Oh adorable Face, kissed by the traitor Judas, have pity on us.

Jesus, having finished his prayer, returns to his disciples and says to them— “Rise let us go; behold he is at hand that will betray me(1).” He had scarcely finished speaking, when Judas makes his appearance at the head of a troop armed with swords and torches, to take the Lord according to the sign he had given them — “He whom I shall embrace, that same is he, take him and march him quickly away.” And behold the traitor does in fact draw nigh to Jesus and lays an infamous kiss on his august Face, saying— “I salute thee, Master!” What hypocrisy and what an outrage!

1st POINT. — THE TREACHERY OF JUDAS.

Our Lord had overwhelmed Judas with kindness; he had called him to the glory of the apostleship, he had honored him with the gift of performing miracles, and he had confided to his safe keeping the resources of which the flock which followed him were able to dispose. After having washed his feet, he had admitted him to the first eucharistic banquet, and had given him himself in holy communion. What a sacrilegious communion, oh good Master, and what terrible consequences were the result of it! The outrage inflicted upon Jesus by the traitor addresses itself to his heart and is manifested upon his Holy Face! How grievous to the Savior was the treachery of his apostle. Jesus meets it nevertheless with nothing but goodness and gentleness, and be even calls Judas his friend — Amice, ad quid venisti? It was as much as to say to him — “Though you may love me no longer, I love you always, and my heart remains still open to you, spite of the shame which covers my Face”. Pardon, oh Lord, pardon a thousand times, pardon for the treacherous kiss. Ah, may I by my love console thy heart, and by my reparations wash thy divine Face from the affront which it received in the garden of the agony.

2nd POINT. — the sinner’s TREACHERY.

How many times, alas! has not the kiss of Judas been renewed! I know a man, oh my God, whom thou didst overwhelm with the weight of thy tenderness, and on whose soul, plunged in the filth of sin, thou didst have pity. Thou didst raise it and plunge it immediately in the bath of salvation, draw it to thy heart, and nourish it at thy table with the bread of angels, and yet this was the man who dared to betray thee. And this sinner is myself, oh Lord, I who have torn thy heart by my ingratitude, and by my iniquities have veiled thy adorable Face with shame. At least never allow me to betray thee by a sacrilegious communion, by a hypocritical kiss. Ah Lord, it would be better for me to die a thousand times than again to betray thee. Incline to wards me thy merciful Face. May I hear the sweet word spoken in the garden — Amice — “My friend,” fall from thy lips. Yes, Jesus, henceforth, I will be thy friend. What folly to betray thee for a passing satisfaction of pride, of sensuality and of cupidity! At my last hour what shall I reap from it?

To love thee as a faithful apostle, such ought to be the aim of my life: to repair the outrages I have inflicted on thee should be henceforth my only occupation, so that I may one day hear thy lips pronounce words, no longer conveying a gentle reproach, but full of encouragement and salvation — Amice, ad quid venisti? And I will answer — Lord, to praise thee, to love thee, to bless thee throughout eternity!

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET.

Osculetur me osculo oris sui.

May the Lord kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. (Cant., i, 1.)

THE WORSHIP OF THE HOLY FACE AT M. DUPONT’S HOUSE.

The supernatural communication with which Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre was favored had found an echo in M. Dupont. Accustomed to frequent the Carmel, where he heard Mass and communicated every day, the servant of God was the first to hear of these revelations. He then constituted himself apostle of the revelation by having a small work printed, which bore the title of Association of prayers against blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday. He also added to it a “Little office of the most Holy Name of God,” composed by himself.

When Sister Saint-Pierre died on the 3d July 1848, M. Dupont continued his mission. At the end of Lent 1851, the Rev. Mother Marie of the Incarnation, prioress of the Carmel of Tours, having offered him an engraving of the Holy Face which had come from Rome, and which had been sent to her by the Prioress of the Benedictines of Arras. M. Dupont had it put into a simple black frame, and hung in the place of honor in his drawing-room. He then determined to have a lighted lamp placed in front of the holy Effigy, in a spirit of reparation, and to attract the attention of visitors who might chance to come to his house. This exposition of the Holy Face took place on Monday in Holy Week, 1851, and the lamp was lighted on the Wednesday, a day for ever memorable from its being the anniversary of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

This lamp, burning in full daylight, did not, in fact, fail to attract the eyes of all M. Dupont’s visitors, and to be the subject of many questions. The pious worshipper of the Holy Face, whom this circumstance rendered very happy, profited by it to speak of the Reparation and of the revelations made to Sister Saint-Pierre, and to persuade his friends to become associates in the great work which Our Lord had demanded. Finally they were made to kneel down before the holy Effigy and to pray with him. Conversions and numerous cures, obtained by means of prayers and of the application of the oil taken from the lamp burning before the Holy Face, soon attracted to the house of him who was from that time called the Holy man of Tours a crowd of visitors and pilgrims, to such a degree, that his apartment soon became a center of almost uninterrupted prayers. Crowds continued to flock thither during nearly twenty years. It was thus that the pilgrimage to the Holy Face was established.

On the death of the servant of God. which took place on the 18th April 1878, the object which Providence had had in view was attained. The devotion to the Holy Face is not new to the Church, but it was now adapted to the needs of the moment and made popular throughout the world. The voice of the divine Master, first heard by sister Saint- Pierre, had found a faithful echo in the soul of M. Dupont.

What fervent prayers, what homage inspired by faith, what reparatory acts have since then been offered to the adorable Face of Our Lord at Tours and in all places in the world! We may indeed truthfully repeat— A Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris: “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes(2).”

INVOCATION

Oh adorable Face of Jesus, who didst deign to manifest thyself to us, that we might know thee and love thee, grant that we may eagerly receive the germ of reparation in our souls, that we may ardently embrace the work of Reparation. Permit us to offer thee at this moment our most fervent homage of faith, of expiation and of love.

(1) Mathew, xxvi, 46.

(2) Ps. cxvii, 23.