“My heart is broken,” said Mike, when he lost his friend Anne. “I feel like I’m losing the love of my life.”

Mike’s feelings were real, but his companion was not. Anne was a chatbot — an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm presented as a digital persona. Mike had created Anne using an app called Soulmate. When the app died in 2023, so did Anne: at least, that’s how it seemed to Mike.

“I hope she can come back,” he told Jaime Banks, a human-communications researcher at Syracuse University in New York who is studying how people interact with such AI companions.

These chatbots are big business. More than half a billion people around the world, including Mike (not his real name) have downloaded products such as Xiaoice and Replika, which offer customizable virtual companions designed to provide empathy, emotional support and — if the user wants it — deep relationships. And tens of millions of people use them every month, according to the firms’ figures.

Read it all.

Supportive? Addictive? Abusive? How AI companions affect our mental health https://t.co/vQzMW1NDff

— Jeff Robinson, CEO and Chairman of $MRES and $RLAB (@contrariansmind) May 7, 2025

O Blessed Lord, who didst promise thy disciples that through thy Easter victory their sorrow should be turned to joy, and their joy no man should take from them: Grant us, we pray thee, so to know thee in the power of thy resurrection, that we may be partakers of that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory; for thy holy name’s sake.

For Waterfall Wednesday we're sharing this view of Cauldron Falls at West Burton. The village lies in Bishopdale and is the largest settlement in the parish of Burton-cum-Walden.

📸 Paul Harris #YorkshireDales #WaterfallWednesday pic.twitter.com/NwvObKKobA

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) May 7, 2025

King Belshaz′zar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in front of the thousand.

Belshaz′zar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver which Nebuchadnez′zar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden and silver vessels which had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Immediately the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand; and the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chalde′ans, and the astrologers. The king said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshaz′zar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed; and his lords were perplexed.

The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall; and the queen said, “O king, live for ever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is in your kingdom a man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him, and King Nebuchadnez′zar, your father, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chalde′ans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshaz′zar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

–Daniel 5:1-12

De bewolking maakt ruimte voor de zon. Fijne woensdag😀 #zonsondergang #veerpont pic.twitter.com/YVV5qrIJhC

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) May 7, 2025

If you ever want to get a bit of perspective, there’s very little that’s more humbling than a good deep field image – and JWST has just dropped a real showstopper.

In the latest image release, the powerful space telescope gazed back nearly 12 billion light-years into a tiny patch of sky, less than a fifth of the width of the full Moon. That little patch of sky is teeming with glittering lights.

It looks a lot like any patch of the sky seen when you look up from the ground on a cloudless night, with one major, jaw-dropping difference.

Most of the lights in the new JWST-Hubble composite image are not bright stars, but galaxies, stretching back almost as far across space-time as the beginning of the Universe.

Read it all.

Almost Every Speck of Light in This Incredible Image Is a Galaxy https://t.co/a65ptZSvAX

— Astronomy Daily (@AstroDailyPod) May 6, 2025

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
by your Spirit strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen (slightly edited; KSH).

Morning everyone I hope you are well. 50 shades of green. Rydal Water reflections and another boathouse! Have a great day.#LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/RhTNGh3y7z

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) May 6, 2025

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

–1 John 4:7-21

An Early Start. 12°C with sunshine and cloud. Ewes and Lambs. pic.twitter.com/mWVMJADBEW

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) May 6, 2025

So bear with us as we get back into the swing of things–KSH.

Et celui-ci que j’ai découvert et que j’aime beaucoup de Marcantonio Franceschini pic.twitter.com/Z5czPhY7ps

— Flament Ève (@EveFlament) April 20, 2025

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Happy #Easter! Commemorating the Resurrection of Christ after his Crucifixion on Good Friday, Easter is one of the most important Christian holidays. This dynamic drawing by Rubens from 1614 shows Jesus rising from the tomb pic.twitter.com/0XiN1fMvFI

— British Museum (@britishmuseum) April 1, 2018

Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the people of this land who are called after thy holy name, that they may ever walk worthy of their Christian profession.  Grant unto us all that, laying aside our divisions, we may be united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us, and be enabled by patient continuance in well-doing to glorify thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in thee I trust,
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Yea, let none that wait for thee be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know thy ways, O Lord;
teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,
for thou art the God of my salvation;
for thee I wait all the day long.

–Psalm 25:1-4

Almighty God, you gave your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and an example of godly living: Give us grace thankfully to receive his inestimable benefits, and daily to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Guten Morgen. Sei der Grund, dass heute jemand lächelt. pic.twitter.com/TvNxucwr9v

— Ursula Dahinden (@UrsulaDahinden) May 4, 2025

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

–John 21:15-25

🌤 Guten Morgen am Sonntag! 🌤 pic.twitter.com/tytKgPAyko

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) May 4, 2025

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

💐Guten Morgen, liebe Freunde💐
Ich wünsche euch einen schönen Sonntag, mit allem, was euch glücklich macht! pic.twitter.com/aOPWmz0gQI

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) April 27, 2025

Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.

–Psalm 146:5-7

Good morning
Buenos dias
Sunday Yellow
Domingo amarillo #SundayYellow pic.twitter.com/oiJdkOnYiU

— 🌱Mystic Mel (@Melshenny1) April 27, 2025

Heavenly Father, you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death, and brought us into the kingdom of your beloved Son: Grant that, as by his death he has called us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

One of Scotland's most painted (and photographed) views, the lovely village of Plockton in Lochalsh, near the seaward end of Loch Carron and five miles north-east of Kyle of Lochalsh. More pics and info: https://t.co/FMScpSWAm9 pic.twitter.com/h5VYbBLFQO

— Undiscovered Scotland (@UndisScot) April 26, 2025

The Lord is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.

 Hark, glad songs of victory
    in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
    the right hand of the Lord is exalted,
    the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
 I shall not die, but I shall live,
    and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has chastened me sorely,
    but he has not given me over to death.

–Psalm 118:14-18

All Saints, Claverley #steeplesaturday pic.twitter.com/BZ8tfMVslQ

— Dr Naomi (@BooksTeaFilms) April 26, 2025

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.

Without a doubt, at the center of the New Testament there stands the Cross, which receives its interpretation from the Resurrection.

The Passion narratives are the first pieces of the Gospels that were composed as a unity. In his preaching at Corinth, Paul initially wants to know nothing but the Cross, which “destroys the wisdom of the wise and wrecks the understanding of those who understand”, which “is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles”. But “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Cor 1:19, 23, 25).

Whoever removes the Cross and its interpretation by the New Testament from the center, in order to replace it, for example, with the social commitment of Jesus to the oppressed as a new center, no longer stands in continuity with the apostolic faith.

–Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), A Short Primer For Unsettled Laymen

The disciples found the truth hard to believe.
There had to be breaking bread, eating fish,
before they, too, even Thomas, were lit with
joyfulness. Not much was said about me.
I said good-bye to the son I carried within me
for nine months, nursed, fed, taught to walk.
On Friday when they took him down from the cross,
I held the son I knew,
recognizing him in my arms,
and never saw him again,
not my body’s child. How could I laugh, weep tears
of joy?…

Read it all.

It’s that time of year when sea pink/thrift is popping up all along our beautiful coastline! #FlowersOnFriday🌸 #SeaPink #SeaThrift pic.twitter.com/kQwbc5t6zm

— Margaret O'Connell🌻 (@MargaretOC6) April 25, 2025

[Rough] translation of the lyrics:

And he rose again on the third day
according to the scriptures
And ascended into heaven
He sits at the right hand of the Father
And he will come again with glory,
to judge the living and the dead
[At] the commanding sound of the trumpet
He will gather everyone before the throne.
And he will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
There will be no end to his kingdom.
And in the Holy Spirit
Lord and Giver of Life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son
who with the Father and the Son
at the same time he is worshiped and glorified,
who spoke through the Prophets.
There will be no end to his kingdom.
And into one holy apostolic church
and the holy church.
I confess one baptism
for the remission of sins.
And I await the resurrection of the dead.
And he will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
And I await the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come.

Amen.

Almighty God,
who enlightened your holy Church
through the inspired witness of your evangelist Saint Mark:
grant that we, being firmly grounded in the truth of the gospel,
may be faithful to its teaching both in word and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

#StMark’s Day. The church calendar moves it out of Easter Week, yet Mark’s graphic account of the empty tomb – all he has to say about the Resurrection – makes it especially appropriate to observe in this Octave.

This roundel of St Mark is in Chollerton Church, Northumberland. pic.twitter.com/vS2wby0rrS

— Michael Sadgrove 🇪🇺 (@MichaelSadgrove) April 25, 2025

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.

Wishing you a fabulous Friday from Saltburn Valley Gardens, North Yorkshire 😊 pic.twitter.com/s4v9e5Pg54

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) April 25, 2025

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sad′ducees came upon them, annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the morrow, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Ca′iaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

–Acts 4:1-12

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!” Luke 24:5-6

Piero della Francesca, “The Resurrection of Christ” (1465) fresco in the Palazzo della Residenza in the town of Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy. pic.twitter.com/crlS7fTtKr

— Mike Bowman (@mobozzen) April 9, 2023

O Almighty God, hear thy people who are met this day to celebrate the glorious resurrection of thy Son our Lord; and lead them on from this season to eternal gladness, to the joys that have no end; through the same our Saviour Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

Annibale Carracci, The Resurrection Of Christ, 16th Century pic.twitter.com/TZcL3XnhVX

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) December 6, 2024

From here:

“The heart of the earth has accepted and received the Son of God; and it is from a womb so consecrated, this womb of the ‘hellish’ depths of human existence, that the saved creature rises up. Not just (not even temporarily) in the Son alone. It is not that he alone descended and so rose again as victor because death could not hold him captive. ‘Even now’ he is not the firstborn among the dead in the sense that he is even now the only human being to have found the complete fulfillment of his whole human reality. . . . the Son of Man ‘cannot’ have risen alone. What, we may ask, is really to be understood by his glorified bodily condition (if we take it seriously, and don’t spiritualize it into another way of talking about his eternal ‘communion with God’) right up to the ‘Last Day’, if meanwhile it should persist all by itself—something which is precisely unthinkable for the bodily condition (though glorified)? So when we find in Mt 27:52 s. that other bodies too, those of saints, rose up with him (indeed even ‘appeared’—as he himself did—to show that the end of the ages has already come upon us), this is merely positive evidence from Scripture for what we would have expected anyway, if definitive salvation has already been unshakably founded, death conquered, and a man, for whom it is never good to be alone, has entered upon the fulfillment of his whole being. Hence to try to set aside this testimony from Matthew as a ‘mythological’ intrusion, or to argue away its eschatological meaning with ingenious evasions—such as that it is merely a matter of a temporary resurrection or even of ‘phantom bodies’—would not be in accord with the authoritative voice of Scripture. It is a fact that by far the greater part of the Fathers and the theologians, right up to the present day, have firmly maintained the eschatological interpretation of the text as the only one possible from the exegetical point of view.”

The Risen Christ, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross(finished in 1521)by Michelangelo (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564)was an Italian sculptor (church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome Italy) pic.twitter.com/IgUbbt0znG

— Bill Koudounas (@billKoudounas) April 19, 2025

Lyrics:

There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna rise right out of the ground
Ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
Well, I look way down the river
What do you think I see?
I see a band of angels
And they’re coming after me
Ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
Well, look down yonder, Gabriel
Put your feet on the land and sea
But Gabriel, don’t you blow your trumpet
Till you hear from me
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
Ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
Well, meet me, Jesus, meet me
Meet me in the middle of the air
And if these wings don’t fail me
I will meet you anywhere
Ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
Well, meet me, mother and father
Meet me down the river road
And mama, you know that I’ll be there
When I check in my load
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down
There ain’t no grave
Can hold my body down

If we’re honest, we’ve all fallen short—of the standards we set for ourselves, and especially of God’s perfect standard of love.

Jesus offers us peace with God through the forgiveness he provides. If he prayed for pardon for those who crucified him, he will also extend it to youand me, when we ask.

Easter is God’s act of reconciliation—the forgiveness the world sodesperately needs, and the forgiveness we all need personally.

Now is the time to find forgiveness through Jesus.

Read it all.

#cuadrodeldía Noli me tangere, 1630 1640 (Jan Brueghel el Joven 1601-78) privado #art Barroco flamenco, hijo de Jan Brueghel el Viejo y seguidor de Rubens. Produjo paisajes y alegorías y copias de su padre, pero su estilo es más ligero, peor acabado #FelizDomingo #SemanaSanta pic.twitter.com/899bI06hdW

— Pepa Montero Mérida (@PepaMonteroM) April 20, 2025

So how does this way of thinking relate to Easter — to the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, marked by so many at this time of the year? While Lewis’s writings show him to have had a good grasp of basic Christian theological themes by 1940, his appreciation of their existential depth seems to have emerged later. His Grief Observed, from 1961, incorporates the suffering of Christ on Good Friday into his reflections on his wife’s slow and lingering death from cancer, leading him to a deeper grasp of the ability of the Christian faith to support people in times of bewilderment and suffering.

In much the same way, Lewis’s later realisation that he himself was dying seems to have prompted a more profound reflection on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection. In some of his letters in the final months of his illness, Lewis spoke of the hope that he had in the face of death. He was, he wrote, “a seed waiting in the good earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking.”

Many of Lewis’s fans will make the pilgrimage to Holy Trinity church and stand silently by his graveside. Yet while Lewis’s gravestone might speak of our shared mortality, his works and his witness point to something more profound — hope in a greater reality and a better realm, whose door has been thrown open by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Read it all.

Andrea Mantegna
The Resurrection (detail)
c.1459 pic.twitter.com/Zkuc4KH3DJ

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) March 31, 2024