I love Easter! I do! I love the fact that I believe with every fibre of my being that Jesus Christ smashed the powers of death and hell. I love the great resurrection shout, ‘Alleluia! Christ is risen!’ which can be met with the response, ‘He is risen indeed. Alleluia’ in lots of corners of our globe.

Easter gives a reason for living and is a motivating factor for much of Christian engagement in the world.

I do though want to hang on to the Friday. I hope it is not in a macabre way. It is not even because of the intense suffering that Jesus endured, which has been replicated in many and various ways by countless others down the centuries, save in one respect.

It is because whilst the Friday is usually seen through the lens of the Sunday, Sunday needs to be controlled by the Friday at times. I simply mean that the events of the Friday make the Sunday more palatable and real.

Pob bendith