February, the month dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord

February, the month dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord

J.M.J.

DEVOTION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS

SISTER MARY OF ST. PETER
(from the Veil of Veronica)

In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun, Sister
Marie de Saint-Pierre (1816-1848), received a series of revelations
from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established
worldwide - the devotion to his Holy Face. The express purpose of
this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages
of 'Revolutionary men' (the Communists), as well as for the
blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for
blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians.

We read in her autobiography:
"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 prayer as a Golden
Arrow assuring her that every time she said it, she would wound his
Heart most lovingly.

This prayer is regarded as the very basis of the Work of Reparation.

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."

Promises of Our Lord to Sr. Mary of St. Peter

- "By my Holy Face you shall work wonders." (October 27, 1845)
- "All those who honor My Holy Face in a spirit of reparation will by
so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica." (October 27, 1845)
- "According to your care you take in making Reparation to my Face,
disfigured by blasphemies, so will I take care of yours, which has
been disfigured by sin. I will reprint my image and render it as
beautiful as it was on leaving the baptismal font." (November 3,
1845)
- "Our Lord has promised me for all those who defend His cause in
this Work of Reparation, by words, by prayers, or in writing, that He
will defend them before His Father; at their death He will purify
their souls by effacing all the blots of sin and will restore to them
their primitive beauty." (March 12, 1846)
- "By my Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of many sinners.
Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused to you.
No one can know how pleasing the sight of my Face is to my Father!"
(November 22, 1846)

- "Our Lord has promised me that He will imprint His Divine likeness
on the souls of those who honor His Holy Countenance." (January 21,
1847)

VENERABLE LEO DUPONT

Around the same time Sr. Mary was receiving her visions, the saintly
Monsieur Leo Dupont (1797-1876), inspired by the Holy Ghost through
Sr. Mary's example, decided to dedicate his life to this work. He
kept an oil lamp burning continuously before an image of the Holy
Face, and his home became a center of pilgrimage when people began to
gather to pray before the image, with many receiving miraculous cures
through the application of his lamp's oil to their skin. These
miracles continued for 30 years and were so numerous that Pope Pius
IX declared Leo Dupont to be perhaps one of the greatest miracle
workers in Church history!

He was later recognized by the Church as a "Venerable." He is now
known familiarly as "The Holy Man of Tours."

While devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus has always existed in some
form or another, these revelations and miraculous occurrences lead to
this special devotion being established by Pope Leo XIII in 1885 as an
Archconfraternity; and contrary to custom, He immediately established
it for the ENTIRE WORLD.

ST. THERESE AND THE HOLY FACE

Saint Therese of Lisieux was also very dedicated to this devotion,
which prompted her to take the name, "Therese of the Child Jesus and
of the Holy Face".
It is said that this devotion brought St Therese of Lisieux, "the
Little Flower", to her great sanctity.
She and her family were registered as members of the
Archconfraternity of Reparation to the Holy Face at Tours France.

THE HOLY FACE MEDAL

SISTER MARIA PIERINA
(from The Image of the Holy Shroud)

The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli, a holy nun who died in 1945
(beatified May 30, 2010), was urged in many visions by the Blessed
Mother and Jesus Himself to spread the devotion to the Holy Face, in
reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in His Passion, such
as to be slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as now being
dishonored in many ways in the Blessed Sacrament by neglect,
sacrileges and profanations.

Jesus showed Himself to her often, sad and bleeding, asking her for
reparation thus increasing in her the desire to suffer and to
immolate herself for the salvation of souls. During the night
adoration of the First Friday in Lent in 1936, Jesus, after having
made her participate in the mental sorrow of the agony in the Garden
of Gethsemani, with His Face covered with blood and profoundly sad,
told her: "I wish that my Face, which reflects the deep pains of my
Soul, the sorrow and love of my Heart, be better honored: who
contemplates me consoles me. ' On the Tuesday following Passion
Sunday, Jesus returned to her and said, 'every time my Face is
contemplated, I will pour out my love into the heart of those persons
and by means of My Holy Face the salvation of many souls will be
obtained."

These manifestations became more and more frequent and in May 1938,
whilst at prayer on the step of the Altar, a beautiful Lady appeared
to her carrying in her hand a Scapular, made of two pieces of flannel
joined by a cord. One of these pieces bore the image from the Holy
Shroud and the inscription: "Illumina, Domine, Vultum Tuum Super Nos"
(May, O Lord, the light of Thy Face shine upon us). On the other piece
was a radiant Host, with the words, "Mane Nobiscum, Domine" (Stay with
us, O Lord).

Gently the lady approached and said: "Listen carefully and report
everything to the Father : This Scapular is an armor
of defense, a shield of strength, a token of the love and mercy which
Jesus wishes to give the world in these times of lust and hatred
against God and His Church. Diabolical nets are thrown to wrench the
Faith from hearts, evils abound, true apostles are few, and the
remedy is the Holy Face of Jesus. All who wear a Scapular like this
and make, if possible, every Tuesday a visit to the Blessed
Sacrament, in order to repair the outrages which the face of my son
Jesus received during His Passion and receives every day in the Holy
Eucharist, will be strengthened in Faith, prompt to defend it and to
overcome all difficulties internal and external. Further they will
have a peaceful death under the loving gaze of my Divine Son."

The same year Jesus appeared again covered with blood and with much
sadness said: "See how I suffer. Nevertheless I am understood by so
few. What ingratitude on the part of those who say they love me. I
have given my heart as a sensible object of my great love for man and
I give My Face as a sensible object of my sorrow for the sins of man,
I desire that it be honored by a special feast on Tuesday in
Quinquagesima. The feast will be preceded by a novena in which the
faithful make reparation with me uniting themselves with my sorrow."
In 1939 Jesus said again: "I wish that My Holy Face he honored in a
particular manner on Tuesdays."

Mother Pierina felt the desire of Our Blessed Lady, manifested to
her, very pressing. She obtained permission from her spiritual
Director and though means were wanting, she set about the task of
having a medal cast. She obtained the permission of the photographer
Bruner to take copies of the Holy Shroud as reproduced by him, and
also the permission of the venerable Curia of Milan on the 9th August
1940. Financial means were still wanting, but the confidence of the
Reverend Mother made up for it. One morning she found on her desk an
envelope with the exact amount of the bill -- 11,200 lire. Our
Blessed Lady had seen to it.

The devil, maddened at this, fell upon this soul to frighten it and
prevent the distribution of the medals: he threw her down in the
corridor and down the steps: he tore the images and pictures of the
Holy Face, but she bore up everything. She tolerated and sacrificed
all in order that thus the Holy Face may be honored.

Mother Pierina was worried because she got medals made instead of
scapulars. She turned to Our Blessed Lady to obtain peace of mind in
the matter. On the 17th of April, 1943 the Blessed Virgin appeared to
her and said: "My daughter, be calm, the Scapulars have been
substituted by the medal with the same promises and favors. It only
remains to be distributed widely. Just now my heart is set on the
feast of the Face of My Divine Son. Tell the Pope that it preoccupies
me." She blessed her and departed.

The first medal of the Holy Face was offered to Pope Pius XII who
approved the devotion and the medal. On April 17th, 1958, he declared
the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday) as the Feast of the
Holy Face of Jesus.

As revealed to Mother Pierina, Tuesday is a day of reparation to the
Holy Face, particularly before the Blessed Sacrament. All are
encouraged make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

Shrove Tuesday in 2012 will be on February 21.

NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE

Start the novena on Septuagesima Sunday -- two Sundays before Ash
Wednesday -- February 12 this year.
(The novena can be said anytime -- say once a day for 9 days)

O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thine adorable
Face, to ask of Thee the graces of which we stand in most need, we
beseech Thee above all, to grant us that interior disposition of
never refusing at any time to what Thou requirest of us by Thy holy
commandments and divine inspirations. Amen.

O Good Jesus, who hadst said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and ye
shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you," grant us O Lord,
that faith which obtains all, or supply in us what may be deficient;
grant us, by the pure effect of Thy charity, and for Thine eternal
glory, the graces which we need and which we look from Thine infinite
mercy. Amen.

Be merciful to us, O my God, and reject not our prayers, when amid
our afflictions, we call upon Thy Holy Name and seek with love and
confidence Thine adorable Face. Amen.

O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Son Jesus. We
present It to Thee with confidence to implore Thy pardon. The
All-Merciful Advocate opens His mouth to plead our cause; hearken to
His cries, behold His tears, O God, and through His infinite merits,
hearken to Him when He intercedes for us poor miserable sinners.
Amen.

Adorable Face of Jesus, my only love, my light, and my life, grant
that I may know Thee, love Thee and serve Thee alone, that I may live
with Thee, of Thee, by Thee and for Thee. Amen.

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the adorable Face of Thy Beloved Son for
the honor and glory of Thy Name, for the conversion of sinners and the
salvation of the dying. O Divine Jesus, through Thy Face and Name,
save us. Our Hope is in the virtue of Thy Holy Name! Amen.

-------------------------------------------------------

Prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus to the Holy Face

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 the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men.
The tears which well up 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.

----------------------------------------------

The "Golden Arrow - The Revelations of Sr. Mary of St. Peter" and
"The Holy Man of Tours - The Life of Leo Dupont" is available from
www.tanbooks.com.

"The Life of Sister Saint Peter - Carmelite of Tours" (autobiography)
and "Sister Saint-Pierre and the Work of Reparation - A Brief
History" by the Very Rev. P. Janvier (1885) is available online at
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Janvier%2C+Pie...
(translated from the French)

--
Sincerely in Christ,
Our Lady of the Rosary Library
"Pray and work for souls"
http://olrl.org

February, the month dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord

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