Watch of Prayer

After the Last Supper, Jesus went out to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, accompanied by some of the disciples.  When Jesus left them to pray on his own, his friends quickly fell asleep.  The Lord said to them, each time he returned, ‘could you not watch with me one hour?’  On this evening, we too are called to spend time in church praying with the Lord, either throughout, or for a time, until at midnight we pray Compline (Night Prayer), and then depart – the remaining candles having been removed from the Altar of Repose.