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Issue #46  --- July 2010

The Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin was exposed from April 10 to May 23. The Holy Father himself visited on May 2. The number of registered pilgrims: two million and a quarter.

The Shroud is an ancient cloth which bears the clear imprint of a human body, the image of a man executed and buried. The man of the Shroud was scourged. On his forehead and nape are marks of blood streams caused by sharp, pointed instruments. They suggest a cap of thorns. Large abrasions on the shoulders suggest carrying of a heavy rough object such as a cross beam. Wounds on the knees and face are likely due to falls. His wrists and feet are pierced by nails. The man died hanging from a crossbeam. The man has a very visible wound on his side.  He was buried at the time of Pontius Pilate and Tiberius, as revealed by two mall coins placed over the right eye and left eyebrow. The coins are identified by the letters visible on them.

The image resembles a negative. On the Shroud there are various spots of human blood, type AB, produced by wounds. Pollen found on the Shroud proves that it remained for a time in Palestine and in Anatolia before the 14th century.  The Shroud has three-dimensional characteristics. The image, except for the blood spots, is not visible on the back of the linen.  The marks of the image resemble light singe marks.
                               
The image on the Shroud matches the Gospel story of the Passion of Jesus. It is an accurate picture of the passion of Christ. The story of Christ crucified is set forth in detail, to look at, to appreciate and reflect on it. For over a century scientists and historians have studied the Shroud, without understanding yet how it came about. In any case, it is impossible to avoid thinking that the Shroud is the original cloth wrapped around the body of Jesus in the tomb.  Venerating the Shroud of Turin is a meditation on the sufferings of Christ. 

There are several books at the store which make wonderful reading about the secrets of the Shroud.

Prayer at the Shroud of Turin

“Lord Jesus, as I look at the Holy Shroud in silent prayer, my heart fills with emotion because I see in that sacred linen all the signs of the atrocious sufferings you lived through during your Passion, just as it is narrated in the Gospels.
               
The drama of your tortures is shown clearly by the blood which I see on your body: blood from the crowning with thorns, from the scourging, from the nails in the hands and feet and from the heart pierced by the soldier’s lance.       

When, in union with the Virgin Mary, your mother and ours, I adore you suffering and sacrificed, I understand more clearly that you have taken upon yourself the suffering and the crosses of the whole humanity.

Every suffering of mine, united to your suffering, receives in gift a redeeming value, and I feel held up by you,  encouraged  and forgiven.  I am aware that there is no consolation without conversion. Therefore, as I carry my crosses with hope in your help, I promise to begin a new life, distancing myself from sin, so that I will begin to know that “by your  wounds I have been healed.”   Amen.  (Cardinal Severino Poletto, Archbishop of Turin).

The Laity in the Church

The Holy Father called for a “change of mentality” with regard to the laity, in an address on March 7.   He called for a new direction concerning the vocation, the role of the laity, and their co-responsibility for the whole Church. He stressed again this new direction at Oporto in Portugal, on May 15, when he referred to the First letter of St. Peter: “simply proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope you have.” 

“In the end, he continued, everyone asks us for our hope, even those who appear not to ask. Our own personal, and our common experience tell us that Jesus is the one whom everyone is seeking.  In fact, the deepest expectations of the world, and the highest truths of the Gospel, cross one another, because without God man does not know where to go: man does not even understand who he is.  Faced by the enormous challenge of the development of peoples, which almost drive us to discouragement and withdrawal, the word of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to our help: “without me you cannot do anything” and “I am with you every day to the end of the world.”  …   Today the Church is called to face new challenges and to dialogue with changing cultures and religions.   …We are called to serve the men and women of today, trusting exclusively in Jesus,  allowing his word to bring light to us…   “Brothers and sisters, it is necessary that you become witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus with me… If not you, witnesses in your own environment, who would do it in your place? Christians are Christ’s missionaries sent into the world.”

On another occasion, as part of his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, March 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI would write to the Bishops of that country: “The lay faithful should be encouraged to play their proper part in the life of the Church.  See that they are formed in such a way that they can offer an articulate and convincing account of the Gospel in the midst of modern society, and cooperate more fully in the Church’s life and mission.  This in turn will help you once again to become credible leaders and witnesses to the redeeming truth of Christ.”

The Liturgy

The Liturgy is the official prayer of the Church: it is made up of the Mass, the Sacraments, the Hours.

The Liturgy is the “place” where we meet the three divine Persons, the place where Christ meets us, the prayer which Christ, in unity with the Church, offers up to the Father. The words of the Mass give the meaning of the whole liturgy; they are one great thanksgiving and praising.

The beginning:
Glory to God in the highest…; Almighty God and Father, we worship you…. Lord Jesus Christ, receive our prayer…  You alone are the most high with the Holy
Spirit, in the glory of God the Father…
The Offertory:
Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation…; 
The Preface:
Father all powerful and ever living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks…; with thankful praise, in the company of the angels, we glorify the wonders of your power,
-Holy, Holy, Holy… heaven and earth are full of your glory…; 
The Eucharist:
We come to you, Father, with praise and thanksgiving…
-  Remember all of us, gathered here before you.   You know how firmly we believe in you and dedicate ourselves to you… We offer you this sacrifice of praise….
- The day before he suffered, looking up to heaven, to you his almighty Father, he gave you thanks and praise…
-When supper was ended, again he gave you thanks and praise…
- Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father for ever and ever…;
Communion:   
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done…..
- For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.

From the Shelves

Render Unto Caesar   $21.95

The writer is Archbishop Chaput of Denver. The book is of great relevance today.  Laws which are introduced more and more frequently in one country after another are clearly contrary to the commandments of God, about the defense of life, marriage, freedom of conscience, sex education, etc. What can Catholics do, what must they do?  The Archbishop explains in which way laws can violate our God-given rights, and makes us better aware of the many ways in which they can be resisted by the exercise of our democratic privileges.

The Dividing of Christendom   $17.95

This is one of Christopher Dawson’s works: He was a great historian, and a convert to the Catholic Faith. In this book he examines the breaking up of Christianity and the consequences of disunity, the formation of the European state system, the power conflicts within it and the political revolutions that changed the nature of the state.  For the author the weakening of unity began as early as the Medieval period and the Renaissance. Then came the call to revolt by Martin Luther, the Reformation in England and France  and the secularization of modern culture. Dawson maintains that most schisms and heresies were rooted in social or national antipathies.

Rise of Christianity: The Second 1000 Years   $15.95

 It is a collection of articles which first appeared in FIRST THINGS, a monthly journal of religion and public life founded and directed by Richard J. Neuhaus till his death last year.  Ten people were chosen who were outstanding during the thousand years just finished. Perhaps each one of us could make up a list of ten outstanding figures who lived in the second millennium.  FIRST THINGS’ choices, however, enjoy a wide consensus. The chosen ones exercised an influence that lasts in to our days. Two popes are included in the list, Pope Gregory VII and Pope John Paul II. The others are a poet, philosophers, explorers, religious reformers, political leaders: the Americas were discovered during the second millennium, the United States were formed during that period too, and so was the Reformation. Dante Alighieri belongs to the period as well:  it is not difficult to name the ten people.

Advent of the Heart
by Alfred Delp, Priest and Martyr    $15.95

These are prison writings. Father Delp was a Jesuit, a pastor in Munich, during the Nazi period. He was an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, was arrested and executed in 1945. He wrote the meditations while in prison, circulated them  secretly among the other prisoners, and sometimes even outside the prison.  Father Delp thought of Advent as the season that prepares us for Christmas.  Our personal and social circumstances, even our suffering, offer us an entry into the true advent, towards a meeting and dialog with God.  It is a spiritual program of encouragement coming from deep faith: to draw closer to God even at the cost of one’s life.

The Wonders of Lourdes    $34.95

There are miracles, but the story of Lourdes itself is the first great miracle. There is a story about Bernadette being coaxed to pose for photographers: “she who had seen, no longer wished to be seen”. She went hiding from our gaze in a far away convent; she had said the words: ‘the Virgin was so good, so beautiful that after seeing her once, one would like to die  in order not to leave her.’ Indeed, Bernadette forgot herself in order not to leave her; she became what she contemplated, with the reverence of the simple, saying nothing, doing nothing, simply being.” There are many, many similar reports, short, only two or three pages each, about the wonders of Lourdes from the time of the first apparition February 11, 1858, to January 17, 2008, one hundred and fifty years later. They cover miracles of hospitality, of meetings, of pilgrimages, of cures.

The Darwin Myth    $29.95

The subtitle is: the life and lies of Charles Darwin.   The author, Benjamin Wicker, is a retired university professor who now lives in rural Ohio with his wife, seven children and sundry goats.   This is a most readable book, not at all difficult in spite of what could be the subject, the theory of evolution against belief in a creator God. 

The author shows how Darwin did not come to the theory of evolution from his years of observations on nature. Instead, for him evolution was a faith, an assumption he always had, which he tried to justify with all sorts of lies, under cover of reputed scientific investigations.  Equally, the author shows a Darwin intent on promoting the most radical atheism. Darwin’s hidden intentions can be read in Darwin’s correspondence, where he discloses partial truths and lies. The Darwin myth is now being exposed.

Hell and Other Destinations   $17.95

Pier Paul Read is the author of these essays. He is a well known British novelist and playwright. What inspires these reflections is a sense of bafflement that the age-old teaching of the Catholic Church about hell has been forgotten. There are many other ‘destinations’ the author visits with the same realism. Are we among those who forget about Hell?

The Rage Against God by Peter Hitchens  $22.00

We all have heard about Christopher Hitchens, the celebrated atheist. This book is by his brother, Peter, himself an atheist for a time, who returned to a committed Christian faith. The book is the story of his personal journey.  Peter uses the same arguments to justify his faith that his brother Christopher uses to promote his atheism. Very unusual the arguments, born of a vast experience in politics and journalism. This is an unusual book, so relevant when  the atheism of the other Hitchens  is so popular.

Life After Death: The Evidence
by Dinesh D'Souza    $29.95

If this life is all there is, there is no basis for any meaning, hope, purpose or significance to life.  If  this life is all there is, vain is our faith.  If, instead, this life is a preparation for eternal life, a warm-up act, a dress rehearsal for the real show in eternity, then it makes all the difference in the world, affecting our choices, our values, our relationships, our goals, the use of our times and resources. The author shows how modern science helps our belief in life after death. It is a topic we cannot ignore:  can we show others why we believe in life after death? Can we explain it to ourselves?

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups    $26.95

This is a recipe book by the author of another best-selling cook-book, ‘From a monastery Kitchen’. The author has a long name,  Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila Latourrette, but his recipes are as simple as they can be. Twelve months of soups include soups made from all sorts of ingredients, according to their season, and from all over the world. Soups are a basic food everywhere, for lunch or dinner, hot or cold.  Soups at the monasteries are offered also to the poor that knock at the door. That’s where soup kitchens began. This is the sort of book that can easily be ecumenical, equally at home in the kitchen of a Catholic as well as with non-Catholics. It is a tribute to the contribution which monasteries are making to culture and well being. This is a practical book, useful to anybody.

And then, there are these tales…

The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame    $21.95

This is a timeless tale, one of the best-loved children’s titles in English literature. First published in 1908, this is a centenary edition, illustrated by Robert Inkpen, who won the Hans Christian Henderson medal for his contributions to children’s literature. It’s the tale of the Mole who embarks on a series of exhilarating adventures with his friends, the Toad and others. The tale is well known already to generations of readers. It is brought out again for the benefit of those who have not had the opportunity of being exposed to the creative imagination of author and illustrator. Young people would benefit intellectually if they were encouraged to become acquainted with this work. At the price, this book is a steal.

The Tale of Despereaux   $31.95

This is very recent, but competes valiantly with THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.   They are the adventures of a small mouse, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and the devious rat who is determined to bring them all to ruin. The story begins within the walls of a castle, the birth of a small mouse the only one of his litter to be born alive, actually the smallest mouse that was ever seen. His name is Despereaux, who becomes curious about the sweet sound he hears one day.  He discovers it is King Philip playing his guitar and singing to his daughter, Princess Pea, every night before she fell asleep…  The author is Kate Di Camillo; the illustrator, Timothy Basil Ering. Large print, 270 pages, illustrations full-page size. A work of fantasy if ever there was one.

What Your Money Means and How To Use It Well by Frank J. Hanna  $22.95

Does this book belong at Veritas?  Well, here is what it deals with:
* How to determine how much money is enough;
* The three vocations of all those who have money;
* How to protect yourself and your family  from the dangers inherent in wealth;
* How, if it is your calling, to give wisely.

This book digs through centuries of wise thought from Socrates to Henry Ford. The conclusion: "No one should give away a cent without reading this book first."

The Age of Aquarius

Aquarius means “water bearer”. It is the name the New Age Movement gives to the coming age.  According to the New  Age Movement, we are leaving the age of Pisces, and moving into Aquarius, “the age of harmony, understanding and love. The new age is open to a more human religion. Traditional morality would no longer have any validity; there would be no distinction any longer between male and female.”

Aquarius sets forth theories about God, man and the world which are incompatible with the Christian faith.  The Holy See has issued documents warning us about the challenges the new movement present to the Christian faith and to culture in general.

The title of the document is as striking as the topic: Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life. In other words, Jesus Christ is the real “Aquarius”. The title does more than play on words. It is a literal reference to the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in Sichar. Jesus said to her: “anybody who drinks from the water of this well, will be thirsty again; but, whoever drinks the water I will give him, will never be thirsty again”.

The New Age Movement represents a cultural shift from the traditional forms of religion to more personal expressions of what is now called “spirituality”. The shift is occasioned by many factors. Some people have become very skeptical about religion because of terrible events like the Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or even the sexual abuse of children. There is also a growing obsession with oriental religions, from ancient Egypt to India and Tibet.  There is a conviction that there exists a deep down truth, an essence of truth at the heart of every religious experience.

The spreading of the New Age Movement concerns many are many differences between the so-called “Cosmic” Christ of the NEW AGE and the Historical Christ of the Gospels.

We may be lured into a false utopia while intending to respond to the human heart’s deep thirst for happiness. Hope for a new era of peace and harmony within oneself, with others and with nature is the most ancient hope of mankind. Hope bursts from the hearts of people especially in time of crises.   But hope can be misplaced.  Church teaching helps us to place our hopes in the One who does not fail.

Grace Is Hard To Accept

Father Cantalamessa writes many books, some of them available at Veritas.  He is a Capuchin Franciscan, and at present is also the preacher in the household   of the Pope;   he often gives sermons and retreats to the Pope.   As a Lenten topic, this year he chose "the difficulty of accepting GRACE".

Christianity is different from other religions.  Other religions tell a person what he must do to be saved. Christianity tells a person what God has already done for his salvation.  Salvation   is a gift, a "grace" that we must accept.

But then, it is not difficult to understand why "grace" is so difficult to accept. To be saved by grace means to recognize one's dependence, and this is a most difficult thing.  Take Karl Marx statement:  “a being does not appear independent unless, and only in so far, as he is lord of himself; unless he owes his existence only to himself. A man who lives by the grace of another is considered a dependent   being."

Father Cantalamessa says that the reason why a creator God is rejected  is also the reason why a "saviour" God is rejected. It is the basic attitude of pride which is at the heart of rejection of dependence.  St. Bernard would say that Satan preferred to be the most unhappy of creatures, but sovereign, rather than happy but dependent. The rejection of Christ today in our culture is a rejection of GRACE.

Our Website

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