Prelude to a Passion

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Prelude to a Passion
...He suffered died and was buried...
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There is no single event that mankind relates to
moreyet no more misunderstood event.than the
crucifixion of Our Lord
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If thou knowest not how to meditate on high and
heavenly things, rest on the Passion of Christ,
and willingly dwell in his sacred wounds. For if
thou fly devoutly to the wounds and precious
stigmata of Jesus, thou shalt feel great comfort
in tribulation.Imitation of Christ, book ii,
Chapter 1
Thomas a Kempis
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Meditating on the Passion

• You will appreciate the passion of Christ when
  you look with the eyes of your heart on Jesus
  crucified and see yourself in him.St. Leo the
  Great
• Turn your eyes to him in his passion and he will
  turn to you with kindly and compassionate eyes
  and forgetting his own sorrow, he will console
  you, because you go to him.St. Theresa of Avila
• The passion of Jesus is the greatest and most
  overwhelming work of Gods love.St. Paul of the
  Cross

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And so we begin our journey
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The Means of Meditating
Historic Writings
Revelations of St. Bridget (of Sweden)
Scholarly Research
The Scriptures
Shroud Evidence
Revelations Anne Catherine Emmerich
Supposition Revelation
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The scene of the crime From Gethsemane to
Golgotha
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From Gethsemane to Golgotha
Route Map next slide
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Scripture References
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Historical References

• Jim Bishops The Day Christ Died offers
  additional scholarly support and conjecture of
  the last hours of our Lord.
• The Historical Jesus by Gaalyah Cornfield gives
  a good study of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus
  death
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish writer and historian
  wrote Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish
  War provided historical insight into Pilate, the
  Jewish world, and crucifixions
• Philo, Horace, and Horatio various historical
  documents of the time

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Shroud References

• Dr. Pierre Barbets masterpiece classic A Doctor
  at Calvary described the passion of our Lord
  Jesus Christ from a surgeons view using the
  evidence found on the shroud.
• Many other surgeons and medical people have
  followed and Fredrick T. Zugibe, M.D. wrote an
  excellent study. The Cross and the Shroud.
• The Resurrection and the Shroud by Mark
  Antonacci
• The Blood and the Shroud by Ian Wilson gives a
  technical study of the blood flows upon the shroud

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A Look at the Shroud
Patches sewn in by poor Clare sisters after fire
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The Shroud of Turin

• Believed to be the burial cloth of Our Lord
• The linen sheet is 14 long and 37 wide
• Shows the imprint of a naked man approximately 6
  tall who had been brutally tortured and
  crucified
• Imprint on shroud has faded much over the
  centuries
• From archeological digs, the average height of a
  man in the days of Jesus was approximately 54

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The Method of Shrouding
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If Not Jesus, Who?The Shroud Depicts a Man

• Who is approximately 6 tall (a rarity in those
  days)
• Who had been scourged
• Who had been beaten and punched
• Who had worn a crown of thorns
• Whose hands and feet had been nailed
• Who had been pierced through the side with a
  spear

There has never been any documented evidence of
another crucified victim ever being crowned
with thorns
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The Magic of Photography
Positive Image
Negative Image
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3-Dimensional Shroud
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And youWho Do You Think I Am?Artists
Interpretations of the Shroud
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References of the Mystics

• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
  by Anne Catherine Emmerich is an excellent study
  of the sufferings Jesus encountered, though some
  of the mystics revelations do not coincide
  completely with an analysis of the shroud nor
  with other mystics
• The Revelations of St. Bridget (Birgitta) of
  Sweden
• The Life of Mary As Seen By the Mystics
  compiled by Raphael Brown gives a review of the
  passion and death of Our Lord using a composite
  of four mystics (including the Anne Catherine
  Emmerich and St. Bridget of Sweden)

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How Did It Get to This?
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The Road to Meditation

• The agony in the garden
• Tortures, taunting, and trials from the garden
  to conviction
• The scourging
• The crowning of thorns
• Carrying of the wood
• Nailing of the hands and feet and the raising of
  our Lord upon the cross
• Dying on the cross
• Marys ordeal