triduum, are the holiest days of Christendom. Let us honour the Lord, contemplating on His holy Passion, in fervent prayer, in that natural darkness that recalls the spiritual darkness that once enveloped the world awash in sin, that we may rejoice in the light of His resurrection, having reconciled the world unto Himself when He died on the Cross.
Cantemus, psallamus, atque oremus.
Cappella Gregoriana Sanctæ Cæciliæ olim Xicatunensis 