Holy Week, and tomorrow begins the Triduum, when we celebrate the great and holy mysteries of Christianity -- Jesus' final night with his apostles, his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection.

Last year at this time, we were beginning to respond to a new pandemic -- one that has killed hundreds of thousands in the U.S. alone. It has brought out the best in us -- especially our health care workers!, and the worst -- especially the whole anti-vax movement and people unwilling to mask up to look out for others. Most victims of Covid-19 died much like Christ: alone, and from suffocation. Many have not yet been properly buried, nor have they had a proper funeral or formal remembrance. They are literally laid in a stranger's tomb, just as Christ was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Now in our second year of pandemic, there are signs of hope for some parts of the world, but others will have to wait much longer for vaccines. We hope the virus will not evolve new strains immune to existing vaccines; reaching herd immunity globally will no doubt entail hundreds of thousands of additional deaths. Covid-19 still has us under trial and crucifixion sentencing.

The Shroud of Turin is a reminder during these times that Christ knows and understands our suffering. That amazing burial cloth, which once covered his brutalized body, has somehow survived the ages to confront the people of this day with sound evidence of the torment he endured, and the new life which emerged. It's all there in the image -- a witness to both his passion and his resurrection. How else to explain the image? Before it, we stand speechless, humbled, and reassured that suffering and death did not have the last word with him. In a brief and tremendous flash of energy, his body was transformed, leaving a three-dimensional imprint (photographic negative) on the outer fibrils of the threads of his death shroud -- a feat no artist could accomplish, and a process no scientist can explain.

The pandemic reveals to us our interconnectedness with one another and the planet. We yearn for a return to "normal," but maybe normal wasn't so great? Maybe we need a new normal -- to learn more deeply how to live together as citizens of Earth, reverencing the One who came to be with us in our living and dying. Maybe, too, that resurrection life Jesus has made available to us can become impressed more vividly across the world as we emerge from this time of darkness.
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Videos on the Shroud of Turin
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZA0J3D_NN8&t=6s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9lMQlI32wE

And many more.

See also: https://www.shroud.com/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Phil,