Chapter 57: Image of Assimilation

We all sin. And even if, with maturity and some modicum of wisdom, we sin less and less as our lives progress, still we sin.

The image on the Shroud is our “insurance policy” to protect us from ourselves. It embodies the reassurance that, buried beneath the burden of our sins, a blueprint of redemption is already in place.

The Shroud image holds Christ's eternal and internal residing presence. In and beyond time, He loves and forgives us by enduring human suffering and dying a human death.

Through His image, Christ unifies, releases, and sustains the vibrant and continuous dance of the particles of sin and shame and their anti-particles of sacrifice and love.

His manifestation of both the evil of sin and His loving remedy for that evil is a place of equanimity. A place where we are made whole, to be a new creation, to live in perfect unity with ourselves, each other, and God.

His image frees us to never deny our sinfulness nor our goodness, because in doing either we compound His ongoing suffering on the cross.

By accepting ourselves, we coexist in the serenity of His image. Our flaws and failures, as well as our goodness... all are assimilated by the gifts of His grace.

No more fear. No more death. Just His holy design, the original blueprint for the forever creation of humanity.