This past Shrove Tuesday, February 12, 2013, a very special event occurred worldwide that had great personal meaning for me. It was the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus, and the very first one celebrated in our family since learning about the devotion.
Despite the fact that I am a Catholic from conception, I previously knew nothing about this very powerful Devotion that was given to the world by Jesus Himself. My children had never learned about it in the many years they attended Catholic School, nor have I ever heard it mentioned in any parish of which I have been a member (or visited).
Not only had Jesus revealed the power, and the necessity, of this Devotion to mankind in the past, He has returned many times to request that this devotion be practiced by His people.
He has done this because He loves us, and this devotion was given to us to help us: Some background information .
Very few people had, and very few people currently are, heeding the request our Lord made of us over and over again.
The origins of the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus: A gift from the Lord on the Feast of the Holy Face
Just after publishing a post two days ago, on the Feast of the Holy Face, which provides historical information about the miraculous devotion, the Lord shared a striking revelation.
First, a short history. Jesus appeared to a young Carmelite nun in the mid-1800s in Tours, France, named Sr. Mary of St. Peter. Through His communications to her over the course of approximately four years, He revealed to her what He called "the most wonderful work under the sun."That most wonderful work was presenting the world with the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus as a means of offering reparation to God the Father for the sins of mankind. At that time in France, the people had become so wicked that had it not been for Jesus and Blessed Mother holding back the Arm of Divine Justice, mankind would have been immediately and severely punished for its many sins.
What is often not reported is that our Lord asked that this work be established even before He presented it to Sr. Mary. In 1819, a pamphlet titled Warning to the People of France had been printed by Monsignor Soyer, who was at the time the Vicar General of Poitiers and later became the Bishop of Lucon. Its subtitle was, "Reparation will appease the anger of God."
The pamphlet stated that blasphemies were common and were drawing down the anger of God, which is exactly what our Lord had recently told Sr. Mary.
Reverend Mother wrote to the Bishop asking for more information on the subject, and learned that he had published the pamphlet it at the request of a Carmelite nun in Poitiers named Mother Adelaide. The Bishop also informed Reverend Mother that this nun was "a most mortified soul, and also the most humble and the most holy" that he had ever known.
Mother Adelaide died on July 31, 1843. Twenty-six days later, our Lord presented His work of reparation to Sr. Mary of St. Peter in Tours. At the time this historical information about the work of reparation was becoming known to Sr. Mary and Reverend Mother, they also learned that Pope Gregory XVI had granted a Brief authorizing a Confraternity of Reparation for blasphemy in Rome on August 8, 1843.
While Sr. Mary felt this would convince her superiors of the authenticity of the Lord's revelations to her, they responded with doubt that another Confraternity was needed.
The Lord then told Sr. Mary to explain to them that His work of reparation being revealed to her was to have as its goal not only reparation for blasphemy, but also reparation for the profanation of the Holy Day of the Lord, both of which were enormous sins that had evoked the anger of God.
At that time, it also became known to Sr. Mary that in several parishes in Tours, a pious man had already distributed leaflets containing a prayer honoring the Holy Name of God; it also implored expiation for blasphemy through the intercession of St. Louis. The day after the Feast of St. Luis on August 26, the Lord communicated to Sr. Mary that the prayers of these pious souls had been fruitful.The devil did his utmost to stop the Devotion from spreading.
On February 13, 1848, the Lord revealed to Sr. Mary that chastisement was close at hand. It was made known to her that God's justice was greatly irritated with mankind because of their sins, most notably those that directly outraged the Majesty of God.
On February 20, she was told, "The Lord has strung His bow and He is about to discharge His arrows!" She realized how shamefully God had been outraged, and, no longer able to remain neutral due to her great desire for the Lord's honor to be vindicated, she answered, "Strike, O Lord!" She prayed that God would strike as a Father and not as an angry judge, and it was revealed to her that this would not be a mortal strike, even though the Arm of the Lord had been raised over their guilty heads for four years, and that this strike must now come to pass. What followed was a revolution in Paris, and the Lord made known to Sr. Mary that as a result of her efforts to establish the Work of Reparation, the country would only be partly punished for its crimes instead of being entirely destroyed.
After Sr. Mary's death, the information about our Lord's communications to her regarding the Work of Reparation were sealed and remained sealed for thirty years. During that time, a layman named Leo Dupont established the Devotion to the Holy Face in his home and the Lord granted many, many miracles to the people who came to his home to pray for cures before an image of the Holy Face of Jesus.
Pay very close attention to what happened after. People lost interest in the Work of Reparation.
So what did the Lord do?In the first half of the 1900's, the Lord returned again, this time with His Mother, and asked an Italian nun named Sr. Maria Pierina to promote the Devotion to the Holy Face.
What is of paramount importance here is that the Lord made His wishes known regarding this work in the 1800's, and His requests went largely unheeded, although the efforts of a minority had a major impact and resulted in man's chastisement being significantly lessened.
In the 1900's Jesus and Blessed Mother returned to again present the work of Reparation through the Devotion to the Holy Face to mankind as the chastisements of the horrifically homicidal 20th century were commencing.
Overall, the world took little notice.
One would perhaps be inclined to think that mankind was reaping what it had sown and was being left to the punishments it had coming.
That is not the case at all!
What happened instead is that as mankind was chastised through horrific World Wars and the brutal spread of Communism, Blessed Mother returned to Sr. Maria Pierina in May 1938 and asked that a medal be created during this very painful time in human history which unrepentant man had brought upon itself.
History has revealed to us that as mankind received its punishment and its men went off to war, our Lord and Blessed Mother loved and provided for them still through the Devotion to the Holy Face, which was displayed on the medal and worn by millions of people who, in times of chastisement, were finally eager to open their hearts to the Lord's favors.
The Lord just keeps coming and coming and coming and coming, not to condemn us but to love us, and He asks us to help Him satisfy His tremendous longing to love us.
Oh if only we would listen to Him and to our Mother!! They love us so much.
Consider the following works spoken by Jesus:
"People have a false idea of Me. They take Me for a master who distributes His favors at His caprice and who enforces His will. Do you understand that I enforce nothing? I am powerless before your liberty. It is I who beg for your love. Look at Me gasping for breath upon the Cross; behold My royalty! I have expiated your sins, but I do not even force you to believe it. I show you My Passion -does it speak to you? -and I wait. Behold My Divinity; -an indefatigable patience. Throughout the centuries I await souls. I never refuse them. Ask to know Me better." ~ Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity
In the 21st century, we find that once again the Work of Reparation through the Devotion to the Holy Face is largely unknown and if known, practiced by very few devout souls.
The Lord is asking the faithful in our time to once again courageously and devoutly take up the task of making reparation to God the Father for mankind's colossal offenses against His majesty.
The Lord's new requests are largely being unheeded, again, and so we can confidently expect that because of Jesus' and Blessed Mother's great love for humanity, they will work through devout souls in our time and continue their appeal for mankind to take up the Work of Reparation through the Devotion to the Holy Face to lessen the coming chastisements that humanity has brought upon itself in our time.
A few devout people can accomplish much to appease God's anger.
Today, on the Feast of St. Valentine, I implore you to please learn more about the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. Practice this devotion in your home, and encourage your parish to establish the devotion the Lord Himself called "the greatest work under the sun."
There are so many benefits of this Devotion it is clear that the devil is the one who has been working so hard to keep it a secret.
To receive one free medal of the Holy Face of Jesus, send a self-adressed double-stamped envelope to: Holy Face Association; PO Box 821; Champlain, NY (USA 12919-0821 or in Canada, PO Box 1000, Station A, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3V 2 W9.
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