Diocesan Blog

A Question for Easter   It is not a trick question, but neither is it as straightforward as it might seem. To whom did the risen Lord first appear? It depends, of course, on which Gospel you read!   St Matthew tells us that it was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. For St Mark (in the longer ending of his Gospel), it is just Mary Magdalene. For St Luke, it is the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In St John’ Gospel, it is Mary Magdalene.   But not one of these appearances is immediate or direct.  They are preceded by an angel or unknown figures in white, and they are surrounded by further uncertainty: ‘supposing him to be the gardener’; ‘their eyes were kept from recognising him’.  Only subsequently does recognition occur. The risen Christ is in our midst, but we do not… Read more

The Chrism Eucharist and The New Language of Holy Week and Easter   ‘That’s just the way it is’; ‘We are where we are’; ‘Get real’; ‘Wake up and smell the coffee’. You may have heard those phrases recently.  I most certainly have.  In fact, I have probably used… Read more

Thoughts for Holy Week If you walk down the Mount of Olives and past the Garden of Gethsemane at the bottom, and then climb up the hill to the old walled city of Jerusalem, you come to a church called St Peter in Gallicantu: St Peter at the Cock-crow.  ‘Before… Read more