Maryam taught me what it meant to love my neighbour as myself. Sometimes that meant giving her my best face cream and clothes and sometimes it meant allowing her to help me on a busy day, and cook supper when I was tired. I came to realise that truly loving my neighbour meant more than me bountifully bestowing hospitality but rather being vulnerable and allowing them to love me back
Suzanna Wright, on taking a refugee into her home, Credo, The Times, 9 April
It is true that it requires no very great reserves of courage on our parts, living far away from Russia, openly to deplore Putin’s mass murder of Ukrainians; and it is equally true that it would indeed be an act of extraordinary bravery for any prominent person in Russia publicly to denounce the war. That, however, does not matter in this case. No one has chosen the path of martyrdom for [the Moscow Patriarch] Kirill; he chose it for himself when he consented to become patriarch. He chose to accept the role of a vicar of Christ, and in doing so implicitly chose to bear Christ’s cross. That absurdly vulgar gold lamé piece of millinery that sits atop his head when he is fully tricked out in the sumptuous finery of his office may be a crown of glory, but it is also — if the situation warrants it — a crown of thorns
David Bentley Hart, Substack blog, 3 April
Julian Barnes is a fine writer but he shouldn’t regard himself as brave and edgy for offending Christians (Culture, last week). He knows it comes at no personal cost; gangs of Christians will not be scouring north London for him, nor calling for his books to be burnt. Followers of this “dangerous” religion are too busy celebrating the Easter message of love, sacrifice and forgiveness
Brian Churchill, Letters, The Sunday Times, 10 April
Q: Have you had any experiences that suggest a higher power?
A: No. You’d be tramping along in the driving rain with 400 kilos on your back, squelching up a mountain pass, and the TV crew would say, “Have you found anything today on the God front?” I would say, “No, but what I have felt is the extraordinary impact of nature”
Nick Hewer on his appearance on the BBC show Pilgrimage, Metro, 6 April
A classic Good Friday dessert is capirotada — a comforting bread pudding soaked in a sugary syrup infused with cinnamon sticks, which some say represent the wood of Jesus’s cross
“Cinnamon”, Waitrose & Partners Food Magazine, April 2022
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