The feast day of the Holy Face of Jesus falls on Shrove Tuesday ("Mardi Gras" or Fat Tuesday in French), the day just before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the holy season of Lent. This year (2025), the feast day is on March 4 — today, if you are reading this article on the day I published it to this blog. The feast of the Holy Face can also be offered as a Votive Mass on any day on which Votive Masses are permitted, and this is most appropriately done on a feria during the season of Lent. I have written before on the Holy Face devotion, for example here, but I would like to return to this in today's blog post, especially since today is the feast day itself.
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is very closely linked to devotion to His Holy Name. It is a devotion that is centred on reparation. The original Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 (not the modern version) says the following about reparation:
Reparation is a theological concept closely connected with those of atonement and satisfaction, and thus belonging to some of the deepest mysteries of the Christian Faith. It is the teaching of that Faith that man is a creature who has fallen from an original state of justice in which he was created, and that through the Incarnation, Passion, and Death of the Son of God, he has been redeemed and restored again in a certain degree to the original condition. Although God might have justly condemned men's offences if He had chosen to do so, yet in His Providence He did not do this; He judged it better to demand satisfaction for the injuries which man had done Him. It is better for man's education that wrong-doing on his part should entail the necessity of making satisfaction. This satisfaction was made adequately to God by the Sufferings, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, made Man for us. By voluntary submission to His Passion and Death on the Cross, Jesus Christ atoned for our disobedience and sin. He thus made reparation to the offended majesty of God for the outrages which the Creator so constantly suffers at the hands of His creatures. We are restored to grace through the merits of Christ's Death, and that grace enables us to add our prayers, labours, and trials to those of Our Lord "and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ" (Colossians 1:24). We can thus make some sort of reparation to the justice of God for our own offences against Him, and by virtue of the Communion of the Saints, the oneness and solidarity of the Mystical Body of Christ, we can also make satisfaction and reparation for the sins of others. ("Reparation" in The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
The same article then goes on to mention the existence of particular confraternities that were set up and approved by Holy Mother Church specifically for the purpose of Reparation:
This theological doctrine, firmly rooted in the Christian Faith, is the foundation of the numerous confraternities and pious associations which have been founded, especially in modern times, to make reparation to God for the sins of men. Thus the Archconfraternity of Reparation for Blasphemy and the Neglect of Sunday was founded on June 28, 1847 in the Church of St. Martin de La Noue at St. Dizier in France by Mgr. Parisis, Bishop of Langres. With a similar object, the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was established at Tours, about 1851, through the piety of M. Dupont, the "holy man of Tours". In 1883 an association was formed in Rome to offer reparation to God on behalf of all nations. The idea of reparation is an essential element in the devotion of the Sacred Heart. The Mass, the representation of the Sacrifice of Calvary, is specially suited to make reparation for sin. One of the ends for which it is offered is the propitiation of God's wrath.
Emphasis (underlined text) is mine. Note that the Catholic Mass is the best-suited place for making reparation.
To make reparation, therefore, means to make amends for sin, which is an injustice against the goodness and holiness of God. Sin calls forth God's just wrath, and although this is a concept that we seem to have forgotten (or don't want to acknowledge) in the modern Church, it is nonetheless an important one that needs to be recovered today. God is holy in His mercy, but He is also holy in His just wrath. God's wrath is the direct consequence of man's sin.
Among the various confraternities approved by the Church to make reparation for sin, the most well known today is probably the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face — though it is still only known by a small percentage of Catholics. Offering the Mass of the Holy Face in parish churches is a powerful means of re-exposing the Catholic faithful to this important concept of reparation. Why is reparation so important? Because sin offends God, and the justice of God demands that sin be atoned for.
As the article cited above from The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, satisfaction (atonement for sin) was made adequately to God through the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. It is Christ alone who can atone for the sins of mankind, properly speaking. By His unique Sacrifice on Calvary, He made reparation to the offended Majesty of God for the outrages which the Creator so constantly suffers at the hands of His creatures. But the atonement made for our sins on the Cross by Our Lord does not excuse us from offering reparation to God as well. In fact, His atoning Sacrifice calls forth our own acts of reparation. This is because, as the great St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) famously said:
God, who created you without you, will not save you without you. (St Augustine, Sermon 169, 13)
These words of St. Augustine, known as the Doctor of Grace, show that man's co-operation is necessary in his own salvation. Our soul cannot be saved if we do not co-operate with God's graces and do our own part in our salvation. And because of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Communion of Saints, we are called to work actively for the salvation of the souls of others as well. Thus, if my brother sins, God calls me to make amends (do reparation) for his sins too, and not just for my own.
Fr. Lawrence Carney, in his beautiful work entitled, The Secret of the Holy Face, makes reference to a powerful passage from the Venerable Mary of Agreda's Mystical City of God which shows the power of the Holy Face over the diabolical forces of evil. The Egyptians were much given to the sin of idolatry, and many demonic forces had a strong hold of power over the people because of this grave sin that the people were repeatedly committing against the First Commandment. The passage from The Mystical City of God to which Fr. Carney refers in his book is the following:
So then the Infant Jesus, with His Mother and Saint Joseph, reached the inhabited country of Egypt. On entering the towns, the Divine Infant, in the arms of His Mother, raised His eyes and His hands to the Father asking for the salvation of these inhabitants held captive by Satan. And immediately He made use of His sovereign and divine power and drove the demons from the idols and hurled them to the infernal abyss. Like lightning flashed from the clouds, they darted forth and descended to the lowermost caverns of Hell and darkness (Luke 10, 4). At the same instant the idols crashed to the ground, the altars fell to pieces, and the temples crumbled to ruins. The cause of these marvellous effects were known to the heavenly Lady, for She united her prayers with those of her Most Holy Son as Co-operatrix of his salvation [Co-redemptrix of all graces]. Saint Joseph also knew this to be the work of the Incarnate Word; and he praised and extolled Him in holy admiration. But the demons, although they felt the divine power, knew not whence this power proceeded. (Mystical City of God, Vol. 2, no. 643).
While this passage does not refer directly to the Holy Face of Jesus, it is clear that it was the Presence of Our Lord that sufficed to cast out the demonic forces that were oppressing the Egyptians. The Virgin Mary presented her Son to the Egyptians, and raising His hands He obtained from His Heavenly Father their liberation. In man, one's presence is best expressed through his face. This is where we get the expression, The eyes are the windows of the soul. The face is the part of the human body that expresses a person's presence better than any other part.
The Blessed Sacrament and Reparation: Our Greatest Weapon Against Evil
The Presence of God the Son in His sacred humanity is sufficient to cast out the forces of evil. And it is also sufficient to make amends or reparation, and atone for sin. This is why the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is more powerful over evil than any other reality in this world. The Eucharistic Presence of Our Lord is hated by the evil one more than anything else. That is the primary reason why we see so many attacks against the holy Priesthood today: the goal is to destroy the Mass by destroying the Priesthood. No Priest, no Mass, no Real Presence. It's really as simple as that.
Since the enemy's primary target is the Catholic Mass, it follows that our greatest weapon against him is the same Mass. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, is the strongest weapon against the forces of evil that the Catholic Church possesses.
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and to His Eucharistic Presence are inseparable. This is why, I believe, our greatest means of making reparation for sins against the holiness of God is by Eucharistic Adoration. And it is such Reparative Adoration that will save mankind, for through it the full power of Christ's work on the Cross will be felt throughout the world. Whenever we adore the Holy Sacrament of Our Lord's true Presence, we are atoning for the sins of mankind in the most powerful and most beautiful way imaginable. A soul that offers its love to Jesus by adoring Him in His very Sacrament of Love does more to fight the forces of darkness than one that directly confronts the evil in a head-on battle. We cannot overpower Satan by direct confrontation with him. We can only be victorious over him when we atone for sin (sins that were instigated by him, for he is the supreme tempter) by offering our love to Christ in the Holy Sacrament.
We should never forget that the Blessed Sacrament contains, mystically, the Passion and Death of Christ. Thus the fullness of the power of the Cross is present in that great Sacrament like nowhere else here on earth.
I know a young man who is very fervent and zealous in defending the rights of God. He has often found himself in prison or heavily fined (and even fired from his work) for speaking out against the sins of our time — especially the slaughter of the innocent in the womb and all forms of gender ideology. His parents are afraid for him, because his zeal may end up leaving him penniless and without any job prospects, they fear. I spoke with this young man about his actions, and how he was to be commended for his ardent love for what is right and just. But we then spoke about the means that we should use to combat evil, and whether the means that he employed were the best and most efficacious ones. While the world certainly could use prophetic voices and modern John the Baptists, it is clear that the approach of simply confronting the evils of our day by condemning them straight on is not nearly as effective as the proponents of this approach believe it to be. Perhaps there is a better strategy, one that is more divine and less human; one that uses divine weapons more than merely human ones.
The young man and I spoke about an alternative approach to combatting evil. It is the approach shown in The Mystical City of God. We will not defeat the demonic forces of evil by trying to overpower them, by simply condemning them, or by trying to reason with them and show them how we are right and they are wrong. These praeternatural forces of evil can only be defeated by the supernatural means given to us by God. And first and foremost among these means is Eucharistic reparation.
If we focus on offering reparation to the Holy Face and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by worshipping and adoring His Eucharistic Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, our acts of reparation and adoration will do more to destroy the powers of evil than anything else. Our enemies are spiritual, and we must fight them first of all through spiritual means.
Every hour that we spend in reparation before the Blessed Sacrament disarms the forces of evil and crushes the head of the serpent. What is it that enabled Our Lady to strike her heel against the head of the serpent and be victorious? Well, we could say it was her unparalleled purity, or her unsurpassed humility. Such virtues are indeed important. But these virtues (even as possessed pre-eminently by Our Lady) were not what crushed the serpent's head in themselves. The ultimate weapon that she used and that won for her and for the Church the final victory over the devil was this: the Blessed Virgin Mary constantly held up her Son and presented Him to the world. Just like we see in the quoted passage from The Mystical City of God, the victory over the demonic forces of evil was won by Mary holding up her Son Jesus in her arms. This was enough to cause the spirits of idolatry among the Egyptians to flee. It was enough to cause idols to come crashing to the ground, altars to demons to fall into pieces, and temples dedicated to false gods to crumble to ruins.
Reparation to God – and especially Eucharistic Reparative Adoration practised in the spirit of the Holy Face devotion – is what will save the world from the forces of evil. In the Blessed Sacrament, the Church (in imitation of her Mother, the Blessed Virgin) holds up and presents to the world the One True Victor over evil and sin: the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Lamb of God. And as more and more of the Catholic faithful adore, and make reparation to, the Holy Face of Jesus held up by the Church in the Holy Eucharist, we will see the powerful, prophetic words of the Holy Face Chaplet being fulfilled before our very eyes:
Arise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let all who hate Thee flee before Thy Face! (cf. Ps 57 in the Latin Vulgate)