Month: June 2026

“The Love that Moves the Sun and other Stars”– shining on the Face of Jesus Christ

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The Face of Christ–“the love that moves the sun and other stars.” (~Dante) Venice, Angels of Heaven adoring the Face of Christ. Illustration for the Divine Comedy of Dante, 13th Century

In Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Dante journeys through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, which culminates in a transcendent, and indescribable vision of God. In this symbolic vision, Dante perceives God as three, distinct, intersecting circles of light which represent the Most Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As Dante gazes at the second circle (the Son), he sees a human face– the Face of Jesus Christ–the Word of God Incarnate. Before this great mystery of the Incarnation he finds himself speechless, but his will and desire are perfectly aligned with God’s infinite love; “the love that moves the sun and other stars,” which give life to the entire universe.

In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas,Pope Leo XIV directs us to “the love that moves the sun and other stars” in a very powerful way, by pointing to the Human Face of Jesus Christ. It is the very love of God–made manifest on the human Face of Jesus Christ –that gives meaning and “dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit” to the life every human being, made in God’s image, on this earth. But, there are also dangers lurking in the algorithms of AI that humanity must become aware of, and forcefully reject by discerning good and evil. Two evils are named in Magnifica Humanitas #115: “Trans-humanism” and post-humanism.” And as an antidote to these evils, we are invited to contemplate the Face of Christ. Pope Leo writes:

“ I invite everyone to contemplate, in the Face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light on the era of AI. In Christ, we are called to cooperate in the work of creation, rather than be disinterested observers of technological processes that limit our freedom and responsibility. The dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit can also be seen in our capacity to reflect critically, choose and love freely, and form authentic relationships. No computational system, however sospisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history. This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of “recapitulation”: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth back to Christ, the one Head (cf. Eph 1:10). In this plan, nothing will be lost that is authentically human. Indeed, everything will be purified and reunited in the One, who gathers every fragment of life, every tear and every authentically human achievement, rescuing them from nothingness and delivering then, redeemed, to the Father.” ~ Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas #233

The Sacred Heart is made visible in His Holy Face

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The Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy, and Joachim Cardinal Meisner, 1933-2017. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

Joachim Cardinal Meisner with Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
“For God so loved the world”

The late Cardinal Meisner, who had such a deep love and devotion to both the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Holy Face on the relic veil of Manoppello, Italy, expressed the connection between the two images so beautifully when he wrote:

“The Face is the monstrance of the heart. In the Holy Face the heart of God becomes visible.” –Joachim Cardinal Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, April 4, 2005

“The Face is the monstrance of the heart.
In the Holy Face the heart of God becomes visible.”
–Joachim Cardinal Meisner
(Photo: Padde Badde/EWTN)

There are two very important Catholic Feast days in June; the Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi; One celebrating the burning love of Christ for humanity, and the other celebrating reality of His True Presence in the Eucharist. Pope St. John Paul II, who first coined the phrase “Eucharistic Face of Jesus” in referring to the Blessed Sacrament, was pointing to the reality that is hidden by the veil of the Host: Christ is present there, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. And so, when we come before the Eucharist, we stand in God’s Presence; we come before His Holy Face as well as His Most Sacred Heart.

“The Face of Christ is the supreme revelation of Christ’s Mercy.”–Pope Benedict XVI gazing at the Eucharistic Face of Christ. (photo:Paul Badde/EWTN)

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is the door through which we are invited to enter and pass, in Faith. In doing so, we are first reminded of His Sacred Humanity, and that the “Word became flesh” at the Incarnation:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

It is a tremendous gift that is being offered us–to encounter the Person of Our Lord Jesus as we come before His Face. In gratitude for this gift, we can be open to the transformation of our hearts that is wrought by being in the presence of His Most Sacred Heart burning with love for us — even if we are unable to visit the Blessed Sacrament — through His Holy Face–the monstrance of His Heart.

“While we too seek other signs, other wonders, we do not realize that He is the real sign, God made flesh; He is the greatest miracle of the universe: all the love of God hidden in a human heart, in a human Face.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

The Holy Face of Jesus, is indeed the monstrance of His Heart!

“Christ is the One who looks into our eyes and He wants us to look into His eyes: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father.’ We are called to see God, we are continually called to look at Christ.”
~Pope St. John Paul II
(Hand holding a Host viewed through the Face on Holy Veil of Manoppello in Italy. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

The Radiant sign of the Face of Christ is Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist

On the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in 2001, Pope St. John Paul II wrote:

The invisible Face of Christ, the son of God, is manifest in His Body and Blood in the simplest and, at the same time, the most exalted way possible in this world.

The ecclesial community responds to people in every age who ask perplexed: “We wish to see Jesus” (Jn 12,21), by repeating what the Lord did for the disciples of Emmaus: He broke the bread. In the breaking of the bread, the eyes of those who seek Him with a sincere heart are opened. In the Eucharist, the intuition of the heart recognizes Jesus and His unmistakable love lived “to the end” (Jn 13,1). And in Him, in that gesture, it recognizes the Face of God!

— Pope St. John Paul II
Pope John Paul II: “The Eucharist is the great school in which we learn to see The Face of God.” “In The Eucharist, The Face of Christ is turned toward us.”
"Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory’s sight. Amen." 
--Last Stanza of "Adoro Te Devote"
The Virgin of the Host, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres