About Today
Friday 27 March 2026
Friday of the 5th week of Lent
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
Other saints: St John of Egypt (304 - 394)
27 Mar (where celebrated)
At the age of 25, John left his home and became a monk. He lived under the tutelage of a wise hermit and when his master died, John decided to withdraw into a more remote cave on Mount Lycos. There he lived a very strict life, devoting himself to prayer and manual work. People started to visit him, since he was able to perform miracles, heal the sick and read people’s hearts. He died in 394, at the age of 90.
Today's gospel reading
John 10:31-42 We are going to stone you for blasphemy
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. So Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are not stoning for doing good work but for blasphemy: you are only man, and claim to be God.’ Jesus answered:
‘Is it not written in your Law:
“I said, you are gods”? So the Law used gods of those whom the word of God addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected.Yet you say to someone the Father has consecrated and sent into the world,
“You are blaspheming,”
because he says, “I am the Son of God.”
If I am not doing my Father work,
there is no need to believe me; but if I am doing it,
at least believe in the work I do;
then you will know for sure
that the Father is it me and I am in the Father.’
They wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them.
He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptising. Many people who came to him there said, ‘ John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many of them believed in him.
Reflection on the photograph
In today’s reading, the Jewish leaders accuse Jesus of blasphemy. But what exactly is blasphemy? Blasphemy is speech that treats God with contempt; words or actions that mock, scorn, or dishonour the divine. In the Christian tradition it is considered a grave failure of love towards God. And blasphemy is not confined to words alone; it can also appear in images. Art, too, can wound our sense of the sacred. Over the centuries, many works have provoked outrage or discomfort because they seemed to treat God irreverently. Most of us, at some point, have encountered an image that left us unsettled or even shocked.
Yet there was a time in Christian history when all religious images were accused of being blasphemous. In the eighth century a powerful movement known as Iconoclasm sought to abolish Christian images altogether. Its supporters pointed to Old Testament commands forbidding graven images of God. Their concern was understandable: how could the invisible, transcendent God ever be captured in paint, stone, or mosaic? At that crucial moment a brilliant voice arose in defence of sacred art: St John of Damascus (d. 749). His argument was simple mainly referring to Saint Paul. Saint Paul calls Jesus the “image”, the icon of the invisible God. Yes, God is beyond all representation; yes, He is invisible and infinite. But in the Incarnation, God himself chose to become visible. In Jesus Christ, the unseen God gave us His own image. So if God uses images, then we can use images too. If God himself has made an icon in the humanity of Christ, then depicting Christ in art is not a betrayal of God, it is actually celebration of the Incarnation. Our icons, paintings, sculptures and mosaics therefore participate in what we might call the first iconography, the image God himself revealed in Christ. Thanks to the courage and clarity of St John of Damascus, the Church affirmed the place of sacred images, allowing the magnificent tradition of Christian art to flourish.
Of course, our sensitivities about images change over time. What one generation finds shocking may appear quite ordinary to another. A fascinating example is a photograph taken in July 1958 by Frank Martin titled The Art of Blasphemy. It shows visitors at the Tate Gallery in London studying a painting from an exhibition organised by the Contemporary Art Society on the theme of religion. The painting under scrutiny was Gabriel and Mary by Bateson Mason, and many visitors at the time considered it scandalous. Mary was not portrayed as the serene, kneeling maiden of traditional art. Instead she lies in bed, her hair ruffled, startled by the angel’s arrival. The angel himself appears imposing, even unsettling, rather than graceful and serene. To mid-twentieth-century viewers this felt irreverent, even blasphemous. Yet when we look at it today, from the perspective of the twenty-first century, it may simply strike us as an unusual or experimental interpretation of the Annunciation rather than an attack on the sacred.
The boundary between reverence and offence in art is not always obvious. What remains constant, however, is the profound truth articulated by St John of Damascus: because God became visible in Christ, the Christian imagination has permission to paint, carve, and depict the mystery of salvation. Sacred art, at its best, does not compete with God.... it points us toward Him.
The Art of Blasphemy,
Photograph by Frank Martin (1888-1966),
Black and white photograph, silver gelatin print
Photographed in 1958
© Frank Martin, all right reserved.
Martin, all right reserved
Friday of the 5th week of Lent
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
Other saints: St John of Egypt (304 - 394)
27 Mar (where celebrated)
At the age of 25, John left his home and became a monk. He lived under the tutelage of a wise hermit and when his master died, John decided to withdraw into a more remote cave on Mount Lycos. There he lived a very strict life, devoting himself to prayer and manual work. People started to visit him, since he was able to perform miracles, heal the sick and read people’s hearts. He died in 394, at the age of 90.
Today's gospel reading
John 10:31-42 We are going to stone you for blasphemy
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. So Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are not stoning for doing good work but for blasphemy: you are only man, and claim to be God.’ Jesus answered:
‘Is it not written in your Law:
“I said, you are gods”? So the Law used gods of those whom the word of God addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected.Yet you say to someone the Father has consecrated and sent into the world,
“You are blaspheming,”
because he says, “I am the Son of God.”
If I am not doing my Father work,
there is no need to believe me; but if I am doing it,
at least believe in the work I do;
then you will know for sure
that the Father is it me and I am in the Father.’
They wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them.
He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptising. Many people who came to him there said, ‘ John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many of them believed in him.
Reflection on the photograph
In today’s reading, the Jewish leaders accuse Jesus of blasphemy. But what exactly is blasphemy? Blasphemy is speech that treats God with contempt; words or actions that mock, scorn, or dishonour the divine. In the Christian tradition it is considered a grave failure of love towards God. And blasphemy is not confined to words alone; it can also appear in images. Art, too, can wound our sense of the sacred. Over the centuries, many works have provoked outrage or discomfort because they seemed to treat God irreverently. Most of us, at some point, have encountered an image that left us unsettled or even shocked.
Yet there was a time in Christian history when all religious images were accused of being blasphemous. In the eighth century a powerful movement known as Iconoclasm sought to abolish Christian images altogether. Its supporters pointed to Old Testament commands forbidding graven images of God. Their concern was understandable: how could the invisible, transcendent God ever be captured in paint, stone, or mosaic? At that crucial moment a brilliant voice arose in defence of sacred art: St John of Damascus (d. 749). His argument was simple mainly referring to Saint Paul. Saint Paul calls Jesus the “image”, the icon of the invisible God. Yes, God is beyond all representation; yes, He is invisible and infinite. But in the Incarnation, God himself chose to become visible. In Jesus Christ, the unseen God gave us His own image. So if God uses images, then we can use images too. If God himself has made an icon in the humanity of Christ, then depicting Christ in art is not a betrayal of God, it is actually celebration of the Incarnation. Our icons, paintings, sculptures and mosaics therefore participate in what we might call the first iconography, the image God himself revealed in Christ. Thanks to the courage and clarity of St John of Damascus, the Church affirmed the place of sacred images, allowing the magnificent tradition of Christian art to flourish.
Of course, our sensitivities about images change over time. What one generation finds shocking may appear quite ordinary to another. A fascinating example is a photograph taken in July 1958 by Frank Martin titled The Art of Blasphemy. It shows visitors at the Tate Gallery in London studying a painting from an exhibition organised by the Contemporary Art Society on the theme of religion. The painting under scrutiny was Gabriel and Mary by Bateson Mason, and many visitors at the time considered it scandalous. Mary was not portrayed as the serene, kneeling maiden of traditional art. Instead she lies in bed, her hair ruffled, startled by the angel’s arrival. The angel himself appears imposing, even unsettling, rather than graceful and serene. To mid-twentieth-century viewers this felt irreverent, even blasphemous. Yet when we look at it today, from the perspective of the twenty-first century, it may simply strike us as an unusual or experimental interpretation of the Annunciation rather than an attack on the sacred.
The boundary between reverence and offence in art is not always obvious. What remains constant, however, is the profound truth articulated by St John of Damascus: because God became visible in Christ, the Christian imagination has permission to paint, carve, and depict the mystery of salvation. Sacred art, at its best, does not compete with God.... it points us toward Him.
The Art of Blasphemy,
Photograph by Frank Martin (1888-1966),
Black and white photograph, silver gelatin print
Photographed in 1958
© Frank Martin, all right reserved.
Martin, all right reserved