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!
A Prophecy is fulfilled…
Il Volto Santo – Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello. (Photo: Paul Badde)
Paul Badde, who has written so much about the Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, has sent this prophetic quote from Pope St. John Paul II, on the occasion of the 36th World Communications Day, “Internet: A New Forum for proclaiming the Gospel,” 2002:
“For the Church the new world of cyberspace is a summons to the great adventure of using its potential to proclaim the Gospel message… The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard.”
— Pope St. John Paul II
Pope Benedict XVI echoed the words of John Paul II in Verbum Domini:
In the world of the internet, which enables billions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for “if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man”.
–Pope Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini
The Gospel message is indeed being proclaimed; “the face of Christ” seen, and His voice heard. A four part documentary series is now available on Netflix — “Mysteries of the Faith” — which explores the legendary relics and treasures of Christianity, including the miraculous Veil of the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy: Il Volto Santo. Antonio Bini, has written on Holyfaceofmanoppelloblogspot.com :
“Millions of people — in over 190 countries of the world — were able to watch the documentary “Mysteries of the Faith.” Unprecedented access was given for the makers of the documentary to the most sacred places of the world. (Full article by Antonio Bini: click here). The official trailer is found below:
Let us make room for Christ, and help to the Holy Face of Jesus to made visible in the world and His voice to be heard!
Please share with others! Peace in Christ!
“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.”
Pieta, with Holy Trinity, Blessed Mother and St. John (Jean Malouel 1400-1410 Met Museum)
The communication of the Most Holy Trinity is a communication of Persons– Father, Son and Holy Spirit — their communication is love. God also communicates His love to all mankind so that we may know Him and love Him. We learn about God not only from His creation, but through other human beings. We are all made in His image and likeness, after all, reflecting God’s truth, goodness, and beauty. As is written in the Book of Wisdom, “for from greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of the Creator.”(Wis. 13:5)
We have the capacity to know God because we are created in His image and likeness; however, we also learn, from ourselves and those around us, how unlike God we are. St. Thomas Aquinas says, “concerning God, we cannot grasp what He is, but only what He is not, and how other beings stand in relation to Him.”The internet has a great potential for real communication; that is, to convey information exchanged between persons, that could really help us learn about the love of God. Unfortunately, mass communication, such as the internet, communicates more about what God is not, than what God is.
Holy Face Veil of Manoppello, Italy (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
“In the world of the internet, which enables billions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the Face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for ‘if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man’.” –Pope Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini
Those who love God, therefore, would naturally desire to communicate His love to other human beings through the Face of Christ–using the means which God Himself has chosen to communicate His love to us. The Face of Christ needs to “be seen and His voice heard” on the internet. But where do we see the Face of Christ on the internet? Where do we hear His voice?
Sadly, even some Christians on the internet present “a face and voice” more like the evil one, than that of Jesus Christ. Most often Jesus’s Face is hidden in a nauseating ocean of hatred, anger, banality, and filth. But He is still present there in our internet “neighbors” whose faces pass by as we scroll down our screens each day: The innocent children in danger, victims of natural disasters, violence, terrorism, addiction, human trafficking, the spiritually blind and lame — all manner of human suffering, together with perpetrators of crime equally in need of our prayers. Though we are separated from them by a computer screen, the suffering Face of Jesus is present in all their faces and voices.
The first element of Devotion to the Holy Face, says Pope Benedict XVI, is “discipleship and orientation of one’s life towards an encounter with Jesus, to see Jesus in the face of those in need.” We need to begin by seeking out the Divine Image in them, and also by becoming the “face and voice of Christ” to them. In order to do this, “believers first need to become better acquainted with Jesus through the Eucharist,” allowing ourselves first to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into His image, thereby reflecting the Face of Christ to other souls made in His image–to be communicators of His love.
Holy Face of Manoppelllo (Photo: Paul Badde/EWTN)
The Divine Image
To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is God, our Father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is man, His child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays in the human for divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form, In heathen Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.
Illumina Domine Blog - Devotion to The Holy Face 