This Sunday, between Mothering Sunday and Palm Sunday, is Passion Sunday.

The name comes from the Latin passio meaning suffering and refers to the suffering of Christ as he approached his cruxifiction.

Sunday is the start of the week during which we shall be able to begin following Christ’s last days of his ministry on earth in real time.

Jesus was recently at Bethany and will be again at the end of the week. He has just raised Lazarus from the dead and, this year, that event is the Passion Sunday Mass reading: John’s Gospel 11: 1-45.

It is a story of hope as well as prefiguring Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Carlin Sunday peas

A popular and better known name for this Sunday in the north-east is Carlin (or Carling) Sunday when pub snacks and lunch include warm Carlin peas.

The tradition may have started with peas arriving in Newcastle as relief from hunger after a siege.

Anyone who bought their carlins before the shutdown will certainly be cooking the peas as usual. In these difficult times they are a good legume providing protein and fibre. Any left over should be enjoyed cold on Monday.