Devotion to the Holy Face of Christ is of ancient origin, reaching back to the fourth century and before. The feast of the Holy Face of Jesus was established throughout the universal Church in 1958 by Pope Pius XII to be observed on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday.
It is an opportunity to make reparation for the outrages that the Holy Face of Jesus received during His Passion, and which He continues to receive.
May we not get carried away with a carnival mentality on this last day before Lent. But further examine ourselves and go to confession to remove any sins that would hinder us from having a holy and fruitful Lent.
“Devotion to the Holy Face was/is to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of the ‘revolutionaries’ of that (our) time, the blasphemies of atheists, freethinkers and Masons, and for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Catholics.
Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre (1816-1848) wrote:
“Then He unfolded His Heart to me, concentrating therein the powers of my soul, and addressed me thus: ‘My Name is everywhere blasphemed; even little children blaspheme it.’ And He made me understand how that dreadful sin pierced and wounded His Heart more than all other crimes.
“By blasphemy, the sinner outrages Him to His Face, attacks Him openly, and pronounces upon himself his own judgment and condemnation. Blasphemy is a poisoned arrow, wounding His Divine Heart continually. He told me that He would give me a “Golden Arrow” with which to wound Him delightfully and heal the poisonous wounds caused by sin.”
Our Lord then dictated to Sr. Mary the following Golden Arrow prayer, assuring her that every time she said it, she would lovingly wound His Heart.
The Golden Arrow Prayer
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored, and glorified in Heaven, on earth and in Hell, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”
Our Lord told Sr. Mary on March 16, 1844: “Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God!’ in the spirit of reparation for blasphemy.”
- Novena in Honor of the Most Holy Face of Jesus – Fatima.org
- Revelations of the Holy Face of Jesus – John Vennari
- Holy Face of Jesus Prayer Card – Fatima.org
- Blessed Medal of the Holy Face
- Enroll in the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face of Jesus
Prayer of St. Therese of Lisieux to the Holy Face of Jesus
O Jesus, Who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows,” I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, Whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy Divine Image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.
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