Jesus

"I want a Bible in which Lazarus is dead and stubborn about it, rather than standing to attention at the beck and call of every passing Messiah.”"

"The Lord has taught with very great fulness, that souls not only continue to exist, not by passing from body to body, but that they preserve the same form [in their separate state] as the body had to which they were adapted, and that they remember the deeds which they did in this state of existence, and from which they have now ceased, - in that narrative which is recorded respecting the rich man and that Lazarus who found repose in the bosom of Abraham [Luke 16:19ff]."

"Just as between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom there was a yawning gulf fixed, so is there also a yawning distinction between suffering and sin."

"(Archie finds out that his job has been spared) Archie: What do you mean, 'Congratulations.' You don't have to congratulate me for nothing. See, there's nothing happening to me, you'd think I'm Lazarus rising from the bed."

"My friends, does God invite you? If He does, why don't you accept the invitation? If you want to come, just come along, and don't be talking about feeling. Do you think Lazarus had any feeling when Christ called him out of the sepulchre?"

"Kane: And he cried in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And Lazarus did arise from the grave...I have always believed that faith was measured in deeds, not words. And while many of my children worshiped my name, their deeds betrayed them."

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented."

"I do not wish to begin by “taking sides”; nor indeed to end by “taking sides.” I am sick of “sides”; which is to say, I am sick of war; of wars hot and cold; and all their approximations and metaphors and deceits and ideological ruses. I am sick of the betrayal of the mind and the failure of compassion and the neglect of the poor. I am sick of foreign ministers and all their works and pomps. I am sick of torture and secret police and the apparatus of fascists and the rhetoric of leftists. Like Lazarus, staggering from his grave, or the ghost of Trotsky I can only groan: “We have had enough of that, we have been through all that.”"

"There is also this remarkable fact: Paul quotes none of the miracles of the New Testament. He says not one word about the multitude being fed miraculously, not one word about the resurrection of Lazarus, nor of the widow’s son. He had never heard of the lame, the halt, and the blind that had been cured; or if he had, he did not think these incidents of enough importance to be embalmed in an epistle."

"Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was [a]who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. [...] Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus."

"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence."

"Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own good, which we hold, but theirs."

"There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus [...] Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

"Christ gives us a definite picture of the entire process in His own life story, built around those major initiations which are our universal heritage and the glorious (and for many) the immediate opportunity. These are: 1. The Birth at Bethlehem, to which Christ called Nicodemus, saying, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."... 2. The Baptism in Jordan. This is the baptism to which John the Baptist referred us, telling us that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire must be administered to us by Christ... 3. The Transfiguration. There perfection is for the first time demonstrated, and there the divine possibility of such perfection is proven to the disciples. The command goes forth to us, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."... 4. The Crucifixion. This is called the Great Renunciation, in the Orient, with its lesson of sacrifice and its call to the death of the lower nature. This was the lesson which St. Paul knew and the goal towards which he strove. "I die daily," he said, for only in the practice of death daily undergone can the final Death be met and endured."... 5. The Resurrection and Ascension, the final triumph which enables the initiate to sing and to know the meaning of the words: "Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?"... Such are the five great dramatic events of the mysteries..."

"Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." [...] Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.""

"[To the Pharisees who wanted to arrest Jesus] Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"

"Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.""

"“This is very pretty,” said Elizalde... “It’s morbid,” snapped Sullivan. “Burying a bunch of dead bodies, and putting a fancy marker over each one so the survivors will know where to go and cry. What if the markers got rearranged? You’d be weeping over some stranger. Not some stranger, even, some cast-off dead body of a stranger, like a pile of fingernail clippings or old shoes, or the dust from inside an electric razor. What’s the difference between coming out here to think about dead Uncle Irving, and thinking about him in your own living room? Okay, here you can sit on the grass and be only six feet above his inert old body. Would it be better if you could dig a hole, and sit only one foot above it?” He was shaking. “Everybody should be cremated, and the ashes should be tossed in the sea with no fanfare at all.” “It’s a sign of respect,” said Elizalde angrily. “And it’s a real, tangible link. Think of the Shroud of Turin! Where would we be if they had cremated Jesus?” “I don’t know—we’d have the Ashtray of Turin.”"

"The Shroud represents a message of peace that, as a believer, moves and overwhelms me. It is a message that applies to all of civilisation and, of course, to the world of sport and football."

"[Inside the Wedding dress shop, Louise enters in Janet's chosen wedding dress] Donna: [Gasp] You look like a sweet! Louise: ...a sweet what? Donna: No, just a sweet, like a Campino, or a truffle. Better than that, you look like a toilet roll cover! Louise: Thank you! Janet: That's a wedding dress... Louise: Janet, we're in a wedding dress shop, what do you expect me to be wearing? The Turin Shroud?"

"We are made of flesh and bones, we need to experience, to touch, to see, to feel. Christianity is not spirituality, it is mysticism. Mysticism means experiencing, touching. The Shroud is a bit like the Sacraments, a kind of Sacrament. The Sacraments are a sign of an experience, of an encounter with Christ. And so it is with the Shroud. First of all, the Shroud immediately takes you back, with its image, with its reality, to two thousand years ago; and then it introduces you to that experience of resurrection and encounter with the Risen One: the Risen One who is present. Only you need to feel this presence, to touch it, and the Shroud introduces you to this experience."

"The Shroud is a reality that concerns everyone. The Shroud image that Turin has preserved for almost five centuries testifies to pain and death, but also to resurrection and eternal life."

"Not long ago the head of what should be a strictly scientific department in one of the major universities commented on the odd (and ominous) phenomenon that persons who can claim to be scientists on the basis of the technical training that won them the degree of Ph.D. are now found certifying the authenticity of the painted rag that is called the "Turin Shroud" or adducing "scientific" arguments to support hoaxes about the "paranormal" or an antiquated religiosity. "You can hire a scientist [sic]," he said, "to prove anything." He did not adduce himself as proof of his generalization, but he did boast of his cleverness in confining his own research to areas in which the results would not perturb the Establishment or any vociferous gang of shyster-led fanatics. If such is indeed the status of science and scholarship in our darkling age, Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls."

"By the Holy Face of Lucca."

"Just pay and the research will be done. And you can even find someone to publish it. It is undeniable that behind some of these studies there are groups that want to make people believe that the Shroud is a historical fake. One example among many: there is a fine documentary called La notte della Sindone (The Night of the Shroud). Well, this documentary was never broadcast by Rai because it contains a statement that perhaps some people do not like. This statement is represented by a letter on the letterhead of the Curia of Turin, which Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero, then custodian of the Shroud, sent to his scientific advisor, engineer Luigi Gonella, in which he firmly stated that in the matter of carbon-14 dating (later refuted by several subsequent studies, ed.), there had been the hand of Freemasonry, which wanted at all costs to prove that the Shroud was medieval. In short, there is annoyance towards a "real Shroud on the part of those who want to deny not only Christ but also his Resurrection"."

"We must conclude, contrary to much research by art scholars, that the image of Christ, which is so individual, must have its model. Due to its highly asymmetrical structure, the model is the Shroud, or the Shroud together with the Holy Face of Manoppello."

"Christ gives us the relics of saints as health-giving springs through which flow blessings and healing. This should not be doubted. For if at God’s word water gushed from hard rock in the wilderness-yes, and from an ass’s jawbone when Samson was thirsty -why should it seem incredible that healing medicine should distill from the relics of saints"

"The examination of a fabric is extremely problematic from the point of view of contamination, because a fabric is entirely exposed to the environment in which it is found. For a bone or a piece of wood, it is possible to sample an internal part, but this is not possible in the case of a cloth."

"The Shroud and the Holy Face of Manoppello are a challenge to human reason."

"That the simulacrum of Christ Crucified known as the Holy Face (which Dante also wanted to touch in his Poem) is very ancient is beyond doubt; all its characteristics, which we will discuss below, are those of an image of great antiquity and, in the opinion of many, of a Byzantine image. Although explicit records show that it did not appear in Lucca Cathedral until the 12th century, and coins bearing its image cannot be traced back beyond the 13th century, according to numismatists, however, from these documents it can be argued that it existed long before, and there are many reasonable inferences that demonstrate that its transfer to Lucca dates back to the end of the 8th century."

"Nunzio Galantino. As quoted in Mons. Nunzio Galantino e mons. Bruno Forte davanti alla Sindone, Sindone.org (May 21, 2015)"

"Both artefacts (the Shroud and the Holy Face of Manoppello) are true miracles that challenge scholars, as they appear to have been created by light, but with two different effects: in the case of the Shroud, as if it had been exposed to a photographic negative, and in the case of the Holy Face, as if it had been exposed to a positive. [...] The Shroud highlights both the human and divine nature of Christ, thanks to the bloodstains and the negative image. [...] Only with faith, then, is it possible to explain this energy within a dead body. This is why the two artefacts challenge reason, demonstrating the limits of science."

"(About the radiocarbon dating) All the sindonologists in the world, and there are hundreds of them, had contested that absurd verdict. Only those who had conducted the analyses persisted in defending it, obviously together with those who denied its authenticity, people who have a preconceived rejection of the Shroud, out of partisanship. Among the Sindonologists there are many scientists, including non-Catholics, who had judged the angle of the sample to be unrepresentative of the entire shroud due to the manipulations it had undergone, in addition to all the other vicissitudes experienced by the relic. Among the various studies conducted on the subject, that of chemist Raymond Rogers stands out, demonstrating that the corner had actually been mended."

"In the Shroud we recognise the grace that manifests itself in the wounds of those who experience suffering."

"The suffering face of the Shroud does not seek our eyes but our hearts, inviting each of us to look within ourselves with truth, to awaken our hearts and consciences to the injustices of this world, in the face of which we cannot remain silent."

"It shows an image that could only have been produced photographically."

"Luigi Ciotti. As quoted in L'amore che salva, la pastorale sanitaria a convegno davanti alla Sindone, Acistampa.com (May 25, 2015)"

"The pilgrimage to the Shroud is therefore a privileged encounter with the God of history, saviour and hope for all mankind."

"Visiting the Shroud is an opportunity to encounter the face of Christ and the many faces of suffering."

"This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

"[In response to Jesus' words: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."] Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?""

"As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."

"He impelled people to believe that he was a prophet sent by God to clarify perplexities in the Torah, and that he was the Messiah that was predicted by each and every seer. He interpreted the Torah and its precepts in such a fashion as to lead to their total annulment, to the abolition of all its commandments and to the violation of its prohibitions."

"A few remarks are necessary at this point, since the name Jesus has been introduced into this work. It is not the desire of the writer to be drawn into the maelstrom of controversy with regard to the character or nature of Jesus, the individual sacred to Christians; nor is it his intention to engage in polemics as to whether Jesus actually lived, whether he was a great Adept, or simply a solar myth, as many of the exponents of the higher criticism claim. The Qabalah simply uses the name יהשוה‎ Yeheshua because it implies a certain philosophy descriptive of certain of its prime theorems. … I make this remark to reassure those of my readers who may be of Jewish persuasion."

"Certainly Jesus' teaching was in accord with major tenets of the Pharisees, since he also believed that charity and loving-kindness were the most important of the mitzvot. Like the Pharisees, he was devoted to the Torah and was said to have preached a more stringent observance than many of his contemporaries. He also taught a version of Hillel's Golden Rule, when he argued that the whole of the Law could be summed up in the maxim: do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"Esoteric tradition avers that the boy Jesus ben Joseph, when His calibre was recognised by the learned doctors of the Law who heard Him speak in the Temple at the age of twelve, was sent by them to the Essenian community near the Dead Sea to be trained in the mystical tradition of Israel, and that He remained there until He came to John to be baptised in the Jordan before commencing His mission at the age of thirty. Be that as it may, the closing clause of the Lord's Prayer is pure Qabalism. Malkuth, the Kingdom, Hod, the Power, Netzach, the Glory, form the basal triangle of the Tree of Life, with Yesod, the Foundation, or Receptacle of Influences, as the central point. Whoever formulated that prayer knew his Qabalah."

"One of the ironies of early Christianity is that Jesus himself was a Jew who worshiped the Jewish God, kept Jewish customs, interpreted the Jewish law, and acquired Jewish disciples, who accepted him as the Jewish messiah. Yet, within just a few decades of his death, Jesus's followers had formed a religion that stood over-against Judaism. How did Christianity move so quickly from being a Jewish sect to being an anti-Jewish religion?"

"Niepohamowany bezsilny gniew dyktuje tu obelgi, za które w Kazaniu na Górze groziło piekło każdemu. Wyrok potępienia wydany w formie ogólnej i skrajnej bez przesłuchania i obrony i bez litości i bez miłosierdzia. Wzmożone poczucie mocy i godności boskiej, która zamiast uznania i poddania się, napotkała na opór i krytykę."

"Faryzeusze mają odpowiadać za wszystkie zabójstwa, popełnione przez kogokolwiek, na osobach niewinnych od początku świata. (...) Zaczęło się od docinków raczej – o rozsiadaniu się na kazalnicy, o modach, obyczajach, o próżności, a kończy się na przekleństwach i zapowiedziach ogólnych, ociekających krwią na czas najbliższy."

"Jezus, w uniesieniu, powtarza obelgi Jana Chrzciciela pod adresem Faryzeuszów i wprost zachęca ich w straszliwie ironicznej apostrofie do zabicia jeszcze jednego proroka za przykładem ojców. Wiadomo, o którego „proroka” chodzi w tym wezwaniu."