The Spirit of Medjugorje
Medjugorje Message March 25, 2024
"Dear children! In this time of grace, pray with me for the good to win in you and around you. In a special way, little children, pray united with Jesus on His Way of the Cross. Into your prayers put this humanity which wanders without God and without His love. Be prayer, be light, and be witnesses to all those whom you meet, little children, so that the merciful God may have mercy toward you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
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The Shroud of Turin and Medjugorje
By Louise Lotze
I have had an interest in the Shroud of Turin for over 20
years. It started with an interest in the Holy Face of Jesus
when I purchased medals and prints of His Face from the
Holy Face Association as well as a Holy Face door plaque. I
even framed His Face print and hung it inside our house. It
is a photocopy from the Shroud of Turin.
In 2010, I went on pilgrimage to Medjugorje for Youth
Festival week. Little did I know the surprise waiting for
me. Over by the Risen Christ statue there was on display
a magnificent collection of large photos as well as a cloth
replica of the Shroud in its actual dimensions. I was able to
take many pictures and revisit the display many days that
week. I felt like Turin, Italy had relocated to Medjugorje with
this awesome gift for all present to see and ponder Jesus'
image.
In April 2019, my parish hosted a presentation on the
Shroud of Turin. Very informative, it traced the Shroud's
origin and route of travel. The title for the program was
"The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: Where Science Meets
Faith". The historical, medical and biblical background of
the Shroud leads one beyond scientific inquiry to a personal
encounter with the living Christ. The
presenter, David Onysko, had slides and
large photos to view. I was intrigued by the
tests performed by STURP (Shroud of Turin
Research Project). This team of 24 scientists
analyzed the Shroud for five continuous
days in 1978. In 1981, after three years
analyzing the data, all the scientists agreed
upon the following statement: "We can
conclude for now that the Shroud image
is that of a real human form of a scourged,
crucified man. It is not the product of an
artist. The blood stains are composed of
hemoglobin and give a positive test for
serum albumin."
In 1988, the Shroud was carbon-dated by
three laboratories in Oxford, Zürich, and
Arizona. They indicated a date range from
between 1262 to 1390, indicating the cloth
to be only about 700 years old. In 2005, a thermal chemist,
Ray Rogers, discovered that the material of the corner cut
for carbon dating was different from the rest of the Shroud.
There was a fire in 1522 and burns and patches on the Shroud
from this fire were removed. The Shroud was attached to a
new backing cloth as well. He obtained thread samples from
the C-14 corner and thread samples from the interior of the
Shroud. Additional micro-chemical and spectroscopic tests
showed the samples were not the same. The sample cut for
C-14 dating appeared to be from a Medieval reweave instead
of the original Shroud. Thus, the radiocarbon date was not
valid for determining the true age of the Shroud. Three
different samples were to be cut in 1988, but only one sample
was cut and used, violating the protocol. Also, they cut the
sample from the most handled area of the cloth, the outside
corner edge, exactly where it had been grabbed and held by
Church authorities for numerous public exhibitions, which
thus had the most potential for contamination, damage and
repair. In 2013, researchers with Padua University in Italy
conducted tests and determined an estimated date range of
280 B.C. to 220 A.D.
From the test performed by STURP, I was attracted to the
blood tests. Dr. Al Adler stated: "The blood marks seen on
the Shroud are consistent with a contact transfer to the cloth
of blood clot exudates that would have resulted from major
wounds inflicted on a man who died in the position of
crucifixion." The blood test results were positive for heme,
bile, serum albumin, and other blood components. The
blood type is type AB with human DNA (1995).
In Sr. Emmanuel's book, Peace Will Have the Last Word,
she describes the Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. This miracle occurred in 1996 when Pope Francis
was bishop there, and he decided to have a scientific analysis
done after several years of keeping it a secret. This Host had
been found at the back of a church. The priest saw the soiled
Host and placed it in a container of water in the tabernacle in
the chapel. After one week, the Host had become a fragment
of bloody flesh and had greatly increased in size. Over time
the Host showed no visible sign of decomposition. In fact,
when the tests were done in 1999, the consecrated Host of
white unleavened bread had been transformed into bleeding
human flesh. The Buenos Aires miracle can be compared to
reports produced about a similar Eucharistic Miracle that
had taken place in Lanciano, Italy. Without
revealing the origin of the test samples to the
experts who conducted the comparison, they
concluded that the two laboratory reports had
analyzed test samples taken from the same
person. They further pointed out that the two
samples revealed an "AB positive" blood type.
This blood carries characteristics of a man
who was born and lived in the Middle East.
Type AB is the blood type called the "universal
receiver".
A very interesting discovery in the
Buenos Aires miraculous Host was made by
Dr. Frederick Zugiba, an acclaimed cardiologist
and forensic pathologist. He determined that
the substance being analyzed was true flesh
and real blood containing human DNA. He
declared, "The analyzed material is a fragment
of the heart muscle found in the wall of the
left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible
for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind
that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of
the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition
and contains a large number of white blood cells. It is my
contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells
require a living organism to sustain them, or they will die
outside of a living organism. Thus, their presence indicates
that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What
is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue,
which further indicates that the heart had been under severe
stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the
chest."
Without Jesus' DNA, we cannot positively say the Shroud
of Turin is the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb after His
crucifixion and death. However, the image has tests showing
3-dimensional data, the cloth contains Middle-Eastern
pollens, and the blood type AB is the same as Eucharistic
Miracles from Buenos Aires and Lanciano, which we know
are the flesh of Jesus Christ since they were consecrated
Hosts.
Thank you, Medjugorje, for Youth Festival week of
2010, where I was able to view images of the Shroud and
ponder this personal encounter with the living Christ. Fact
or fiction? Science cannot render a verdict on the Shroud.
Historian John Walsh states: "It is either the most awesome
and instructive relic of Christ in existence or it is one of the
most ingenious, most unbelievably clever products of the
human mind and hand on record. It is either one or the
other. There is no middle ground." You decide.
Editor's note: Louise lives in Ashtabula, OH, and is a faithful
member of our mailing crew.
