Christ’s call for solidarity in offering reparation for our brethren is a reminder that lost souls are a real consequence of neglecting our duty as members of the Communion of Saints in which each member contributes to the good and welfare of all. Saint John Paul II speaks of each man’s responsibility to act as the Good Samaritan to our neighbors:
Christ’s revelation of the salvific meaning of suffering is in no way identified with an attitude of passivity…. The first and second parts of Christ’s words about the Final Judgment unambiguously show how essential it is, for the eternal life of every individual, to “stop,” as the Good Samaritan did, at the suffering of one’s neighbor, to have “compassion” for that suffering, and to give some help.[1]
Our Lord told Sister St. Pierre that “sinners, as clouds of dust borne on the wind, are whirled from this world and precipitated into hell. Have pity on your brethren and pray for them!”[2] Man is held accountable for not helping those in need around us, and far from it somehow detracting from the good one may obtain for oneself in prayer, man himself is saved when he intercedes for sinners. According to St. Gregory the Great, a penitent deserves to be heard the more quickly in his own behalf, the more devoutly he has interceded for his friends, for the sacrifice of prayer is more willingly received, which is favored with love for one’s neighbor.[3] Our Lord offers unparalleled promises for the faithful who practice the Devotion:
By my Holy Face you will work marvels.
You will obtain from my Holy Face the salvation of a multitude of sinners.
All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by doing perform the office of the pious Veronica.
According to the care they take in making reparation to My Face, disfigured by blasphemers, so will I take care of their souls which have been disfigured by sin. My Face is the Seal of the Divinity, which has the virtue of reproducing in souls the image of God; I will imprint thereon my own image, and I will render it as beautiful as when it came forth from the baptismal font.
My adorable Face is the seal of the Divinity, having the power to imprint Itself on the souls of those who apply it to their persons.
Those who by words, prayers or writing defend My cause in the Work of Reparation, especially My priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.
As in an earthly kingdom, the subjects can procure all they desire by being provided with a piece of money stamped with the effigy of the monarch, so also shall you be able to obtain all that you desire in the kingdom of heaven, on presenting the impress of my sacred humanity, which is my Holy Face.
Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of My Face shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory.
They will receive in their souls a bright and constant irradiation of My Divinity, that by their likeness to My Face they shall shine with particular splendor in Heaven.
I will defend them, I will preserve them, and I assure them of Final Perseverance.[4]
These promises attached to the Holy Face Devotion speak of the gift of God’s Kingdom, the salvation of a multitude, the working of prodigies, and the shining with splendor in Heaven. Clearly, they are unparalleled and supernaturally oriented,[5] which indicates the superior nature and the importance of the Devotion. God wishes to reward us in a marvelous fashion for making reparation not just for ourselves, but for others. He wishes to be “turned at the penance” of the faithful.
One may feel uneasy at some of the promises attached to the Devotion, seeing them as too fantastic, too liberal on the part of Our Lord, such that, perhaps, one may question whether they should be taken literally. One may question especially whether prodigies and marvels, as in miracles, could really flow from this devotion in the here and now. Remarkably, we have bountiful evidence of their literal truth. In 1851, less than a decade after these revelations began, Venerable Leon Dupont realized the first miracle to be tied to the Devotion. It was the first of thousands, spanned over a period of thirty years, such that Pope Pius IX declared Dupont “perhaps the greatest miracle worker in Church History.” The miracles were effected through the prayers of the Devotion and oil from a lamp burning in front of a Holy Face image, which had been touched to the Veronica’s Veil in the Vatican. This original veil had become miraculously “enlivened” for three hours on December 27, 1848, the third day of a Christmas octave exposition.
[1] Apostolic Letter of John Paul II: On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering (Boston: Pauline Books, 1984), 52-3.
[2] Sister Mary St. Peter, Life of Sister Mary St. Peter, ed. M. L’Abbe Janvier (France, 1884), 309.
[3] Morals on the Book of Job, Volume III, ed. Paul A. Boer, Sr. (Veritatis Splendor Publications, 2012), 630.
[4] Sister Mary St. Peter, Life of Sister Mary St. Peter, ed. M. L’Abbe Janvier (France, 1884), preface, 124,139,205, 251,254,255,256,263,291,302.
[5] As will be explained in greater detail in the forthcoming book, the promises attached to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts and to the Rosary, for example, are aligned generally more to personal salvation and temporal assistance versus the Holy Face promises which pertain to salvation of the masses, Heavenly rewards, and supernatural assistance.
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