In the airport waiting for the final leg of my flight home from the 2025 International Shroud of Turin Conference, I re-read an Easter 2024 article from Bishop Barron that recounts the story in which St John, upon seeing “the burial cloths” (Jn 20:6) “saw and believed” (Jn 20:8) that his friend, Jesus of Nazareth, truly had risen “from the dead” (Jn 20:9). Just prior to pouring over every word of this brief article in early April of 2024, I had listened to and sent Bishop Barron’s Easter 2024 Sermon, titled “Evidence for the Resurrection,” to a multitude of my friends because the widely-watched Bishop had discussed one of my favorite topics, the Shroud of Turin.
As I reflect back on the past week in St Louis at the conference, I am still in awe. So many people have given so much to uncover the mysteries hidden within this most extraordinary linen.
A year ago, I never would have imagined receiving the immense honor of working alongside Nora, Aline, Father Andrew, and many dedicated others to bring the Shroud of Jesus and the redemption it reveals further into a world that is so longing to know the hope which transcends this fallen, mortal, fleeting state.
Never before in history has the people of God, the Church, had the capacity to broadcast to a global audience at the scale and speed which we do now. What has been beyond imagination for the vast majority of Christian history is now near-frictionlessly feasible.
I have come to realize over the last week in St Louis, perhaps even more profoundly than before, that the efforts of Othonia together are the greatest and most important project that I could possibly be dedicating myself to. There is no greater labor, no greater apostolate before me which I could freely place my capacities at the disposal of.
God, the source and summit of all being, of all truth, of all goodness, and of all beauty, the One who with a single word spoke our vast cosmos into existence, really did take on human flesh, really did surrender in a martyrdom of love upon a horrific instrument of torture, and really did triumphantly rise on the third day from the dead. And, not only did he resurrect, not only did he appear to the multitudes, and not only did his followers record an account of his appearances, but God also left us a photograph of the very moment of his everlasting victory.
The God-man, the walking, breathing, enfleshed Eternal Word of the Father left the world a pristine image of his own body at the very moment he received his glorified form. This picture captures the very moment at which the curse of death, reigning with dominion and power over the human race since the fall of Adam, was finally and triumphantly shattered.
And, unlike the nearly 20 centuries before us, the Church on Earth now finds herself with the means to tell the whole world about every conceivable detail of this image. Every aspect, every remarkable feature, every extraordinary characteristic pointing to its supernatural origin can be compiled, organized, defended, and unveiled to the global, internet-connected human community. There are millions of young minds in schools and churches, who, wrestling with the uncertainties of the future ahead, have yet to even become aware of this linen, the photograph it bears, and the burning hope it has the potential to offer and ignite within them.
The New Evangelization, the proclamation of the risen Lord, presents a long road ahead for the people of God. And within the very focused mission of Othonia, there is certainly a vast amount of work to be done. Indeed, I have no doubt that there are many personal sacrifices which await me as I look toward the journey ahead.
But does not love simply give and neglect to count the cost?
What else could be so worthy of my efforts? What greater mission could I possibly contribute to?
The most destructive, most awful curse ever known to mankind, the darkness which afflicts every human person in this world has a remedy – the Risen Christ, the “bread of life” (Jn 6:35) offered by Christ’s priests to the renewed human race, the Church, at every Sacred Eucharistic Liturgy.
The Shroud, in its so vividly supernatural characteristics, a true mirror of redemption, dramatically altered the trajectory of my life as a teenager. I, at the time a 17-year-old high school junior, was hungry for the answers to life’s most pressing, intimate, and genuinely consequential questions, questions such as…
Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? What ought I to do with the great decisions, time, resources, and opportunities before me? What is the meaning of this immense gift I possess and know as my life?
I know the Shroud can and will open the minds and move the hearts of many, many more young people who long for the same hope which I have come to know and be propelled by. Jesus did not have to give us the gift of his Shroud. He certainly could have redeemed humanity without creating or leaving behind such a remarkable sign.
But yet, he did. Perhaps, in drawing near to our eager hearts, Jesus wished to offer the world a little window into the glory which awaits his people at the completion of history. He gave us a signpost, an icon of his own very glorified body, a door through which to reveal to the world the hope which he suffered and died to give us.
Christ the Lord did not promise his friends and followers riches, comforts, pleasures, conveniences, status, or power.
But He did promise life.
Life to the full.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” — John 6:68-69 ESV
To all those who have labored to preserve, defend, examine, and reveal the mysteries of the Holy Shroud of Turin, this most extraordinary linen, this glorious icon of God’s victory, this radiant beacon of human hope, it is my greatest honor and deepest joy to continue what you each have given so much to bring to light.
Truly, truly, by your holy cross, O Lord, you have redeemed the world! ❤️🔥
