The Holy Face Devotion

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable 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.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

O God! infinitely worthy of all adoration and love, I prostrate myself at Thy feet, filled with grief for the blasphemies uttered against Thy Holy Name, and for the offenses committed against Thy Divine worship and the observances of Thy Church.

O my God! this blasphemy is the profanation of that which is most holy in the sight of Thine inaccessible sanctuary; it is an attack upon Thine infinite majesty, an outrage against the Face of Thy Divine Son, a crime without excuse, without any other motive than that wickedness which hates Thee, O God, infinitely worthy of all love! We beg pardon, O Lord, a thousand times pardon, for these blasphemies. Would that we could prevent them by the sacrifice of all that we are, or that we possess! At least it is in the sincerity of our hearts that we desire with all our power to combat this horrible crime, and for all we hear or know to offer instantly, by the merits of the Face of Thy Christ, our humble and sorrowful expiation.

But that which is most grievous to us is that while blasphemy and infidelity daily increase, the adoration due to Thee diminishes. Alas! now, even more than in the days of the prophet Ezechiel, men neglect and profane Thy holy days because their hearts are given to idols. Slaves of avarice and of pleasure, they no longer have time for Thy worship or attraction to Thine altars. O Lord! grant us the grace to make reparation for this contempt and forgetfulness of Thee / by the zeal and fervor of our adoration.

V. – May the most Adorable Name of the Lord be glorified forever!
R. – Amen!
V. – May the holy days of Thy Church be sanctified by all men!
R. – Amen!
V. – Behold, O God, our protector
R. – And look upon the Face of Thy Christ.

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was adored with profound respect by Mary and Joseph when they saw You for the first time, R: Have mercy on us.

O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravished with joy the angels, shepherds, and Magi in the stable of Bethlehem, etc.

O Jesus, whose adorable Face wounded with a dart of love the aged Simeon and the prophetess Anna in the temple,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was bathed in tears in Your holy Infancy,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face filled with admiration the doctors in the temple,

O Jesus, the charms and grace of whose adorable Face win all hearts,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is characterized by nobility,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the admiration of the angels,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the sweet delight of the Saints,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the masterpiece of the Holy Spirit, in which the Eternal Father is well pleased,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the delight of Mary and Joseph,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the ineffable mirror of the Divine Perfections,

O Jesus, the beauty of whose adorable Face is ever ancient and ever new,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face, full of modesty and sweetness, attracted the just and the sinners,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face appeases the anger of God,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the terror of the evil spirits,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is the treasure of graces and blessings,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was exposed to the inclemency of the weather in the desert,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was scorched by the sun and bathed in sweat on Your journeys,

O Jesus, the expression of whose adorable Face is wholly Divine,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face sorrowed and wept at the tomb of Lazarus,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was brilliant as the sun and radiant with glory on Mount Tabor,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is worthy of all reverence, veneration, and worship,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face grew sad at the sight of Jerusalem when You did weep over that ungrateful city,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was bowed down to the ground in the garden of Olives, and covered with confusion for our sins,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was bathed in a bloody sweat,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was kissed by the traitor Judas,

O Jesus, the sanctity and majesty of whose adorable Face smote the soldiers with fear and cast them down,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was struck by a vile servant, shamefully blindfolded and profaned by the sacrilegious hands of Your enemies,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was defiled with spittle, and bruised with so many buffets and blows,

O Jesus, the divine look of whose adorable Face wounded the heart of Peter with repentant love,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was humbled for us at the tribunals of Jerusalem,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face did preserve Your serenity when Pilate pronounced the fatal sentence,

O Jesus, the brow of whose adorable Face was crowned with thorns,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face covered with sweat and Blood fell in the mire under the heavy weight of the Cross,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was wiped by the pious Veronica on the way to Calvary,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was raised on the instrument of the most shameful punishment,

O Jesus, the eyes of whose adorable Face were filled with tears of Blood,

O Jesus, the mouth of whose adorable Face was filled with vinegar and gall,

O Jesus, the incomparable beauty of whose adorable Face was obscured under the dreadful cloud of the sins of the world,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was covered with the sad shades of death,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women and wrapped in a shroud,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was enclosed in the sepulcher,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was all resplendent with glory and beauty on the day of Your Resurrection,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face was dazzling with light at the moment of Your Ascension,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face is hidden in the Eucharist,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face will appear at the end of time in the clouds with great power and majesty,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face will cause the wicked to tremble,

O Jesus, whose adorable Face will fill the just with joy for all eternity,

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord,

Lamb of God, who takes 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.

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.