Catholic RELIC tour, LA, SGV (3/17)

Over the years, the legend is enhanced to make magnificent Eurocentric art unlike reality.

St. Veronica with Holy Kerchief (painting by Mattia Preti, 1650)

.

A kerchief is a "head handkerchief."

*Christian Carnival Barker Voice* Get out of the bars, boys and girls, and into Catholic church to see the Holy Kerchief, the Vernicle (Sudarium or "Sweat Cloth"), Veil of Veronica or simply Veronica, the "Face of Jesus" relic.

Yes, just this one time, it may never come round to your neck of the woods again! You were wowed by the Holy Hand of St. Judas last year in Pasadena, but did you know the Creator's own son, drenched in blood, sweat, and tears while being whipped and beaten at the sixth Station of the Cross, had a kindness shown to him?

Veronica holding face of Jesus on her veil after wiping him

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, St. Veronica was kind enough to use her hanky on the lord, and with no time to emanate an entire life-size photocopy like he would with the Shroud of Turin, he left a headshot.

• 

  Icon of Black Jesus (Saint Issa)

  NOTE: While it may sound as if Wisdom Quarterly is mocking the idea of relics, sacred objects, particular religions, or those invested in their faith, a closer examination reveals that what is being mocked and made fun of is commercialization, corruption, and greed in the name of religion. This is what Mr. Show is aiming at, as well as taking on conservatives in government, Christianity, and hypocrisy in general. It is our confirmed belief that some objects are holy, sacred, divine, supernatural, extraordinary and miraculous. This may or may not be them, but such things exist. The Buddhist tradition, which preceded Christianity by six centuries, spoke of relics (sariras).*
• Put down the pints of St. Paddy's Day Guiness and join us as we go out to see them on tour just as we went out to see various stops of the worldwide Relic Tour by Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists years ago in LA. Wisdom Quarterly will be at each stop as part of our ongoing "Adventures in Church" series.
• ALL religions are beautiful. They may not be true, but they are all beautiful.
• Those who wish to be spiritual should not let commercialized religion stand in the way.

• Preacher: Don't mess with Almighty God, Satan
• Good News (What To Think Network) Christian Conversion Therapy (Mr. Show with Bob and David)
• HOW TO SELL GOD: The Bible Machine: The 13th Apostle Marshal the Salesman, author of The Book of Marshal: Power, Passion, and Profits

Asian face Jesus?

(Veil of St. Veronica, 1500)

May appear as splotch to wicked

Think about it. You loved the Blood Moon, a mere sideshow, you loved snow in LA's mountain tops in spring, you think fire, rain, and chilling cold are spectacles, but how about the authentic miraculous face of the creator-savior incarnate?

Yes, leggys and germs, this is gonna be a really big shoe. This may be your only opportunity to stand up close to a real relic (as recognized in both Catholic and Orthodox traditions, though Protestant not so much).

Hieronimus Bosch painted these hideous nutters, including Veronica's Veil in lower left.

.

Artist enhanced version of image

It's authorized by your children's friends at the Vatican, within the fortress city-state, inside the vestigial heart of the Holy Roman Empire (not merely Rome, Italy, but the tiny, independent country known as the Holy See once dedicated entirely to the worship of the solar son-God Mithra and his mysteries), under CEO Francis, while he yet hangs on by the power of prayer and modern medicine.

Sudarium: Holy Sweat Towel 

Price? Priceless! Donations? Solicited.

Cost? What is money but the seed of Mammon, the joy of Shaytan (Shaitan), the love of which is the root of all evil? It's free. But buy paraphernalia at the concessions stand with plastic bottled water, sugary drinks, plastic trinkets, tchotchkes, Catholic bling, and curios. Booklets and stickers too. Why not invest in an "I Saw It 2025" tour t-shirt to wear on your deathbed or any future surface where you might meet G Almighty? Might score some leniency points with St. Pete.

The Holy See (gay Vatican) loves gays. - T-shirts, get your t-shirts here!

• But Satan (Shayatin) and the Iblis need me in a bar on Saint Patrick's Day to part and turn the toilet water green. Fiducia supplicans blesses gay Catholic marriages?

This is no joke, so don't dream of laughing (Alicante).

They made Veronica a saint for it

Need an indulgence (for the remission of sin by the Church for money)? Why not get a set of authentic wood simulated plastic rosary beads laced together with plastic twine to carry in your pocket, wear around your neck, or dangle from your rearview?! Now available in child and adult sizes. Please allow time for a long line of penitents and curiosity seekers ahead of you in the queue. No photography please as this relic replica may be very delicate and light sensitive.

True meaning of St. Pat's Day

Drive "snakes" out = kill pagans for Jesus

• St. Therese Catholic Church, Alhambra
• 6:00-10:00 pm, March 17, 2025
• Alhambra, LA County, California
• While here, cruise by the cloistered nuns of Carmel: Carmel of St. Teresa - Carmelite Monastery, Alhambra, California, who are always in need of vegan food donations to sustain their holy endeavors

Earlier the same day, St. Patrick's Feast Day to the secular world of imbibers and intemperate drinkers, see the Vernicle travel from the small town of Monrovia, a foothill community in the SGV, to neighboring Alhambra for a stop at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Shamrock, just off of Foothill Blvd. (the famous Route 66):

• Immaculate Conception Church - Monrovia
• 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, Monday, March 17, 2025
• 740 S. Shamrock Ave., Monrovia
• Los Angeles County, California

Not a joke, a real relic tour

Immaculate Conception Church - Monrovia, California

Is there any information?

Don't get your hopes up, huh?

Fortunately, St. Therese Catholic Church has something to say about this event in advance so parishioners might choose a St. Pat's party instead: "This year, being the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Therese,* we are having a special visit of a Holy Face relic on MONDAY, MARCH 17, FROM 6:00 TO 10:00 P.M.

"This third-class relic is a replica of the cloth Veronica wiped Jesus’ face with and has been touched to Veronica's Veil, the True Wood of the Cross, and the Lance that pierced Christ's side.

St. Patrick's Day celebration, Lenten Mission

Since this image was touched to the instruments of Our Lord's Passion, which were drenched in His Blood, it has therefore been touched to the Blood of Christ. And so is considered a “Living Image of Jesus Christ.”

(*Note: When she was still in the Carmel in Lisieux, France, our patroness’ religious name was Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. She was first given the name “Therese of the Child Jesus” when she entered, and she added “and the Holy Face” when she took the veil.) The evening will begin with a talk at 6:00 p.m., by Vicki Schreiner, author of Chronology of the Holy Face Devotion, followed by Mass at 7:15 p.m., and then veneration of the Holy Face relic until 10:00 p.m." Source: Church bulletin, sttheresechurchalhambra.org).

Eve Libertine/Crass "Reality Asylum"

WARNING: Not suitable for anyone under 70. Vile, vulgar, crass, obscene

condemnation of the holy figure of Christianity's savior figure! (Rated X)

(Why is Crass SO angry at British/Irish Christian religious oppression?)

Atheist/Agnostic point of view

Mr. Show exposes hypocrisy, ripping it a new hole

Once upon a time in the Valley of Los Angeles, California, HBO gave Bob Odenkirk and David Cross the money to develop a comedy sketch show for cable TV: Mr. Show with Bob and David. They ran with it and filmed one of the funniest and smartest shows (right up there with Amy Sedaris' Strangers with Candy) ever created for basic cable. It has only gotten funnier with time, having introduced the world to many actors who went on to stellar comedy careers like Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, and that shy bald guy. In this 30-minute episode entitled "What to Think" (S1E02), they brilliantly satire the U.S. government's censorship attempts, the hypocrisy of the Christian church (at least the televangelist wing of it), and greedy transnational corporations, while cussing a lot.

*Relics (sarira) are real in Buddhism

Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects [which Wisdom Quarterly has determined to most likely be silica] that are found among the cremated ashes of the Buddha, chief disciples, and other Buddhist spiritual masters (aka "noble ones," the Aryans).

Relics of the Buddha after cremation are termed dhātu ("elements") in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta [1]. Śarīra are held to emanate or incite "blessings" and "grace" (Sanskrit adhiṣṭhāna) within the mindstream and experience of those connected to them [2].

• Mind here refers to streams of cittas ("mind-moments")

Sarira are also believed to ward off evil in the Himalayan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.

The Buddha, beloved figure of Thailand, SE Asia

Terminology

Cremation pyre relics of Shakyamuni Buddha

Śarīra (pronounced /ɕɐɽiːɽɐh/) means "body" in Sanskrit. When used in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit texts to mean "relics," it is always used in the plural: śarīrāḥ.

The term ringsel is a loanword from the Tibetan རིང་བསྲེལ (ring bsrel). Both of these terms are ambiguous in English; they are generally used as synonyms, although according to some interpretations, ringsels are a subset of śarīras.

Śarīra can refer to:

• Dharmakāya śarīra, which are sutras as told by the Buddha. According to Ding Fubao's Dictionary of Buddhist Terms, a "Dharma body" śarīra is "the Sutra as told by the Buddha: That which is unchanging in what is told by the Buddha, is of the same property as the essence of the Buddha himself, hence it is called the 'dharma body śarīra.'"
• Remains of the Buddha or other spiritual masters, either cremated remains or other pieces, including a finger bone or a preserved body, similar to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox incorruptibles.
• Broken-body śarīras refers specifically to cremated remains. When used without qualification, it generally refers to the pearl-like remnant of a master left after cremation.

Pearl-like śarīras

Mass market holy Buddhist relic container

Although the term śarīra can be used to refer to a wide variety of Buddhist relics, as listed above, it is generally used to refer to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters.

These objects are considered relics of significant importance in many sects of Buddhism since they are believed to embody the spiritual knowledge, teachings, realizations, or living essence of spiritual masters.

If expecting this, disappointment awaits

They are taken as evidence of the masters' enlightenment and spiritual purity. Some believe that śarīras are deliberately left by the consciousness of a master for veneration, and that the beauty of the śarīras depends on how well the masters had cultivated their mind and morals.

Śarīra come in a variety of colors, and some are even translucent. Sariras are typically displayed in a glass bowl inside small gold urns or stupas (burial mound reliquaries) as well as enshrined inside the master's statue.

Śarīras are also believed to mysteriously multiply while inside their containers if they have been stored under favorable conditions.

Saffron threads are sometimes placed within or around the bowl containing individual śarīra as an offering. More

• The Catholic Church; Mr. Show with Bob and David; Team Recovering Catholics (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly