The Shroud Codex
The Shroud Codex is a work of fiction. It tells the story of Fr. Paul Bartholomew who dies in a car accident but is given the choice by God to return to earth should he accept the mission God wants to give him. The mission being to reveal the message embedded by Christ into the shroud. The story proceeds from there. I do not want to give much away should you decide to read it.
But here are my thoughts on this book. I am always very careful in what I choose to read, especially when it comes to religious fiction. As this book was backed by Bill Donahue of the Catholic League, I knew it was safe reading.
The story involves a lot of science, physics in particular, but you don't need to be a scientist to read this. What I found this book doing is reaffirming the fact that there is a connection between science and religion, that faith and reason do go hand in hand.
We have always been taught that God does not live in time, and that the Mass is the unbloody re~presentation of Calvary. To me that meant it was like God pulling back a veil allowing us to see 2000 years back. Aside from not wanting to give too much away, it is also difficult to summarize here.
Fr. Bartholomew also suffers the stigmata, and it is this that connects him to the Shroud of Turin.
I have never been too much into relics, and whether or not the shroud is actually the burial cloth of Our Lord does not affect my faith one way or another. I don't mean to sound flip or put down the veneration of relics. There certainly is a place for them. As for the shroud, the Catholic Church simply states that is is a relic worthy of veneration.
In this story, the shroud itself becomes one the characters as it is central to the storyline.
You can read Chapter 1 by following this link.
Read it for yourself, or share your thoughts if you already have.
Comments
I was also surprised to see that he is a Catholic. I wasn't sure until I read the acknowledgments at the end. I agree that his faith and politics/personal beliefs do not seem to be too cohesive. That was evident in the characters he used in this story- most are atheist or at best agnostic. But it was a good fictional read that had some good points. I don't think I will be reading anything else by him though.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Karinann,
I presume you meant " ... does NOT affect my faith ..."
And this is where many, I included, have some difficulties with relics.
Right now in the UK we have the cloak of Our Lady of Guadalupe visising this country from church to church with Bishops' permission and blessings.
Last year we had the bones (some of them, not the whole skeleton) of St Therese of Lisieux on show in the UK from church to church with many people going there to pray and venerate.
I'm really not quite sure in my mind, being a simpleton perhaps, about the ethics of digging up someone's bones and parading some of them in a box like a travelling circus. I mean no disrespect to St Therese, nor to those who pray to her ... but is it right to do this? With full Catholic blessings and backings?
Is this what Christ wants? His Church to pray to bones?
I'll understand Karinann if you choose not to publish this comment.
God bless you always.
I appreciate your thoughts on relics- I tend to agree which is perhaps why I have never been big on seeing the importance of them to our faith. Quite frankly I also find it a little creepy. Your questions are valid ones and no I don't think that Christ wants us praying to bones or locks of hair etc, but I also think that if that's all people are doing then there is something wrong. I think the relics and veneration of them are to be an aid to our faith- not seen as "good luck charms"- that's idolatry!
So I do understand your concerns and share them to a point. The book was just a good fictional read.
Thanks and God bless!