Fr. Gregory Zannetti’s Sermon on the Holy Face featured on SENSUS FIDELIUM

 Sensus Fidelium video of Fr Zannetti’s sermon

Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass of the Most Blessed Sacrament: In Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus

by: Fr. Gregory Zannetti 

Pictures of that Mass

“The Book of Revelation says “They shall see the Lord face to face and bear His name on their foreheads.”

Each time we receive Holy Communion we come Face to face with our Lord. This is the same Face of which is said in the book of Exodus “Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.”. The same Face described in Matthew as “shining like the sun” when Our Lord was transfigured on Mount Tabor. And yet this God of Majesty and Power comes veiled under the tiny white Host so that we can gaze upon Him and be united with Him. It is the most intimate moment of our lives.

To St Catherine of Siena, it was revealed that there are three levels of prayer/intimacy between Jesus and a soul; represented by three kisses: The kiss of the Sacred Feet of Jesus, the kiss of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the kiss of the Sacred Face of Jesus.

Blessed Maria Pierina De Michelli- an Italian Religious Sister, who lived from 1890 to 1945, received a similar message from our Lord. When she was just 12 years old –while attending the 3PM Good Friday service, while all were coming up to venerate the Crucifix –she heard these words: “No one gives me a kiss of love on My Face to make amends for the kiss of Judas”. She believed that the voice was heard by all and saw people kissing our Lord’s feet, shoulder, and wounds --but none were kissing His Face. So Pierina exclaimed in her heart “Have patience, dear Jesus, I will give you a kiss of love.” and when her turn came--she lovingly and devoutly imprinted a kiss on His Face.

So what exactly is this kiss of Judas for which Our Lord asked Sr. Pierina for amends? It is the kiss of betrayal- which inaugurated the subsequent strikes, spittle, and thorns our Lord would receive in His Passion and still today by our sins--most especially the sins directed against the Godhead - blasphemy, profanation of the Lords name, of Sundays and Holy Days, the irreverences towards the Most Blessed Sacrament and the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion, (receiving in a state of mortal sin). The seriousness of which, we heard tonight in St Paul’s Epistle: “whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink of the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.”

How often this happens in our own times! How great are the sacrileges that occur at each mass? We know there’s something gravely wrong when the communion lines are packed and the confessional lines are empty. This is a sign of a catechetical and moral sickness in the Church -- evidence that the Eucharistic Face of Our Lord is being disfigured anew by His own people - those who should love Him.

Jesus painfully expressed this lack of love when He appeared to Blessed Pierina covered with blood and very sadly said to her: "Do you see how I suffer?...Those who say they love me are very ungrateful! I have given my heart as the sensible object of my great love to men and I give My Face as the sensible object of my sorrow for all the sins of men.”

So it is truly frightful to ponder then: How great is the need for the kiss of Love? And what constitutes the kiss of Love which repairs the kiss of Judas?

It is precisely in making atonement for what we and others do not give to Jesus (either out of neglect or even hatred of Him). These acts of reparation primarily include: reverence towards and worthy reception of Holy Communion, keeping Holy the Lord’s Day by attending Mass and not performing any servile work --- making it a day or prayer and rest.

 We can offer all our sufferings, sacrifices and prayers, especially the Most Holy Rosary, which is the meditation on Our Lord’s life and passion. The contemplation of what Christ endured and continues to endure for us is the kiss of love. Our Lord told Blessed Pierina: “He who contemplates Me, consoles Me.”

It is providential that this mass falls on a Tuesday as both Our Lord and Our Lady instructed Blessed Pierina--that Tuesdays be especially devoted to repartition to the Holy Face. Jesus said explicitly "I wish that My Holy Face be honored in a particular manner on Tuesdays”. Mary appeared to Blessed Pierina with a powerful medal with three promises attached with the request for acts of reparation on Tuesdays.

On the one side of the medal appears the image of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Shroud of Turin with the words in reading “May the light of Thy Face, O Lord, shine upon us” and on the other side-- The Eucharist, surrounded by rays and the words "Stay with us, O Lord”---the same words of the two travelers on the way to Emmaus --who recognized the Face of Jesus in the breaking of the Bread.

Our Lady told Sr. Pierina “Listen carefully..This medal is an armour of defense, a shield of strength, a pledge of mercy which Jesus wishes to give to the whole world in these times of lust and hatred against God and His Church. Diabolical nets are thrown to wrench the Faith from hearts, evils abound, true apostles are few and the remedy is the Holy Face of Jesus.”

These “diabolical nets” to which Our Lady refers are cast spiritually by the demons themselves but also by the ideas of Freemasonry and Communism which continue to increase to this day. So we shouldn't be surprised that the devil responded in fury and rage at the making of these medals. In attempting to prevent the distribution of them: Satan physically attacked Sr. Pierina in much the same way as St. Padre Pio, who himself was known to pass around the Holy Face Medals saying "This is your entrance ticket to Heaven."

Our Lady then explained the promises that: “All who shall wear this medal and make, if possible, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday in reparation for the outrages that the Holy Face of my Son Jesus received during His Passion and is still receiving every day in the Holy Eucharist: Our Lord promises: They will be strengthened in the Faith, and will be made ready to defend it. They will overcome all difficulties, internal and external and They will have a peaceful death under the loving gaze of my Divine Son.”

After this mass, I will bless the medals of The Holy Face and they will be available to take. I will also be giving my first priestly blessing at the communion rail. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers as follows: “The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord show his Face to you, and have mercy on you. The Lord turn his Countenance to you, and give you peace.”.

This turning of the Lord's Face to us, and our response to it, his mutual gaze, is the essence of the beatific vision that the saints enjoy eternally in heaven. St. John says that the likeness of the souls in heaven to God will be due to seeing Him “as He is”-- in other words, seeing Him Face to face.

Jesus told Blessed Pierina “By My Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of numberless sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused to you. With this offering you will obtain the salvation and sanctification of many souls. According to the care you take in making reparation to my face disfigured by [sin], I will take care of yours which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint upon it My Image and render it as beautiful as it was after leaving the baptismal font.”

So tonight and for always, let us worship the Face of the Godhead in the Eucharist, The Holy Face of Jesus, let us give to Jesus what so many souls refuse or neglect to give: the Kiss of Love, the Kiss of Reparation, that repairs all the kisses of betrayal throughout the whole world.”