Eucharist

A Sign of Hope for God’s “Little Ones”–The Holy Face

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 “Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.” (Heb. 11:1)

The Holy Face of Jesus Christ–the Beatific Vision–is at the center of the Angelic Worship.

Devotion to the Holy Face of Christ is a sign of hope for the world.

Although the world seems a hopeless mess, the Jubilee Year of Hope reminds us that there is indeed many reasons to hope. We can hope for eternal life with God in Heaven–to one day see Him face to face. “Hope is the confident expectations of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God and incurring His punishment.” (CCC 2090) Hebrews 11:1 states: “…what we hope for can come about,” and we can also be certain that what we cannot see exists.”

Humanity is in the midst of a battle for souls, but those who follow Christ–God’s “little ones”–can be certain in the hope that they are also being defended and fought for by the Angels and Saints. But the greatest aid that falls within their own power is the devotion to the Face of Jesus Christ as characterized by Pope Benedict XVI:

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.

Pope Benedict XVI contemplates the Face on the Veil of Manoppello. September 1, 2006. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

“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.”

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Doctor of the Church, teaches us the “Little Way” of child-like confidence in God.

To be one of God’s “little ones” is to be the greatest in His Kingdom; requiring child-like confidence, humility and trust in God’s all-mighty power, mercy, and love. In the Gospel of Matthew we read: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. and whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea… See that you do not despise one of the little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” (Mt. 18:2-7, 10)

The Holy Angels have worshipped and served Christ from the Incarnation to the Resurrection, and when He comes again, they will announce the Last Judgement. “With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. They ‘always behold the Face of my Father who is in heaven (Mt. 18:10) ‘they are the mighty ones who do his word, ‘hearkening to the voice of His word.(Ps 103:20)'” (CCC 329)

“When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to each, it pursued the woman who had given birth to a male child.” (Rev. 12:13)

“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out; he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him” (Rev. 12)

“Who is like God!” St. Michael, holds before us the Holy Face of Jesus. (Sculpture by Cody Swanson, Old St. Patrick’s New Orleans. photo: Patricia Enk)

The center of this battle raging between Angels and demons –in heaven and on earth — is the Incarnate Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus–in His “little ones”–who is rejected, reviled and persecuted. The devil, who knows his time is short, wants to obliterate the Face of God, not only in churches that have vandalized and desecrated, but in the souls of human beings. The battle lines have been drawn between the culture of life and the culture of death–especially of the littlest and weakest among us. The devil’s particular object of hatred is the woman and the unborn. Some can no longer recognize that a child in the womb is a human being. Many persons reject their God-given identity as male and female. Racial hatred is causing deeper and deeper division, and human trafficking increases as humanity is blinded to the Face of God in their neighbor made in His image and likeness.  Now Ai presents new threats to humanity, reducing a human person to a number; an algorithm.

The Holy Angels and the Saints point us to contemplation of the Face of Christ as a sign of hope for the world. Like the Holy Angels we should keep our eyes fixed on the Face of God in worship; Like St. Therese, and all the Saints, we need to become like a little child, who despite the darkness, surrenders to the crosses of life, and seeks the Face of God in humility and trust. We must also be like a “Veronica,” that is “a true image” of the Face of Jesus in our charity and compassion for others. Of course, the best example is set by Our Blessed Mother, who always looked at the Holy Face of her Son through the veil of faith; “Blessed is she who believed” in hope “that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!” (Luke 1:45) “To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the Face of Christ.” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

The Face of the Risen Christ is the banner of victory over sin and death!

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have salvation and power come, the reign of our God and the authority of his Anointed One. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who night and day accused then before our God. They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. So rejoice, you heavens, and you the dwell therein! But woe to you, earth and sea, for the devil has come down upon you! His fury knows no limits, for he knows his time is short’ (Rev 12).”

St. Michael Prayer — St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Prayer to Our Lady of the Angels, who, by her great humility, crushed the head of Satan:

Sublime Queen of Heaven, exalted Lady of the Angels, you have the power and commission given by God to crush the head of Satan. Therefore, we humbly beseech you to send to our aid your heavenly legions, so that, under your command and by your power, they may pursue the hellish spirits, fight them everywhere, ward off their impudent attacks, and fling them back into the abyss. Who is like God? You holy angels and archangels, defend and protect us. Good, kind mother, you remain always our love and our hope! Mother of God, send us the holy angels to defend us and keep the evil one far from us.  Amen.

Contemplate with Mary the face of Christ in the Rosary! (Painting by Margaret Farr)

Your Presence is requested…

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“O Lord, wealth of the poor, how admirably You can sustain souls, revealing Your great riches to them gradually and not permitting them to see them all at once. When I see Your great Majesty hidden in so small a thing as the Host, I cannot but marvel at Your great wisdom.”                      –St. Teresa of Jesus

The video above was posted on YouTube over eleven years ago of a Eucharistic Miracle that occurred on Friday, November 15, of 2013, at Christ the King Church in Vilakannur, Kerala, India. After twelve years of investigation, the Vatican has recently announced the approval of this “Relic of Divinity.” This is a powerful sign for our times at the beginning of this millennium dedicated by Pope St. John Paul II to the Holy Face of Jesus Christ. It seems as though Our Lord invites us to come to the banquet of His Love.

“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)

The Eucharist is the visible sign of the of the veiled presence of the invisible Face of God. In God’s great humility, mercy, and love, the grandeur of His Divine Presence is veiled in the Eucharist so that we may not fear to draw near and come into His Presence in the Bread of Life.

“Being Christian,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but an encounter… a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” As often as we encounter the person of Christ, present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist, we are being transformed into His Image. While He is the “Divine Prisoner” He is longing and waiting for us to come to Him.

Jesus is “the Divine Prisoner.” God points us to His Holy Face on the miraculous Veil of Manoppello. (photo: Patricia Enk)

Come and see that “Truth is a Person…a Presence, a Face: Jesus Christ.” — Pope St. John Paul II

Are you sorrowful, lonely, sick or fearful? Come to Him. Do you feel alienated, rejected, remorseful and in need of forgiveness? Come to Him. Are you angry and frustrated? Come. If your faith is little, come; if you long for Love Himself, come; if you are losing Hope, come.

Come, come, come! Your presence is requested.

Jesus waits for you. Come.
Paten viewed through the Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

When did we see you, Jesus?

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Christ the king, seated on His throne.
Illustration Godescalc Illuminated manuscript, commissioned by King Charlemagne in 781, may be the most important “missing link” in depictions of the Face of Christ from the Holy Sudarium. (Photo:Paul Badde)

The Solemnity of the Feast of Christ the King of the Universe comes at the end of the liturgical year, November 24th, 2024. The feast focuses on Jesus Christ coming in glory at the end of time. An important question for every Christian to ponder is: When Christ the King comes again will we recognize Him, and will he recognize us?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the kind will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the kind will say to them in replay, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me. ‘And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Mt. 25:31-46)

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus can be a helpful means to lead us to an encounter with Jesus in our life-long journey–enabling us to recognize Him–and He, to recognize us. This devotion is comprised of three elements–as characterized by Pope Benedict XVI: Discipleship, Images of the wounded Face of Christ , and the Eucharist.

‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Pope Francis embracing a young man with special needs.)
“On November 15, 2013, a face resembling that of Jesus appeared on the host during Mass at the Christ the King Church, Vilakkannur, a parish under the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Tellicherry in the southern Indian state of Kerala.”

Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The first element [of devotion to the Holy Face] is discipleship and the orientation of one’s life toward an encounter with Jesus in the face of those in need. In order to do this, believers first need to become better acquainted with Jesus through the Eucharist.

The second element is relating to the Passion of Jesus, and the suffering expressed by the images of the wounded Face of Jesus, relating this to the Eucharistic experience.

The third element, the Eucharist is woven between the other two. The eschatological element then builds on awakening to Christ by contemplating his face in the Eucharist.“

The Eucharistic Face of Jesus is central to the devotion of the Face of Christ! Clearly, the grace and strength flowing from worthy reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist is vital to encountering Jesus in the faces of our brothers and sisters in need, as well as for the prayerful contemplation of Christ’s Face in images of His Passion. In Novo Millenio Ineunte, Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “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 have not first contemplated his face.”

Contemplation of the Face of Jesus is the veil of devotion, with which we may ‘wipe His bruised and wounded Face, ‘woven’ together with “discipleship, and the Eucharist,” which can lead Christians to “the love of God and love of neighbor” that will enable us to see Christ’s Face when He comes again in glory on the final day.

“The invisible Face of Christ, the son of God, is manifest in His Body an 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 Benedict XVI in prayerful contemplation before the veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello during a visit to the Basilica Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, central Italy, September 1, 2006. (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)

***Important and exciting update on the Holy Veil of Manoppello: CNA Deutsch has reported a new discovery, in an article by Paul Badde, pertaining to “Il Volto Santo,” and the inexplicable presence of the Face of Jesus on the sheer veil, which has no traces of paint. An eminent German doctor, Gosbert Weth, has made non-invasive investigations on the relic, using a special nuclear medicine measuring device. The device measures alpha, beta, and gamma rays. Beta rays, which are invisible and energetic, are released during nuclear fission. It has been determined that the veil of Manoppello has such a high level of beta radiation that it fills the Basilica with it! It has also been observed that the veil gives off light in darkness. The upshot of this wonderful discovery is: The Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello is a source of energy whose strength can be measured objectively.

I will post further details of Dr. Weth’s investigations very soon, but this is amazing news that should be shouted from the rooftops! Thanks be to God!


“O most awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray;
May Your Reign, Your Kingdom, be recognized on earth.”
(Host viewed through the miraculous Manoppello Veil the Holy Face, Photo: Paul Badde/ EWTN)

“Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.”

— Prayer for Feast of Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Novena to Christ the King

Almighty and merciful God, you break the power of evil and make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth acclaim your glory and never cease to praise you.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Recite One Our Father, One Hail Mary, and One Glory Be per day followed by the Novena Prayer:

O Lord our God, You alone are the Most Holy King and Ruler of all nations.
We pray to You, Lord, in the great expectation of receiving from You, O Divine King, mercy, peace, justice and all good things.
Protect, O Lord our King, our families and the land of our birth.
Guard us we pray Most Faithful One.
Protect us from our enemies and from Your Just Judgment
Forgive us, O Sovereign King, our sins against you.
Jesus, You are a King of Mercy.
We have deserved Your Just Judgment
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
We trust in Your Great Mercy.
O most awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray;
May Your Reign, Your Kingdom, be recognized on earth.

Amen.

Epiphany – Show us Thy Face, O Lord

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image-39
St. Pope John Paul II “In the Eucharist, the Face of Christ is turned towards us.”

Webster’s Dictionary gives these definitions for “epiphany”: 1. January 6th observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the three wise men to Jesus in Bethlehem or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of Jesus’ baptism. 2. an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being 3. an intuitive discovery or realization [derived from Late Latin epiphania, from late Greek, plural, probably Greek epihaneia “appearance, manifestation,” from epi + phanein “to show.” 

The feast of the Epiphany is thus closely linked to the Holy Face–because the Epiphany is the feast on which Jesus Christ first shows Himself to the world represented by the magi–and He shows Himself through a human face, the face of an infant. On the feast of the Epiphany, we ask God to shine His face upon us, to reveal His face to us once more.

The words inscribed on the Holy Face Medal, which bears a replica of the Holy Face image from the Shroud of Turin, and which inspired St. Pope John Paul II to dedicate the millennium to the Holy Face, are based on Psalm 66:2: “Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos,” which means, “May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us,” or as it has also been interpreted, “Show us Thy Face, O Lord.”  On the other side of the medal, there is an image of a radiant Sacred Host, the monogram of the Holy Name (“IHS”), and the inscription “Mane nobiscum, Domine,” that is, “Stay with us, O Lord,” which recalls the words of the disciples to Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35). “So he went in to stay with them and it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, and said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.  With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.”

On the occasion of the Closing of the Holy Door, January 6, 2001, St. Pope John Paul II prayed for the Church, “May the Lord grant that in the new millennium, the Church will grow ever more in holiness, that she may become in history a true epiphany of the merciful and glorious Face of Christ the Lord.”  Amen!