Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus

The day before the beginning of Lent is dedicated to venerate the Holy Face of our Saviour, in reparation for the blasphemies, impiety and sacrileges from which He is more than ever afflicted.

The purpose of Christian reparation is the restoration of the glory of God and His reign in souls; it is a satisfaction and compensation offered to God for His glory that has been stolen, tarnished or diminished by sin.

Reparation is atonement for insults to God, satisfaction for those insults, and love and service to God for those who do not love and serve Him.

Reparation halts the wrath of heaven, repels plagues and calamities, appeases God’s anger and inclines Him to show mercy to sinners. Reparation consoles the Heart of Jesus, which is broken with pain at the sight of the punishments that divine Justice prepares for the earth, especially at the sight of those thousands of souls who fall every day into hell like swirls of dust in a storm. Through reparation, we help our Divine Mother to support the arm of Her Son, made heavier every day by the multitude of iniquities and prevarications of men.

Can any work be more excellent than reparation? The Sacred Heart of Jesus had no other occupation on earth than to make reparation. And now, does He have in Heaven, in the midst of His immortal glory, any other occupation than that which He has in the mysterious Host, that of reparation? No, there can be nothing more beautiful than reparation. There is nothing more useful to souls, nothing more pleasing to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

One day Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary: “My justice is angry and ready to punish sinners with manifest punishments if they do not do penance. You must, My daughter, lift up your heart and hands to heaven with your prayers and good works, presenting Me continually to My Father as a victim of love immolated and offered for the sins of all, and putting My divine Heart as a rampart and a secure stronghold between His justice and sinners in order to obtain mercy”.

This reparation that Jesus so often asked of St. Margaret Mary, He still asks for it, because nowadays it is more necessary than ever. The crimes of the children of men are increasing immeasurably; the cry of the iniquities of the earth has gone up to heaven. All flesh has corrupted its ways and strayed from the path of righteousness; all ages, all sexes, all conditions rise up against the Lord and rush into the path of perdition. Sin overflows on all sides. It has invaded the whole world, and like a new flood, it disrupts everything.

Evil is great, it cries out for vengeance. But the tender Heart of Jesus only reluctantly and forcibly gives up punishments, He turns to souls of good will, and begs them to give compensation to His justice. He desires that those who live in His grace and enjoy His love do Him holy violence in favor of the unfortunate who are blind and go astray. Oh, let us generously enter into the merciful views of the divine Heart!

Let us love, let us love very much our Jesus who loves us so much and love will tell us what we must do to console Him and compensate Him for the ingratitude of men and for our own in particular. By what means can we repair the wounds inflicted upon Him by His ungrateful children? Here are a few suggestions:

• Make the sign of the Cross with great respect to repair the affronts that Jesus received during His Passion and all the outrages committed today against His Holy Cross.
• Pray the Rosary, uniting yourself with the sublime reparations that our Immaculate Mother unceasingly offers for us, and with the intention of atoning for the outrages that the impious and heretics cause to Her, especially by denying Her Immaculate Conception, Her perpetual virginity and Her divine Maternity.
• Make the Way of the Cross in reparation for the outrages that Our Lord received in His Passion and in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.
• Offer frequent ejaculatory prayers and especially acts of love during the day.
• Make small sacrifices, giving up some little pleasures.
• Kiss the ground offering to God the sufferings and humiliations of His beloved Son and asking for the salvation of sinners.
• Pray with your arms in cross in union with the sorrowful prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Agony.

Prayers to the Holy Face