Philosophy

It is God who is the Master in life. We humans are nothing but amateurs. Those who believe differently exalt themselves. No matter how powerful one is politically, economically, socially or otherwise that power can be taken away very easily and be given to someone else.

For example, how often are criminals caught just because they forgot some small detail in their meticulously laid out plans? If one does not set his alarm clock properly and this causes one to wake up later than one wanted to, this could cause one to be late for an appointment of some kind. This latter could then cause one's whole life to change – for the good or the bad. One meets an old friend and the friend helps one solve some pressing problem.

Then to believe that it was not God who caused (or allowed) these circumstances to come about is ludicrous! Our Lord works through minutiae that we puny humans often overlook. It is with just such small, often overlooked, details that God works to control this world.

Just as one small pawn movement can change the whole outcome of a carefully thought out chess match, so also can God change the course of one’s whole life with just one small, overlooked aspect of one’s life.

Just as a chess master can predict the movements of an amateur long before the amateur makes the move and then make the appropriate movements to protect his own pieces, so also can our Lord predict our future long before we come to it and then make the appropriate changes to protect His own children.

One should note that neither God nor the chess master forces the opponent to do a certain thing. Rather, the Master knows what will be the logical outcome if a certain course of action is taken.

I’ve mentioned that our Lord inspired His children to hide the Mandylion of Edessa (Shroud of Turin) in order to protect it from being destroyed. I’ve compared this to the chess move called castling, whereby the master will move his king to the side of the board and place it behind a wall of pawns to protect it from being captured by the enemy.

He then allowed the Veronica legend to develop. Indeed, when one considers that our Lord did in fact “wipe” His face and body onto the cloth at His resurrection, then one has a truthful origin for the legend.

But disguising the Mandylion of Edessa as a face cloth and allowing the Veronica legend to develop is not the only thing that our Lord allowed in order to protect this holy relic.

It is my belief that He allowed the materialistic minded individuals of this world to go searching for the cup that Jesus used at the last supper. Only a vain fool would believe that our Lord used a golden cup or golden dish that possessed miraculous powers.

Wisdom and humility teaches one that the cup that our Lord used at the last supper was an ordinary cup that Jews of that period used to drink out of. It was not made of gold or silver. It was not inlaid with precious gems. It was just a plain clay cup.

After the supper, it was thrown in with all the other plates and cups used by the apostles and others who may have been present. It was then washed along with them.

Thus, while the vain fools of this world were searching for something that existed only in their minds, their attention was not focused on the Mandylion of Edessa (Shroud of Turin). It was thus protected from destruction.

What about the Knights Templar and the Crusades?

The original purpose of the Crusades was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. However, later Crusades were fought for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons – including finding the Holy Grail or Holy Chalice. Again, something that existed only in the minds of vain fools.

There are several legends that surround the Knights Templar – such as their discovery of the Holy Grail/Holy Chalice, their finding the Ark of the Covenant and obtaining pieces of the true cross. None of them are true.

There are some organizations that claim to be descended from the Knights Templar. But none of them can produce a reliable explanation for their descent from the order. There are even some books and Hollywood movies that make fantastic claims about the Knights Templar. But again none of them are true.

It is my belief that the Knights Templar came into possession of the Mandylion of Edessa (Shroud of Turin) when Constantinople was sacked and burned in 1204. They then brought it to France with them when they returned.

Later, the greedy King Philip IV, in desperate need of money to continue his war against England, then spread malicious lies about them – such as their worship of a mysterious bearded head. (The face of our Lord on the Shroud looks like a disembodied head.) Philip’s lies allowed him to confiscate the Templar lands and money and relieved him of having to pay back huge loans he owed the order.

While Philip’s men were sacking the Templar castles of its riches, Geoffrey de Charny (or a friend or relative of his) escaped with the shroud of our Lord. Thus, the materialistic minded were again searching for gold instead of something truly valuable, the Mandylion of Edessa (Shroud of Turin).

I liken this to pawn grabbing by an amateur while the master protects his valuable pieces.

Chess & Life