IN the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, immediately after his baptism in the Jordan when he was anointed by the Spirit, Jesus is led into the desert to be tempted.

AT first glance the question, “Who killed Christ?”, may seem naïve. It was the Romans, surely, in the person of the governor Pontius Pilate. But a more careful reading and reflecting on the gospels reveal a more complex reality. It was the Temple establishment that wanted to eliminate Jesus the preacher and wonder-worker, and it [...]

Friendship is one of the most precious gifts we humans can enjoy. It is one of the four types of love that were so perceptively described by the late CS Lewis.

As was the custom, the condemned man carried his cross to the place of execution. It was usually not the whole cross but just the cross-beam, because the upright was already secured in the ground. Estimates vary, but Pontius Pilate who was governor of Palestine for 11 years was not reticent about putting down rebellions [...]

There are different traditions about our Lord’s last cry on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Originally it was taken for the cry it was, the opening verse of Psalm 22 as Mark records it. It is a powerful expression of the total abandonment by his Father that Jesus experienced [...]

Many Catholics will be attending Stations of the Cross on Good Friday morning. This is a worthy devotion, but it should not replace attendance at the solemn liturgy of the Passion and Death of our Lord in the afternoon.

He has risen, as he said. This refrain reverberated through Jerusalem on that Sunday, April 9, 30, and later round Galilee. It continues to reverberate round the world when Christians gather to celebrate the event that constitutes the Christian church.