©2006 K.M. Anderson
The Shroud is perhaps the best icon of the great hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 “Though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God, something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of man. It was thus that He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every other name. That, at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend, in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father, Jesus Christ is Lord!” In the Eastern Church, an icon is an image painted through prayer. It is labored over for days, even years. The iconographers would constantly be praying to God for the inspiration in their painting. They would ask the intercession of the saint who they were painting to guide them. When they were finished with the icon, it would be used by those who would pray before it as a window to the thing it represented. The Eastern Church experiences the presence of the heavenly bodies through the icons which, in many ways, are the portal to them and which bear an iconic likeness to them. Icons were also instrumental in passing on theology or “faith instruction” to those who would gaze at them in prayer. Icons were meant to teach the faith just as much as they were meant to lead one into prayer.
The Shroud is an icon, a “window to the supernatural”. It takes us beyond the restraints of space and time and sets us before the supernatural presence of Jesus Christ. It is the first icon, since it was created by the hand of God to lead others to God. It is the supreme icon, as it was created by God showing the exact likeness of Christ, not created by man to bear a prayerful likeness of a saint or of Christ. By using it as a tool of prayer, we are brought before the Lamb who was slain for our sins, and we can see this Lamb of God, who emptied Himself out completely, taking the form of a slave, bearing our human likeness, though He was God. We see the Lamb who, through obedience to the will of the Father, accepted death on the cross—His obedience to this death and His accepting of this death is attested to by the peaceful face of the mutilated and tortured body that we see in the Shroud. The Shroud is also a tool of teaching, for in as much as it draws us into reflection of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it also teaches us how great His love was, what the process of Crucifixion was really like, and the fact that He truly did rise from the dead three days later. It teaches us that the supernatural has a place within the natural world and that these supernatural signs, or miracles, aren’t really an interruption of the order of this world, but rather, they work to restore this world, even if by a glimpse, to the word that was before original sin. The Shroud is the perfect and God-given icon of the Philippians hymn. It is almost as if St. Paul was looking at the Shroud as he wrote those words. It is worth taking the time to look at a few lines in the Philippians hymn, and see how the Shroud correlates with an almost precision to its words.
1. A great leaflet on Icons is written by K.M. Anderson. Unfortunately, it is currently unavailable on this website as it is being adapted for a book. We will keep you updated on its status. Back to text
2. This is a point that has been made clear to me through the instruction of Joseph Murphy, SJ, throughout his courses on sacraments and the Triune God. Back to text
3. It is believed by most biblical scholars that the Philippians hymn was a hymn common in the Christian Church and was not penned by St. Paul, but rather, a pre-Pauline hymn which he included it in his letter knowing that the community he wrote to would know the hymn and have a special connection to it. To learn more about this hymn and Paul’s use of it, I would like to recommend chapter eight of Stanley Marrow’s book Paul: His Letters and His Theology, published by Paulist Press. Back to text
4. This statement is not an attempt to claim that natural vapors, sweat, etc. from His body created the image, but rather that it was by the closeness of the cloth to the Divine that this supernatural work was created. This is different than another miraculous image crafted by the hand of God, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Notice that the tilma wasn’t actually touching the lady, therefore it was not as if imprint of a divine being that was within her wasn’t stamped onto the cloth (after all, she is a human being, not God), but rather, God chose to imprint her image upon the tilma as a sign of her holiness and faithfulness to God. And so, to cooperate with God’s plan of the conversion of the Aztec lands, God through His power, gave a sign asked for of Mary to Juan Diego in order to prove to the Bishop the validity of her words and mission. Back to text
5. See Deuteronomy 5:6; 5:15; 6:12; 6:21; 7:8; 8:14; 13:5; 13;10; 15:15; 16:12; and 24:22. Back to text
6. For a great and in-depth look at this theme, please get a copy of Tim Staples’ exciting cd set on “St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians” available through St. Joseph Communications ©2004. Back to text
7. Another theme that I picked up from courses by Joseph Murphy, SJ.
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