The Beauty and Meaning of Pope Emeritus Face Cloth

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A cloth is placed over the face of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, and Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli.

“Almighty God, Lord of life and death, we believe that the life of the Holy Father Benedict XVI is now hidden in you… May his face contemplate your beauty.”

Prayer for the rite

Many may have noticed and wondered at the significance of placing a “veil” or cloth over the face of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The significance of the action have a deep beauty and meaning, especially for a priest.

At the funeral of Pope St. John Paul II, Archbishop Dziwisz covered the pope’s face with a veil.

An explanation about the tradition of a face cloth for burial may be helpful in understanding its profound significance:  In the funeral rites for priests in some Eastern churches, the veil which was used to cover the chalice and paten were placed on the face of the deceased priest. (The cloth used to cover the chalice and paten had a particular liturgical symbolism linked to the Face of Christ as well.) It was done as a symbol of both the strength and protection of God, and also of the tomb of Christ–an expression of belief in the Resurrection. In Jewish burial custom, a deceased priest’s face would be anointed with oil and then covered with a white cloth, and would have been done for Jesus.

When Pope St. John Paul II was being laid in his coffin, Archbishops Marini and Stanley Dziwisz had the honor of placing a white silk veil over the face of the pope. Poignantly, the choir sang the words from Psalm 42, “My soul thirsts for God, the living God; when will I come and see the Face of the Lord?” Many wondered about the action of covering the pope’s face with a veil because this was the first time it had been done, but was at the request of Pope John Paul II, who had dedicated the millennium to the Face of Christ. In Novo Millenio Ineunte, St. Pope John Paul II emphasized the importance of contemplation of the Face of Christ by stating:

“To contemplate The Face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the “program” which I have set before The Church at the dawn of the third millennium…To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize Him wherever He manifests Himself, in His many forms of presence, but above all, in the living Sacrament of His Body and Blood.” And, “It is the Church’s task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make His Face shine also before the generations of the new millennium. Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated His Face.” (More may read in “The Cloth That Covered His Head.”)

Pope Benedict XVI contemplates the Veil of the Holy Face in Manoppello, September 2006, Photo:Paul Badde/EWTN

Deep in his heart, man has an inexpressible longing to see the face of God. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote beautifully in his homilies and in his book, On the Way to Jesus Christ, “The desire to know God truly, that is, to see the Face of God is inherent in every human being, even atheists.” This yearning for God has been expressed from antiquity in the Old Testament:

Listen to my voice, Lord, when I call
. . . Your Face, Lord, do I seek!
Hide not Your Face from me!
-Psalm 27

The Face of God was a recurring motif in Benedict’s homilies. On January 1, 2013, Benedict spoke on the blessing of the priests of the people of Israel. The blessing repeats the three times Holy Name of God, a Name not to be spoken, and each time linked to two words indicating an action in favor of man: “May The Lord bless and keep you, may He make His Face shine upon you and be gracious to you: May the Lord turn His Face toward you and give you His PEACE.” Peace is the summit of these six actions of God in our favor, His most sublime gift, in which He turns toward us the splendor of His Face.”

“The Face of Christ is the supreme revelation of Christ’s Mercy.”–Pope Benedict XVI (photo:Paul Badde/EWTN, Alotting, Germany, Set. 13, 2006)

These words of Benedict echo the words of St. Pope John Paul II, that “in The Eucharist, the Face of Christ is turned toward us.”

Moreover, Pope Benedict wrote, “To rejoice in the splendor of His Face means penetrating the mystery of His Name made known to us in Jesus, understanding something of His interior life and of His will, so that we can live according to His plan for humanity. Jesus lets us know the hidden Face of The Father through His human Face; by the gift of The Holy Spirit poured into our hearts.” This, the Pope says, is the foundation of our Peace, which nothing can take from us.

Benedict XVI has characterized devotion to The Holy Face as having three separate components:
1. Discipleship – an encounter with Jesus, to see Jesus in the Face of those in need.
2. The Passion of Jesus, and suffering expressed by images of the wounded Face of Jesus.
3. The Eucharist, “the great school in which we learn to see The Face of God”, which is woven between the other two. The eschatological element then builds on awakening to Christ by contemplating His Face hidden in The Eucharist.

“Our whole life should be directed toward encountering Him,” writes Benedict, “toward loving Him; and in it, a central place must be given to love of one’s neighbor, that love that in the light of The Crucified One, enables us to recognize the Face of Jesus in the poor, the weak, the suffering.” The pope goes on to explain the fruits of this contemplation: “From contemplation of the Face of God are born, joy, security, PEACE”

“Seeking the face of God”, says Pope Benedict XVI, “is an attitude that embraces all of life; in order for a man to see God’s face at last, he must himself be illuminated entirely by God.” “Let your face shine, that we may be saved.” (Ps 80:3,7,19)

Pope Emeritus Benedict kept a photo of the Holy Face of Manoppello near him and gazed on it in his last hours. His last recorded words were, “Signore Ti Amo” = “Lord, I love you.

”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
Diego Giovanni Ravelli (L), Papal Master of Ceremonies, and Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, place a cloth over the face of the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, during the rite of closing the coffin, in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on January 4, 2023, which provides for the covering of the deceased’s face with a cloth. (Thank you, Paul Badde/EWTN for this stunning photo.)

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

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“Your Face O Lord I seek–seeking the Face of Jesus must be the longing of all Christians, indeed, we are ‘the generation’ which seeks His Face in our day, the Face of the ‘God of Jacob.’  If we persevere in our quest for the Face of the Lord, at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, He, Jesus, will be our eternal joy, our reward and glory forever.”

–Pope Benedict XVI, September 1, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI gazes at “Il Volto Santo” of Manoppello, Sept. 1, 2006. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN, author of The Face of God: The Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus, Ignatius Press

Until his last day, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, gazed on a photo of “Il Volto Santo” – the Holy Face of Manoppello. His last words were “Signore ti among” = “Lord, I love you.”

Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI to The Holy Face:

Lord Jesus, as the first Apostles, whom you asked: “What do you seek?” accepted your invitation to “Come and See,” recognizing you as the Son of God, the Promised Messiah for the world’s redemption, we too, your disciples in this difficult time, want to follow you and be your friends, drawn by the brilliance of Your Face, much desired, yet hidden. Show us, O Lord, we pray you, Your Face ever new; that mirror, mystery-laden, of God’s infinite mercy. Grant that we may contemplate it with the eyes of our mind and our hearts: the Son’s Face, radiance of the Father’s glory and the imprint of His Nature (cf. Hb 1:3), the human Face of God that has burst into history to reveal the horizons of eternity. The silent Face of Jesus, suffering and risen, when loved and accepted, changes our hearts and lives. “Your Face, Lord, do I seek, do not hide Your Face from me.” (Ps. 27:8ff) How many times through the centuries and millennia has resounded the ardent invocation of the Psalmist among the faithful! Lord, with faith, we too repeat the same invocation: “Man of suffering, as one from whom other hide their faces.” (Is. 53:3) Do not hide your Face from us! We want to draw from your eyes that look on us with tenderness and compassion the force of love and peace which shows us the way of life, and the courage to follow you without fear or compromise, so as to be witnesses of your Gospel with concrete signs of acceptance, love and forgiveness. O Holy Face of Christ, Light that enlightens the darkness of doubt and sadness, life that has defeated forever the force of evil and death, O inscrutable gaze that never ceases to watch over mankind. Face concealed in the Eucharistic signs and in the faces of those that live with us! Make us God’s pilgrims in this world, longing for the infinite and ready for the final encounter, when we shall see you, Lord, “face to face” (Cor. 13:12) and be able to contemplate you forever in heavenly Glory. Mary, Mother of the Holy Face, help us to have “hands innocent and a heart pure,” hands illumined by the truth of love and hearts enraptured by divine beauty, that transformed by the encounter with Christ, we may gift ourselves to the poor and the suffering, whose face reflect the hidden presence of your Son Jesus. Amen. Pope Benedict XVI Sept. 1, 2007, written in memory of his pilgrimage to the Sanctuary Basilica of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy, the year before, on Sept. 1, 2006.

Holy Face of Manoppello, Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI with Paul Badde on the occasion of the Pope’s pilgrimage to see The Holy Veil in 2006.

Requiescet in Pace, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, May you gaze on God’s Face for all eternity!

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light…” (Mt. 4:16). Merry Christmas!

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As those who see light are in the light sharing its brilliance, so those who see God are in God sharing his glory, and the glory gives them life.  To see God is to share in life.”

~St. Ireneaus
Adoration of the Magi – Gentile da Fabiano 1423

Love desires to see God.  So says St. Peter Chrysologus:  “When God saw the world falling to ruin because of fear, He immediately acted to call it back to Himself with love…” By an invitation of grace, love and compassion God called Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses–and a “flame of love” was enkindled in their hearts, “it’s intoxication overflowed into men’s senses. Wounded by love, they longed to look upon God with their bodily eyes, yet how could our narrow human vision apprehend God, whom the whole world cannot contain?” St. Chrysologus writes, “It is intolerable for love not to see the object of it’s longing!” No matter what good the saints did to merit a reward, they could not see the Lord.  “A love that desires to see God may not have reasonableness on it’s side, but it is evidence of filial love.  It gave Moses the temerity to say: If I have found favor in your eyes, show me Your Face. It inspired the psalmist to make the same prayer: Show me Your Face.  Even the pagans made their images for this purpose: they wanted to see what they mistakenly revered.”  (from sermon of St. Peter Chrysologus)

Come, let us adore Him!

Infant Jesus wrapped in Byssus

“Visible before to God alone and not to the world, God made the Word visible so that the world could be saved by seeing Him.  This mind that entered our world was made known as the Son of God.”

~ St. Hippolytus

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. (Mt. 5:8)

Adoration of the Shepherds – Gerard van Honthorst 1622

O that birth forever blessèd,

When the virgin, full of grace,

By the Holy Ghost conceiving,

Bore the Savior of our race;

And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,

First revealed His sacred face,

evermore and evermore!

Merry Christmas! May His Face shine upon you and your loved ones, today and always!

Kreuz als Krippe (Cross as a Crib), Oil on canvas, Unknown artist, 18th century (Photo: Paul Badde)

“In Thee God will manifest the splendor of His presence, for the whole world to see”

~ Baruch 4

Waiting With Mary to See God’s Face

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“I will wait for the Lord who hath hid His Face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.” (Isaiah 8)

Virgin in Prayer Artist: Sassoferrato 1640-50
Virgin in Prayer, Artist: Sassoferrato, 1640-50

Is there anyone who enjoys waiting? Our human nature rebels against all forms of it: there is the mundane waiting we must endure in lines, in traffic, at ball games, practices, and in doctor’s offices; the anxious waiting for phone calls, for results, or for the end of sufferings; the joyful waiting for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and other celebrations. Then there is the heavy combination of all three types of waiting–which is of a mother waiting for the birth of her child. And of course, as every child knows, the long waiting for Christmas to finally come.

Our weak human nature does not like to wait. We want to “get there” right away, to “know” right away, for something to be “done” right away.  Waiting requires patience and most of humanity has very little. But wait we must, and since everything in life is permitted by God solely for our good, waiting must be very good for us since we spend so much of our lives doing it.

If waiting is indeed good for us, then it is certain that the evil one will do everything possible to trip us up as he did with the children of Israel while they were waiting, waiting, waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments.  When God was telling Moses, “I am the Lord, thy God: thou shall not have strange Gods before me,” the devil was tempting them to pride; the Israelite’s did not want to endure waiting to see the Face of God so they fashioned an idol, the “work of their own hands.” Here lies the temptation for us all in what should be a grace-filled period of time: distraction in turning the eyes of our soul away from the Face of God and toward the false faces or idols of the world–bright, sparkly, enticing and all around us. How can we resist falling into the traps of idolatry?

Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe

The ultimate good is to see the Face of God and therefore Mary must have waited like no one has ever waited before!  Mary, for the love of God, waited in patience, humility, faith, charity, in hope, and in supreme fortitude. She did this by fixing the eyes of her soul on Jesus, her Redeemer and God–Whose Face she could not yet see within her womb.  Mary’s uncomplaining acceptance of God’s Will–to seek His Face and only His Face–bore the most sublime fruit in Mary’s soul of divine PEACE, which the world can never take away.  So, this Advent and in all times of waiting, wait with Mary, and her reward will also be ours…to see the Face of her Son!

The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — Longing to See His Face — Triduum

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During Advent the Church celebrates the longing to see God’s Face, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a Triduum (three days of prayer beginning on December 15) and a Feast (on December 18th)–It is called The Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Longing to See His Face.  (a bit of the history may be found here.) The prayer may also be continued  until Christmas.

The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On the days leading up to Christmas we are invited to contemplate, together with Mary, the Divine Child within her womb, who is Our Savior.  We too, through sanctifying grace, bear the supernatural image of God within us. Like Mary, we desire to become a peaceful sanctuary for the living God. We are called to be attentive, in prayer, to the faint stirrings of His presence in our hearts, which will fill us with a deep longing to see His Face as we pray:

Prayer for the Triduum and Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Longing to See His Face

“Mary, your life with Jesus was one of the purest, most fervent, most perfect emotions of longing and most eager expectation of the Birth of the Divine Child! How great must have been that longing!  You were longing to see the Face of God and to be happy in the vision.  You were soon really to see the Face of God, the created image of divine perfection, the sight of which rejoices heaven and earth, from which all being derive life and joy; the Face whose features enraptured God from all eternity, the Face for which all ages expectantly yearned.  You were to see this Face unveiled, in all the beauty and grace as the face of your own child. 

Most just indeed it is, O Holy Mother of God, that we should unite in that ardent desire which you had to see Him, who had been concealed for nine months in your chaste womb; to know the features of this Son of the heavenly Father, who is also your own; to come to that blissful hour of His birth, which will give glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of good will.  Yes, dear Mother, the time is fast approaching, though not fast enough to satisfy your desires and ours.  Make us re-double our attention to the great mystery; complete our preparation by your powerful prayers for us, so that when the solemn hour has come, our Jesus may find no obstacle to His entrance into our hearts.  Amen.” (Prayer by Rev. Lawrence Lovasik, S.V.D.)

Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus!

“Your Face, Lord, I Desire

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Detail from Annunciation by Bartolome Murillo, 1655
Detail from Annunciation, Bartolome Murillo, 1655

St. Anselm wrote about the desire of every human soul created in the image and likeness of God; the desire to see God’s Face. It is a beautiful reflection for Advent! From the “Prosologian” — the words of St. Anselm, Bishop:

“Insignificant man, escape from your everyday business for a short while, hide for a moment from your restless thoughts. Break off from your cares and troubles and be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in him.

Enter into your mind’s inner chamber. Shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek him; and when you have shut the door, look for him. Speak now to God and say with your whole heart: I seek your face; your face, Lord, I desire.

Lord, my God, teach my heart where and how to seek you, where and how to find you. Lord, if you are not here where shall I look for you in your absence? Yet if you are everywhere, why do I not see you when you are present? But surely you dwell in ‘light inaccessible.’ And where is ‘light inaccessible? How shall I approach light inaccessible? Or who will lead me and bring me into it that I may see you there? And then, by what forms shall I seek you? I have never seen you, Lord my God; I do not know your face.

Photo: Patricia Enk
(Photo: Patricia Enk)

Lord most high, what shall this exile do, so far from you? What shall your servant do, tormented by love of you and cast so far from your face? He yearns to see you, and your face is too far from him. He desires to approach you, and your dwelling is unapproachable. He longs to find you, and does not know your dwelling place. He strives to look for you, and does not know your face.

Lord, you are my God and you are my Lord, and I have never seen you. You have made me, and remade me, and you have given me all the good things I possess and still I do not know you. I was made in order to see you, and I have not yet done that for which I was made.

Lord, how long will it be? How long, Lord, will you forget us? How long will you turn your face away from us? When will you look upon us and hear us? When will you enlighten our eyes and show us your face? When will you give yourself back to us?

Look upon us, Lord, hear us and enlighten us, show us your very self. Restore yourself to us that it may go well with us whose life is so evil without you. Take pity on our efforts and our striving toward you, for we have no strength apart from you.

Teach me to seek you, and when I seek you show yourself to me, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, nor can I find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in desiring you and desire you in seeking you, find you in loving you and love you in finding you.”

(Photo: Patricia Enk)

Take us by the hand, O Blessed Virgin Mary

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O Mary, conceived with0ut sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Madonna, Pompeo Battono, 1742
Shutterstock photo

“It is first of all necessary to let the Blessed Virgin Mary take one by the hand to contemplate the face of Jesus. Mary gives us eyes and a heart that can contemplate her Son in the Eucharist.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI

Mary was “Blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing,” (cf. Eph 1:3) chosen by God from all eternity to be the Mother of the Redeemer. So, ask her to take you by the hand because it is she who leads us to Jesus. Then we may contemplate, together with her, His Holy Face–in His Word, in the Eucharist, and in our neighbor. As the Immaculate Conception, Mary bears in herself the most perfect reflection of the Face of God.  Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “The Blessed Virgin saw shining upon her, as no other creature, the face of the Father, rich in grace and mercy.”

This Advent, let us fix our gaze on Jesus and Mary rather than on the profane things of the world. We keep Mary before our eyes in order to contemplate in her everything that is good and true and beautiful — She is “God’s Mirror.” “She is the proclamation of a merciful God who does not surrender to the sin of his children,” Pope St. John Paul II tells us “in Mary shines forth God’s sublime and surprising tenderness for the entire human race.  In her, humanity regains its former beauty and the divine plan is revealed to be stronger than evil…” In Mary “the Creator has kept the original beauty of creation uncontaminated” so that in the Immaculate Conception, “the Father’s original, wondrous plan of love was reestablished in an even more wondrous way.”

Virgin and Child,1510

And in Her Morning

The Virgin Mary cannot enter

my soul for an indwelling. God alone

has sealed this land as secretly His own;

but being mother and implored, she comes

to stand along my eastern sky and be

a drift of sunrise over God and me.

God is a light and genitor of light.

Yet for our weakness and our punishment

He hides Himself in midnights that prevent

all save the least awarenesses of Him.

We strain with dimmed eyes inward and

perceive

no stir of what we clamored to believe.

Yet I say: God (if one may jest with God),

Your hiding has not reckoned with Our Lady

who holds my east horizon and whose glow

lights up my inner landscape, high and low.

All my soul’s acres shine and shine with her!

You are discovered, God; awake, rise

out of the dark of Your Divine surprise!

Your own reflection has revealed Your place,

for she is utter light by Your own grace.

And in her light I find You hid within me,

And in her morning I can see Your Face.

~Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD (Jessica Powers)

Photo: Patricia Enk

A Gift To Be Shared

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During Lent of 2016, Paul Badde lay in an induced coma for many weeks following a stroke and heart surgery. Although he was completely still in the state of a coma, he was also somehow aware of the holocausts of prayer lifted up to heaven on his behalf. God was not done with Paul; his mission had barely begun…

Paul Badde pondering the Holy Veil of Manoppello Photo: Alan Holdren
The Holy Veil of Manoppello Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN
The Holy Veil of Manoppello. Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

God lays the groundwork for our missions in life in such mysterious ways. Paul’s expertise as an art historian, and journalist led he and his wife to spend many years in the Holy Land, praying, researching, and soaking up those places where Jesus lived, walked, preached, suffered, died and rose from the dead. His path led to Rome, and took a life-changing turn in the little mountain village of Manoppello, Italy, where he came face-to face with the mysterious veil bearing the Holy Face off Jesus known as “Il Volto Santo.”

Pope Benedict XVI with Paul Badde on the occasion of the Pope’s pilgrimage to see The Holy Veil in 2006.

Years later, after much research, and many books about this remarkable veil, pilgrims from around the world have been drawn to see for themselves the mystery of light that is the living image of the Face of Jesus, “Il Volto Santo,” that exists on a whisper-thin veil that is sheer enough to read a newspaper through.

The sheer Veil of Manoppello Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN

When one seeks the Face of Jesus, the greatest help in the journey is to be accompanied by His Mother, Mary, who sought the Face of her Son every moment of her life. Paul had taken to heart the words of his hero, Pope St. John Paul II, when he placed the New Millennium under “the Radiant sign of the Face of Christ:”

“To contemplate the Face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the ‘program’ which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium…It is the Church’s task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make His Face shine also before new generations of the new millennium. Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated His Face.” 

Pope St. John Paul II

And here is Paul’s labor of love, and gift to be shared — an aid to the contemplation of the Face of Jesus with Mary in praying the Rosary: “Stones and Pearls” a video series that is now available free on EWTN. Each mystery is presented biblically, beautifully, and individually, at each place of the mysteries in the life of Jesus, from the Incarnation to the Coronation. Filmed in the Holy Land and related Holy sites from around the world, the viewer is invited to join Paul on Pilgrimage to these Holy places in Jesus’s life. Paul’s insightful commentary has been translated from German to English, and the mysteries are enhanced visually by stunning works of art as well. This series has taken my own contemplation of the mysteries of Rosary to a greater understanding and depth, for which I am very grateful.

All the gifts of God are for the benefit of the whole Church and the world, so have a look at “Stones and Pearls” and enjoy!… As we contemplate, and pray the Rosary, for peace, and every intention of our hearts, we can be confident that God will “seek out the lost,” and fulfill every promise contained in each Mystery, and with each “Hail Mary.”

“Where the Word of God became flesh” The Grotto in Nazareth–the heart of Christianity. Photo by Paul Badde

St. Jude and the Holy Face of Jesus

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King Abgar with Veil, Monastery of St. Catherine Sinai, Egypt 8th Century
St. Jude presents King Abgar with a cloth bearing the living Face of Jesus, Monastery of St. Catherine Sinai, Egypt 8th Century

The Mandylion of Edessa

“It is said that King Abgarus of Edessa had sent a painter to make a portrait of Christ.  But he was not able to do it because of the light that shone out of the Lord’s Face. So, taking a veil and placing it before his holy and life-giving face, Jesus impressed his image on it and sent it to King Abgarus, thus satisfying his desire.” –St. John Damascene (source)

  St. John Damascene wrote this regarding The Mandylion of Edessa, which means “towel” or “handkerchief” in Arabic. Many versions of this legend may be found in historical sources dating back to 590 AD. According to one tradition the cloth bearing a living image of the Face of Jesus is associated with the Apostle St. Jude Thaddeus:

St. Jude Thaddues, holding the Face of Jesus
St. Jude Thaddeus, often seen depicted holding the Face of Jesus

The poor King Abgar suffered from leprosy and gout and hearing of the miracles of Jesus, sent a letter to Jesus with his secretary Ananias, (who also happened to be the wonderful painter mentioned above). It was St. Jude Thaddeus who brought the Holy Veil to the King. After hearing St. Jude Thaddeus preach, and receiving the holy image the King was healed. King Abgarus, who brought Christianity to his kingdom, is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Church.

  “Arab sources also mention the cloth on which Jesus imprinted the image of His Face.” (source) Although there was disagreement over the centuries as to the question of how the image of the living face of Jesus was formed on the cloth, everyone agreed that it was indeed miraculous.

Many reproductions were made of the image, some appearing miraculously on tile that had covered the sacred cloth. The Mandylion was brought eventually to Constantinople, “the queen of all cities,” on August 16, 944, which is still celebrated as a feast day in the Eastern calendar.  It was recorded as being kept in a golden vessel, and only taken out once a year from the Sacred Chapel, where other precious relics of the Passion were also kept until the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

The Invocation of the Holy Face of Jesus continues to be associated with miraculous healing: 

Read: A Dominican Priest Shares Testimony of Healing Through the Invocation of the Holy Face.

St. Jude Thaddeus, known as the Saint of hopeless causes, presenting the Mandylion of the Holy Face to King Abgar, who is healed his infirmities.

Contemplating the Face of Christ with Mary

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Is there anyone who doubts that a spiritual battle between light and darkness is raging in the Church and in the world? The last words of G.K. Chesterton as he lay dying come to mind:

“The issue is now quite clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side.” ~ GKC

The weapon of choice for the saints of the Church is, of course, the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“There is no problem that cannot be solved by the Rosary.” ~Sr. Lucia of Fatima

Contemplating the Face of Christ with Mary

IMG_0915-1

When he placed the New Millennium under “the Radiant sign of the Face of Christ” Pope St. John Paul II wrote:

“To contemplate the Face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the ‘program’ which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium…It is the Church’s task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make His Face shine also before new generations of the new millennium. Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated His Face.” 

by Raffaella Sanzio

The Rosary is a traditional Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ’s Face. “Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul,” says Pope St. John Paul II, “and runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ.” Contemplation is a gift, a grace, from God. It is a communion in which God transforms a soul into His likeness. To put it more simply, as St. Teresa of Jesus says, contemplation is “a close sharing between friends…taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.”  Contemplation is not something beyond our reach however–we have an incomparable model in Mary; the eyes of her heart were always turned toward His Face. To dispose our souls to receive this great gift of God we need only reach for a Rosary and pray it with humility, listening attentively in the Spirit together with Mary, in silent love–that veil of mystery–to the Father’s voice. When we contemplate the scenes or mysteries of the Rosary in union with Mary, the Rosary becomes an unceasing praise of God; a way to learn from her about her son, Jesus, to discover His secrets and understand His message for us.

Adoration of the Christ Child and Annunciation to the Shepherds by Bernardino Luini

To recite the Rosary, which can be called a compendium of the Gospel, Pope St. John Paul II says, “is to contemplate the Face of Christ in union with, and at the school of, His Most Holy Mother…Against the background of the words of the Ave Maria the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul. They take shape in the complete series of the joyful, [luminous,] sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through–we might say through the heart of his Mother…The Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation…To look upon the Face of Christ, to recognize its mystery amid the daily events and sufferings of His human life, and then to grasp the divine splendor definitively revealed in the Risen Lord, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father; this is the task of every follower of Christ and therefore the task of each one of us. In contemplating Christ’s Face we become open to receiving the mystery of Trinitarian life, experiencing ever anew the love of the Father and delighting in the joy of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul’s words can then be applied to us ‘Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed into His likeness, from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’” (Rosarium Virginus Mariae) 

"The contemplation of Christ's Face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One!"~St. Pope John Paul II
“The contemplation of Christ’s Face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One!”~ Pope St. John Paul II (Holy Face of Manoppello (Photo: Patricia Enk)

The entire month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary and October 7th is celebrated as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The feast, originally named for Our Lady of Victory, commemorated the stunning victory, against all odds, obtained by Our Lady in the Battle of Lepanto through the prayer of the Rosary–which saved Christendom on October 7th, in 1571. By keeping our eyes fixed on the Face of Jesus as we pray the Rosary, together with Mary, through her maternal intercession, we too may obtain great victories through the heart of her Son Jesus, who obtained for all mankind the greatest victory over sin and death by His Resurrection.

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“I dare to summon the whole Church bravely to cross this new threshold, to put into the deep…so that now as in the past the great engagement of the Gospel and culture may show to the world ‘the glory of God on the Face of Christ’ (2 Cor 4:6). May the Lord bless all those who work for this aim.”

~ Pope St. John Paul II

Mary contemplates Jesus beneath the Eucharistic Veil of the appearance of bread. The Virgin of the Host, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres