25/02/2024
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ (Article 23)
LENT. Remembering the Passion, preparing for Easter. Where does it begin? The First Sorrowful Mystery brings us to a garden. But letโs backtrack a little, into the Upper Room. There, Jesus, through bread-turned-Body and wine-turned-Blood, offers Himself for our sakes. An agonizing gift, because He means every word.
Letโs follow Him, down from Mt Zion, across the Kidron, to Gethsemane. On His knees, โoverwhelmed by anguish and distress,โ His โsoul is full of sorrow, even unto death,โ He prays, โFather, if it is Your will, remove this cup from me; however, not my will but Yours be done.โ Again, words He means with all his heart. And as โhe prayed even more earnestly, great drops of blood formed like sweat and fell to the ground.โ
In extreme physical or emotional stress, a rare condition called Hematodrosis may occur. Capillaries feeding sweat glands burst, exuding blood. This makes the skin hyper-sensitive, such that the lightest of touches causes physical pain.
First-century physicians like Luke may not have known this, but we do now. We can think of what follows โ the entire Way of the Cross โ with more knowing minds. And back in the Garden of Olives, Fr. Andrew Dalton says, โthe first physical violence that men perpetrated against Jesusโ occurs. Can you guess?
With Jesusโs skin now painful to the littlest touch, His betrayer arrives. He who offered to surrender Jesus to the authorities; who took thirty coins in exchange; who arranged the signal for His arrest. Oh, that kiss. A sting on Jesusโs cheek, a stab upon His back, unsaid words screaming into His heart, โI hope you die.โ
Later, when Pilate asks, โYou will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, just as I have power to crucify you?โ Jesus makes it so clear how consequential is this two-faced kiss: โYou would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is more guilty.โ Yes, Judasโs faithless deceit indeed opens the road to Calvary.
The Psalmist (55:13-15) says, โIf it were a rival insulting me, I could bear with him; if it were a foe in pursuit of me, I could hide from him. But it is you, an equal of mine, my bosom friend, my companion; whose fellowship I enjoyed, as we walked together in the house of God.โ
Oh, Lord of the Shroud! Could these words be meant for me? Am I Judas too, pushing You toward the Cross? Grant me clarity as I reflect, that I may see. And repent. And do better.
Sources:
The Gospels of Matthew (26:37-38), Mark (14:44-45), Luke (22:42 and 44), and John (19:10-11)
Jesus and the Shroud โ The Spiritual Significance of Death and Resurrection
Fr Andrew Dalton, LC. Nonius Reccaredus.
27 May 2023 / https://youtu.be/MwCyVV4Hl1g?feature=shared
Seeking the Face of Christ: How the Shroud of Turin Reveals God's Love
Nora Creech, lecturer on the history, science and pastoral implications of the Shroud
19May2022 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXnG2Xkf4Q
๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐. ๐๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ง, ๐ฝ๐พ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ช๐๐ค ๐พ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ is a ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด'๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ท๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด, and ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณe ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ.
