Contemplation of the Holy Face of Jesus

Contemplate the Face of the Lord

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Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, bearing the image of the Face of Jesus not only showing signs of His Passion (which may also be seen on the Shroud of Turin) but also–it is believed, evidence of Christ’s Resurrection–the cloth that covered the head of Jesus in the tomb that caused Peter and John “to see and believe.” (Photo by the late Paul Badde/EWTN)

“Your face, O Lord, I seek” (Psalm 27:8) Relecting on the Face of Jesus in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennia Ineunte, Pope St. John Paul II writes: The ancient longing of the Psalmist could receive no fulfillment greater and more surprising than the contemplation of the face of Christ. God as truly blessed us in him and has made “his face to shine upon us” (Psalm 67:1). At the same time, God and man that he is, he reveals to us also the true face of man, “fully revealing man to man himself.” Pope St. John Paul II continues, “In order to “bring man back to the Father’s face, Jesus not only had to take on the face of man, [at the Incarnation] but he had to burden himself with the “face” of sin. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)

JPII goes on to write, “we shall never exhaust the depths of this mystery.” “But her contemplation of Christ’s face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One! Were this not so, our preaching would be in vain and our faith empty (cf. 1 Cor. 15:14) “The Resurrection was the Father’s response to Christ’s obedience. ” (Novo Millennia Ineunte)

The Devotion to the Holy Face is not meant to be solely a list of prayers to be recited, but is a means of encounter and relationship with Jesus Christ. Charity–Love of God and love of neighbor–are at the heart of this devotion to the Holy Face, which encompasses the whole spiritual life of a Christian and is intensely Eucharistic:

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.”

Pope St. John Paul II, in Veritatis Splendor, tells us that to win the battle for souls, we must first contemplate the Face of Christ ourselves in order to bring light into this darkened world that does not know God’s love:

“The light of God’s Face shines in all its beauty on the countenance of Jesus Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Cor. 1:15), “the reflection of God’s glory” (Web 1:3), “full of grace and truth” (Jn1:14). Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6). Consequently the decisive answer to every one of man’s questions is Jesus Christ himself, as the Second Vatican Council recalls: “In fact, it is only in the mystery of the Word Incarnate that light is shed on the mystery of man. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of the future man, namely, Christ the Lord. It is Christ, the last Adam, who fully discloses man to himself and unfolds his noble called by revealing the mystery of the Father and the Father’s love.” (Veritatis Splendor)

Contemplate with Mary the face of Christ in the Rosary!

Contemplation of the Face of Jesus in the Rosary, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, is another very important way, as Pope St. John Paul II writes in Rosarium Virginis Mariae: “to contemplate the face of Christ in union with, and at the school of, his Most Holy Mother. To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ...” “…to stand like your Virgin Mother, at the glorious Cross, and at the crosses of all people to bring consolation, hope, and comfort.”

Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the Face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

The Beauty of the Trinity on the Holy Face of Jesus

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The Holy Trinity, Robert Campin, 1433

“Jesus, has shown us the Face of God, One in substance and Triune in Persons; God is all and only Love, in a subsisting relationship that creates, redeems, and sanctifies all: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

~Pope Francis

A Discalced Carmelite nun who lived in the mid-1800’s, Sr. Marie St. Pierre, had many interior visions regarding the Holy Face of Jesus — including a sublime conception of the The Holy Trinity and the Holy Face — which she tried to express in these words she received from Our Lord:

Sr. Marie St, Pierre

“Remember, O my soul, the instruction which thy celestial Spouse has given thee today on His adorable Face!  Remember that this Divine Head represents the Father who is from all eternity, that the mouth of this Holy Face is a figure of the Divine Word, engendered by the Father, and that the eyes of this mysterious Face represent the reciprocal love of the Father and the Son; for these eyes have but one and the same light, the same knowledge, producing the same love, which is the Holy Spirit.  In his beautiful silken hair  contemplate the infinitude of the adorable perfections of the Most Holy Trinity in this majestic head, the most precious portion of the Sacred Humanity of thy Saviour; contemplate the image of the unity of God.  This, then, is the adorable and mysterious Face of the Saviour, which blasphemers have the temerity to cover with opprobrium: thus they renew the sufferings of His Passion, by attacking the Divinity of which it is the image.”

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Our Lord told Sr. Marie St. Pierre that she could comfort and console Him by her praises, such as in The Golden Arrow Prayer: “May the most holy, most sacred, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

“According to the diligence you will manifest in repairing my image disfigured by blasphemers, so will I have the same care in repairing your soul which has been disfigured by sin.  I will imprint thereon my image, and I will render it as beautiful as when it came forth from the baptismal font… Oh! could you but behold the beauty of My Face!–But your eyes are yet too weak.”  –Our Lord to Sr. Marie St. Pierre 

St. Elizabeth of The Trinity

Another Discalced Carmelite Nun, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, also directs our gaze to the Face of the Son in order to contemplate the beauty of the Holy Trinity and and reflect God’s image:

“It is Your continual desire to associate Yourself with Your creatures…How can I better satisfy Your desire than by keeping myself simply and lovingly turned towards You, so that You can reflect Your own image in me, as the sun is reflected through pure crystal? …We will be glorified in the measure in which we will have been conformed to the image of His divine Son.  So, let us contemplate this adored Image, let us remain unceasingly under its radiance so that it may imprint itself on us.” –Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, O.C.D.

O My God, Trinity Whom I Adore

O My God, Trinity whom I adore,  help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.  May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You, O my unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your Mystery. Give peace to my soul, make it Your heaven, Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place.  May I never leave you there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative action.  O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I wish to be a bride for Your Heart; I wish to cover You with glory; I wish to love You…even unto death!  But I feel my weakness, and I ask You to clothe me with Yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of Your Soul, to overwhelm me, to posses me, to substitute Yourself for me that my life may be but a radiance of Your life.  Come to me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Savior, O Word Eternal, Word of my God.  I want to spend my life listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from You.  Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light.  O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that that I may not withdraw from your radiance.  O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, come upon me, and create in my soul a kind of Incarnation of the Word; that I may be another humanity for Him, in which He can renew His whole Mystery.  And You, O Father, bend lovingly over your poor little creature; cover her with your shadow, seeing in her only the Beloved in whom You are well pleased.  O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I love myself, I surrender myself to You as Your prey.  Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You until I depart to contemplate in Your light the abyss of Your greatness.  November 21, 1904 — St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

The Trinity, Andrei Rublev

Holy Face Novena 2025 — Feast of the Holy Face

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The Holy Face of Manoppello, (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN) Unique among other images of the Holy Face, in that it is an “achieropoeta” (as is the Shroud of Turin), not made by human hands. This “living image” which bears traces of the Passion, is believed to have been created at the Resurrection. It could be said that it is an “Icon of Easter,” which we look forward to in Hope at the beginning of Lent.

I wish that all the world could celebrate the Face of my Beloved. If I could at least honor Him for all those who honor Him not.” –Bl. Mother Maria Pierina De Micheli

Consecration to the Holy Face

O Lord Jesus, we believe most firmly in You. You are the Son Incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You are the Lord and Absolute Ruler of all creation. We acknowledge you, therefore, as the Universal Sovereign of all creatures. You are the Lord and Supreme Ruler of all mankind, and we, in acknowledging this Your dominion, consecrate ourselves to You now and forever. Loving Jesus, we place our family under the protection of Your Holy Face, and of Your Virgin Mother Mary most sorrowful. We promise to be faithful to You for the rest of our lives and to observe with fidelity Your Holy Commandments. We will never deny before men, You and Your Divine rights over us and all mankind. Grant us the grace to never sin again; nevertheless, should we fail, O Divine Saviour, have mercy on us and restore us to Your grace. Radiate Your Divine Countenance upon us and bless us now and forever. Embrace us at the hour of our death in Your Kingdom for all eternity, through the intercession of Your Blessed Mother, of all Your Saints who behold You in Heaven, and the just who glorify You on earth. O Jesus, be mindful of us forever and never forsake us; protect our family. O Mother of Sorrows, by the eternal glory which you enjoy in Heaven, through the merits of your bitter anguish in the Sacred Passion of your Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for us the grace that the Precious Blood shed by Jesus for the redemption of our souls, be not shed in vain. We love you, O Mary. Embrace us and bless us, O Mother. Protect us in life and in death. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

1510, Piero de Cosimo, The Veronica Veil

“Christ’s response, ‘Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father, lead us into the heart of Christological faith.'” — Pope Benedict XVI

The Veronica — Derick Baegert, 1470

The Name

In the crowd walking towards the place 

[of the Agony]–

did you open up a gap at some point or were you 

[opening it] from the beginning?

And since when? You tell me, Veronica. 

Your name was born in the very instant 

in which your heart 

became an effigy: the effigy of truth. 

Your name was born from what you gazed upon. 

–Karol Wojtyla (later to be Pope St, John Paul II)