If You Would Know His Heart, Seek His Face
Just as one learns what is in the heart of one’s dearest friend by looking at his face, just as a wife can know what her husband carries for her in his heart by reading his face, so too does the Church look to the Eucharistic face of Christ to discover there all the secrets of His Sacred Heart for her.
The connection between face and heart is something deeply inscribed in the human person. Face and person are, in fact synonymous, not only because in Greek the same word denotes both but even more because there is nothing more personal, nothing more precious, nothing dearer than the face of a loved one.
The psalmist’s cry, “I long to see your face” (Ps 26:8), is the cry of every lover to his beloved, the cry of child to parent, of parent to child, and of friend to friend. The most poignant moment in the rites of Pope John Paul II’s death and burial came when a veil was laid over his face. We cherish photographs of those we love, but what is a photograph without a face? The relationships that we call “heart to heart” never tire of the “face to face to face.”
The more one is drawn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the more one experiences the need to seek His Face — and to seek it in the adorable mystery of the Eucharist. The heart is a secret organ, a thing not visible to the eye. The “thoughts of the heart” are transmitted to the face. It is true that some persons try to dissimulate what they hold in the heart by putting on a plastic face, a professional face, or a face of stony indifference, but all of that dissimulation is related to sin. In Jesus Christ, the Lamb without stain, there is no disconnection between face and heart.
All that Jesus holds in his Sacred Heart for us and for his Father is revealed on His Face. If you would know His Heart, seek His Face, and seek it in the Eucharist. It is in the contemplation of the Most Holy Eucharist that, fulfilling Zechariah’s ancient prophecy, we “look upon Him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37).
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I love that Image of the Holy Face! It is the Image so beloved in the Carmelite order, especially by Saint Therese. I once made a beautiful solitary retreat in a hermitage with no other pictures but the Holy Face. Thank you, Father Mark, O.Cist..
Yes, and it is the image that Saint Thérèse kept before her eyes during her final illness. Some authors say that the image was brought up from the choir where it was honoured on August 6th; others say that it was an image pinned to her bed curtains. I do know that in the French Carmels there was a custom of keeping August 6th as a feast of the Holy Face, and of anointing the image with perfume. Lovely. (August 6th is the day of my own monastic consecration.)
Prayer to the Wounded Heart of Jesus
O my Most Loving and Gentle Jesus, I desire with all the affections of my heart, that all beings should praise Thee, honor Thee and glorify Thee eternally for that sacred wound wherewith Thy divine side was rent. I deposit, enclose, conceal in that wound and in that opening in Thy Heart, my heart and all my feelings, thoughts, desires, intentions and all the faculties of my soul. I entreat Thee, by the precious Blood and Water that flowed from Thy Most Loving Heart, to take entire possession of me, that Thou may guide me in all things. Consume me in the burning fire of thy holy Love, so that I may be so absorbed and transformed into Thee that I may no longer be but one with Thee.
Amen.
Our Lord told the Servant of God, Mo.Mary Pierina de Micheli, “The Devotion to the Holy Face increases and completes the Devotion to the Sacred Heart”
“I wish that My FACE which reflects the intimate pains of my soul, the sorrow and love of My HEART be more honored. Whoever contemplates me consoles me.” – Our Lord to Mo. Pierina