Today we remember Christ's crucifixion on the hill of Calvary.

Traditionally the Eucharist is not celebrated today. Instead we celebrate a Mass of the Pre-sanctified, in which we receive the Sacrament that was consecrated at an earlier Eucharist.

This liturgy had already been developed by the Second Trullan Synod, at the end of the 7th century. and is used only on Good Friday,

"Lord, … You accepted patiently and humbly the rebuffs of human life, as well as the torture of the cross. Help us to accept the pains and conflicts that come to us each day as opportunity to grow as people and become more like you……… that we can come to live more fully - only by dying with you, that we can rise with you." (Mother Teresa)

One of the things people challenge Christians with is the apparent absence of God in the world. When there is tragic loss of life, where there is famine or gross injustice, where then is God?

So it is an extraordinary twist of fate that at the heart of the greatest Christian festival of Easter, there is an absence – the absence of a body in the tomb.

When Jesus died on Good Friday, his disciples scattered - confused, fearful, without direction, without a future. But the absence of a body on Easter Sunday was altogether different. Now they saw Jesus everywhere – in the garden, on the road to Emmaus, as they fished, as they gathered together. And not as some spooky ghost of the past, but as the recognisable presence of the Son of God, risen from the dead.

This is what we are celebrating this Eastertide – our God, real, alive, recognisable and present. Martin Luther wrote: “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime”. He has also written that promise on every human heart.

Click More Info below to hear Surrexit Christus, an Easter song from the Taizé Community in France.

The Second Sunday of Easter is traditionally called ‘Low’ Sunday, in contrast to the ‘high’ festival of Easter Sunday. It marks the end of the Octave (8 days) of Easter, but is important in its own right, according to a story recorded in St John’s gospel.

St John tells us that, 8 days after Easter, the disciples gathered together again, only this time, unlike when the women came with news of the empty tomb, St Thomas - also known as Doubting Thomas - was with them. They gathered behind closed doors, and all of a sudden Jesus was there among them, saying "Peace be with you."

Jesus clearly understood Thomas’ doubts, and invited Thomas to put his finger in the nail holes in his hands and put his hand in Jesus’ side, where the sword had pieced him. Then Thomas believed.

Doubt for a Christian is normal and valid, as doubt and faith are 2 sides of the same coin. We are not required to be certain, only to believe. The doubters among us are often those who want to reflect more deeply on what faith means and demands.

Faith doesn’t have the luxury of total proof, but it looks like that was what Thomas was after. Thomas’ problem was that he was looking for certainty, when all he needed was faith. Rather, says Christ, we should aim to be like those who have not seen and still believe, whom we are told are the more blessed.

The picture is part of a stained glass window in St Teresa’s Church, Beaconsfield in the UK, a memorial to an RAF airman named Thomas who died during WW2. For more information see https://loandbeholdbible.com/2023/08/08/st-thomas-doubts-christ-john-2019-29/