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Christians & Muslims honour Mary

Monday 9 April is the feast of the Annunciation when we recall the Virgin Mary first knowing that she was pregnant. In nine months it will be Christmas. This year the feast was postponed from its usual 25 March date because it coincided with Palm Sunday. Today the focus is on Nazareth where Mary was […]

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Low Sunday

Is the Sunday after Easter still called Low Sunday? Some people do refer to Low Sunday maybe because it feels less exciting than Easter Day. But it is increasingly known as Divine Mercy Sunday which was promoted by St John Paul II. Orthodox Christians talk about St Thomas Sunday which is appropriate because the Apostle […]

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Easter is only just starting

It’s Easter Tuesday today and we shall be in the Easter period until Ascension Day in early May. You can follow the season and all the special days over the next two months to Corpus Christi on Thursday 31 May in Keeping Lent & Easter. Available at Church House Bookshop and Southwark Cathedral Shop or […]

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Waiting for the Easter Vigil

  This is Holy Saturday, sometimes called Empty Saturday. ‘Easter Saturday’ is next week, in Easter week, after Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday. We are today in limbo awaiting the Easter Vigil tonight, or early tomorrow morning, when we can recognise Christ’s resurrection. Then we shall take the Light of Christ from the outdoor fire […]

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Good Friday & the Easter holiday debate

The Times has had a long debate about the future of the Easter holiday weekend which some people find difficult because it moves around. Christopher Howse had a good reply in The Daily Telegraph to calls for fixed Easter which would be difficult to achieve anyway. I suggest that there are many who, whilst not […]

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Good Friday

“Well I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is what Brother Thomas Rocliffe envisaged in St Albans in 1361 when he came up with the idea of distributing a bun to the local poor as a Good Friday treat,”  wrote Sophia Money-Coutts in The Sunday Telegraph. “The monk was absolutely not thinking of sticky toffee […]

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Maundy Thursday towels

This morning the Queen has invited 184 pensioners to join her in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The 92 men and 92 women, representing the Queen’s age, will receive Maundy money. Accompanying Her Majesty will be clergy and children with towels wrapped around them. This is  reminder that the sovereign used to wash the […]

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Live Tenebrae on Spy Wednesday

On this day Judas Iscariot agrees to co-operate in the arrest of Jesus which is why some speak of today as Spy Wednesday. Tonight’s Tenebrae service has many references to Judas Iscariot. Tenebrae, once a major feature of Holy Week, is now mainly sung just tonight, Wednesday evening of Holy Week. The service opens with […]

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