The Easter Mission

Homily for Easter Sunday

The Holy Face of Jesus IV: His Face In Us

The shock of the empty tomb was devastating for Mary Magdalen; it was salt in the wound already opened by the agony of the last few days. She witnessed Jesus' horrific suffering, saw him die on the cross, she had tried to comfort his mother as she held her son’s dead body in her arms. And then there was the loneliness of the burial rites, the hesitancy to leave the tomb because when she did she knew it was now definitely all over: he was gone. Now his body had been further defiled, stolen: "where have they put him?" She was desolate, empty and distraught; and yet, ironically, in reality this was a moment of victory and triumph. 

Mary Magdalen’s encounter with the Risen Jesus would exorcise this desolation – a desolation which was necessary, I believe, to prepare her heart for the new joy which was to come, and the mission the Lord had prepared for her. When she looked on the Face of her beloved Rabboni her anxiety evaporated and her faith was restored, renewed – transformed and deepened. She was a new woman: reborn, we might say, through the gaze of her resurrected Lord. Though she would want to stay and cling to him, Jesus immediately sends her out to the disciples to announce the resurrection. She will go before him like a new John the Baptist. This pattern will be repeated with the other disciples too: they will come to life again when they see the Risen Lord and he will send them out to the world to proclaim the Gospel and the Resurrection.

Many of the Church Fathers teach an astounding truth: God became man so man could become God – Deus fit homo ut homo fieret Deus, and we see the proof of this in the Resurrection. But this truth is not one which will only come to pass in the next life, it is to begin here and now in this world. When we look on the Face of Jesus, now glorified in the Resurrection, we not only see our destiny in heaven, but also our task on earth – we are to become the face of Jesus Christ in the world so in us the people of the world may come to see his Face, hear his voice through us, come to believe in him through the humble service we are called to carry out. As the disciples were sent out to proclaim Christ and the resurrection, so are we, and all of us are to bear the features of Christ himself.  Jesus said to St Philip: “To see me is to see the Father”, now it must be said that to see the disciples of Christ is also to see Christ who is living and working in them.  This was the intention of God from the beginning when he created man and woman in his own image and likeness; it was intended in the Incarnation when God became one of us to reveal himself to world through human flesh. And now we are the flesh which cooperates with God to reveal the Saviour and his message for all humankind. We are to be the Veronicas - the true icons of Christ in the world.

Our Easter joy emerges from the rising of Our Lord from the dead – death is conquered; it is the joy of the disciples gazing now and forever on the Face of their beloved Master; but it is also the joy of being sent out as his missionaries, transformed by him into images of him to win souls for him.  The veil has been lifted; the veil of our shadowy humanity has been torn down, from top of bottom, by Christ himself, and now he intends to shine through us so he can touch the lives and hearts of those who still live in the shadow of death. Gazing on the glorious Face of the Risen Jesus we are made to realise that we are to become like him, made into authentic images of him, not just for ourselves, but for the sake of the world.

His Glorious Face

Holy Face of Jesus Icon by Anna Chapin OCDS

For what it's worth. It's been a long weekend, I hope this makes sense.

Homily for the Easter Vigil 2015

The Holy Face of Jesus III: His Glorious Face

One of the most intriguing things about the accounts of the Lord’s resurrection is that some of the disciples did not recognize him. He stood in their midst but they thought he was someone else, a stranger. They knew what he looked like, they knew his particular features, they had often read his Face to understand what was going on in his heart and too often they failed to read as deeply as they wanted – the Heart of Christ was an unfathomable mystery, but his gentle Face was familiar and expressive. 

But in the resurrection accounts the Face of Jesus is itself for some, at first, an unfathomable mystery. And indeed it is, for now his Face reveals the glory of his divinity and the effects of the resurrection on his humanity. The Face of Jesus is transformed because he has been transformed. His disciples do not recognize him yet because they have not yet understood the resurrection; they still do not understand who he really is. It is when he calls them by name, or breaks bread in their midst, when he draws them to himself again, that their eyes are opened and they know him. Some like John, though, can recognize him from the distance.

The resurrection of the Lord is an unfathomable mystery, but to those with faith, who have entrusted themselves to Christ, it is the vision of his Face which leads them to understand and to plumb the depths of this mystery. It is through Christ that we not only come to understand the resurrection, but that through him we will come to share in it. In contemplating the Face of the Risen Jesus we come face to face with the reality of our redemption and our proposed transformation (I say proposed because God always leaves it up to us to accept it or reject it).

The human Face of Jesus, glorified in the resurrection, tells us that this event is no myth, it is real, it is physical, no mere spiritual phenomenon.  Gazing upon the Face of the Risen Jesus we look on the reality of God, on his work in the universe, on his presence among us and his plan for the human race; as St Paul reminds us in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “the glory of God is seen in the Face of Jesus Christ”.  Gazing on the Face of the Risen Jesus we see the full thrust of the Incarnation, a mystery that stretches from all eternity in the heart and will of God, enters time and gathers us up to the Cross and the empty tomb to the throne of the Eternal One. Contemplating the Face of the Risen Jesus we look right into the mysteries of God, into his life and we see what he has prepared for those who love him. 

In Face of the Risen Jesus we also see what our humanity really is, what it was meant to be and what it can be again thanks to Christ’s sacrifice. In his Holy Face we now see our future, our eternal life, a restored humanity. Perhaps one of the reasons many did not recognize the Risen Lord, and why many today do not know him, is because they do not know what humanity is, what God intended it to be. We misunderstand our existence, its purpose and its eternal destiny – we underrate it. When we encounter the fullness of humanity, which we see in Christ, we do not know how to cope with it because it challenges us, turns our lives upside down, we realise that we might have got it wrong. The Risen Christ tells us not to be afraid – we can get right and he is the one who can help us – he has already laid the groundwork for our transformation. When he appears before us in glory he invites us to embrace him and his work for a renewed humanity. So when we gaze on the Holy Face of the Risen Christ we are to see him in all his glory, but also see ourselves renewed and sharing in that glory. 

There are some who see that instinctively, like John who immediately saw and believed, who recognized Jesus from the distance; and then there are others who will struggle but in the process lay up a crown for their determination to surrender to Christ. Tonight we are to see that the veil has been lifted once again, the Face of Christ is revealed to this and we are now called to enter into that holy place where Christ is so we are changed and our world is changed. This holy night is a night of light, of mystical encounter, of praise and joy, because the glorious vision of the Risen Lord is offered to us, let us open our hearts and our lives to it. 

His Suffering Face

"You've started, so you can finish". Following last night's post, I'm told I have to continue. Here is the text of my homily at the Liturgy this afternoon, today we reflected on the Suffering Face of Jesus which is preserved in the Holy Shroud, but also on St Veronica's veil.

Homily for Good Friday 2015

The Holy Face of Jesus II: The Suffering Face

In his meditation on the Holy Shroud of Turin, during his Apostolic Visit to Turin in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI described the relic as an icon, and on this icon is preserved the image of the sufferings of Jesus, the wounds, the marks of his passion, that passion which we enter into today.  Contemplating the Shroud the full extent of the brutality meted out on the Lord becomes all too clear and it is hard not to become emotional as you count every wound (as if that was possible) and realise what each blood stain signifies. In this blood, his blood, the Lord reveals his image, and much more. Before being elected Pope, the then Cardinal Ratzinger elaborates on this in a paper delivered to a conference in Rimini in 2002; he wrote “He Who is Beauty Itself has let His Face be hit, has let Himself be spat upon and crowned with thorns. The Holy Shroud of Turin can let us imagine all that in a touching way. But in such a disfigured Face authentic, extreme Beauty appears: the beauty of the love which lasts "unto the end' and.....reveals itself as stronger than falsehood and violence”.

Today we can all become Veronica: today the suffering Face of Jesus is presented to us, a Face transfigured by pain, bearing the full burden not only of human affliction and suffering, but the greater burden of the sins of the entire world. Revealed on this Face is not just the suffering of man, but also the suffering of God. The Face of Jesus is covered in his blood, and with this blood he will imprint the image of his Face first on the towel of St Veronica as he makes his way up to Golgotha, and then, later, on the Shroud as he rests in death, the ordeal finally over: the Face of the Lamb of God sacrificed for us. We are to understand that if we wish to come to the vision of the Face of Christ, the vision of the Face of God, we must first enter into his passion and death. We are redeemed by that suffering, by that eternal oblation, so it is fitting that the only authentic image of Christ should be preserved on the cloths recording his passion, cloths that themselves were used to console: Veronica’s veil, lovingly offered to provide some comfort, some relief - to wipe away the blood, sweat and sand; the Shroud in which he was tenderly wrapped, as in swaddling clothes, to lay his body in the tomb.

This image of the suffering Face of Jesus is an icon in another way too: it is an icon of love, of the love of God. Here, reflected on the Lord’s suffering Face is the extent of how far God was prepared to go to save us – to offer his only Son as expiation for sin. There is no greater love, Jesus tells us, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend; Jesus laid his down for those who consider themselves his enemies: there is true love. The suffering Face of Jesus which we see imprinted on the Shroud is an invitation for us to draw close to him who was raised up for us to be reconciled. 

The veil is pulled across for us again today so in the Face of Jesus we can see God’s love, so we can be transformed by that image, touched to the heart, become repentant and be received back into the fold.

His Eucharistic Face

Maundy Thursday is the day of the Eucharist and the day of the Priesthood. At our Mass this evening I preached on the Eucharistic Face of Jesus - I'm taking the Holy Face as the theme of my Triduum homilies. I was asked to put the homily on my blog, I usually don't, but I agreed. So here is the text of my reflections this evening; it might be of use to some of you.

Homily for Maundy Thursday 2015

The Holy Face of Jesus I: The Eucharistic Face of Jesus

In a few weeks’ time the famous Shroud of Turin will be exposed in an Extraordinary Solemn Exposition to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of St John Bosco. Millions will come from around the world to see it. It is a relic that has captured the attention of generations and for many it is intriguing not only because of its age, the seemingly miraculous nature of its composition as an image, but also because it may well reveal the very Face of Jesus himself. It is a relic associated with these days of the Triduum because in it we are confronted us with the reality of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. Over these days of the Triduum, in my homilies, I would like to take as our focus the Holy Face of Jesus not only to help us enter these days, and the forthcoming Exposition of the Shroud, but also to help us grow in our relationship with the Lord who became man so we could look upon him and be fulfilled in that desire to see the Face of God.

In his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the Church and the Eucharist, Pope St John Paul II speaks of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus. This last encyclical, written for Holy Thursday 2003, was prompted by his visit to the Upper Room in Jerusalem in 2000, to the place where the first Mass, the Last Supper, was celebrated. He says in the letter, “I cannot let this Holy Thursday 2003 pass without halting before the “Eucharistic face” of Christ and pointing out with new force to the Church the centrality of the Eucharist”. Tonight as we celebrate that first Mass and ponder the mysteries of the Passion, death and resurrection of the Lord we too must halt before his Eucharistic Face to contemplate, to pray and to enter more deeply into his life, for there we find our own lives. On this Holy Night, we also recognize the centrality of the Eucharist, its venerable nature, and also understand that in it the Face of Jesus Christ is revealed. 

Why did Jesus give us the Eucharist? As a memorial, as he says himself: but as a memorial of what?  A memorial of his suffering, death and resurrection. The Last Supper was to be understood in the context of the Passover – it was a Seder meal, but of a new Passover, the Passover which would take place the next day when the Lamb of God, Jesus himself would be sacrificed for the people, when his blood would be daubed on wood and the angel of the Lord would pass over the sinful nations and gather the blood of Christ as the expiation for our sins. The Eucharist is that sacrifice which continues in the Church to this day each time Holy Mass is offered. Each time we gather for Mass, we enter that sacrifice and its fruits are given to us to eat, its graces are poured over us. The Church is nourished by the Eucharist, she truly becomes the Church in the Eucharist.

The Eucharistic banquet is one in which we are fed by his own body and blood, with his own life to give us life, with his grace so we can live as his people. The sacramental grace we receive in the Eucharist is one which nourishes our souls and makes us strong, strong to live the Gospel, to excel, to become heroic in the practice of virtue, to face the challenges, trials and sufferings of life. The heart that is open to this will derive great benefit, many blessings and divine strength from the Eucharist. They will no longer complain about not being able to live the Gospel, meet its standards, but like any athlete will rise to the challenge and triumph.

In the Eucharist Jesus also fulfills his promise to stay with us even to the end of time. Present in our tabernacles, he is here for us, he calls out to us, invites us in to is company, and in his company we will never be alone.

And then in the Eucharist we receive the vision of the Face of Jesus. In faith, when we gaze on the Host, but even better still when we receive him in Holy Communion, we are allowed to see his Face – not with the eyes of the body, but with the eyes of the soul. To the soul that is open, living the way of the Lord, to the humble soul that Face is revealed. In his life many saw Jesus, they saw his Face, but to them he was just another man, indeed a man they came to hate. But his disciples, those who believed in him, they looked on his Face and saw the face of God. As Jesus himself said to St Philip: “to see me is to see the Father”. Likewise to some the Eucharistic is just bread, taken, eaten, forgotten. But to those who believe – who know the truth, it is the Lord, and when he enters in Holy Communion, they are filled with his presence, and their souls can see his Face, they contemplate his features, they look upon him as he looks upon them. 

The Holy Face of Jesus is revealed in the Eucharist and he intended this: that those who worship him in that holy sacrament may rejoice in this vision that is waiting for them. In giving us the Eucharist, Jesus offers us that vision and it is only the blindness our hearts impose on our souls that prevents us from seeing him. This vision is offered to console us, to strengthen us, and like the lovers who gaze into each other’s eyes we are to do the same – to look on him and fall deeply in love with him. Our encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist is to be the meeting of lovers, where we ponder the beauty of his Face, the majesty of his body offered for us, the glory of his divinity. 

On this Holy Thursday we enter into the events of that night when Jesus offered the Last Supper, suffering the agony in the garden, was betrayed and arrested and taken from his disciples to begin his passion. Some, and I hope, many of you will spend time at the Altar of Repose tonight and there, I also hope, you will seek to contemplate his Holy Face as you meditate on these events. Jesus himself said to one of his visionaries, Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli “He who contemplates me, consoles me” – your contemplation of his Holy Face tonight will console the Lord in his agony. But as you receive him in Holy Communion tonight, remember that kiss – the kiss of Judas planted on the Lord’s face, the ultimate symbol of betrayal. In your Communion, in your contemplation, kiss him too, but let your kiss be one of veneration and adoration, to console rather than betray, and make that kiss a sign of your determination to love him more, as we all should.

Tonight, the veil is lifted, the Eucharistic Face of Jesus is revealed, come us let us worship, let us gaze on him and console him.

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.