Seeking His Face

One day more, as the song says, and Lent will be upon us.  Today is the traditional day to celebrate before the fast begins: Mardi Gras or Carnevale in the Latin tradition, or Shrove Tuesday here in Ireland and the UK.  As the Latins have parties, we have pancakes - there's a difference in culture for you.

But today sees another celebration: the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. In 1958 Pope Pius XII approved the observance of the feast on this day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and a Mass was approved for use in what is now the Extraordinary Form.  As today is a ferial day in the Ordinary Form we can observe the feast, though there is no votive Mass proper, as of yet.  I know the Sanctuary of the Holy Face in Manoppello have a votive Mass used there, but the texts are quite specific to the Sanctuary.  It would be great if the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments would approve a more generic text, drawing on the rich Biblical texts which speak of the Face of God and the Incarnation.

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus has been growing for a number of years, and the recent expositions of the Shroud of Turin have intensified people's interest in the devotion.  The glorification of two devotees of the Holy Face, St Gaetano Catanoso and Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli has also drawn the faithful's attention to the devotion.   And of course Pope Benedict's visit to the Sanctuary of Manoppello in 2006 brought the mysterious cloth imprinted with an image of the Face of Jesus to the attention of the world.  With another exposition of the Shroud next year I'm sure the devotion will continue to grow.

What did Jesus look like?  That is a question people have been asking for centuries.  We have in our mind a particular image of the Lord, and while that image is often subjective, it may well be based on ancient images, some of which are, it has been suggested, based on the mysterious image of the Lord on the Shroud and the Veronican towel.  Traditional icons of the Lord bear a remarkable similarity to the image of the Shroud.

 

A few years ago a project based on the Shroud of Turin sought to create a 3D image of the face of the man imprinted on it to see what he looked like.  The project yielded the image at the top of this post (and see the video below).  Is this the face of the Lord?  Whether it is or not, the project reveals the desire of all the disciples of the Lord: to see his Face, to gaze upon him whom we love.  This is the longing of the Saints, it is also part of the Beatific Vision - to see God face to face, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and taking Jesus' words to heart, "When you see me, Philip, you see the Father", we long just to catch a glimpse.

Jesus told St Thomas, "You believe because you have seen me, but blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe".  We have not seen yet we believe, and yet we also long to see.  Ultimately, on this earth, we shall see him through the eyes of faith, and we live his way so one day that faith will yield to the eternal vision of him.  This is what devotion to the Holy Face seeks to inspire: a virtuous life lived in imitation of Christ so that one day we will gaze upon his glorious Face.  A devotion which also urges us to see the Face of Christ, the wounded Face of Christ, in our wounded and poor brothers and sisters: for what we do for them is done for Christ.

And of course we will also see him, through the eyes of faith, in the Holy Eucharist.  In his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia Blessed John Paul II spoke of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus.  So when we spend time in adoration and gaze on the Sacred Host, we gaze upon the Face of Jesus; yes hidden, but there.  As we gaze on him he gazes back at us.

Happy feast day.

Bye, Bye, Meat

Shrove Tuesday in heaven: the Saints watch as Our Lady dishes out the Goulash and St Anne brings out her Tequila Pavlova

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Carnevale!  Or here in the cold north of Europe, Pancake Tuesday.  I recently read an article somewhere that up here in the frozen lands of the north, we celebrate the day with unleavened bread and lemon juice, while in the balmy Catholic south of Europe and Latin countries, they do so with finer fare and more fun.  Well, you know, it is as much a Catholic thing to feast as to fast, so perhaps we might adopt a few ideas from our southern brothers and sisters.

Now lest anyone think I am promoting frenzied parades with women clothed only in feathers (and few feathers at that!) gyrating on milk floats, I'm not.  Leave the Samba records where they are! Nor am I suggesting that we all get blotto and start Lent with a headache to beat all hangovers.  No, no, no, something more moderate, something that will not lead into sin, not "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we starve", no, no: but something which marks the transition into Lent.  Forget the diet, have the meat and the dessert, and then offer it all to the Lord in thanksgiving for all his goodness, with the resolution that from midnight, "Fat Tuesday is over", and the holy period of prayer, fasting and alms giving has begun.  With the feast over, and the house cleared of meat and sweeties, we take the ashes with humility and stick to our Lenten resolutions. 

You see, many people think we Catholics are boring and dreary, and they do so because many of us are actually boring and dreary.  We live our faith like martyrs, not joyful people offering all to the Lord, but with determined heavy hearts taking everything seriously.  We can be orthodox, true and virtuous, and we can be joyful, funny and enjoy the good things in life, after all they are gifts from God.  The important word is moderation.  We can eat, drink and have a good time, but always in the presence of the Lord, and we must remember that all these things come from His bounty - the first and last glass must be raised to His honour and glory (and two glasses are enough, by the way!).

So, in that spirit, some reading for Lent.  Father Director offers you some ideas for edification.  Scripture and Lives of the Saints, first of all.  Pope Benedict's life of Jesus; St Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, St Therese, Story of A Soul, and John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak's The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living.  That should be a good mix and a balance. 

Fiction?  Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah or Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World  to remind us all that it all end in a moment, and perhaps some Flannery O'Connor, that unique Catholic twist in her stories is refreshing and spicy - good Cajun!

History?  Very important for us Catholics to know our Catholic history. You can't beat Warren Carroll's fine History of Christendom series. 

That should keep you going.  Enjoy the last feast!  And by the way, re tomorrow....chicken is meat!