Filling empty place with new hope and purpose

I'M standing in Glyn-rhonwy Quarry, Llanberis, one of the quarries that helped roof much of Europe just over a century ago.

- Archbishop of Wales The Most Revd Andrew John at Glynrhonwy Quarry, Llanberis

Just standing here you can feel the echoes of times past when the sound of hammer and steam would have filled this ridge. The mountains of slate waste are all that's left of what was a thriving industry.

There's a rugged beauty here to be sure but also in the ruins, a sense of sadness too, of a life long gone, an emptied space and only faded signs of what once was.

It's made me think again about the ruined landscape of Good Friday.

Of hopes dashed, dreams torn apart and despair visited on those who had followed Jesus until his arrest and killing.

In one of the stories, a man, barely days later, talks about him as the one they HAD hoped would put things right. HAD hoped he's already a figure of the past.

I suspect a lot of us relate to this that the best years are behind us or that life has moved on without us.

The emptiness of this place could well describe the void within.