Once, while reporting a debate
I participated in some years ago, the
New York Law Journal referred to me as the “most avuncular” of the
participants. I was a little upset because it looked like a reference to my
weight, which wasn’t that bad until I looked the word up. Avuncular means “uncle
like, a tendency to make points by telling stories”(or perhaps to bore
relatives to death). I took satisfaction in that because in history, two of the
most avuncular personalities were Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ. To make
their points, Christ told parables and Lincoln
told jokes – some of which, if you saw the recent movie or read any of his
biographies, were a bit uncouth. I was in good company.
Right now in the course of
drafting my manuscript, I am struggling a bit to capture the flavor of the
scientific miracle that was the 120 hours of scientific analysis by STURP in Turin. I am particularly taken
by the tale of aragonite limestone being found. But first let me tell MY story.
As some may know, my wife
Rene and I have a particular empathetic but rambunctious Yellow Labrador Retriever
named Bogart. One morning a week or so
ago I was walking “Bogie” and he had a
confrontation with another dog (unusual for him), He jerked the leash hard and I
fell forward, landing flat on the
sidewalk. I suffered as a result an abrasion on my right knee and a slight
one on the tip of my nose. Neither was a
big deal.
Later, when I was reviewing
the 120 hours, I came across one of the most significant finds (I now believe)
of the research in that time period. I smiled a bit in recognition of what I
was reading.
The Gilberts were running spectrographic
analysis of the Shroud. They came across some anomalies and found that they
were on the soles of the feet, one knee and the tip of the nose of the Man in the Shroud. Sam Pellicori who was
the chief microscope person on the STURP team was called in to check and see if
he could find what the problem was. He found it quickly. There was dirt on the
soles of the feet, one knee and the nose. The dirt on the soles of the feet
indicated that he was barefoot on his way to his crucifixion. The nose and the
knee were likely from a fall, as tradition has held, he did.
Most importantly, perhaps, scientific
analysis of the dirt, which was picked-up by chemist Ray Rogers from the points
on the Shroud, indicated that it was a specific, rare form of aragonite limestone,
found only so far in the area of Jerusalem.
Obviously, my minor discomfort
is nothing compared to the agony He suffered on the way of the Cross. But I can
attest from personal experience, if you fall flat on your face, your knee and
your nose are likely to be bruised. The evidence of just such injuries on the
Shroud, while small and petty compared to the gross suffering inflicted on him,
is one more item of the myriad of circumstances attesting to the authenticity of the
Shroud.
The Shroud a product of
forgery? As we say in New York,
forget-about-it. You can’t make this stuff up. (I hope He has a sense of humor,
Lincoln did.)
