FEASTS OF THE DAY
TUESDAY, 21 FEBRUARY, 2023
1) HOLY FACE OF JESUS
2) SAINT PETER DAMIAN
_
1) HOLY FACE OF JESUS
"THIS SALUTARY REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS IS A DIVINE WORK, DESTINED TO SAVE MODERN SOCIETY." (PIUS IX)
On April 17th, 1958, His Holiness Pope Pius XII approved the observance of a Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus on Shrove Tuesday (Tuesday before Ash Wednesday).
SISTER MARIE OF ST. PETER AND THE GOLDEN ARROW
In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun, Sister Marie of St. Peter, received a series of revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide - the devotion to his Holy Face. The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of 'Revolutionary men' (the Communists), as well as for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians. This devotion is also an instrument given to the individual devotee as a seemingly unfailing method of appealing to God in prayer - through adoration of His Holy Face and Name.
The following prayer was dictated by our Lord Himself to Sister Marie of St. Peter. Opening His Heart to her, our Saviour complained of blasphemy, saying that this frightful sin wounds His divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, for it was like a "poisoned arrow".
After that, our Saviour dictated the following prayer, which he called "The Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite this prayer would pierce Him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners. This prayer is regarded as the very basis of the Work of Reparation.
PRAYER OF REPARATION IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY NAME OF GOD ENTITLED "THE GOLDEN ARROW"
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven, on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
SISTER PIERINA AND DEVOTION TO THE HOLY FACE
The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli, a holy nun who died in 1945, was urged in many visions by the Blessed Mother and Jesus Himself to spread the devotion to the Holy Face, in reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in His Passion, such as to be slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as now being dishonoured in many ways in the Blessed Sacrament by neglect, sacrileges and profanations.
She was given a medal, which on one side bore a replica of the Holy Shroud and the inscription: “Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos”. - Ps. 4:6 “May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us”. On the reverse side was a radiant Host, with the words, “Mane nobiscum, Domine”. – “Stay with us, O Lord” Luke 24:29.
After great difficulties, Sister Pierina obtained permission to the have the medal cast. Even the expenses for the casting were miraculously met when she found on her desk an envelope with the exact amount of the bill – 11,2000 lire. The evil spirit showed his chagrin and rage at the medals by flinging them down and burning the pictures of the Sacred Face, and beating Sister Pierina savagely.
In 1940, when the Second World War had the world in turmoil, Italy saw a wide distribution of this medal. Relatives and friends saw that their soldiers, sailors and aviators were provided with the replica of the Holy Face of Jesus since the medal was already famous for its miracles and countless spiritual and temporal favours.
IN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD TO SISTER PIERINA
“By My Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of numberless sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused to you. According to the care you take in making reparation To My Face, disfigured by blasphemers, I will take care of yours, which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint on it My Image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal Font. I promise personal and spiritual protection to all who venerate this medal.”
Sister Pierina was beatified on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome - the first beatification ever held within its walls. Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, celebrated the ceremony, in representation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Our Lord promised St. Gertrude: “All those who meditate frequently on the vision of My Divine Face, attracted by the desires of love, shall receive within them, through My Humanity, a bright ray of My Divinity, which shall enlighten their inmost souls so that they shall reflect the light of My countenance in a special manner throughout eternity.”
PRAYER OF MOTHER MARIA PIERINA
O Blessed Face of my kind Savior, by the tender love and piercing sorrow of Our Lady as she beheld you in your cruel Passion, grant us to share in this intense sorrow and love so as to fulfill the holy will of God to the utmost of our ability. Amen.
PROMISES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
(Revelations to Sr. Mary of St. Peter)
1. By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.
2. By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy on sinners.
3. All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so doing perform the office of the pious Veronica.
4. 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.
5. Those who by words, prayers or writings defend My cause in the Work of Reparation, especially My priests, I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.
6. As in a kingdom they can procure all that is desired with a coin stamped with the King's effigy, so in the Kingdom of Heaven they will obtain all they desire with the precious coin of My Holy Face.
7. Those who on earth contemplate the wounds of My Face shall in Heaven behold it radiant with glory.
8. 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.
9. I will defend them, I will preserve them and I assure them of Final Perseverance.
_
2) SAINT PETER DAMIAN
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, CARDINAL-BISHOP
(1007 - February 22, 1072)
St. Peter Damian was born in Ravenna, Italy, around 1007. He was the youngest of many children in his family. Although they were noble, the family was poor, and Peter was orphaned at a young age. He was adopted by one of his older brothers, who treated him poorly, malnourishing him and forcing him to work as a swineherd.
A few years later, another of his brothers, who was the archpriest at Ravenna, named Damianus took him out of the care of the other brother and sent him to be educated. Peter was grateful for Damianus' kindness and took Damianus as his second name. Peter excelled in his education, particularly in theology and canon law. By the age of 25, he was a famous teacher at the University of Parma and at Ravenna.
After the school day was finished, Peter often invited students and poor people to his home for dinners that he served himself. He remembered what it felt like to be hungry.
Already in those days, Peter was very strict with himself. He wore a hair shirt under his clothes, fasted rigorously and spent many hours in prayer. Soon, he decided to leave his teaching and give himself completely to prayer with the Benedictines of the reform of Saint Romuald at Fonte Avellana. Peter was so eager to pray and slept so little that he soon suffered from severe insomnia. He found he had to use some prudence in taking care of himself. When he was not praying, he studied the Bible.
The abbot commanded that when he died Peter should succeed him. Abbot Peter founded five other hermitages. He encouraged his brothers in a life of prayer and solitude and wanted nothing more for himself. The Holy See periodically called on him, however, to be a peacemaker or troubleshooter, between two abbeys in dispute or a cleric or government official in some disagreement with Rome.
Finally, Pope Stephen IX made Peter the cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He worked hard to wipe out simony (the buying of church offices), and encouraged his priests to observe celibacy and urged even the diocesan clergy to live together and maintain scheduled prayer and religious observance. He wished to restore primitive discipline among religious and priests, warning against needless travel, violations of poverty, and too comfortable living. He even wrote to the bishop of Besancon complaining that the canons there sat down when they were singing the psalms in the Divine Office.
He wrote many letters. Some 170 are extant. We also have 53 of his sermons and seven lives, or biographies, that he wrote. He preferred examples and stories rather than theory in his writings. The liturgical offices he wrote are evidence of his talent as a stylist in Latin.
Between 1049 and 1054, he composed the powerful book Liber Gomorrhianus, or “Book of Gomorrah”, addressing it to the new pope, Leo IX, who himself would eventually be canonized. Pope St. Leo IX praised St. Peter Damian's work and the monk became a key reformer, addressing widespread excesses and grave sins.
In 1061, he helped resolve a dispute about the papacy. The antipope, Cadalous (Honorius II) laid claim to the papacy, but Peter attempted to convince him to withdraw his claim. Cadalous refused. When a council was summoned to Augsburg, a long statement by Peter Damian was read, which influenced the decision in favor of Alexander II.
He asked often to be allowed to retire as cardinal-bishop of Ostia, and finally Pope Alexander II consented. Peter was happy to become once again just a monk, but he was still called to serve as a papal legate. When returning from such an assignment in Ravenna, he was overcome by a fever. With the monks gathered around him saying the Divine Office, he died on February 22, 1072.
As a monk, a bishop, and a saint, Peter Damian lived one of the Benedictine Rules completely: “Do not prefer anything to the love of Christ.”
Peter Damian was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XII in 1828. His feast day is February 21. His body is now located in a chapel dedicated to him in the cathedral of Faenza.
PATRON: Faenza, Italy.
SYMBOLS: Cardinal bearing a discipline in his hand; pilgrim holding a papal Bull, to signify his many legations.
PRAYER: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we may so follow the teaching and example of the Bishop Saint Peter Damian, that, putting nothing before Christ and always ardent in the service of your Church, we may be led to the joys of eternal light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.