As announced at Masses on Sunday 16th February, we invite you to pray the Novena in honour of the Sacred Countenance of Our Lord, The Holy Face, beginning on Sunday 23rd February. These nine days of preparatory prayer end on Monday 3rd March with Shrove Tuesday being the actual Feast-day of the Holy Face. The prayers will be prayed in public after the 5.30pm Vespers, during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, on Sunday 23rd February and Sunday 2nd March; on all other days the novena is intended to be prayed in private. The Fathers will remember all their spiritual and material benefactors as they pray the novena together after their evening meditation, in addition to their usual Oratory prayers. An Image of the Holy Face will be placed in the Sacred Heart side chapel, and will be offered for veneration at the 12.30pm Mass on Tuesday 4th March, concluding the Mass of the Feast-day.
Paper copies of this novena are already available at the Shrine of the Venerable Margaret Sinclair, as are explanatory leaflets regarding the Confraternity of the Holy Face, which we could encourage you considering joining. For more information click here.
“I firmly wish that my face reflecting the intimate pains of my soul, the suffering and love of my heart, be more honoured! Whoever gazes upon me already consoles me.”
(Our Lord Jesus Christ to Sister Pierina)
DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
O Most Holy and Blessed Trinity, through the intercession of Holy Mary, whose soul was pierced through by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of her Divine Son, we ask your help in making a perfect Novena of reparation with Jesus, united with all His sorrows, love and total abandonment.
(now mention your own petitions)
We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face of Jesus and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Shortened) LITANY OF THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us. Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us.
(After each of the following phrases, say “have mercy on us”)
O adorable Face, which was adored with profound respect by Mary and Joseph,
O adorable Face, at Bethlehem didst ravish with joy the angels, the shepherds and the Magi, O adorable Face, which was bathed in tears in Thy holy infancy,
O adorable Face, whose charms are so ravishing, and whose grace is so attractive,
O adorable Face, whose every feature is characterized by nobility,
O adorable Face, contemplated by 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 always ancient and always new,
O adorable Face, which appeasest the wrath of God,
O adorable Face, which makest the devils tremble,
O adorable Face, treasure of graces and of blessings,
O adorable Face, exposed in the desert to the inclemencies of the weather,
O adorable Face, whose modesty and sweetness attracted both the just and sinners,
O adorable Face, which gavest a holy kiss to the little children, after having blessed them,
O adorable Face, troubled and weeping at the tomb of Lazarus,
O adorable Face, brilliant as the sun, and radiant with glory on the Mountain of Tabor,
O adorable Face, sorrowful at the sight of Jerusalem, and shedding tears on that ungrateful city, O adorable Face, bathed in a bloody sweat,
O adorable Face, kissed by the traitor Judas,
O adorable Face, defiled with spittle, and bruised by innumerable buffets and blows,
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, worthy of all our respect, veneration and worship,
O adorable Face, wiped with a veil by a pious woman on the road to Calvary,
O adorable Face, raised on the instrument of most shameful punishment,
O adorable Face, whose brow was covered with Thorns,
O adorable Face, whose eyes were filled with tears of blood,
O adorable Face, into whose mouth was poured gall and vinegar,
O adorable Face, whose hair and beard were plucked out by the executioners,
O adorable Face, which was made like to that of a leper,
O adorable Face, covered with the sad shades of death,
O adorable Face, washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women and wrapped in a shroud, O adorable Face, 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 Thy Ascension,
O adorable Face, hidden in the Eucharist,
O adorable Face, which will appear at the end of time, in the clouds, with great majesty,
O adorable Face, which wilt cause sinners to tremble,
O adorable Face, which wilt 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 takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Let us Pray
O adorable Face of my JESUS, so mercifully bowed down upon the tree of the cross, on the day of Thy Passion for the salvation of men, now again, incline in Thy pity towards us poor sinners; cast upon us a look of compassion, and receive us to the kiss of peace. Amen.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Amen.
Sit nomen Domini benedictum! Amen.
THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER
Dictated by Our Lord to Sister Mary of St. Peter:
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.
PRAYER OF ST THÉRÈSE
It is said that this devotion brought St Thérèse of Lisieux, “the Little Flower”, to her great sanctity. Her name as a Carmelite Nun was Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.
O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows”, I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.
The Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus along with the Golden Arrow prayer, is an important part of Devotion to our Lord in His Holy Face. Found in the Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face (1887), which can be found here.
