The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.

— J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
Amen.

'He is not here, he is risen as he said'

On Easter morning, the three Marys hurry to where Jesus is buried, only to find the tomb empty and an angel guarding it. Glass by Didron of Paris, 1863 at Feltwell St Mary, Norfolk.

Feltwell: https://t.co/BugPZEEoqU pic.twitter.com/xqZUxj90bZ

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 5, 2026

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host!

Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For he commanded and they were created.
And he established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds which cannot be passed.

–Psalm 148:1-3

'Alleluia! Christ is risen!'

A very happy Easter to you from all of us at Westminster Abbey pic.twitter.com/WKro9JKqsb

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 5, 2026

All night had shout of men, and cry
Of woeful women filled His way;
Until that noon of sombre sky
On Friday, clamour and display
Smote Him; no solitude had He,
No silence, since Gethsemane.

Public was Death; but Power, but Might,
But Life again, but Victory,
Were hushed within the dead of night,
The shutter’d dark, the secrecy.
And all alone, alone, alone,
He rose again behind the stone.

–Alice Meynell (1847-1922)

There's a rumour, a whisper. Something's happening. Could it be? #HolySaturday @gandkchurch @cofe pic.twitter.com/4xJz6oTEpv

— Craig Huxley-Jones (@FatherHux) April 15, 2017

“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

–East Coker

The Entombment of Christ by Titian, 1520, Louvre. pic.twitter.com/9AnvRl1P41

— Cody J. Swanson (@CodyJSwanson) April 4, 2026

Jesus dies. His lifeless body is taken down from the cross. Painters and sculptors have strained their every nerve to portray the sorrow of Mary holding her lifeless son in her arms, as mothers today in Baghdad hold with the same anguish the bodies of their children. On Holy Saturday, or Easter Eve, God is dead, entering into the nothingness of human dying. The source of all being, the One who framed the vastness and the microscopic patterning of the Universe, the delicacy of petals and the scent of thyme, the musician’s melodies and the lover’s heart, is one with us in our mortality. In Jesus, God knows our dying from the inside.

–The Rt. Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Rowell

Holy Saturday

"It is easy to be faithful to God when everything goes smoothly, when His cause triumphs; but to be equally faithful in the hour of darkness, when, for a time, He permits evil to get the upper hand – this is hard, but it is the most authentic proof of real love." pic.twitter.com/kDRR6vflDj

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 19, 2025

O God, whose loving kindness is infinite, mercifully hear our prayers; and grant that as in this life we are united in the mystical body of thy Church, and in death are laid in holy ground with the sure hope of resurrection; so at the last day we may rise to the life immortal, and be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Entombment of Christ (c. 1635-163)
by Rembrandt pic.twitter.com/gLlXkcZixD

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) April 3, 2026

“By the grace of God” Jesus tasted death “for every one”. In his plan of salvation, God ordained that his Son should not only “die for our sins” but should also “taste death”, experience the condition of death, the separation of his soul from his body, between the time he expired on the cross and the time he was raised from the dead. The state of the dead Christ is the mystery of the tomb and the descent into hell. It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb, reveals God’s great sabbath rest after the fulfillment of man’s salvation, which brings peace to the whole universe.

–The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, para. 624

The Lamentation of Christ. #HolySaturday #HolyWeek pic.twitter.com/CIDRagT5Ru

— Marlene T. Diaz (@academicknight) April 3, 2021

HOW life and death in Thee
Agree !
Thou hadst a virgin womb
And tomb.
A Joseph did betroth
Them both.

–Richard Crashaw (1613-1649)

BUON SABATO SANTO AGLI AMICI DELLA PAGINA DELL'ARTE

Caravaggio, Deposizione nel sepolcro, 1602-1604. Olio su tela, 300×203 cm. Città del Vaticano, Pinacoteca Vaticana. pic.twitter.com/WN5GyceWj2

— La Pagina dell'Arte (@LaPaginaArte) April 4, 2026

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

For Holy Saturday, a pyx, c500 AD, with the women at Christ’s tomb

(Met Museum) pic.twitter.com/zNMpCmnFI2

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 4, 2026

“I have been hunted like a bird
    by those who were my enemies without cause;
 they flung me alive into the pit
    and cast stones on me;
 water closed over my head;
    I said, ‘I am lost.’

–Lamentations 3:52-54

There's something eery about the Cathedral with no main lights. #HolySaturday pic.twitter.com/O5IvoSWP5L

— OurCofE (@OurCofE) March 26, 2016

This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.
There I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I’almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for mee.
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye;
What a death were it then to see God dye?
It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke,
It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke.
Could I behold those hands which span the Poles,
And tune all spheares at once peirc’d with those holes?
Could I behold that endlesse height which is
Zenith to us, and our Antipodes,
Humbled below us? or that blood which is
The seat of all our Soules, if not of his,
Made durt of dust, or that flesh which was worne
By God, for his apparell, rag’d, and torne?

Read it all.

'Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing''
Luke 23: 34#GoodFriday pic.twitter.com/Udz7vgYqvS

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 3, 2026

O God, the Father of mankind, who didst suffer thine only Son to be set forth as a spectacle despised, derided, and scornfully arrayed, yet in his humiliation to reveal his majesty: Draw us, we beseech thee, both to behold the Man and to worship the King, immortal, eternal, world without end.

—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

The Crucifixion with Mary and John on either side of the cross #GoodFriday
BL Harley MS 2904; the 'Ramsey Psalter'; 10th century; England, S (Winchester or Ramsey); f.3v @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/Tbvchs0o1g

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 3, 2026

“The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.”

The Crucifixion, Giovanni da Milano, c. 1360

St Francis of Assisi appears at the foot of the Cross (Rijksmuseum) #GoodFriday pic.twitter.com/MqHbHIh2Jj

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 3, 2026

“When God becomes man in Jesus of Nazareth, he not only enters into the finitude of man, but in his death on the cross also enters into the situation of man’s godforsakenness. In Jesus he does not die the natural death of a finite being, but the violent death of the criminal on the cross, the death of complete abandonment by God. The suffering in the passion of Jesus is abandonment, rejection by God, his Father. God does not become a religion, so that man participates in him by corresponding religious thoughts and feelings. God does not become a law, so that man participates in him through obedience to a law. God does not become an ideal, so that man achieves community with him through constant striving. He humbles himself and takes upon himself the eternal death of the godless and the godforsaken, so that all the godless and the godforsaken can experience communion with him.”

–Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015), p, 414

Crucifixion scene.

Attributed to Kesu Dás, Mughal India, c. 1590 (British Museum) #GoodFriday pic.twitter.com/bWAsnrXGNG

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 3, 2026

There was a door

And I could not open it. I could not touch the handle.

Why could I not walk out of my prison?

What is hell? Hell is oneself,

Hell is alone, the other figures in it

Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from

And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.

–Edward in The Cocktail Party, Act One. Scene 3

Diego Velásquez (Spanish painter, 1599-1660): “Christ Crucified”, 1622. pic.twitter.com/1ghgp2tC4L

— Maria Helena (@mhcoutinho_48) April 9, 2020

Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Good Friday

This is one of the greatest days from the beginning of the world to its end. He was scourged, crowned with thorns, carried the cross to Calvary amid taunts, was nailed to the cross between two thieves, and by His painful death finished the great work of redemption. pic.twitter.com/G1fvTD3BJ0

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 3, 2026

Isn’t it curious that the Son of God would die in this particular way? Even Paul was permitted a nice, neat slice of the sword. Why did the Son of God die in the worst possible way? That’s the point here. Crucifixion was specifically designed to be the worst of the worst. It was so bad, good Roman citizens didn’t discuss it in public. It’s very much like the way we avoid talking about death and sin. The Romans avoided talking about crucifixion because it was so horrible, so disgusting, so obscene””they used that word to describe it.

Why this method and not another? Because it corresponds to the depth of depravity caused by human rebellion against God. It shows us just how bad things really are with us. No wonder we don’t want to look at it. Yet again, the African American church has never been afraid to look at it. It gives them hope. It gives them strength. It gives them comfort.
As for the blood: It is important because it’s mentioned so much in Scripture. It’s a synecdoche, a word that stands for the whole thing. When you say “the blood of Christ,” you mean his self-offering, his death, the horror of it, the pouring out of it. It sums up the whole thing.

And it’s not just a metaphor; he really did shed blood when he was scourged. He was a bloody mess. I remember one line from an article by a secular journalist. Concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, he wrote, “He must have been ghastly to behold.” That’s a great sentence.

—Fleming Rutledge in a 2016 Christianity Today interview (emphasis mine)

By His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
The Crucifixion, Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), 1457 – 1460, tempera and oil on panel, 76 x 96 cm, Le Louvre pic.twitter.com/4F54YCT946

— SaintsandScripture (@Saint_of_theDay) April 3, 2026

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in purity of life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Good Friday.

Christ the Man of Sorrows, 15th Century.
Banningham, Norfolk.

'He was despised and rejected of men
A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief:

And we hid as it were our faces from him,
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Banningham: https://t.co/LECvrtUAcv pic.twitter.com/3lNkueZ8X1

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 3, 2026

Remember my affliction and my bitterness,
    the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually thinks of it
    and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is thy faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.

Let him sit alone in silence
    when he has laid it on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
    there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the smiter,
    and be filled with insults.

For the Lord will not
    cast off for ever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not willingly afflict
    or grieve the sons of men.

—Lamentations 3:19-33

"The greatest witness of God’s love in all of history was not Jesus’ perfect life. It was not his teaching. It was not his miracles. The greatest witness of God’s love was Christ’s suffering on the cross." @RickWarren https://t.co/5TWGmtquZG

— Plough Quarterly (@Plough) April 3, 2026

While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Hail, Master!” And he kissed him.  Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 

–Matthew 26:47-50

The Taking of Christ (1602), by Caravaggio pic.twitter.com/CqWMsU5zp9

— The Art Curator (@SeekAfterBeauty) April 3, 2026

Alone thou goest forth, O Lord, in sacrifice to die;

is this thy sorrow nought to us who pass unheeding by?

Our sins, not thine, thou bearest, Lord; make us thy sorrow feel,

till through our pity and our shame love answers love’s appeal.

This is earth’s darkest hour, but thou dost light and life restore;

then let all praise be given thee who livest evermore.

Grant us with thee to suffer pain that, as we share this hour,

thy cross may bring us to thy joy and resurrection power.

The Agony in the Garden, from a 14th-century Book of Hours. Christ is alone, the apostles sleeping, but in the darkness behind him a gallery of medieval faces – kings and queens and ordinary people – keeps vigil with him through the night.

(BL Yates Thompson MS. 13) pic.twitter.com/jFMFSzhPQZ

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) April 2, 2026

St. Peter once: ‘Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?’-
Much more I say: Lord, dost Thou stand and knock
At my closed heart more rugged than a rock,
Bolted and barred, for Thy soft touch unmeet,
Nor garnished nor in any wise made sweet?
Owls roost within and dancing satyrs mock.
Lord, I have heard the crowing of the cock
And have not wept: ah, Lord, thou knowest it.
Yet still I hear Thee knocking, still I hear:
‘Open to Me, look on Me eye to eye,
That I may wring thy heart and make it whole;
And teach thee love because I hold thee dear
And sup with thee in gladness soul with soul
And sup with thee in glory by and by.’

–Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

The Denial of Saint Peter by Gerard Segher (1620–1625)

Captures Peter denying knowing Jesus three times. pic.twitter.com/NGMXnwFgPO

— Muse (@xmuse_) May 4, 2024

From Rod Whitacre here:

In the story of the footwashing, then, we have the most profound revelation of the heart of God apart from the crucifixion itself. We also learn more of the relation between Jesus and his disciples, the relation of the disciples with one another in humble service and the mission of the disciples to the world. These themes are similar to those of the Eucharist developed earlier…. The community that Jesus has been forming here takes more definite shape, revealing more clearly “the law of its being” (Bultmann 1971:479), which is humble, self-sacrificing love.

Christ Reasoning with Peter, by Giotto di Bondone (Cappella Scrovegni a Padova). pic.twitter.com/IsN1TNxHzO

— 🌿_ (@rebeca6169) April 1, 2021

As is our custom, we aim to let go of the cares and concerns of this world until Monday and to focus on the great, awesome, solemn and holy events of the next three days. I would ask people to concentrate their comments on the personal, devotional, and theological aspects of these days which will be our focal point here. Many thanks–KSH.

Holy Week on one convenient page Jacques Callot, 1632-1635 (British Museum) pic.twitter.com/7zQ304ifaj

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 2, 2023

President Trump sought to reassure skeptical Americans that the war in Iran is in the national interest, arguing that the operation was necessary to decimate a regime threatening the U.S. and insisting that economic pain would be short-lived.

In a 20-minute address from the White House, his most direct sales pitch to the nation since the war began a month ago, Trump said the U.S. had succeeded on the battlefield and declared that U.S. military objectives would be completed “very shortly.”

Trump said he still aims for a diplomatic agreement to end the war. But in the meantime, he vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and pummel the country “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

Read it all.

President Trump sought to reassure skeptical Americans that the war in Iran is in the national interest, arguing that the operation was necessary to decimate a regime threatening the U.S. https://t.co/k1db0hosas

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 2, 2026

O Christ, the true vine and the source of life, ever giving thyself that the world may live; who also hast taught us that those who would follow thee must be ready to lose their lives for thy sake: Grant us so to receive within our souls the power of thine eternal sacrifice, that in sharing thy cup we may share thy glory, and at the last be made perfect in thy love.

—The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Services of Praise and Prayer for Occasional Use in Churches (New York: Oxford University Press, 1933)

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day of the New Commandment: 'love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.'

Two details of Henry Holiday's Love window at Ormesby St Michael, Norfolk. pic.twitter.com/8CFwYivF2V

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 6, 2023