Working with many Muslims I am also conscious that this year Ramadan starts (approximately) on the 2nd of April so Lent and Ramadan overlap and Holy Week falls in Ramadan. As we celebrate Easter, let us remember that our Muslim friends will be fasting.

This year we expect to have all our usual services for Holy Week and Easter plus a Taizé service on the Tuesday of Holy week i.e. 12th April.

I have referred to my paintings of the stations of the cross before. One of the first ones I chose to paint was the extra station, the 15th, the Resurrection. I chose the road to Emmaus as the theme for my painting. The painting is after the journey to Emmaus, Cleopas and the other disciple have invited Jesus to come in a have supper with them, but at first didn’t recognised Jesus. The painting is of the moment that Jesus breaks the bread and the two disciples realize that the man they had been walking with is, in fact, Jesus. In the painting Jesus sits with the bread broken, Cleopas and his friend are turned towards Jesus and raising their hand in worship and exultation. Beside the chair is the shepherd’s crook symbolising Jesus the good shepherd. The crook is green, the colour used to depict new life and the Holy Spirit in iconography. Between them all is a table on which there is the dish for the bread and the wine reminding us that every time we celebrate Mass we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection. The snake under Jesus’ foot represents depicts the defeat of evil symbolised by the serpent from the Garden of Eden. The background is the gold the colour of divinity. Jesus sits on a blue throne, blue is the colour of heaven and if you look carefully you will see Jesus does not cast a dark shadow, but where you would expect to see shadow there is light because Jesus is the light of the world. A close look also reveals that the light comes from Jesus’ heart.

There is a lot to be pessimistic about in the world today: Covid-19 is still a threat and the wars are very much in our thoughts. I say wars because there are many wars in the world, Ukraine is near to us but there is a long conflicts in Yemen, Tigray and many other places. This painting is an expression of optimism in a world full of reasons to be pessimistic.