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Et Reliqua
Sermons and Reflections from the Deanery
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Veronica's veil
Join our act of reparation by seeking the holy face of jesus
For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.
(I Corinthians 13, 12)
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus
In the year of our Lord 1844, a French Carmelite nun named Sister Mary of St. Peter claimed that our blessed Lord had himself revealed this devotion to her at Mount Carmel. She stated that he wanted this devotion spread throughout the world as a way of making reparation for the sins that offend God.
Taking the good sister’s words to heart, a layman named Leo Dupont started the private practice of this devotion to the Holy Face. Miracles immediately began to occur and lasted for a period of more than thirty years. This created a sensation throughout France, and the Catholic Church began an investigation into the miracles, ultimately recognizing them and the revelations to Sister Mary of St. Peter as authentic.
Pope Pius IX granted indulgences to those devoted to the Holy Face, as did his successor Pope Leo XIII, who, in 1885, established this special devotion as an Archconfraternity for the entire world.
A Devotion For Our Time
If our Blessed Lord requests us to make reparation for the sins that offend God, surely the present time demands our sacrifices more than any other period of history. With all the benefits and graces of the Redemption at our disposal we have nevertheless managed to descend to the lowest ever level of universal immorality and institutionalized corruption.
We may leave it to others to figure out the reasons why this happened, and to work on human solutions to escape the present horrors and inevitable chastisement that must follow. But what we cannot do is shirk our own responsibility to make the reparation due to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus for the infinite offences perpetrated against him.
Each of us must act now–decisively and with firm commitment–to offer up our prayers and daily sacrifices. We must do this not because we seek miracles, nor to escape the wrath of God, but rather, simply because we love God.
A Devotion of Love
What more effective way to inspire this love than to look into the Face of our suffering Saviour? Who among us can witness this bleeding and sorrowful Face without being moved to repentance and a commitment to a holier life? And where else is the beauty and suffering of this Holy Face so real than in the image our Saviour left on the Veil of Veronica?
When this holy woman took her veil to wipe away some of the bloody sweat and spittle from the face of Jesus as he carried his Cross to Calvary, she was rewarded by the appearance on that veil of a miraculous image. It was the true image of Christ’s Holy Face, resplendent in suffering, gazing with love upon us who crucified him with our sins, challenging us to rise, take up our own cross, and follow him
An Urgent Call from Heaven
Do we live in fear and anxiety in this world gone mad? Does the ever-tightening grip of evil make us cry out in the dark hours of the night to God for help? “Save us, Lord, for we perish!” Do we feel helpless?
An Urgent Call from Heaven
It is true that in human terms we are faced with an enemy who seems to have gained the upper hand. But our blessed Lord has shown us how we may avoid despair, how we may even participate, heroically, in the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. “Let not your heart be troubled,” he said to his disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.” That image on the Veil of Veronica is the Face of our Saviour, our Redeemer. Heaven is still our destiny if we love him by following his commandments. And Heaven may yet be the destiny of other sinners too if we do our small part to make reparation for their sins.
The Society of Veronica’s Veil is just one humble way in which we can unite our prayers and penances with those of each other. We come to these webpages regularly, sinners one and all, to recite the devotions to the Holy Face. It is our oasis of peace but also our battlefield against the wiles of the Devil. We find our consolation here, but also the weapons to fight on. We do so with the blessed assurance that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will ultimately triumph and that she will, once and for all, crush the head of the serpent beneath her heel.
Betrayal
The Catholic Church has been betrayed from within. With the same foul spirit of treason shown by the Apostle Judas, modernist Popes, Bishops and Priests have conspired against the Mystical Body of Christ, bringing confusion, loss of faith, division, and an ever-growing frenzy of hatred to a world gone mad.
Crucifixion
And yet it is within this world that we must live. Divine Providence has chosen us to be the ones to endure this perverse new spiritual crucifixion of our Blessed Lord and the Church he founded. Let us not be reluctant to do God’s will. Let us freely choose the path of reparation for the crimes committed against our Saviour.
Reparation
Our reparation consists in showing devotion and love for the Holy Face that Judas once kissed, and which so many Church members now again dishonour. We seek to erase the sacrilegious kisses of these new Judases, so that the divine Face of God may once again be transfigured and shine anew on this forsaken world. We follow the example of the holy woman Veronica who, on the road to Calvary, once wiped the blood and spittle from the Face of Jesus and was rewarded by the miraculous image of that Holy Face being imprinted on her veil.
Transfiguration
It is our sins that covered up the Light of the World and plunged us into darkness. By our prayers and acts of reparation, we ask God to wipe away those sins as Veronica once wiped away the dirt and blood from Jesus. Surely then, the Light of the World will shine forth once more amid the encircling gloom of sin, hatred, and despair, and the Holy Face will be visible again, the world transformed into a new Veronica’s Veil.