Explaining the Faith - The Shroud of Turin and the Image of Divine Mercy

welcome everybody for and thank you for joining us again on what is a beautiful Saturday here in the Brooks years at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy it's Sunday sunny I should say and probably in the high 80s and so here we are on another Saturday morning to welcome you from around the world and to today it is one of my favorite talks that I haven't actually done in about seven years and so I've greatly updated it and that is the connection with the Shroud of Turin and the image of divine mercy it's fascinating topic and we are super glad that you could be with us today as we'll have a lot more slides than we normally do but I'll get to and we'll move them pretty quick so that we don't have to spend too much time on the talk today keeping you too much longer than we normally would all right so today as I mentioned we have an opportunity to look at a relic of our faith and this relic if you look at the first slide comes from our Lord in his crucifixion and his death and resurrection it encompasses all of that the passion is there through the wounds the death is there from his dying with the blood and the water that came out of his heart and then he resurrected so when we look at the next slide we see what traditionally has been our understanding of the crucifixion you see Jesus there with maybe a more a loincloth in between two others being crucified now this is probably 99.9% of the images that you see on the crucifixion or what you think about when you see the crucifixion but let's look at the next image what is this what is that on our Lord is that a cloth is that some kind of garment well we're gonna look at this deeper now this one isn't the Shroud necessarily that's not what we're saying here but there are different understandings of how it would have been at the time of Christ and his crucifixion regarding cloths burial garments and whatnot and this is what we're gonna talk about today all right now in this next image we do know this for sure we do know that Jesus was removed from the cross and taken to the tomb where he was laid and spices were added now this kind of burial was coming in first century Judaism so we go to the next slide which is a quote from the Gospel passage of John they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices as is the burial custom of the Jews now this is very interesting because what we have in it is a document on our next slide from a rabbi in the first century that kind of lists for us what was done it's the spices of myrrh and aloes alloy of ellos excuse me we're added now this is Jewish burial practices smaller cloth was draped over the face this is going to be important and we'll talk about this in a minute and they were buried in caves usually carved out of limestone and so look at this next picture that's actually an example of the type of tomb that we would see in Christ's time hewn right out of the rock right out of the image of the ground that Jesus would have walked and this is where he would have been buried now when we understand the story of what happened at the Christ's resurrection where a crucifixion death and burial I want to read you a passage from the Gospel of John chapter 20 verse 1 through 10 let us read this now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb so she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple the whom the one whom Jesus loved which we know is John and said to them they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him Peter came out with the other disciple and they went toward the tomb they both ran but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first that's a little bit of humility of John there right he doesn't mention his name in humility but he does say that he beat Peter to the tomb and stopping to look in he saw the linen cloths plural lying there but he did not go in then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and saw again the linen cloths plural lying and the napkin this is very interesting the napkin which had been on his head not lying with the linen cloths plural so now we've got at least three garments but rolled up in a place by itself then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not know that the scripture that from the scripture that he must rise from the dead then the disciples went back to their homes fascinating and I want to say a couple things about this all right first of all Peter came with John and John deferred to Peter let him enter the tomb first that's a little sidebar but an important note to show the primacy of Peter here as the one that was the leader they went in and grave cloths were there but not disarranged not all messed up but lying neatly and folded this is very important the grave clause did not look as if they had been taken off this is interesting because with seventy five pounds of spices that they would have put in the shroud Jesus would have had to have struggled to get out of it and if he would have had to struggle to get out of the shroud if he really didn't die as some people say and he really was just unconscious and when he woke up if he struggled to get out of it it would have been all a mess if he did it would have been torn to shreds the shroud itself and the HSU darian which is the Latin word for napkin which we just read the napkin the sous darian would not have been rolled up now here's the thing that I like if somebody had stolen the body which is another theory of why Christ disappeared if somebody stole the body they would not have left the linen cloths fine linen behind and certainly they wouldn't have folded them no thief would have taken the time to unwrap the corpse and then fold the cloths in those days is important robbers stole the linen and left the body because it was the linens that were worth something not the body so the robbers would take the linen and leave the body not the other way around here the body was taken but the linens were left it was as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated from underneath these cloths now John believed and it says that he went in and he believed all right so this is very interesting now we just talked about some of the burial practices that we saw and in the next slide you can see Peter and John racing to the tomb so that Peter and John racing to the tomb was this beginning of what now we now celebrate as the resurrection and this cloth called the Shroud of Turin what is it for those of you have never heard of it before it's a relic of this event it is a an example left behind of God of what happened that day and so the next slide we could see the type of tomb that Peter and John would have entered into as I said earlier now this is probably a replica or an example of something very similar to what our Lord would have entered into but let's go on now and finish talking about these burial practices all right the body was washed and anointed with oil so let's look at the next slide here where it says the practices of the first century again from the rabbi's the body was washed and anointed with oil the hands and the feet were wrapped in linen all right and the whole body was wrapped into a single single cloth now this is important because the shroud is an image of a cloth but the image from Christ is only one side that's because you had the body of Christ and he was laying on one part of the linen cloth and it folded over him kind of like if I took this piece of paper and Christ's body is laying on one part of the linen cloth it was folded over and when he resurrected the image was burned but it's only on one side of the cloth this is what is very important now the next slide gives you an example of the different type of body coverings that would have been used by somebody in 1st century Palestine the burial cloths of Christ now look at that image there's images over the face there's the wrapped around whole body is wrapped in a shroud there's images of different claws we have to look at this there's different body color coverings if you will that we read similar to John chapter 20 verse 7 all right so this is important because two are described in the passage we just read as linen and the other as I mentioned was called a napkin where as I said in Latin sudarium let's go to the next slide a cloth has been venerated for centuries in oviedo spain where it is kept in a reliquary and that's the image you're looking right there this called the sudarium of Oviedo is a traditional cloth of Christ that actually was put on his head over his face immediately after the crucifixion so while he was still on the cross it is believed that this cloth was placed over his head it has blood and it says it seems as if the sudarium of Oviedo was first to use before the dead body was taken down from the cross and listen to this discarded when Jesus was buried now that would make perfect sense wouldn't it - why it was lying off to the side rolled up away from the linen Christ was buried in the linen but there's this other napkin where sudarium they was laying off to the side they believed that it was on the face of Christ on his head after it's being taken or after dying wise on the cross then removed and taken to the tomb then it was discarded now we have another relic cloth called the veil of Montebello and look at this this is the next image and I know there's different pronunciations of this Montebello mana Paloma not below but whatever it is this image is a different image that I'm going to tell you about right now now at first when I saw this image I thought wow it looks too cartoony I don't believe this image I really don't it looks phony it looks cartoony but then I saw a connection with this image and I'm going to tell you what they think this image was where it was from in a moment this image was from a cloth that they believe was put on the outside of the shroud actually placed on the head on the outside of the Shroud of Turin now again I first thought it was too cartoony but then I saw a match look at the next slide the next slide actually shows another match with the divine mercy image which is also a match to the Shroud of Turin that we're going to explain the whole rest of this talk but that Vale of Montebello or as they call it yes development not below Vermont appellate mont monopoly pillow is very interesting because in this image many people thought it was the veil of Veronica you'll still see this online you'll see that image I just showed you and people will call it from the veil of Veronica many thought it was the same thing well go to the next slide this is traditionally been what is the veil of Veronica and this holy face of Jesus that is on it now let's talk about the holy face the holy face and first of all there's some great groups dedicated to adoring the holy face of Jesus I know Cathy wall Beck's group up in Buffalo New York the holy face ministry that they do up there is a great group of ladies who are devoted to adoring our Lord they've even had the image appear in hosts there at their Chapel and what's interesting is the holy face image that we adore today and we'll get to this is actually from the Shroud of Turin but it was the veil of Veronica the image I just showed you that was first used in holy face devotions so kind of an interesting point now there is a guy who has a theory and I've read a lot on the Shroud and these different claws and there is a guy that has a theory that I think is interesting and his last name is Beatty and he has a theory that that veil of mengapa pillow monopoly is different than Veronica's veil because I told you a second ago many people think it's the same he says they are different and they are not connected he says that that veil may be one of the three cloths that were found in our Lord's tomb that we just read in John chapter 20 verse 7 he said is like I just mentioned that it is wrapped around the outside of the shroud and that's why it had no blood on it unlike the veil of Oviedo that would have been placed on before he was removed from the cross area I should say as he was removed from the cross and taken to the tomb so it is possible that the image of Christ was impressed on three separate claws that's the next slide are these the three cloths of Christ the first one to the left let's keep this image up there is the Shroud of Turin we're going to talk about that in depth here in a minute that is the full-body image of Christ the second is what I talked about there's sudarium of Oviedo which we believe covered the face of Christ on the cross and being removed from the cross and the third the image on the right was the one that we just said is the veil of mano pillow and it was tied around the head of the law our Lord on the outside of the shroud now in the next video or our slide I should say you can see where connections are made look at the connections even to that cartoonish looking character on the right and I don't mean character I'm sorry image it is in many ways connected so this is very important in understanding why do I give you all of this why am I telling you all this because it all connects back to the shroud and an understanding of these burial cloth relics that our Lord left behind for those faithful like you and me now let's go back one more time to the face the holy face of Monopoly let's take a look at it one more time again kind of an odd looking sketchy-looking image but I wanted to show it one more time because this veil has no bloodstains no crown of thorns and the eyes are wide open look at this it's interesting this would argue that it was made by the living face of Christ while he was alive right or at least not dead because the eyes are open there's no blood there's no crown of thorns yet so this is interesting now it is impressed on the veil while the resurrected Christ as I said was still shrouded but how do we explain what looks to be like a broken nose cartilage and a swollen cheek this would seem to disprove Beatty's theory that this cloth would only be the image of the resurrected Christ but actually there's an answer it happened at the same time if this image was wrapped around the face of Christ outside the shroud theologians and scientists have said that the image may have been imprinted at the very moment when the soul of Christ and I'm reading right from the scientific writings informed the body but before the body was completely glorified that would perfectly explain what we see in this image fascinating unbelievable so we may have three holy relics not just the shroud but the veil of Oviedo which was placed our Lord on the cross and in going into the tomb and then afterwards this holy face of Manipal epillow which we look at and see is different but all connected now here's a couple of interesting things the fabric that was used in this veil of mana pelo is very very very unique today there's only one woman in the world and I don't know if she's still alive because I didn't research this recently to see maybe she's passed but there's only one woman in the world who produces this fabric and her name is Chiara Vigo and she lives in Sardinia the fabric is called by --ss or Beezus and it's a precious material that was used in ancient times now why do I bring this all up because you cannot paint on it it is impossible to paint on this material and this is the material that that cloth of that faced image is made out of you know in fact Padre Pio called the holy face of mana pelo the greatest miracle we have very interesting only 20 hours before his death in 1968 he was through bilocation praying before the image of our Lord this image right the face of mana pelo and he was discovered there by another priest this Padre Domenico who actually spoke with Padre Pio right before his death and he said that about this image fascinating so let's go to our next slide where you can see the mystical properties look at this there is the veil that is see-through but when you put your hand behind it look what happens to the image this is very fascinating and that's on the other side you can see if it was on the one side but this is on the other side which doesn't explain through science how you could do this it is a miraculous image now going to the next slide is why we are here today we are here today for this the Shroud of Turin this is how it looks to the naked eye on the left is the front of the image on the right is the back of the image but this is the same side of the cloth I just put it this way for visual purposes you see as I said the body wrapped around or the cloth wrapped around the body and we have to the naked eye what we see on the screen before you this is the most studied artifact in human history the image has the characteristics of a miraculous artifact and we're going to go through those details right now if we could put that image back up one more time brother mark I would like to show there's also on each now remember this is the front and the back so you have the front in the back of the Shroud or the back of the person but all the same side of the Shroud what are those elongated lines that are on the image those are actually from a fire those are burn marks from a fire that we're going to talk about in 1532 that scorched the image and our left other that's not part of the body of Christ they were burned on there so now let's go to the next slide and we see that same shroud but in a different context here we have the Shroud photographed notice the difference from the naked eye which I showed you just a second ago - now looking at a photograph of the Shroud it's much clearer and this miracle was an example that we learned about photographing the image way back in 1898 when photography was in its infancy and our next slide is the man who brought it to us his name secundo Pia that's a picture of him and he was one of the early users of photography now why do I show him this is important because he in 1898 when the shroud to the naked eye wasn't real clear took a picture of it and this picture on the next slide is much clearer look at the difference in how much more defined that picture is it's much clearer we see our Lord's face this is the face on the shroud now why is this important this picture is much clearer here's where it gets fascinating and I want to tell you a little bit of the story all right do you all remember the days when we used to take a picture I don't know if some of you remember probably most of you do I certainly do and you'd have to wait to go pick up your pictures from the Kodak store and the Kodak store would give you a series of negatives and the negatives were this go stood out image of what you took a picture of so if you took a picture of your dog like I used to rocky my yellow lab the sure that would come back would be accompanied by negatives and the negatives were those go stood out like gray and and black and ghost it outright okay so if my dog is what I take a picture of my dog is what they call a positive he's a real thing a real positive entity and you take a picture and I got back a negative from the Kodak store and that go stood out image of the dog is called a negative so when you take a picture of a positive you get a negative now here's what's interesting when secundo piya took that picture that picture was a positive because it's much clearer much more defined and it startled the scientific world the picture he took he didn't get a negative when he took the picture he got a positive what does that mean that means that whatever he took a picture of is a negative because when he got it back he got a positive so he takes this picture he gets a positive what does that mean he took a picture of something that's a negative what does that mean the Shroud is a negative now what does that mean that means the Shroud is a picture of something the Shroud is a picture of something not a painting an actual emblazoned burnt image so this picture that secundo Pio took and I'm going to put it up again in a minute not yet is clear because it is a positive meaning the Shroud was a negative meaning it is a picture of somebody on that image that somebody was Jesus Christ who was a positive himself so I know this is confusing but let's go backwards you have jesus' jesus and his body which is a positive it's burned into the shroud the shroud as a negative then punk Segundo Pio takes a picture of that negative shroud and he gets a positive that's why it's so clear and fascinating now science that has investigated this image for years has said the only thing that could create such an image would be a burst of light that scorched into the cloth that made the cloth a negative now what do you think of when Jesus resurrection the dead don't you think if you were there at the resurrection you would think there would be a great burst of blinding light I mean even the movies we watch right of the resurrection what do you think of when Jesus resurrection you think of this great burst of light and that burst of light would have been needed to make such a scorched image into the shroud now the science say that is actually like this image went through the cloth because it was burnt into it's almost like the image went through it and others have said the only way to do this if it's not a great burst of light or I should say burst of light would be a burst or bolt of radiation that also is what I would expect at the resurrection and some Saints have talked about this that the resurrection may have been like a bolt of radiation even either way it is a picture of something and a picture of something cannot be clearer than the item you took the picture of itself unless it is a negative fascinating let's go back to that slide of that image of Jesus on the shroud you know this is the only image on earth that scientists are aware of that this is the case of the image being an egg taking a picture and getting a positive the only one but let's look at this we see on this image a crown of thorns you see different items that we're gonna go into detail about the face but look at the clarity so we could take that image down now because we're gonna come back to it now what do we know about the Shroud alright there's tons of things and I could stay up here for hours talking to you about the Shroud but let's just recap some of it let's start with the first slide what do we know about the Shroud all right it is a linen cloth made out of flax that measures 14 feet in length and three and a half feet in width okay it is a woven in a herringbone pattern and I'm gonna pause on that right now and come back to it because that is very important it contains burn marks from a fire that's what those two edges are that look like poles I told you before that was a fire that happened in 1532 let's go onto the next image slide it bears the image of a man who appears to have died from crucifixion the image is that of an adult male 510 in height wing about a hundred and seventy-five pounds one of the scientists said his physique was muscular and well-built it is estimated that this person was 30 to 35 years of age let's go to the next slide the image contained on the cloth is only visible on one side as I mentioned and the image penetrates only the top two microfibers this is very important as we'll get to in a moment it's because paint if this was painted on would seep down through into the micro fibers into the fabric itself but this has not done that the image is only on the top like hovering like Our Lady of Guadalupe all right it's very similar that it's just on the top like resting on the top it's not seeped in like paint would do and also it contains numerous bloodstains all right numerous bloodstains let's go on to the next slide the wounds and the bloodstains match those suffered by Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in all four Gospels okay so if you see that this covers a summary of the description of Jesus as he was crucified in all four Gospels now here's another interesting thing this is the only example that we know of in written history and we've got the written history Josephus and others so the Romans and and historians going way back into time before Christ into - time of the years BC where we're we have written documented history but this is the only example in the scriptures that we have a written example of a man being both scourge and crucified that is in the Gospels the only written account in human history of an individual man being both scourge and crucified either the man was just scourge for a crime or infidelity but he was not crucified because his crime didn't warrant death so he was scourged to teach him a lesson or a man was crucified for a really bad crime but those cases the man who was crucified was never scourge the reason is they didn't want him dying out of weakness and collapse before reaching the place to be crucified remember that's why even in the Gospels they somewhat lightened up on our Lord because as bad as he was scourged they didn't want him to die and that's when our Lord was falling on the passion he they got to help from Simon Wright his station of the cross and Simon helped him because they didn't want him dying before he got to his place of crucifixion how ironic well anyway this is what we have in the history of the shroud now let's keep reading the wounds as I said match those suffered by Jesus in all four Gospels the wounds and the bloodstains found on the head matched those caused by a crown of thorns nail wounds are found in the wrists and the feet and I know this is ongoing debate over whether Christ was nailed through the hands or in the wrists it does not this is not a dogmatic revelant revel of revealed faith or element of the faith it's it's not dogmatic that you have to believe that he was nailed either in the hands or the wrists you're free to believe either it doesn't change the concept of our faith or the teaching of our faith it's not doctrine it's tradition with a small T but I look at it on the Shroud and I see the wounds on the wrists so that's where I believe in science does support that that the body would have stayed on the cross if nailed only through the wrists then we see a wound in the right side of the torso all right so this is very very important that we look at how that wound got there now let's go to the next and we'll talk about this more but let's go to the next slide the characteristics of the shroud the characteristics of the shroud are very important all right first of all that is again the image that we see with the naked eye that image is not from an artist this image and we can take it off the screen now is an image that we see printed in materials magazines what not it's an not done by an artist because there's no paints that make up the image there are no dyes and there now there are no brush strokes nothing and as I mentioned the image that is on there only penetrates the top two microfibers it doesn't seep in as I said paint would seep in now people will say but father they found paint on the image yes but the paint was from past relics touching it relics that had paint on it in a reliquary that touched to the Shroud are the paint that they found on the Shroud all right so let's take a look now at the next slide and the image on the shroud alright first look at the wounds this image on the shroud shows blows to the face and the body and those blows were made by tools that we see in the next slide you see these tools these tools they know from the design of the wound or by analyzing the wound on the body from the Shroud of what type of tool was made to make that wound now what's fascinating is these are the exact tools used by first century Romans see those tools on the left hand side those were not tools used in different parts of the world at different times in history these were tools used by first century Romans the design of those tools are what made those wounds on the image on the shroud okay now the wounds on the head as we said match the crown-of-thorns but back to that image let's put it back on the screen of the close-up of the face of Jesus they actually say that the crown that we call a crown of thorns was actually more like a helmet it actually went around our Lord's whole head based on the wounds on the Shroud not just a crown but a whole entire helmet then let's look at this face you can't see it real well but the newest discovery that I think is fascinating is when they blew up the face on the shroud they discovered in the eye sockets two coins now normally coins were placed in the eye sockets of the dead because of rigor mortis they didn't want people after they died the body's reacting and eyes opening that just freaked everybody out you would have a situation where everybody's gathered around a dead body and all of a sudden the dead body jerks and the eyes open up people would run for miles but the problem is they had to put something in those eyes to prevent those eyes from opening up so the tradition was they would place coins in the eye sockets now when they blew up the image of the face a few years ago they discovered there were coins on those eye sockets and those coins they could read the inscription now there was some debate that Oh father that's phony because the inscription was misspelled well they found other examples of other coins from that time period that were also misspelled so it's very possible but what they were able to read on those coins is that those coins were printed in 29 ad so for years before our Lord's crucifixion which I have a four-year-old quarter night now in my pocket that were printed under the authority punches pilot that door in Greek the inscription Tiberius Caesar fascinating you know this is something that I wish the news would broadcast around the world but you never hear about these things alright let's go back to the image on the next slide here you can see I mentioned the wounds of the wrist take a look where the arrow is we can see the wounds on the wrist again showing the blood which discolors and darkens in the image now let's go to the next slide that looks like just a mess of stuff there doesn't it well actually if you look on the left the body of the shroud is blown up so what you see on the right is a close-up now what you have there is blood that is actually red on the Shroud re D it's red the color red well blood remains red forever when the liver produces a chemical that comes from being tortured if you're being tortured your liver will produce a chemical that will then make your blood even after you bleed and it gets unto a cloth remain red forever not turned black but remain this kind that's the color on the shroud and the blood was on the cloth before the image was made that makes perfect sense they have proven scientifically that the blood on the cloth was there before the image was made the image was scorched after the blood was already there and the blood was not smeared which shows that he would not have been drugging out by or the cloth would not have been taken off by by tomb robbers tomb Raider's because if the tomb Raider's would have taken the cloth off the blood would have smeared if Jesus was not dead he would have struggled to get out of the shroud the blood would have smeared none of the blood on the shroud is smeared again it looks like this image was burned in without any movement it went through it is the only explanation that science can give now remember the blood that comes and that image that we showed was from the heart what's interesting is we have an understanding from Scripture that when our Lord was speared in the side blood and water came out but where did it come from it actually came from the heart because when Jesus was speared on the cross the spear of the soldier went through his chest cavity punctured his heart and the heart was where the source of the blood and water that poured out his side came from on that image let's go back to it brother mark that image we see near the heart is a pooling of guess what blood and water when they tested that pool where the arrow is it was blood and water so this takes us to our next slide the divine mercy image because here where do we see the blood and the water coming out from the Heart of Jesus the most Sacred Heart of Jesus this is very important in the connection we're going to get to these connections even deeper here in a minute all right I think what's important to remember is this us as faithful we believe the Shroud is an image of Christ and we also believe that Divine Mercy image is an image of Christ why did he leave - why didn't he just leave one either the Shroud if he if that's an image of Christ why do we need that invention divine mercy or if it's the image of divine mercy do we need the shroud this is why the connection is you have in the shroud the crucified Christ and in the divine mercy image you have the resurrected Christ the same person in two different forms but they are the same person we're going to show that amazing connection in just a few minutes for now though let's go to the next slide in 1975 science analyzed through a NASA tool called the vp8 image analyzer the face on the image of the Shroud of Turin and let's look at this for a minute doesn't it look like a clay mold it's got a 3d effect but the Shroud is a 2d image the image not only is the image 2d but it's not even living at least we think right well maybe so but this image on the shroud is 2d so when they analyzed it with this vp8 image analyzer they were shocked science was absolutely shocked and it was the only 2d image in the world they've ever seen with 3d information what that means is this 3d image that you're looking at on your screen means that a 2d cloth that the photo was taken off must have had three-dimensional information in it which means that when it was made he was in a 3d shape well doesn't that make sense if the Shroud was a 3d shape around the contour of our Lord's body the body is 3d if you lay an image around it if I put a bedsheet over my face I am going to have that image in a 3d shape if I disappear eared from underneath it and the cloth never moved it would still be in a 3d form because it had 3d information with me under it the cloth laid over me is capturing 3d information although the image on the shroud is 2d and it's fascinating because the image in 2d isn't even deformed if I took a - uh if you took a picture of excuse me if you put a cloth over my face and you molded it around my face and then burned an image of my face when you took the cloth off and laid it flat it would be distorted because as that cloth is on my face and captures the image of my face part of the cloth is lower part of the cloth is higher and when you lay that cloth flat it's gonna be distorted well that doesn't happen with the image it's completely perfect which again explains or excuse me can't be explained by science it's impossible if that image will father somebody made that image around a 3d model they burn they heat it up a 3d model this is one of the arguments they heat it up a 3d model of a human form they lit it and and raised it to a high temperature and then place the image of the excuse me the cloth on that 3d model and burned it into it if you did that the cloth when you laid it flat would be distorted because if you had to push that image up to the excuse me the cloth up to that face of that model you'd have to push it against all of it to burn it into it but then when you lay it flat it wouldn't match it would be distorted because the face is 3d and the cloth would be laying flat fascinating fascinating stuff all right now let's go on to the next slide three years later in 1978 testing was done on the shroud and they found many interesting facts I don't have time to go through all of those let's breeze through a couple of them next slide the article the particle analysis was how they conducted the testing they did also chemical analysis blood analysis photo mike-mike microscopy they did spectroscopy they did x-ray radiography the radiography they did infrared thermography they did x-ray fluorescence spectrometry they did photo scans from the infrared to the ultraviolet I can't even pronounce these things let alone they did them all to the image on the shroud let's go to the next one there was no inorganic pigments ah interesting talking about was it painted or made there were no substances manually applied to the cloth there were no artistic substances no collagen binder there was blood tests positive for human aspects of human blood like hemoglobin and serum the tested came back a B positive which is the same blood in all Eucharistic miracles the Eucharistic miracles all come back a B positive which is the universal receiver not the universal donor the universal receiver which means God receives everyone into his heart and finally the blood contained human DNA let's go to the next Shroud slide real quick as we said it only the image penetrates the top two microfibers the yellowing is uniform in intensity all right there's no capillary action none of the fibers are cemented together and no substance is found between the threads which would be the case if there was a drawing or paint all right so you see some other things there regarding the line and it contains no distance information again talking about that 3d image all right now this is important because in this image we have a lot let's read the summary on your screen of the final report of 1981 for an adequate explanation for the image of the shroud one must have an explanation which is scientifically sound from a physical chemical biological and medical viewpoint at the present this type of solution does not appear to be obtainable by the best efforts of the members of the shroud team there are no chemical or physical methods known which can account for the totality of the image nor can any combination of physical chemical biological or medical circumstances explain the image adequately let's go to the final slide on this report thus the answer to the question of how the image was produced or what produced the image remains now as it has in the past a mystery we can conclude for now that the shroud image is that of a real human form notice this is what they can conclude right of a real human form of ask urged crucified man which again we have no account of a human going through both except the Gospels the blood stains are composed of the hemoglobin and also give a positive best for test for serum albumin the image is an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made perhaps by this group of scientists or perhaps by some scientists in the future the problem remains on solved wow this is fascinating ok this was the results of the testing that was done and you say well father that was a long time ago we have better methods now yes and every method that has been used since the mid 2000s or early 2000s supports the Shroud well father wasn't there a test let's put up the next slide wasn't there a test back in 1988 using carbon dating that said the Shroud dated back to the Year 1260 to 1390 in other words this 1988 test from ironically October 13th right the date of Our Lady of Fatima said that the carbon dating testing that was done determined that the shroud dated only back to the Middle Ages somewhere between 1260 and 1390 this is what it says well what we got a look at is important here how do you answer those questions and I've done a lot of research on this I'm going to share just some of it with you now first of all the very creator of carbon testing said that this test done on the shroud was shoddy at best he criticized the fact that only one sample was taken at the first testing and it was way too small that was the first problem now the other problem was they dated the carbon back to the Middle Ages well what's ironic is what they have pictures and drawings of priests and clerics holding the Shroud centuries before 1260 and if the human person touches the Shroud it's going to get carbon in it from the very touch of the human finger so the very touch of the human finger is going to put carbon into that cloth we have many draw lying's of priests and bishops holding the cloth touching it now most of them are touching it on the edge but that's where they took the Shroud sample from you know I'm an engineer by degree and I tell you engineers are unique we can be very smart and some of the stupidest people at the same time these engineers can actually figure out that a cloth dated back to 1260 but they were too dumb to realize that that cloth may have come from somebody who touched it later or from a swatch that was sewed back onto the cloth after the fire of 1532 this was the other big point made about the shroud that the testing sample that was sent was not even from the original Shroud we'll talk about that in a minute in two thousand photos of the same sample were sent to labs who said this is rewoven in other words they received a sample the one that was used to do the carbon-dating testing was a rewoven cloth and it makes sense because after 1532 they rewoven this is interesting the swatch was from a part that was added back after the fire the Jacksons who are a family that does a lot of testing on the shroud say that the test was also skewed from carbon monoxide the sample had cotton gum die but the linen of the main body did not have this a second ago I told you there was no dye on the image of the of the shroud and that is true but the swatch the test sample they sent had died on it it's not even the same you don't want to destroy the shroud but the only way we would know for sure is to actually cut a piece where the image is actually on it but nobody wants to do that so it remains an of faith and I think God does that by design he does it because he wants you to have faith all right the head of the team in 1988 later said the sample was different from the rest of the cloth well there you go that's the answer to why the test was faulty and since 2005 almost all scientific evidence supports the Shroud and it's dating back to first century Palestine all right here in the next slide are some examples of things that predate that testing that shows pictures and drawings of the shroud this is evidence of the shroud that we have before those dates all right back in the year 569 almost a thousand years before the carbon-dating testing Syrian hymns there is a Syrian hymn that mentions a cloth with jesus' likeness not made by human hands this was the year 569 a Syrian hymn mentions that in 943 the Byzantine Emperor negotiated with Muslims for a cloth with the Christ image of Christ on it that alone is documented and that goes way before the carbon-dating testing so fascinating stuff all right next slide I promise to get back to the herringbone I told you this is a picture that also predates the carbon-dating testing of a drawing that shows a cloth in this image we see the burial cloth of Christ this is a drawing and notice the herringbone pattern that pattern was a first-century pattern that was only used on the finest linen from that time and place in history and this drawing from centuries later depicts people honoring this cloth that has that pattern and it's the same pattern as the Shroud of Turin holy mackerel Wow all right let's keep going I'm running out of time the next slide is what we were going to prove that I think is fascinating and this is the organic chain of evidence by dr. max fre that shows that this Shroud can go trace back to first century Palestine let's look at it what do we know all right this Swit criminologist he's also a botanist he on the shroud identified 58 species of pollen which comes from plants 28 of the identified plants grow in Israel now what about those others father there's 30 more well this this was transported around all of the known world in the centuries after the resurrection of Christ of the 28 species 20 are known to grow in Jerusalem and 14 of the plants grow only in the Middle East never in Europe which means this cloth had to have been in Jerusalem at one time or another of the 28 plants 27 bloom in the springtime the time of Passover that even puts the time of the year for this shroud they concluded that the shroud must have been exposed to the open air in Palestine fascinating so now we already talked about the time has been proven through the coins in the eyes with the inscription of 22 29 ad the first century tools used by the Roman executioner's that wounded the image on the shroud are from first century now the pollens put this shroud physically in Jerusalem now what's interesting is what's not on that slide but some of those pollens went extinct in the first century I should add that to that slide some of the flowers from where those pollens come from went extinct in the first century so that proves that it had to be there prior to those plants going extinct again fascinating we don't hear about this why my my alright now the next slide here's what we came for and it's shame I had to push it all the way to the end but we are gonna finish today with what is the connection what is the connection between the image of divine mercy in the Shroud of Turin and this is the bang that we want to finish with today this is fascinating you know how did it come about how did we even find out there was an image of the Shroud of Turin that matched the image on the Divine Mercy well it went back to the Year 1996 in our own father Seraphim who I did some work on both the divine mercy image of course but was familiar with the Shroud and he was at a talk and working with a group called The Life Foundation this was back in 1996 and they had the image posted up at this particular conference of the image of divine mercy and then next to it are not too far down they had posted up the image of the Shroud of Turin and somebody made the observation father Seraphim was part of it made the observation of the some similarities in the face of the Divine Mercy image and that in the Shroud of Turin well father Seraphim took it a one step further and he took it to be analyzed in Europe in fact into the Holy Land where a Jewish photographer actually took a photo of both the Shroud and the divine mercy image any map out the points so the points on the face of both images so the distance between the eyes that the blink of the bridge of the nose the position of the cheekbones all this the elements that make up the face and he did it both on the Shroud and he did it on the image of divine mercy and they came out an exact match how is this possible how st. Faustina didn't even have never saw the image of the Shroud of Turin and the Divine Mercy image is free-handed that one is painted that's not a burned in scorched image of a real event that is painted you could not freehand draw it it's impossible this Jewish scientist told father Seraphim it is impossible to draw something freehand and to get it to be an exact match of that shroud image and that image of divine mercy is an exact match so right now we're gonna show you a three-minute clip and we're wrapping up stay with us we're done we're gonna be done within the next few minutes but brother mark is going to show the movie from the clip or a clip from the movie love and mercy which you can get on our website I'll tell you about a minute but it shows the amazing connection between the Shroud of Turin and the image of divine mercy it's only three minutes please watch for the first time this similarity was noticed by Father serif in mcallen car who showed me the effect of comparing both images which was done at his request in the 1990s the results of my Alex of biological studies of the two faces from both images show a complete convergence with such characteristic facial points as the middle part of the eyebrows the base of the nose the cheap phones jaws the wings of the nose the beginning of the upper and lower lip and chin it's worth analyzing the same details by observing the images in three dimension it is a face model created by Professor manyara in 2002 based on the measurements of the Shroud of Turin and the veil from of Yadav the veil of OVA da is the object that covered the face of Jesus when the body was still hanging on the cross and this veil remained there on the face until the body was placed on the shroud then the veil was removed and the body was covered with the shroud traces of blood on the shroud and veil give us full information of how the face of Jesus looking if I put all three images on each other and it turned out that the eight points determining the most characteristic features of the face perfectly matched I also think that it is worth seeing it from a wider perspective when we do not limit ourselves to such a fragment of the Shroud of Turin of us if we put casually RAAF's keys painting here just bringing it to the proportions you can see on the Shroud of Turin scheme of course nowadays such a proportional mapping of the image from the Shroud would not be a problem it would be enough to project the image from the Shroud onto the canvas and the effect would have been obtained mechanically however as we know Kazumi Roth he did not use such a technique his painting therefore was made one could say in an intuitive way he only followed the instructions of forced dinner who told him how she had seen Jesus if you wanted to apply the probability calculus you would have to do at least a thousand face images to finally get proportions such as the ones on the Shroud this means that we cannot talk about accidental action here [Music] Wow I hope that you saw as much in that little three-minute clip as I did for a boost to our faith and a tremendous example of our Lord leaving us relics of himself and an evidence of his existence fascinating and in fact we show when we do our talks and stuff another video and I'm gonna have brother mark Hewitt right now I don't know if he can replay it but this image now on your screen shows the absolute connection when you fade in and out between the face look at the difference there look at the nose and the chin and in the eyes as they fade from the divine mercy image into the Shroud of Turin you can see the absolute connection there of the beautiful beauty in both these images that are an exact match as again you see the image going back and forth between the Shroud then into the Divine Mercy then back to the Shroud look at that connection absolutely miraculous the eyes the nose the chin these are things that are very powerful now as I said this is a connection that is miraculous but somebody would say to me father okay so what's the point you've proven that they're an exact match but what does that mean for me what does that do for my faith well first of all it tells you they're miraculous if they weren't miraculous you could not get two images one free hand and one a negative photograph of something to be an exact match impossible secondly it's two images of the same man but as I said earlier very important because Jesus had two parts of his life and both are needed for the faith from his life up to the crucifixion and then after him in his resurrection so we have the crucified Christ Good Friday we have the resurrected Christ Easter Sunday what you have in these two images are a representation of both in the Shroud of Turin we have the crucified Christ and we need to go through our cross he leaves us that image in the Shroud of him crucified to say I went through it you will have to go through it too but I am with you I endured it so he leaves us the image on the shroud of his crucifixion so that we can see what our Lord endured for us so that we could have eternal life so the first image is him crucified what he went through to save us but it's not enough why did he give us the divine mercy image because that's the image miraculous image of Christ resurrected so you see one without the other is incomplete if you just have the image of the crucified Christ well then he died but that's it but then we need something more we need the image of the resurrected Christ and both ironically have both so in the resurrected Christ we have the image of divine mercy but wait a minute didn't I just say both have both yes the crucified Christ in the Shroud of Turin also has the resurrection because it's the resurrection and the burst of light that burned the image into the cloth so the crucified Christ and the resurrection are there and on the image of divine mercy he is resurrected but he also bears the wounds of the crucifixion it is fascinating so both images can stand alone but they complement each other this is so powerful alright so we're gonna finish today with a quote from Pope Benedict emeritus Pope Benedict Cardinal Ratzinger then we're gonna show on your screen it's just too short slides this is the power of the Shroud Pope Benedict said from the face of this model or from the face of this man of sorrows who carries with him the fashion of man of every time and every place isn't that just what I said about the Shroud our sufferings our difficulties and our sins a co Christi Paseo Christi ominous from this face a solemn Majesty shines a paradoxical lordship this face these hands and these feet this side this whole body speaks it is itself a word we can bear in the silence how does the shroud speak it speaks with blood and blood is life what is the image of divine mercy it is blood and what is blood it is life you see the connection the shroud is an icon so is the divine mercy image written in blood so is the divine mercy image the blood of a man who was scourge crown with thorns crucified and whose right side was pierced again the blood from that side came out of his heart which we see on the image of divine mercy the image impressed upon the shroud is that of a dead man but the blood speaks of life every trace of blood speaks of love and life just like the divine mercy images I've been saying especially that huge staying near his rib made by the blood and water that flowed copiously from a great wound inflicted by the tip of a Roman spear but remember as we said ultimately he went through his chest cavity punctured the heart and that's where it came from very powerful that blood and that water speak of life it is like a spring that murmurs in the silence and we can hear it we can listen to it in the silence of Holy Saturday Wow very powerful so as we finish right now we have in our faith so many beautiful gifts and this is one of them the Shroud and the divine mercy image is the other we will continue to venerate these holy images and what they represent you know what we do know is that the image on both of them have blood and we know that that blood is Pope Benedict just told us is life we know that the Shroud is not painted it is miraculous and we know that the image of divine mercy is painted but it too is miraculous because it matches it perfectly the scientists determined that the blood on the shroud is real and the image seems to be some type of scorch the pollen in it comes only from that part of the world the coins and the I show that it comes from only that time period and testing shows that it was faulty studies have shown that the Shroud is not a painting or a forgery but actually a living icon and what is the divine mercy image a living icon both of them are icons into eternity so on the last straw slide you'll see you throughout history they have venerated the Shroud of Turin we to venerate the Shroud of Turin right inside or next to the image of divine mercy so how powerful and what a gift from our Lord is the Shroud of Turin and the image of divine mercy and hopefully today we shed some light on the connection between the two so god bless all of you and if you would like to get a copy of the wonderful movie called love and mercy it's a feature-length movie a docudrama that you can get on DVD please visit our website shop merci org slash Saturday there you'll also find my DVD which I'm continuing this explaining of the faith series we're at 13 different talks that I talk about our faith but on that website especially today visited shop merci dot org slash Saturday and get a copy of that DVD of that awesome video clip I just showed you of the connection between the face of divine mercy and the face of the Shroud of Turin so it is with a pleasure that I wish you all a very happy Saturday we'll see you next week at the same time 11:00 a.m. you'll be able to see our schedule of the following talks coming up on our website the shrine of divine mercy org shrine of divine mercy org I have listed all the topics coming up we're gonna be talking about the church scandal we're gonna be talking about the end times we're gonna be talking about how to pray so we got a lot of good stuff coming for you in the next coming weeks again continue to visit us on this same channel our Divine Mercy official Facebook page our web page the Divine Mercy org and on YouTube our channel is called Divine Mercy so with that may Almighty God bless you and yours and through these living icons may Almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen and God bless you hello everyone if you're like us in the state of Massachusetts where our governor has extended the non-essential business closure you're going to be at home looking for things to do there is probably no better time ever before or after than right now than to get closer to God you see you cannot love what you do not know so we want to help you to love God a little bit more by knowing him instead of sitting at home on your couch watching reruns of Miami Vice like my cameraman Giuseppe no idea I think that we have an opportunity now more than ever to learn our faith that is why I have produced a new video DVD series that can be used as small groups and parishes or right at home in your own couch then it's called explaining the faith these are my thirteen favorite talks I've ever done that are regarding what we need to know about Jesus Mary confession communion why would a good and loving God allow suffering and especially a walkthrough of the entire mass from the start to the finish and everything that you need to know about it tell you what here's a quick clip in the church it's just not come to stand sit and kneel it's to engage in this most incredible mystery this is what it is the church what makes the Catholic Church the Church of Christ is the sacraments the sacraments are just symbols they do something they're actual grace sacraments if you remember your definition from catechism our efficacious signs meaning efficacious they do something they're not just symbols they're efficacious signs of God's grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church by which divine life is given to us we have it so that Christ can enter into us and live in us now if we don't receive him worthily what happens we lose that grace so please consider now is the time to get closer to God and we're gonna show you how as I said this DVD series has 13 talks that you'll be able to learn more and share your faith with everyone you love to help get yourself and them to heaven so please visit shop mercy dot org or call one eight hundred four six two seven four two six to understand our faith better than ever before and to hear it explained in a way like never before thank you and God bless you my name is father Kowalik I am a provincial superior of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge it gives me great honor to invite you to watch love and mercy Faustina movie right in your own home this movie produced by Michael Condrey is truly inspiring it offers insights into the life of st. Faustina her spiritual director and into the message of divine mercy itself planned viewings in theatres is not possible on the count of coronavirus video-on-demand makes this inspiring film available for your enrichment on Divine Mercy Sunday and for several more weeks after it is available on video on demand in the United States Canada and in more than 40 countries is also available on DVD so go and check love and mercy movie comm to see if it's available in your country in three showings more than 200,000 Americans have watched it in theaters may this inspiring message of God's absolute love and mercy refresh your faith and console your heart during this difficult time you won't go to any convent [Music] why have you chosen us I asked the Lord he let me here I will grant you a visible help he will help you carry out my will Jesus told me that she will be my confessor who told you Jesus write all these words in your diary this watch was certain Jesus taught you himself and sisters visions I want you to paint an image according to how you just saw me this is amazing and it's surprising that he chose home did you sir can I take it to America of course have to run away then come Texas to shoot the world please open sir the applause no no but but it's really urgent most of the things she said before they come to pass [Music] even if I hear the results of anthropometric facial measurements of the key points of the face from the shroud I'm painting by Hogan's Kashmir offski show a perfect convergence between the image of Jesus from the Shroud of Turin and the image that was created with anticipation of Saint Sister Faustina with goddamn deshay that was they cherish for just about any movie every singaporean tone in his brain we all know that I need several revolution I can't do it without you after supporting you to the very end [Music] you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Shroud of Turin, veil of oviedo, soudarium, face of Jesus, Holy Face, explaining the faith, alar, chris alar, father alar, fr. alar, divine mercy, image of divine mercy, shrine of divine mercy, Catholicism, divine mercy sunday, jesus christ, mary, catholic, catholic church, catechism, faustina, saints, marians, marian fathers, MIC, Marians of Immaculate Conception, calloway, gaitley, pray, prayer, religious, faith, God, Mass, Liturgy, feast of mercy, priest, sacrament, suffering

Id: oPDF7SWi-X4

Length: 89min 15sec (5355 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 11 2020