Lent, Ash Wednesday, and Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

--All

The devotion that characterizes the Tuesday preceding the Ashes (beginning of Lent) can help us to intensify our adoration and trust in the Lord Jesus. The devout practice was born from the invitation addressed by the Blessed Virgin Mary in May 1938 he appeared with a scapular in his hand to Sister Pierina De Micheli who was praying before the Blessed Sacrament in her convent in Milan.

On one face of the scapular he saw written "Lord, illuminate your face upon us" and on the back there was a Host (which means victim) bearing the imprint "Stay with us O Lord". Further private revelations followed with the invitation to replace the scapular with a medal to wear, reciting 5 Glory to the Holy Face every day. To the Blessed Mother De Micheli the Most Holy Virgin explains that evil is rampant and diabolical networks are stretched to eradicate faith from hearts. A remedy is needed: the Holy Face of Jesus. More details can be found easily. The essential thing is to know that the Lord makes the nun share in the agony of Gestsemani by saying to her: "I want my Face to be more honored: whoever contemplates me consoles me". Other expressions delivered by Jesus to the seer were also strong, but I leave them to the interest of those who want to deepen.

Jesus wanted the day dedicated to this particular intention of reparation to be, after the novena, Shrove Tuesday, the culmination of the carnival. Today, unfortunately, we have handed over the whole of Lent to the "masquerade balls".

Devotion to the Holy Face is connected to those to the Blessed Sacrament, to the Eucharistic Heart, to the Sacred Heart and tells us of Divine Mercy. Already in the previous century Jesus spoke of his Holy Face to Saint Gertrude and Sister Maria Saint Pierre, a Carmelite in Tours and perhaps not everyone knows that the full name of the Sister of Saint Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church, is Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. The devotion to the Holy Face and the wearing of the medal are accompanied by the promises of Our Lord to the devotees and there are various miracles referred to this entrustment (as for the medal asked of Sister Caterina Labourè in Rue Du Bac, in Paris). It is a contemplation that comes from the Eucharist and looks to the Divine Face of the Redeemer, for the benefit of consecrated persons, for all needs and for the salvation of all souls.

The face in the medal is similar to that of the Shroud because the then Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Schuster, who immediately supported the devotion, gave the nuns a picture of the Face of Jesus taken from the Shroud, also striving to introduce Sister Pierina to Pius XII. Some famous verses from the psalms come to mind: my soul thirsts for the living God: when will I see his face? My heart has said of you: "Seek his face"; your face, Lord, I seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not reject your servant in anger. You are my help, do not leave me, do not abandon me, God of my salvation. It is the human face of the Incarnate Word, true God and true man. It makes itself recognizable in its uniqueness, adored by shepherds and magi, when the body was still wrapped in clothes that wrapped it as a child.

Then it is the face that speaks the Word, fulfillment of the thirst for God that runs through the old covenant. Again: "Ecce homo!". Jesus really puts his face on it, disfigured by the blows. In Isaiah it was written: he has no appearance or beauty to attract our eyes, no splendor to be able to please us. Despised and rejected by men, a man of pain who knows suffering well, like someone in front of whom one covers one's face... Thus he redeems and sanctions the new and eternal covenant. The face of Jesus makes us see the Father, as Jesus said to Philip during the last supper. The body and blood of the Eucharist inhabits the tabernacles of the world and awaits our respect, visit and adoration. The voice of that face resounds in the Gospel. Light floods every Holy Mass celebrated. The face of Jesus asks for love and consolation. From His Face flowed tears when He was a child, then tears for His deceased friend Lazarus, then tears for the city of Jerusalem. He was streaked with blood during the Passion, from blows, falls, the crown of thorns. He bathed in blood, sweat, and spit received. He is capable of life changing looks (the rich young man). A face turned to the Father in many circumstances. Transfigured by the light on Tabor. Kissed by those who loved him (Joseph and Mary) and by those who betrayed him like Judas.

A face which, lacking cameras and film cameras at the time, has nevertheless reached us through the Shroud, the Holy Face of Veronica and the mystical visions of the saints. He caught the eye of everyone who was fixed on him. It was the first face seen by the blind since birth that he healed.

The sacred Eucharistic heart of Jesus expresses the Father's will and is delivered to us in the humility of the one who, with a humble yes, carried him in her womb and brought him into the world as Redeemer. Of the mother we have this last sentence reported in the Gospel of John: "Do whatever he tells you". That Holy Face tells us: "Whoever contemplates me comforts me". And by how many indelicacies, indifferences, abuses (even liturgical ones), sacrileges, outrages and blasphemies is he offended!