Chapter 20: Kaleidescope Meditations

For those of you who know my back story, you might remember that the first time I saw the Sindone was in a private viewing in Turin one night in 2008. Given the magnitude of the personal identity crisis I was experiencing at the time, this viewing of the Shroud was a private, life changing event for me.

The intention of this blog is not to dwell on my personal life, but I want to preface my upcoming writings on my observations and experiences to clarify that I am seeing the Shroud this time around in a public exhibition and this April 2010 visit will be the focus of these posts.

Here in Turin, among so many people who are flocking in all day long, the experience is vast. So far I have been able to clock 8 hours in the presence of the Sindone and I can tell you that I already have enough to write about for years to come.

When you enter the chapel and stand before the Shroud, it is as though you have just entered a vault where time, space, dimension, and perspective are all brought to a new beginning. But it does not come over you right away. Just as when you first lay eyes on the cloth, the image is faint and does not come into immediate focus. So too, you do not feel the magnitude of the impact of the experience immediately or all at once. But very soon your eyes acclimate to the dimly lit chapel and the cloth, which is suspended horizontally, so that the image is a panorama.

And then something strange and unique happens...the image appears. That is not simply a function of your eyes acclimating. It is a sudden and certain relationship. It is an act of receiving Jesus. It is a surrender to seeing with your mind, not your eyes. You are arriving. And you know, possibly for the first time, what is true.

In the posts to come I will take time to slowly and gradually turn the kaleidescope and let you see and experience the Shroud of Turin from my mind.

It is not too late for you to hop on a plane, train, whatever it takes and make your own way to the Sindone.