FEASTS OF THE DAY
TUESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY, 2024
1) HOLY FACE OF JESUS
2) SAINT CATHERINE OF RICCI
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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.
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2) SAINT CATHERINE OF RICCI
MYSTIC AND STIGMATIST
(23 April 1522 - 2 February 1589)
Catherine was born to a well-known wealthy family in Florence, Italy, in 1522, and baptized with the name Alexandrina. When her mother died, Catherine was raised by a loving and devout stepmother, who immediately recognized the holiness and sanctity of her charge. Even in infancy, Catherine was prone to spending long periods of time in solitary prayer, a practice her stepmother encouraged. In her youth, Catherine was determined to join a religious order, but none she encountered were serious enough for her, their rules too relaxed for her devotion to the Lord.
At age fourteen, finding what she wanted, Catherine entered the Dominican convent of San Vincenzo in Tuscany. Her early years in the convent were marked by suffering and humiliation at the hands of the community. Her supernatural gifts of mysticism were not well understood, but eventually her sisters came to recognize her faith, humility, and service to others. Shortly thereafter she was chosen as Mistress of Novices, and at age 25, the community embracing her calling, Catherine was made Perpetual Prioress of the Order.
Gaining her position so young, Catherine served as counsel to many, including three future popes (Marcellus II, Clement VIII, and Leo XI). She corresponded supernaturally with Saint Philip Neri (“The Apostle of Rome, feast day: May 26), and she is reported to have miraculously appeared to him in visions during his life (they never having physically met).
Throughout her life, Catherine endured countless physical ailments and sufferings, the remedies offered at the time seemingly only increasing the severity of her symptoms. Despite her suffering, she engaged in extreme fasting and penance, and is said to have worn a heavy iron chain around her neck in recognition of the chains of sin that Jesus loosed for all humanity.
As Father Stephen Razzi, a Dominican Friar who knew her, wrote in 1594, “Her obedience, humility, and meekness were still more admirable than her spirit of penance.” She was known for treating the poor, sick, and ill, traveling the countryside on her knees in service and humility to others.
Saint Catherine's experience of the Passion of Our Lord occurred for twelve years, until she and the community prayed for it to stop. The attention and the visitors the convent was gaining due to her ecstasy had become disruptive to the Rules of the Order. During her weekly experience, Catherine's body was tortured, allowing her sisters to follow the Passion step by step. Catherine would bleed as if being scourged, her forehead would run with blood as if she were being crowned with thorns, a large indentation on her shoulder appeared where Jesus had carried the cross. She further experienced the stigmata and bled from a wound in her side where the lance had been thrust.
During these moments of passion, and other moments of deeply penitential prayer, a coral ring would appear on Catherine's finger, a sign of her marriage to the suffering of Christ. During her first ecstatic experience, she was presented with The Canticle of the Passion by Our Blessed Mother—a prayer which Mary urged her to share with others, so that they, too, may contemplate the sufferings of the Lord.
Saint Catherine died in 1589, her body having suffered both the trauma of the Passion, as well as a long illness. Her remains repose in the Convent of San Vincenzo where the Dominican Order still serves the Lord and the world.
PATRON: Against illness; sick people.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, who wast pleased that Blessed Catherine, Thy Virgin, should be inflamed with Thy love and made illustrious by the contemplation of Thy Passion, grant, through her intercession. that, devoutly dwelling on the mysteries of the passion, we may merit to receive its fruits. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
THE CANTICLE OF THE PASSION
My friends and My neighbors
have drawn near and stood against Me.
I was delivered up and came not forth;
My eyes languished through poverty.
And my sweat became as drops of blood,
trickling down and upon the ground.
For many dogs have encompassed Me
the council of the malignant hath besieged Me.
I have given My body to the strikers
and My cheeks to them that plucked them.
I have not turned away My face from them that rebuked Me
and spit upon Me.
For I am ready for scourges,
and My sorrow is continually before Me.
The soldiers, plaiting a crown of thorns, placed it upon My head.
They have dug My hands and feet;
they have numbered all My bones.
And they gave Me gall for My food;
and in My thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
All they that saw Me laughed Me to scorn;
they have spoken with lips and wagged their heads.
They have looked and stared upon Me;
they parted My garments among them and upon My vesture they cast lots.
Into Thy hands I commend My spirit;
Thou has redeemed me, O God of truth.
Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy servants,
when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom.
And Jesus having cried out with a loud voice
gave up the ghost.
The mercies of the Lord
I will sing for all eternity.
Surely He hath borne our infirmities
and carried our sorrows.
He was bruised for our sins.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray;
every one hath turned aside into his own way.
For the Lord hath placed upon him
the iniquities of us all.
Arise, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?
Arise and cast us not off to the end.
Behold, God is my Savior,
I will deal confidently, and will not fear.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, help Thy servants
whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
Have mercy on us, O benign Jesus.
Who in Thy clemency didst suffer for us.
Look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, on this Thy family for which Our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be delivered into the hands of the wicked, and suffer the torments of the Cross. Amen.