"Holy Face"

 A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day

HOLY FACE

 

When I look upon Your Visage

and pierced, bruised Body

imprinted upon the winding sheet,

and contemplate

wounds You bore for me,

it causes me to quiver

with reverence and awe.

After two millennia

I witness Your Passion

mapped out

on a white linen proof-sheet.

 

Controversy has abounded

about the authenticity

of this ancient Shroud of Turin;

I leave it to greater minds

than mine to ponder.

As for me,

in my spirit I know,

it is You, my Lord.

 

Amazing. I can look

upon the negative

that’s positive

and actually see Your Face,

Your beautiful Holy Face,

suspended from Its Divine Agony

and interlude with death

when Your Majestic Imprint

burst upon the burial cloth.

Death sprang to Life

in that timeless flash-moment

of Resurrection. Glorious!

 

Lord, I see Strength,

unimaginable Endurance,

but even more, Peace

and the Countenance

of Unsurpassed Love.

 

Others may debate carbon dating.

Let them scrutinize and snip,

analyze in test tubes,

on smeared slides under microscopes,

and beneath glaring, blaring lights

until Your Second Coming!

 

As for me,

when I gaze into the negative

that’s positive

burnished miraculously

into that Holy Shroud

at the Climax of all time,

I accept with simple faith,

it is You, my Lord.

 

Maude Carolan