Father Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco, gave a 15-minute homily on April 9, Easter Sunday.
“Mark’s Gospel today describes Easter Sunday from the perspective of the myrrh-bearing women – Mary, Mary, and Salome. Mary Magdalene ran to announce the news to the apostles. John and Peter ran back to the tomb. Running is a sign of joy.
“As weighed down as all of us are, Easter is about running, about joy….
“The most compelling evidence of the resurrection is the Shroud of Turin.
“There was brouhaha 25 years ago when carbon dating results indicated it was medieval forgery. But those results have been re-evaluated and are almost certainly false. The authenticity of the Shroud as an artifact of the 1st Century is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The Shroud is exposed every ten years. I was in Rome in 2010 when it was exposed for a year, and I was able to spend a lot of time with it. They were offering all the priests in Italy transportation costs and lodging in Turin if they would hear confessions for six hours a day. So that’s what I did. I spent six hours hearing confessions in the basilica and the rest of the day I could pray with the Shroud. I remember Cardinal Burke, who was Bishop Burke at the time, offering Mass for a few of us right in front of the Shroud. He was preaching about the blood of the Sacred Heart….
“The Shroud is the most compelling artifact of the passion and death and resurrection of Our Lord. Of the passion, yes. 600 blood stains of wounds. The Shroud is anatomically correct. The molecules of enzymes indicate great stress and torture. To produce it, if one were to fake it, you would have to torture a human person.
“But it’s also the most compelling evidence of the resurrection. Because the most unexplainable fact about the Shroud is the image. How does the image adhere to the fibers of this cloth?
“The image is extremely shallow. Scientists say it must have come from tremendous amount of radiant energy.
“In the blink of an eye Christ burst the bonds of death. He stormed Hell’s stronghold. He rose from death in a glorified human body.”
It’s the burial cloth of Jesus left as a visible sign of His passion and death. We give You thanks for Your great glory.
i totally believe in the Shroud.
but i think the best proof of the
Resurection is that 11 Apostles died
a martyr’s death to witness to it; John
the Evangelist was thrown into boiling
(but survived) and the Apostle Paul was
beheaded for giving witness to the Resurection.
Not to mention the countless martyrs of the Early Church.
Yet nowadays over 50% of Catholics will kowtow to gay and trans ideology rather than suffer the loss of a job promotion or social acceptability.
The apostles would be so disappointed.
Yet nowadays 50% of Catholics kowtow to the fascist ideology of the radical right while toting their AR-15s around the community rather than suffer the loss of a job promotion or social acceptance.
The Apostles ARE so disappointed.
There’s nothing wrong with guns, Wilma, but there’s a lot wrong with gay and trans. You strike me as a Boomer, Susan from the parish council type. Do they sing any Latin or Gregorian chant at your parish? Bet not. Does your parish have a Laudato Si community vegetable garden? Probably do. Is your Mass attendance at least 75% grey-haired people? Likely. Many young families? Bet not.
Um, where is that being done, Wilma? You’re making things up. Stay off Twitter and certain Facebook pages. For your own mental health.
Please re-read the Epistles.
The Shroud is the most compelling evidence of the resurrection? How about that there ain’t no body?
Forgive my sounding a discordant tone, but this is the kind of “proof” I fear most. Best proof of the resurrection? If one googles the issue, one will see much of the scientific community believes, along with the local bishop of Troyes (1389), that the shroud is “cunningly painted, the truth being attested by the artist who painted it.” On that very note, Luigi Garlaschelli (2009), an Italian scientist, says his reproduction of the shroud disproves the claims of its strongest supporters. He created a copy of the shroud by wrapping a specially woven cloth over one of his students, painting it with pigment, baking it in an oven (which he called a “shroud machine”) for several hours, then washing it. His result looks like the cloth that many Christians through the centuries have believed is the actual burial shroud of Jesus, he told CNN.”What you have now is a very fuzzy, dusty and weak image,” he said. “Then for the sake of completeness I have added the bloodstains, the burns, the scorching because there was a fire in 1532.” Garlaschelli says his work disproves the claims of the shroud’s strongest supporters.
It is not enough to say Garlaschelli et al. are wrong; the very existence of their work itself creates reasonable doubt. So while I am not myself rendering a verdict on the shroud; there exists scientific reasons for doubting it’s the burial cloth of Jesus. With such a divided opinion on the shroud, to prop it up as proof of the resurrection is utter folly, IMHO. I agree with asdf that the empty tomb is the most compelling evidence. Scholars who recognize the historicity of Jesus and his crucifixion by Pilate, even if atheists, will grant that the tomb had to be empty in order for the resurrection story to make any sense. Given the empty tomb, one must ask the hows whens and wheres (and possibly whys). Although the empty tomb is not a proof, it gives powerful evidence for the resurrection, and that is about all one can hope for given the resurrection is a supernatural event while the empty tomb is a historical discovery by those who first found it so.
Replying to my own post, I also find, along with Follower of the Way, the apostles martyrdom as strong evidence for the resurrection, along with the empty tomb. For the only reasonable secular explanation of the empty tomb is that the disciples stole the body. But if so, then these same would commit themselves to dying for what they know to be a fraud. I doubt the cultured despisers of religion would readily embrace that likelihood, though they would have to. I also see I have little support for urging caution on the shroud. To press its authenticity is to risk providing fodder for those who claim Christianity and science are in conflict, thus giving comfort to the enemies of true religion. I am not eager to do this.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. John 20:29
Well, I don’t need any proof of Christ’s Resurrection, but would love to see the Shroud of Turin. This must be a very wonderful and holy experience, to deepen your faith.