A. THE LAMB OF GOD

When Jesus arrived at the Jordan river to be baptized, St. John the Baptist exclaimed "Here is the Lamb of God." The Prophets had looked forward for the true Lamb of God. The sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb was only the type of the 'true Lamb of God' for whom all the Prophets and all the God fearing people of Israel were waiting. John the Baptist said "here is the Lamb of God," but the few who were present at the event, heard the expression only as a prophetic announcement. So Jesus was not recognized or accepted by his contemporaries.

The Apostles to whom Jesus had been hinting who He really was, were not able to grasp the message. "Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that He was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then Peter taking Him aside began to remonstrate with Him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord,.' he said 'this must not happen to You'. But He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but man's. "' (Matthew 16:21-23) Jesus slowly, but surely leads his Apostles to Jerusalem for the great feast of the Passover. All of them must have witnessed the great display of the priests at the Temple of receiving the sacrificial lambs from the devout pilgrims or selling them to those who came without one. Would it be too presumptuous at this point to think that Jesus may have spoken to the Apostles about the true meaning of the Lamb of God and quoting to them the Prophet explain to them that the Son of Man had come to replace the sacrifice of the Temple? That the "Suffering Servant of God" had to be sacrificed for the remission of sin? After all the Acts of the Apostles do tell us that Philip approaching the Eunuch of Ethiopia explained to him just that passage of Isaiah and from that prophecy he led the man to be baptized.

Yes, "Like a Lamb led to slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, He was silent and opened not His mouth."(Isaiah 53:7) Without any word of justification, defense or complaint "To Pilate's amazement, Jesus made no further reply. " (Mark 15:5) Jesus receives his sentence of death, carries the Cross, and dies on the Cross.

The Shroud seems to confirm all this. On the Shroud we see the eyes of Jesus closed in death; His body in a state of rigor mortis; His arms and hands crossed over His body as if His death had been a most peaceful one. Jesus had freely chosen to lay down His life in expiation for our sins. He had willingly offered His life for our salvation. Jesus was led to Calvary to be crucified, as the lamb was led to the temple to be offered in sacrifice. The comparison ends here. The lamb was led to the Temple in the midst of festivities, its throat was cut with a sharp knife and with one stroke so as to prevent it from suffering. Jesus instead was led to Calvary in the midst of public humiliations; was suspended on the cross by two spikes and in the middle of two thieves, as to make Him look the worst of the three. The lamb and Jesus are both victims of the expiatory sacrifice. But, the lamb was ceremoniously killed, Jesus instead was killed by the most painful and humiliating execution.

B. THE SUFFERING SERVANT

The prophet Isaiah over 600 years in advance made a description of the future Redeemer, so as to help the people to identify Him when eventually He would come. Suffering and humiliation will be His identity. This prophecy can be seen fulfilled to the letter on the Holy Shroud. "I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me (the scourging), my cheeks to those who plucked my beard, my FACE I did not shield from buffets and spitting (His Face is covered with blood)." Isaiah 50:5-8)

"There was no stately bearing, Isaiah continues, to make us look at Him, nor appearance that would attract us to Him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned and we held Him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured. Upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed... Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, He was silent and opened not his mouth. " (Isaiah 53:3..)

This description of the "Suffering Servant of Yahweh" is so accurate and gives us so many details, that it has been said that we have a better description of the Passion and Death of Jesus from the Prophet Isaiah than from the Gospels.

The story of the crucifixion of Christ and the imprint of the body of Christ on the Shroud are certainly, in their stark reality, the greatest love story ever told. We certainly cannot listen to the last word of Jesus: "Into Your hands I commend My Spirit" and not come to the conclusion that He died not because He was condemned to death, but because in that sentence He was fulfilling the mission for which He had come into this world: to do His Father's will and to reopen the Gates of Heaven for the fallen humanity.

The knowledge of the physical sufferings of Christ, as seen on the Shroud, can satisfy our curiosity or can elicit from us feelings of faith and love. If we are able to see that Christ subjected Himself to such cruel punishment because He loves us and wants to enjoy our company in Heaven, then the Shroud, in its silent recounting of the story of the Passion and Death of Jesus, becomes "the greatest love story ever told". St. Paul tells us that Jesus became obedient even unto death, death on the cross. Mankind departed from God by the sloth of disobedience and now we have to go back to God by the labor of obedience (St. Benedict - Holy Rule, Prologue). Then, like St. Paul, we could profess: "we glory in the Cross of Christ" and from the top of our lungs we could shout:
... and I am preaching Christ and Him Crucified." Jesus has indeed accomplished Redemption not by preaching or performing miracles, but by suffering, by dying on the cross. And we, in this Monastery, visualize it by presenting a Replica of the Holy Shroud.

C. THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

The Fathers at the Second Vatican Council expressed themselves in the following manner on the Mass: "At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His Death and Resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a pascal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us." (Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, Ch. 2, #47)

The Altar at Holy Face Monastery. In the center is the
Face of Jesus, on the sides the Replica of the Holy Shroud

The Shroud can make the Sacrifice of the Mass much more real. By definition "the Mass is a sacramental repetition of the sacrifice of the Cross." Therefore at the Mass the sacrifice of Calvary is present. It is at this Sacrifice that we are reminded that He prayed that our sins be forgiven and we are reassured that "today you will be with me in Paradise." For some people, today, the Mass may be a beautiful and friendly act of religion, where we pray together and together we listen to the word of God and share in the Eucharist. But the Shroud has a different message: It is the family of God which stands not only at the banquet of the Eucharist, but stands at Calvary witnessing the continuation of the Passion and Death of Jesus.

Jesus accomplished Redemption by His Death on the Cross. But He did not force his total redeeming merits on us. "We must fulfill what is lacking in the Passion of Christ," says St. Paul. Christ in dying for us left the door open for us to accept his redeeming merits and offer to God the Father such a "holy and living sacrifice" for our sanctification and for the sanctification of our friends and neighbors. He did not want to interfere with our freedom. How can anyone, who has a little knowledge of the Shroud, not see the excruciating sufferings that He endured for the benefit of humankind. How can anyone with such a knowledge reject the invitation of Christ: "come, you who are wearied and fatigued, and I will refresh you," and not accept His merits offering them for his own sanctification. Jesus left the imprint of His Body on the Shroud and there made Himself visible to us; at the Mass Jesus changes the bread and wine into His Body and Blood so that in faith, like the disciples at Emmaus, we may recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.

St. Peter, who saw Jesus as He was taken down from the cross and before He was laid in the Shroud, wrote to the early Christians:
"Christ suffered for you, and left you an example to have you follow in His footsteps. He did no wrong; no deceit was found in His mouth. When He was insulted, He returned no insult. When He was made to suffer, He did not counter with threats. Instead He delivered Himself up to the One who judges justly. In His own body He brought your sins to the Cross, so that all of us, dead to sin, could live in accord with God's will. By His wounds you were healed. " (I Peter 2:21-24)

The Bible was called by St. Jerome a love letter." May we say that the Holy Shroud is also a love letter'? Jesus laid down His life, because He loves us, indeed, "there is no greater love than to lay down one's own life for his friends." When Jesus was lying in state in the tomb, seeing that He had done "everything He came for" He gave us His last gift, the imprint of His body as a sign of His great love.