Scripture speaks often of man’s deep desire to gaze upon the face of God. Psalm 27 expresses this desire: “Your face, O 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.”
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. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” as Paul writes to the Corinthians. In the beatific vision, all of our longings are fulfilled in God, we will know God fully and experience being fully known by Him—being seen fully. “Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
And upon Mt. Tabor, Peter, James, and John, if but just for a moment, saw Christ’s divine countenance revealed. We read of this story every hear on the 2nd Sunday of Lent to urge us on and to remind us that we willingly undergo so many Lenten penances and sacrifices because we hope that through them we may be assisted in coming to behold the face of God in eternity.
Yet, like Peter, James, and John, we can enjoy a foretaste of the beatific vision by contemplating the face of God made flesh—by contemplating the face of Jesus Christ. One of the Lenten practices which helps us contemplate the face of Christ is of course the Stations of the Cross.
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. As you make the stations of the cross, you are invited to imagine the face of Jesus—the strain on his face as he took the heavy cross upon his shoulders, the blood stinging his eyes from the crown of thorns along with the dust of the streets of Jerusalem, perhaps even the spittle running down his cheek of those who derided him—his face, once beautiful, but now disfigured and bruised from the beatings and scourgings. Throughout the Lenten stations of the cross we image his holy face wincing in pain as he was whipped by the soldiers, and when he fell under the heavy weight of the cross. You can imagine his face when he locked eyes with his mother, whose maternal heart saw the suffering upon the face of her son, as only a mother can detect.
You can imagine the look of determination as he climbed Mt. Calvary, his blistered chapped lips as he thirsted during the crucifixion, and perhaps the peace that overtook his face as anguish transitioned into death as he took his last breath.
I invite you, as you pray the stations of the cross, or the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, or as you read through the passion stories, this Lent to prayerfully use your imagination to contemplate the face of Jesus. For the suffering upon his Holy Face was that you might come to behold his glorious face in eternity. His Holy Face is a sign of love for you and for all sinners.
One woman in particular during the way of the cross, gazed upon the face of Jesus, a woman named Veronica. Seeing his suffering, Veronica risked the threat of punishment by the Roman Soldiers and approached the Lord to wipe his face 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, here in church, go take a closer look. You will see, Veronica, holding her veil aloft. And on her veil the image of the face of Christ which had appeared miraculously. 2000 years later the very veil of Veronica 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.
I came across a beautiful reflection upon St. Veronica by the late Pope Benedict XVI who said, “Veronica 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! The purpose of Lent, the purpose of all of those lenten penances, is to be purified in order to love God more, to love God in this life that we may behold the face of the One who is Love in eternity.
Each of us, whether you’ve ever acknowledged it or not, has the desire to see the face of Jesus. And so we risk the mockery of the crowd and the hostility of the government to run toward Christ, to do all that we can to seek his face, to seek his face continuously.
At the turn of the Millennium Pope St. John Paul urged the Church “I dare to summon the whole Church bravely to cross this new threshold, to put into the deep, …so that now as in the past the great engagement of the Gospel and culture may show to the world ‘the glory of God on the Face of Christ.’
May we do just that, put out into the deep, dig deep—to garner effort and strength from the depth of our being —in order to discern with the help of the Holy Spirit what earthly endeavors must be cast aside and what heavenly practices we must more seriously take-up in order to seek the face of Christ and show it to the world, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.
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