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.“