Devotion to the Holy Face

Numbers 6:24-26 "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew His Face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His Countenance to thee, and give thee peace."


Psalm 26:8 "My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought Thee: Thy Face, O Lord, will I still seek." 


Psalm 30:20-21 "O how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee! Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee, in the sight of the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy Face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in Thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues."


Psalm 67:2 "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His Face."


I Corinthians 13:12 "We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to Face. Now I know I part; but then I shall know even as I am known."

 


Devotion to the Holy Face is like the Devotions to Christ's Childhood and Five Wounds: it is another aspect of focusing on the Incarnation that Latin Catholics love to contemplate, but an aspect that is especially compelling because of the nature of the human face. When we think of someone we love, we think of that person's face because it is primarily the face that identifies and expresses who that person is. Indeed, the very word "person" is rooted in the Latin word for "mask." We can look at a friend and know instantly how he is feeling by his subtle expression -- by the "lights" of his eyes and that ineffable way the eyes act as a "window to the soul."

Now consider! Because of the Incarnation, there is God with a human Face! The Divine Being with human eyes -- eyes into which human beings could gaze, eyes that beheld things as beautiful as His mother, and as ugly as soldiers' spittle. God with eyes that cried (John 11:35). Meditating on the Holy Face is not simply to recall the visage of some spiritual teacher who lived on earth 2,000 years ago; it is to realize something so movingly true about the One Who created the very Sun and Moon and stars: that He is a deeply personal Being, so personal that He took on our nature and walked among us, looking at us through human eyes, and letting Himself be seen.

John 14:5-9
Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would without doubt have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth the Father also.

So this is what the Father is like! Alleluia! God isn't some far-away, coldly intellectual "source"; He is Father, and we see Him through the human Face of His Son Who wept at the ugliness of St. Lazarus's death, Who healed the sick, Who allowed Himself to be beaten for our iniquities. We aren't evolved monkey-flesh that suffers needlessly and without meaning; we are creatures deeply loved by a personal God, called to partake of the Divine Nature! The very fact that God took on a human Face is a rich Mystery, and behind that adorable Countenace is the eternal Mystery of God Himself.

Devotion to the Holy Face isn't only a matter of marvelling at these Truths, however; in another sense, it is to "become St. Veronica "-- the woman we recall at the sixth Station of the Cross, the one who took pity on Him and wiped the sweat from His Face with her veil which bears the impession of His Holy Face to this day. It is to do as she did and comfort Jesus for the wounds the world still inflicts on Him with its irreverence, sacrilege, and blasphemy -- especially by doing that which pleases Him most: bringing souls to Him.

There has been devotion to the Holy Face ever since Our Lord walked the earth. His mother looking down into the manger and seeing the Face of a beautiful Boy, the eyes of St. Mary Magdalen as she looked up at Him with love after anointing His Feet with perfume, the already mentioned St. Veronica whose veil, along with the Holy Shroud, is the basis for our depictions of Christ in the icons upon which we've gazed for two millennia  -- all who saw Him and knew Who He was carried the image of His Holy Face with them in their hearts. But throughout Catholic History, there have been those who've done more than others to popularize the devotion in an explicit way.