I will have to banish this image from my mind by the end of today, it’s too much to bear, but I’ll keep it safe in my heart.

GAZA, OUTSIDE A BUILDING BELONGING TO THE DHAHEER FAMILY DESTROYED BY AN ISRAELI OCCUPYING ARMY ATTACK ON RAFAH, YESTERDAY, ‘HOLY WEDNESDAY’ IN THE CHRISTIAN ‘HOLY WEEK’CALENDAR.

An image beyond words. Mam’s face, her son and daughter’s faces. Every detail grabs you: that wall and especially her two handbags. The black one could belong to Ann ap.

Mam’s hug is as sacred as Anna Akhmatova’s words in ‘Lamentation’: ‘With them goes the Mother of God, Wrapping her son in a shawl.’ This photograph is a charisma, Mam’s divinely conferred gift of grace to me. In fact, to all of us, if we have the courage to look with her and not at her. 

On the Cross, the Crucified One, looking at his Mam, turned to his disciple John, and said: ‘Behold your Mother.’ Maybe, this Easter, the Crucified One is challenging us to look at this Palestinian Mam, and to look after her, as if she was our own mother, just as Jesus asked John to look after his Mam, Mary.

“Mam! Bendith arnat a dy Blant. Bless you and your Children. Salaam.“

Church of England & Church in Wales bishops appear to be afraid, this Easter, of tackling Jewish Zionist genocide / ethnic cleansing / forced transfer / massacres / mass terrorism etc in their statements regarding the Slaughter in Gaza. (It’s not really a war, is it?). Yes, none of their press releases have included any of these phrases.

Jesus confronts the Pharisees

Lo and behold! It appears that most Welsh and Westminster politicians are singing from the same hymn sheet as the bishops, preferring to hide behind that meaningless phrase ‘“humanitarian ceasefire” – Come on, we know by now, what that really means.

GAZA Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah

Playtime … Gaza style

On the Cross, Jesus addressed the religious and political elite of his day with these three simple words: “Abba, forgive them”.