Chapter 45: Sabbatum Sanctum

The day of the entombed Christ is the quiet rest of the Lord as He lay in His tomb.

It is the most mysterious day where the shroud is concerned, because we do not fully comprehend the mix of processes that created the imprint of Christ. Nor do we understand if the image was graced to us on this day of rest or if it is a byproduct of the resurrection...or both.

We assume that the Lord lay at rest, but what biological and chemical interactions, what principles of physics and unknown mysteries might He have been absorbing and redistributing in the midst of that quiet?

The Lord's quiet acceptance of His suffering and death does appear to be the message we are to absorb when gazing upon the image on the shroud. His message redefines our expectations of death.

That silent mystery we so fear is also the peaceful quiet we yearn for in the deepest subconscious interactions of our own living and dying. Was Christ using His day of rest to create this yearning for death in us?

Perhaps the Lord's forty days of confronting temptations in the desert and this day of rest in the tomb forge the alchemy of our eternal rest, the promised salvation, the quintessential quiet.