“Easter: With Words from the King James Bible,” by Fiona French.
Harper Collins Publishers, 2002, United Kingdom, 32 pages, Grade 1 - adult.
While Christmas is usually the sentimental favorite for many people, the highest point in the church calendar is Easter. Easter is the culmination of Holy Week in which Our Blessed Savior instituted the sacraments of Holy Orders and the Holy Eucharist.
All four Gospels relate these sorrowful and painful, joyful and triumphant events. For on Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead and defeated death and re-opened the path to eternal salvation previously lost through sin. Famous author Fiona French has written a number of marvelous books on Sacred Scripture.
This book, “Easter: With Words from the King James Bible,” uses numerous verses in the Four Gospels to describe Holy Week. She uses majestic stained glass windows from English cathedrals for the artwork in the book. The result is compelling.
French begins the book with Palm Sunday. Jesus is riding on a lowly donkey into Jerusalem. The people are cheering and shouting “Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” This happy scene is followed by the Last Supper. The Passover Meal has been transformed into a sacrificial offering. Our Lord blesses the bread and breaks it telling the Apostles to “Take, eat: this is My body.”
Some of the Apostles are seen as trying to understand all that is going on. But Judas is shown clutching a bag of money and hurrying away from the table to betray Christ. The next set of windows shows the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here Judas rushes up to Our Lord and betrays Him with a kiss; truly the saddest and most forlorn sign in all of the New Testament. With this act of treachery, the mob of soldiers seize Jesus and drag Him away to His trial.
Next, French focuses on Pontius Pilate. The Roman governor quickly figures out that Jesus is guilty of nothing. He tries to save Christ from the rabble but realizes that they will not stop until they have Our Lord condemned. Pilate sanctimoniously washes his hands and declares “I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it.”
The next windows depict the scourging and crucifixion of Our Blessed Savior. We see the Blessed Mother reaching out to Him as He carries His Cross. Simon of Cyrene is shown assisting Our Lord during this Way of Sorrow. The stained glass window of Christ’s crucifixion shows only Our Lord hanging on the Cross. It is the only window in the book with a singular image.
Next, Joseph of Arimathea takes the body of Our Blessed Savior off of the Cross as Mary is now depicted as Our Lady of Sorrows. But after these terrible events, Easter Sunday comes and we see the holy women at the Empty Tomb. The books continues with several other important events after the Resurrection. The final stained glass image is that of Our Lord’s glorious Ascension into heaven.
Fiona French cannot be commended highly enough for the beauty of this book. She truly loves Christ and her writing and use of art clearly demonstrate this. There is now a newer edition of this book from Ignatius Press that uses the Catholic Revised Standard Edition of the bible. Vatican II issued a famous document entitled Nostra Aetate (In Our Times) stating that all Jews cannot be blamed for the acts of a mob during Holy Week. For centuries Jews were called “Christ Killers” throughout the world and were attacked for their alleged collective guilt. In Nostra Aetate, Vatican II condemned this position.
I hope you get the opportunity to check out this beautiful book from the library. Have a joyful Easter. “He has risen, He has truly risen!”
