The Beneficial - Lent and Easter 2025

Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12: 44 - 46

I visited the Vatican museums recently, and one of the unexpected delights was just before the Sistine Chapel, in the rooms frescoed by Raphael: The Liberation of St Peter. Raphael is known for his beautiful bright colours, but here there is darkness and shadow too, known as chiaroscuro. Lent and Easter reflect this. Every story, every stage of the journey to the cross and beyond has its light and shadows, because all of life does. The hope of Easter is that the shadows aren’t overcoming the light, rather that the light emerges from within the darkness. And this doesn’t stop with resurrection, it continues. There is darkness still, but the light is also emergent, and we are part of that story. 

Lent and Easter 2025