I'm with you. Though it would be amazing to actually have THE burial cloth through which Jesus' body escaped - without tearing or even disturbing the fabric wrapped around him, it should serve as further evidence of the miracle of his resurrection and not just one more "relic" that gets venerated, worshiped, prayed to or fought over.
Yep that’s the idea. The Shroud is a sign. When you travel to Chicago and you come across a sign saying it’s 100 miles to Chicago you don’t get out of your car and kiss the sign. You proceed to Chicago encouraged that you are drawing near.
Actually, from the description it kind of looks like Jesus stopped and folded the face cloth before leaving the tomb. After all, it would honor his Mom who doubtless told Him to fold His clothes neatly :-)
(And no I don’t mean a microgram of sarcasm or irreverence there. It would be so Jesus to do it.)
“Reverence the Shroud”? Before being so quick to condemn this, consider that if the Shroud were acknowledged by all to be the Shroud of Christ (and so proven), that it is not just an image — it also contains the Blood of Christ.
I’m not saying that it has healing power, I’m just saying that, considering the Roman Catholic and most of the Protestant World reverence the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, the Blood of Christ is extremely significant in itself.