Scripture speaks often of man’s deep desire to gaze upon the face of God. Psalm 27 expresses this desire: “Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me.”
Way back in the book of numbers the Lord instructed Moses how Aaron and the Levites were to bless the people of Israel: by invoking the promise of the holy face. “May the LORD bless you and keep you! May the LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! May the LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”
First Chronicles instructs us: “Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.”
And first Corinthians speaks of our eternal destiny: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
The very last prayer a soul might hear from the last rites of the Church speak of the Lord’s face: “Go forth Christian soul from this life…May you return to your Creator who formed you from the dust of the earth. May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life. . . May you see your Redeemer face to face.”
Everlasting life consists of beholding God face to face, what we call the beatific vision. In the beatific vision, all of our longings are fulfilled in God, all of the tears of our life are wiped away.
And upon Mt. Tabor, Peter, James, and John, if but just for a moment, saw Christ’s divine visage revealed.
Why do we read the Transfiguration story every year during Lent? For one, the Gospel of the Transfiguration reminds us Lenten pilgrims, that all of our Lenten sacrifices, our Lenten penances, our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, help us to be free from all that keeps us from beholding the face of God.
One of the Lenten practices which helps us contemplate the face of Christ is of course the Stations of the Cross. This week I brought several classes from the school over here to the Church and we simply walked to each station, and talked about each one—we contemplated the face of Christ in each station: what is going on here, as Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate in the first Station; why is he being stripped of his garments the 10th station; why does he fall three times as he carries his cross in the third, seventh, and ninth stations.
To gaze upon the face of Christ in the stations is to see the face of a real man, a man who does not run away from his vocation, a man who does not flee his suffering in fear, a man filled with faith and love for God and mankind. If you want to know what courage looks like: pray the stations of the cross. If you want to know what faith, patience, and forgiveness of one’s persecutors looks like, pray the stations of the cross. If you want to know what God’s love and God’s mercy for us looks like, pray the stations of the cross.
Pope Benedict XVI said, “Jesus willingly gave himself up to death so that we might be saved and pass from death to life. Mercy has a name, mercy has a face, mercy has a heart.” Jesus is “mercy incarnate” as Pope Francis said.
As Jesus made the via crucis, the way of the cross, many people gazed upon his suffering face—some looked upon him with pity, some in sorrow, some with faith, some seeking a way to comfort him. One woman in particular was St. Veronica, who, seeing his great suffering, risked the threat of punishment by the Roman Soldiers, and wiped the face of Jesus with her veil. What a beautiful act to console the suffering Christ.
Veronica wiping the face of Jesus with her veil is depicted in the sixth station. And if you’ve never looked at the station closely, I recommend you take a closer look. You will see, on her veil, the image of the face of Christ, which miraculously appeared as she wiped his face. The blessed veil is now kept at St. Peter’s in Rome, and pilgrims there are blessed with it on the 5th Sunday of Lent after evening vespers. She was blessed to see his holy face, and through an act of charity, became an instrument for the church of all ages to behold his earthly countenance.
Pope Benedict XVI said, “Veronica”—whose name comes from the Greek ‘Bernice’—“embodies the universal yearning of the devout men and woman of the Old Testament, the yearning of all believers to see the face of God. On Jesus’ Way of the Cross, she at first did nothing more than perform an act of womanly kindness: she held out a facecloth to Jesus. She did not let herself be deterred by the brutality of the soldiers or the fear that gripped the disciples. She is the image of that good woman, who amid turmoil and dismay, shows the courage born of goodness and does not allow her heart to be bewildered…At first, Veronica saw only a buffeted and pain-filled face. Yet her act of love impressed the true image of Jesus on her heart. On his human face, bloodied and bruised, she saw the face of God and his goodness, which accompanies us even in our deepest sorrows. Only with the heart can we see Jesus. Only love purifies us and gives us the ability to see. Only love enables us to recognize the God who is love itself.”
What a beautiful and powerful reflection from the Holy Father!
Each of us has the desire to see the face of Jesus. And that can happen when like Veronica’s our hearts are filled with the Love of Christ, when we seek him through prayer and service.
Have you seen the face of Christ this Lent? If not, I encourage you to persevere or deepen your Lenten observances. Pray the Stations of the Cross. Read through the Passion. Extend a hand in mercy to someone in need.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus promised “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” May our Lenten observances help us to be purified from earthly attachments and earthly fears and anxieties, that we may love God with a pure heart, serve our neighbor with pure charity, and thereby come to see God face to face in eternity…for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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