About Today
Sunday 5 April 2026
Easter Sunday
The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
Year: A(II). Liturgical Colour: White.
In other years: St Vincent Ferrer (1350 - 1419)
He was born in Valencia and joined the Dominicans at the age of 17. In 1399, with the approval of the Pope, he set out on his mission as a preacher. For twenty years he travelled through western Europe, with thousands flocking to hear him wherever he was. From 1408 he worked mostly south of the Pyrenees. Among others, he preached to the Jews, of whom some 25,000 were converted to Christianity; and in the Kingdom of Granada he converted thousands of Moors. In 1417 he moved on to Brittany and continued his work there: he died in Vannes in Brittany on 5 April 1419. See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
Today's gospel reading
Easter Sunday Yr A: John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week when Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, so she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.’ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple, outran Peter, and reached the tomb first; And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him, went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on the head of Jesus, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, also went in, he saw and he believed; for as yet did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Reflection on the painting
A strange darkness settles over the world at the hour of the Cross. The evangelists speak of it not merely as a passing shadow, but as something that seems to touch the very fabric of creation. They describe it as if the light itself recoils at the sight of Love rejected. A very powerful image. Calvary is not only a place of suffering; it is a moment when hope appears eclipsed. We recognise that darkness. It is the darkness of grief, of confusion, of prayers unanswered, of jobs lost, of financial struggles... the darkness that visits every human heart at some point along our journey. And yet...
... and yet, the Gospel never leaves us there. Almost quietly, almost tenderly, it introduces a new light: the light of dawn. As the women in today's Gospel reading walk towards the tomb in the early morning, the light is gently introduced again. It is still fragile light; the soft, hesitant light of first daybreak, but it is enough. Enough to take a step. Enough to spark hope. And then, suddenly, that gentle light gives way to something far brighter: the light of the Resurrection. Their sorrow in that moment is not erased, but transformed. Their fear becomes awe. Their mourning becomes worship. The darkness has not had the final word. It never does. Easter proclaims that even the deepest night can become the birthplace of light.
Artists have always explored this mystery of light. Across centuries, they have taken brush tocanvas to wrestle with darkness and light, not simply to depict a scene, but to revealsomething deeper. In the artist's brush, light is never accidental. It gets applied deliberately.The canvas itself comes alive through light. The artists who perhaps most consciously chasedlight were the Impressionists. Painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, CamillePissarro, and Edgar Degas considered light not simply as important, but light became thevery subject of their works. They painted outdoors, standing before rivers, fields, cathedrals,and city streets, trying to capture the changing moments of light. If I dare say, in their work,light becomes almost sacramental: something invisible made visible.
As many of us will go to church today to celebrate Easter, our image is a canvas depicting achurch, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight by Claude Monet. Painted in 1894, it belongsto a series of more than thirty canvases Monet created between 1892 and 1894, all focusedon the same façade of Rouen Cathedral. He set himself an almost impossible task: not topaint the building itself, but to paint the light that falls upon it, ever shifting, shimmering,never still. Moving from canvas to canvas as the hours passed, he tried to capture howmorning light, midday brightness, and evening glow would transform the very same stoneinto something entirely new.
It is a beautiful painting for Easter. The church, like the tomb, is not simply a structure ofstone; it is a place where light breaks in and transforms everything. Monet shows us thateven the most ancient, immovable walls can be transfigured by light. In the same way, theResurrection does not replace the world: it fills it, slowly, genIt is a beautiful painting for Easter. The church, like the tomb, is not simply a structure ofstone; it is a place where light breaks in and transforms everything. Monet shows us thateven the most ancient, immovable walls can be transfigured by light. In the same way, theResurrection does not replace the world: it fills it, slowly, gently, gloriously, with light... andchanges everything!tly, gloriously, with light.. andchanges everything!
Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight,Painting by Claude Monet (1840–1926),Painted in 1894,Oil on canvas© National Gallery of Art, Washington
Easter Sunday
The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
Year: A(II). Liturgical Colour: White.
In other years: St Vincent Ferrer (1350 - 1419)
He was born in Valencia and joined the Dominicans at the age of 17. In 1399, with the approval of the Pope, he set out on his mission as a preacher. For twenty years he travelled through western Europe, with thousands flocking to hear him wherever he was. From 1408 he worked mostly south of the Pyrenees. Among others, he preached to the Jews, of whom some 25,000 were converted to Christianity; and in the Kingdom of Granada he converted thousands of Moors. In 1417 he moved on to Brittany and continued his work there: he died in Vannes in Brittany on 5 April 1419. See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
Today's gospel reading
Easter Sunday Yr A: John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week when Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, so she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.’ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple, outran Peter, and reached the tomb first; And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him, went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on the head of Jesus, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, also went in, he saw and he believed; for as yet did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Reflection on the painting
A strange darkness settles over the world at the hour of the Cross. The evangelists speak of it not merely as a passing shadow, but as something that seems to touch the very fabric of creation. They describe it as if the light itself recoils at the sight of Love rejected. A very powerful image. Calvary is not only a place of suffering; it is a moment when hope appears eclipsed. We recognise that darkness. It is the darkness of grief, of confusion, of prayers unanswered, of jobs lost, of financial struggles... the darkness that visits every human heart at some point along our journey. And yet...
... and yet, the Gospel never leaves us there. Almost quietly, almost tenderly, it introduces a new light: the light of dawn. As the women in today's Gospel reading walk towards the tomb in the early morning, the light is gently introduced again. It is still fragile light; the soft, hesitant light of first daybreak, but it is enough. Enough to take a step. Enough to spark hope. And then, suddenly, that gentle light gives way to something far brighter: the light of the Resurrection. Their sorrow in that moment is not erased, but transformed. Their fear becomes awe. Their mourning becomes worship. The darkness has not had the final word. It never does. Easter proclaims that even the deepest night can become the birthplace of light.
Artists have always explored this mystery of light. Across centuries, they have taken brush tocanvas to wrestle with darkness and light, not simply to depict a scene, but to revealsomething deeper. In the artist's brush, light is never accidental. It gets applied deliberately.The canvas itself comes alive through light. The artists who perhaps most consciously chasedlight were the Impressionists. Painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, CamillePissarro, and Edgar Degas considered light not simply as important, but light became thevery subject of their works. They painted outdoors, standing before rivers, fields, cathedrals,and city streets, trying to capture the changing moments of light. If I dare say, in their work,light becomes almost sacramental: something invisible made visible.
As many of us will go to church today to celebrate Easter, our image is a canvas depicting achurch, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight by Claude Monet. Painted in 1894, it belongsto a series of more than thirty canvases Monet created between 1892 and 1894, all focusedon the same façade of Rouen Cathedral. He set himself an almost impossible task: not topaint the building itself, but to paint the light that falls upon it, ever shifting, shimmering,never still. Moving from canvas to canvas as the hours passed, he tried to capture howmorning light, midday brightness, and evening glow would transform the very same stoneinto something entirely new.
It is a beautiful painting for Easter. The church, like the tomb, is not simply a structure ofstone; it is a place where light breaks in and transforms everything. Monet shows us thateven the most ancient, immovable walls can be transfigured by light. In the same way, theResurrection does not replace the world: it fills it, slowly, genIt is a beautiful painting for Easter. The church, like the tomb, is not simply a structure ofstone; it is a place where light breaks in and transforms everything. Monet shows us thateven the most ancient, immovable walls can be transfigured by light. In the same way, theResurrection does not replace the world: it fills it, slowly, gently, gloriously, with light... andchanges everything!tly, gloriously, with light.. andchanges everything!
Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight,Painting by Claude Monet (1840–1926),Painted in 1894,Oil on canvas© National Gallery of Art, Washington