Holy Face
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the adorable Face of Thy Beloved Son for the honour and glory of Thy Name, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the dying. Amen.
Prayer of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus
to the Holy Face
O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the
most abject of men, a man of sorrows", I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon
there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has
become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those
disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the
desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men.
The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many
precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor
sinners by means of their infinite value.
O Jesus, whose adorable face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep
within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be
found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.