Act of Reparation for all the Outrages Jesus Christ Suffered in His Holy Face for our Personal Sins
My Divine Face which has few Adorers
I desire to make reparation for all the outrages Thou hast endured for me, the most miserable of Thy creatures, in all the members of Thy Blessed Body, and particularly in Thy adorable Face, disfigured by blows and defiled by spittle, and hardly to be recognised through the cruel treatment which Thou didst receive from the impious Jews.
I salute Thee, O blessed Eyes, all bathed in tears for my salvation. I salute Thee, O blessed Ears, assailed by insults, blasphemies and cruel mockeries.
I salute Thee, O blessed Mouth, filled with graces and tenderness for us sinners, but embittered with vinegar and gall by the monstrous ingratitude of that people, whom Thou didst choose, from among all others.
In reparation for all these ignominies I offer Thee all the homage which is given Thee in that holy place, where Thou art pleased to be honoured with a special worship, uniting myself thereto.
Amen.
Abridged from the History of the Holy Face of our Saviour preserved in the cathedral at Laon.
Prayers of Monsieur Dupont, "the Holy Man of Tours"
O adorable Face of my Jesus, so mercifully bowed upon the tree of the Cross on the day of Thy Passion, for the salvation of men, now inclined in Thy pity towards us, poor sinners; cast upon us a look of compassion, and receive us to the kiss of peace. Amen
O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thy adorable Face, to beg of Thee the graces we most need, we beseech Thee, to give us above all things the disposition of never refusing at any time to do what Thou requirest of us by Thy commandments and divine inspirations. Amen.
Be merciful to us, O my God, and reject not our prayers when we call on Thy Name in the midst of our afflictions, and seek Thy adorable Face with loving hearts. Amen.
O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Son, Jesus. We present it to Thee with confidence to implore Thy pardon. The All-Merciful Advocate opens His Mouth to plead our cause: hearken to His voice, behold His tears, O God, and, through His infinite merits, listen to Him when He intercedes for us, poor sinners. Amen.
May I die consumed by an ardent thirst to see the adorable Face of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! (St. Edmund).
Towards the end of his life Monsieur Dupont very often repeated this prayer.
Prayer of the Little Flower to the Holy Face of Jesus
O Jesus, whose Face is the sole beauty that ravishes my heart, I may not see here below the sweetness of Thy glance, nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy kiss, I bow to Thy Will—but I pray Thee to imprint in me Thy divine likeness, and I implore Thee so to inflame me with Thy love, that it may quickly consume me, and that I may soon reach the vision of Thy glorious Face in heaven. Amen.
Prayer of Pope Clement IV
After the Holy Shroud of Turin
Almighty and Eternal God, through whose grace the image of the Holy Face of Thy Son doth shine forth radiantly to Thy devout people, grant us, we beseech Thee, the remission of our sins, and direct all the thoughts, words and actions of those who confide in Thy mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
Invocations to The Holy Face in Reparation for Blasphemies and for the Conversion of Blasphemers
Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us,
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us,
Holy Mary pray for us,
O adorable Face, which was adored with profound respect by Mary and Joseph, when they saw Thee for the first time, have mercy on us
O adorable Face, which in the stable of Bethlehem didst ravish with joy the Angels, the Shepherds and the Magi, have mercy on us
O adorable Face, which in the Temple didst transpierce with a dart of love the saintly old man and the prophetess Anna, etc..
O adorable Face, which was bathed in tears in Thy holy Infancy,
O adorable Face, which, when Thou wert twelve years old, didst appear in the Temple, and fill the doctors of the Law with admiration,
O adorable Face, white with purity and ruddy with charity,
O adorable Face, more beautiful than the sun, lovelier than the moon, more brilliant than the stars,
O adorable Face, fresher than the roses of summer,
O adorable Face, more precious than gold, silver and diamonds,
O adorable Face, whose charms are so ravishing and whose grace is so attractive,
O adorable Face, whose every feature is marked by nobility, contemplated by the angels.
O adorable Face, sweet delectation of the saints.
O adorable Face, Masterpiece of the Holy Ghost, in which the Eternal Father is well pleased.
O adorable Face, delight of Mary and Joseph,
O adorable Face, ineffable mirror of the divine perfections,
O adorable Face, whose beauty is ever ancient and ever new,
O adorable Face, which appeaseth the wrath of God,
O adorable Face, which makest the devils tremble,
O adorable Face, treasure of all grace and blessing,
O adorable Face, exposed in the desert to the inclemency of the weather,
O adorable Face, scorched by the heat of the sun, and bathed in sweat on Thy journeys,
O adorable Face, whose expression is wholly divine, pray for us
O adorable Face, whose modesty and sweetness attracted both just and sinners, etc.
O adorable Face, which blessed and kissed the little children.
O adorable Face, troubled and weeping at the grave of Lazarus,
O adorable Face, brilliant as the sun and radiant with glory on Mount Thabor,
O adorable Face, sad at the sight of Jerusalem and shedding tears over the ungrateful city.
O adorable Face, bowed to the earth in the garden of Olives, and covered with shame at the sight of our sins,
O adorable Face, bathed in a bloody sweat,
O adorable Face, kissed by the traitor Judas,
O adorable Face, whose sanctity and majesty smote the soldiers with fear and cast them to the ground,
O adorable Face, struck by a vile servant, shamefully blind-folded and profaned by the sacrilegious hands of Thy enemies,
O adorable Face, defiled with spittle, and bruised with innumerable buffets and blows,
O adorable Face, whose divine look wounded Peter's heart with a dart of sorrow and love,
O adorable Face, humbled for us at the tribunals of Jerusalem,
O adorable Face, which didst preserve Thy serenity when Pilate pronounced the fatal sentence,
O adorable Face, covered with sweat and blood, and falling in the mire under the weight of the Cross,
O adorable Face, worthy of our respect, veneration and devotion,
O adorable Face, wiped by a pious woman on the road to Calvary,
O adorable Face, raised up on the Cross,
O adorable Face, whose brow was crowned with thorns,
O adorable Face, whose Eyes were filled with blood,
O adorable Face, into whose Mouth was poured vinegar and gall,
O adorable Face, whose Hair and Beard were torn out by the executioners,
O adorable Face, which was made to look like the face of a leper,
O adorable Face, whose incomparable beauty was obscured under the dreadful cloud of the sins of the world,
O adorable Face, covered with the shades of death,
O adorable Face, washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women and then wrapped in a shroud, enclosed in the sepulchre,
O adorable Face, all resplendent with glory and beauty on the day of the Resurrection,
O adorable Face, all dazzling with light at the moment of Ascension,
O adorable Face, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament,
O adorable Face, which will appear with great majesty in the clouds of heaven at the end of the world,
O adorable Face, which will cause sinners to tremble, which will fill the Just with joy for all eternity,
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Have merry on us. O Lord.
I salute Thee, I adore Thee, and I love Thee, O adorable Face of Jesus, my Beloved, noble seal of the Divinity; with all the powers of my soul, I apply myself to Thee and most humbly pray Thee to imprint the features of Thy Divine likeness on my heart.
Amen.
The Golden Arrow
"Rejoice, My Daughter; because the hour approaches when the most beautiful work under the sun will be born."
Our Lord To Sister Mary of St. Peter
Our Lord refers here to the work of reparation to the Holy Face, which He revealed is destined to be the means of defeating atheistic Communism and restoring peace to the world.
In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun received a series of revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide-----he 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]----- through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief-----as well as for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians. Specifically, this devotion is the Divine tool given by God to defeat Communism, but it 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.
Our Lord gave Sister Mary a short but powerful prayer called' 'The Golden Arrow," by which a person can "shoot directly into the Heart of God" to heal the wounds inflicted on it by the malice of sinners. Of the 9 promises connected with this devotion, the first three are 1) "By My Holy Face you will work miracles;" 2) "By My Face you will obtain the conversion of many sinners;" and 3) "Nothing you ask in making this offering will be refused to you." This devotion brought St. Therese to her great sanctity. Anyone who is searching for a spiritual method for fighting atheism, socialism, materialism and paganism and its programs and/or who is searching for a virtually infallible method of prayer will be delighted with The Golden Arrow devotions.
"Just as in an earthly kingdom money which is stamped with the picture of the sovereign or ruling executive of the country procures whatever one desires to purchase, so likewise in the Kingdom of Heaven, you shall obtain all that you desire by offering the coin of My precious Humanity which is My adorable Face."
Our Lord To Sr. Mary of St. PeterTHE "GOLDEN ARROW" PRAYER
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.
After receiving this prayer, Sister Mary of St. Peter was given a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus delightfully wounded by this "Golden Arrow" as torrents of graces streamed from It for the conversion of sinners.
The aim of this little presentation is to revive devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus as a means of Reparation to God for the crimes committed against His Divine Majesty. The question may be asked, was not this Devotion of Reparation universally practiced in the Church some years ago? The answer is, yes, it was widespread for many years after the Brief of Pope Leo XIII canonically established the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face in 1885. Unfortunately, however, it was neglected and forgotten in the years immediately prior to the First World War in 1914. Was it not perhaps due to our failure to continue this Reparation, as demanded by Our Divine Lord in His revelations to the holy Carmelite of Tours, that God allowed the "malice of wicked men" to precipitate us into two world conflicts, with all their indescribable horrors?
And now, when we live daily on the verge of a Third World War, which threatens total destruction because of atomic weapons presently in the hands of our enemies, shall we at last embrace this reparation demanded by Our Lord? The "revolutionary men," designated by Our Lord Himself as Communists [a state of political mind and intent apart from a specific organization: "Communism is not dead" as has bee stated by the pundits among us, but is being revived in the new anti-God one world, one religion (pagan movement)], have so engulfed the world in turmoil that humanity faces destruction. This was the consensus of opinion from unimpeachable sources, including Pope Pius XII, who that there persists a general world condition which explode at any moment."
Addressing Himself mystically to the pious Carmelite nun, Our Lord told her that especially to His priests He promises He will defend them before His Father in Heaven and give them His kingdom if they, through words, prayers or writings, defend His cause in this work of "reparation." Pastors, therefore, and priests who desire to answer this call should endeavor, through regular procedure, to establish the Confraternity of the Holy Face in their parishes.
PROMISES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN FAVOR OF THOSE WHO HONOR HIS HOLY FACE
- All those who honor My Face in a spirit of reparation will by so 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.
- Those who by words, prayers or writing defend My cause in this Work of Reparation I will defend before My Father, and will give them My Kingdom.
- By offering My Face to My Eternal Father, nothing will be refused, and the conversion of many sinners will be obtained.
- By My Holy Face, they will work wonders, appease the anger of God and draw down mercy on sinners.
- 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.
- 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.
This prayer was dictated by our Lord Himself to Sister Mary of St. Peter. Opening His Heart to her, our Savior 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 Savior dictated the 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 published above and on page two of the Golden Arrow segment of the Holy Face Devotion, is regarded as the very basis of the Work of Reparation. It is recommended for recitation on each of the thirty-three beads of the Holy Face Chaplet.
REVELATION OF OCTOBER 30, 1845
In this revelation our Lord imparts a most sublime instruction, showing the position of the Holy Face in relation to the Adorable Trinity Itself.
REMEMBER, Oh, my soul, the holy instruction which your Divine Spouse imparted to you today concerning His adorable Face. Remember that this Divine Head represents the Eternal Father Who is unbegotten, that the mouth of this Holy Face represents the Divine Word, begotten of the Father, and that the two eyes of this adorable Face are the symbol of the reciprocal love of the Father and the Son, for these two eyes possess only one light, and one identical knowledge between them both, and they produce the one same love, which represents the Holy Ghost.
Contemplate in His locks of hair the infinite number of the adorable perfections of the Blessed Trinity. Behold in this majestic Head that precious portion of the Humanity of the Savior which is the very Image of the Oneness of God.
Now it is this adorable Savior's Face brimming with ineffable mysteries which blasphemers cover with disgrace, renewing the bitter sufferings of His Passion, each time they assail the Divinity, for the Holy Face is the very Image of God!
In this exquisite communication, our Lord enders all His merits to Sister Mary of St. Peter, as He tells her to pay with them the debts incurred by the sins of the nation. He encourages her zeal by disclosing to her that the Work of Reparation will ultimately be established.
OUR LORD continues to press me urgently to suffer for our country. He said to me:
"Just as I have taken on myself the sins of the whole world, so I now desire that you assume those of your nation. I Myself will suffer in you in order to appease the anger of My Father and I will give you all My merits by which you can pay the debts incurred by the sins of your country."
I accepted our Lord's proposal and then it was that I beheld myself as though covered with all the sins of the nation and I begged God's forgiveness for these sins with the same shame as though I had committed these crimes myself. On another day when our Lord had insisted again that I make reparation for our whole country, I hesitated, hardly daring to believe that He could wish to make use of so common an instrument as myself for so great a task. He then said to me by way of comparison:
As in the order of My Providence, in temporal affairs I give a particular ruler to a particular nation to be its sovereign, cannot I also, in the order of grace, assign a particular country to the care of a special individual in order that she should take charge of that country's spiritual welfare? That is the reason why I now assign this particular nation to your special care and I urge you to pray and to sacrifice yourself in its behalf."
After that our Lord declared:
I again give you My Sacred Head so that you may offer it to My Father to appease His justice. Oh, if you but knew the power and the virtue that reside therein! And the reason why My Head possesses this power and virtue is because I have taken upon My Head all the sins of mankind so that My Members may be spared. Therefore, offer My Face to My Eternal Father for this is the means by which to appease Him."
He then added:
"I desire this Work of Reparation. Although the fruits which you bear have not yet ripened be assured that finally the time will come when the Work shall be established.
REVELATION OF NOVEMBER 22, 1846
Placing no bounds to the efficacy of the Devotion to the Holy Face, our Savior informs Sister Mary of St. Peter that the treasure of His Face is of such tremendous value that through It ALL matters can be settled! HERE IS the substance of a new revelation which our Lord gave me relative to the Holy Face:
"My daughter," He said, "I take you today for my stewardess. I place My Holy Face in your hands that you may offer it unceasingly to My Father for the salvation of your country. Turn this Divine gift to good profit, for the treasure of My Holy Face in itself possesses such tremendous value that through It all the affairs of My household can readily be settled. Through this Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of many sinners. Nothing that you ask in virtue of the Holy Face will be refused you. Oh, if you only knew how pleasing is the sight of My Face to My Father!"
Although Sister Mary was until now apparently in fair health, following all the religious exercises prescribed by the Holy Rule, and performing all her duties as Portress Sister, she suddenly developed certain alarming symptoms, and after being examined by a physician, she was found to be mortally ill. Besides suffering from severe pulmonary tuberculosis, she also developed an ulcerated throat which fittingly symbolized her role in life, as that of a victim repairing especially for blasphemies uttered by the tongues of guilty men. For two and a half months she was unable to take any solid food whatever and subsisted only on a small quantity of liquids. Enduring her pains with resignation, and even joy, she almost constantly for the salvation of souls, while she to exchange this world for the next.
Shortly before she died she was asked about the to the Holy Face, to which she answered:
"I have the greatest hopes. The plans of the wicked will be foiled! It was to accomplish this that the Work of Reparation to the Holy Face was revealed. Now that this is done my career is ended for it was for this Work that God had placed me on earth, as our Lord has made known to me. Oh how true it is that God has means of satisfying His justice which are unknown known to men."
Once when she was asked to apply certain of her sufferings for a special intention, she replied:
"I do not know whether I am free to do so because I am entirely consecrated as a victim to the cause of the Work of Reparation."
She died in the odor of sanctity on July 8, 1848, in the thirty-third year of her life, less than four months after the interview she had held with the Secretary who told her that while she was allowed to apply herself to the Work of Reparation, she was never again to ask for the establishment of the Work in the diocese. At the time this seemed, indeed, a difficult order to fulfill for one who was by Divine Providence selected as an apostle to work for the propagation of the Cult of the Holy Face as her particular mission in life . . .
After her death, Reparation through the Devotion to the Holy Face was chiefly kept up through the fervor of a wealthy retired lawyer of Tours, a devoted friend of the nun, Leo Dupont. Having procured a picture of the Holy Face, which was touched to the true relic of the veil of Veronica at the Vatican. this exemplary Christian hung it on a prominent wall of his drawing room before which he kept a lamp burning, as a token of veneration.
So many extraordinary favors were granted to those who prayed before this picture that the residence of Mons. Dupont became a private place of pilgrimage. For the next thirty years, to the end of his life [he died in 1876], Leo Dupont kept the flame of Reparation alive in his home for the benefit of all who wished to intercede to God before it. Three months after his saintly death, his home was transformed into a public chapel. Soon afterwards the Work of Reparation was referred to the decision of the Supreme Pontiff, Leo XIII, who wholeheartedly approved the Devotion, through the formality of a Papal Brief.
So was erected in perpetuity the Archconfraternity of Reparation in the Oratory of Leo Dupont, in 1885, where until the present day priests still carry out the mission of Sr. Mary of St. Peter, to whom our Lord revealed a hundred years ago ago the real weapon that is destined to overthrow Communism.
This weapon is Devotion to the Holy Face as a means of Reparation for the outrageous crimes of blasphemy, atheism, the crimes of modern freethinkers, and the profaners of the Lord's Day, which are the evils that more than any other cry to heaven for vengeance and that today bring us face to face with the threat of nuclear war and which consequence would admittedly be the destruction of all civilization as we know it.
SOURCE: THE GOLDEN ARROW, The Revelations of Sr. Mary of St. Peter, TAN Books and Publishers, Ed., Dorothy Scallon with Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat 1954.