Oh adorable Face, hidden in the Eucharist, have pity on us.

Is the Holy Face of Jesus in the Eucharist? Sister Marie de Saint- Pierre, enlightened by light from on high, has answered this question in the beautiful invocation contained in our litanies. St Thomas affirms that in this adorable sacrament Jesus possesses the faculty of seeing with the eyes of his body(1). Let us study this mystery, oh my soul.

1st POINT. — HOW THE HOLY FACE IS PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST.

In the holy and divine Eucharist Jesus is present in his body, his blood, his soul and his divinity; his sacred body is contained therein and his Holy Face also. It is the same body which was bruised for our crimes, the same heart which was transpierced on the cross, the same Holy Face scarred in the praetorium, and to which was offered gall and vinegar to drink.

I can contemplate it through the veils that cover it, I can adore it there, not indeed accompanied with the accidents of size, of form and of hue, but in reality and in substance. The divine eyes of Jesus meet my own, when prostrate at his feet before the tabernacle, I raise my eyes towards him and beg him to have pity on my misery; his ears listen to my voice when it is raised to sing his praises, and if it were permitted me to hear his, it would be really from his mouth that the words would come which he would deign to address to me. The pious Cardinal Franzelin attributes to the Savior, in the holy Eucharist, the use of his external senses. The Face of Jesus is really in the Eucharist. It is hidden there under the accidents of bread and wine, but it is there truly, really, and in substance.

Adore, oh my soul, the goodness of God, who has willed to leave us in perpetuity the memorial of his Passion in his Sacrament.

2nd POINT. — HOW JESUS MANIFESTS HIS HOLY FACE IN THE EUCHARIST.

When Jehovah, about to give his law to Moses on Sinai, admitted him to his presence. Moses said to him— “If I have found favor in thy sight, show me thy Face that I may know thee.” And the Lord said— “Thou canst not see my Face, tor man shall not see me and live(2).” It is the same in the Eucharist. Jesus does not manifest either the glory or the splendor of his Face, everything there indicates the privation of the senses and a mystic death. The species of bread which veil the divinity and the holy humanity are inanimate, and Jesus has condemned himself not to have externally either speech, or movement, or action. He receives the homage of the good, the insults of the wicked; he is silent, and he appears insensible. And yet the Savior manifests his Holy Face. He looks at our soul, and a ray from his eyes suffices to melt the ice of our heart, to touch, soften and inflame it. He speaks to our soul, and our soul hears his voice when our sins do not oppose an obstacle to it. We feel, in a word, the presence of Jesus, of his heart, and of his Face, and yet we do not see Him, for no man can see God and live.”

Oh my soul, listen in silence and in solitude and separated from the world to the voice of Jesus. Let the fire of his love penetrate into the most hidden depths of thy heart, love to come often and give vent to all thy feelings before the most august of sacraments, to speak heart to heart with the most tender and the most devoted of friends, and thou shaft always bring away with thee a fresh increase of light, of strength, of courage and of love.

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

Vere tu es Deus absconditus, Deus salvator.

Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior.

PORTRAIT OF M. DUPONT BY M. HENRI LASSERRE.

M. Dupont was at home when I called at his house. I was asked to wait for a moment in a large room upon the ground floor. Whilst the servant went to inform her master of my visit, my attention was naturally attracted by my surroundings. The room was simply furnished, and here and there ex-votos were hanging on the walls. At one side of a bureau laden with papers, was a desk resembling a music stand which supported a large folio volume. I immediately recognized the Bible. But what especially attracted my eyes and my thoughts was, suspended above a writing table, an engraving of the so-called “Holy Face”, which reproduces the Face of our Lord, as it was impressed upon the veil of Veronica. Before this Holy Face a lamp was burning, or rather a night light, the gentle flame of which floated upon the limpid oil contained in the crystal vase. The door opened, and M. Dupont made his appearance. He was then a tall handsome man of about sixty or sixty five years of age, full of life and strength.

My eyes were raised towards him with religious curiosity. The first aspect of this man, whose hands had cured so many sick persons and relieved so much misery, bore a look of austerity almost bordering on severity. His physiognomy was invested with an august dignity which impelled respect, and the principal lines of his face wore an expression of rather cold rectitude which caused a certain sentiment of fear to mingle with the veneration which he inspired. His eyes were fine calm and powerful, and at the same time lively and keen; but if my memory does not play me false, thick and bushy eyebrows helped to deepen their expression. A well formed, but rather large nose, a mouth the outline of which was very pure and firm, a large and high forehead grandly and regularly modelled, added to the royal aspect of authority which the old man possessed.

This imposing personage stood before me.

I tried to overcome my agitation.

Hardly had he begun to speak to me of spiritual things than the rigid aspect of his countenance suddenly changed just as the lace of nature changes, and as the cold mists of night are dissipated when the sun of May rises above the mountains. The severe appearance which had intimidated me for a moment completely disappeared. M. Dupont talked in the most frank, open and kindly manner possible. He had the charm of the amiability of an old man and the adorable candor of a child. It was only with difficulty that I could perceive the expression of magisterial power which at first had so much struck me. His severity had been wholly transfigured into grace. Thought, and the hidden life of the heart, which rose to animate those lines and those strongly pronounced features, cast forth reflections of heavenly goodness. It was as though the soul of St Vincent de Paul had suddenly transfigured the face of a Joseph de Maistre, as though mercy had suddenly appeared and was showing her divine benignity through the marble face of justice. Yes, when I first saw him enter the room, looking stately and dignified, I said to myself— “He is a just man.” I said to myself afterwards— “He is a saint.”

PRAYER OF M. DUPONT.

Oh Savior Jesus! at the sight of thy most Holy Face disfigured by suffering, at the sight of thy sacred Heart so full of love, I exclaim with St Augustine— “Lord Jesus, imprint upon my heart thy sacred wounds, that I may read therein both thy sorrow and thy love— thy sorrow, that for thy sake I may suffer all grief; thy love, that for thy sake I may despise all other love.”

(1) Disp; LIII, Sub. III, 3.

(2) Exodus, xxxiii, 20.