Love is always ringing in our ears, but when is it not mixed up with something else? Love and the desire to possess, love and the need to control, love and the need to be needed, love and the lust to absorb, love and condescension, love and narcissism.In this short book of mediations on the Passion according to Saint John, Martin L. Smith shows how in the Christian mystery love itself must be crucified, must die to be reborn as the grace of communion, as love set free.Through the simple pledging of Mary to the beloved disciple and of him to her, the author of the fourth gospel takes the new commandment to love one another and places it directly in the vortex of death and self-offering. By doing so, he squeezes every remaining drop of sentimentality out of our understanding of love.In a mysterious sign the evangelist points to the new home of the beloved disciple as the place where this has happened, the household from which the church's authentic identity has its origin.

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There are three ways of using the meditations in this book which are suggested in the introduction: One each week of Lent, enabling the meditations to sweep in waves over our consciousness. One each day of Holy Week – with a particularly appropriate meditation on the silence of the grave for Holy Saturday. Using them all on Good Friday – perhaps especially helpful for someone who is unable to go to worship that day. They are ‘invitations to allow the images that John has gathered together in his Gospel to resonate deeply in your imagination in a unique way’. Originally published in 1998 and based on addresses at a 3-hour Good Friday service the previous year the meditations are: Embodiment – Ecce Homo Vulnerability – There they crucified him Intimacy – When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved Desire – I am thirsty Union – One of the soldiers pierced his side Silence – the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there I quote from the back-cover reviews: ‘A rich stimulus to personal devotion’ – Robert Atwell, Bishop of Stockport ‘Time and again a forceful challenging phrase will make us pause, reflect, pray’ – Esther de Waal Recommendation: I plan on using this book myself during Holy Week. Excellent!

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