Face of Christ: September 2008 Archives

Almighty and ever-living God,
who gave to Saint Gaetano, your priest,
the knowledge of your glory
shining in the Face of Christ,
mercifully grant that we
who rejoice today in his memory,
may imitate his love for that same Holy Face
concealed in the Sacrament of the Altar
and in the poorest and most forsaken of your children.
Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Or:

Stir up, O Lord, in our hearts
the spirit of adoration and reparation
that filled Saint Gaetano, your priest,
that we, having our eyes fixed, like his,
on the Holy Face of Jesus,
may live in ceaseless prayer
and in the humble service of those
most in need of compassion.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Apostle of the Sacred Heart Sister Mary Ellen's thoughtful response to Bishop Slattery's recent letter moved me to invite readers of Vultus Christi to read his Pastoral Letter on Immigration of last November 25th: "The Suffering Faces of the Poor are the Suffering Face of Christ." The text is available in both Spanish and English on the Tulsa Diocesan Website.

Novena: September 10th -19th

Readers of Vultus Christi may want to join me in making a novena in preparation for the feast of Saint Gaetano Catanoso on September 20th.

Antiphon: Lord, when was it that we saw Thee hungry and fed Thee,
or thirsty and gave Thee drink?
When was it that we saw Thee a stranger,
and brought Thee home,
sick or in prison and came to Thee?
And the King will answer them:
Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here,
you did it to me.

V. Pray for us, Saint Gaetano.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Stir up, O Lord, in our hearts
the spirit of adoration and reparation
that filled Saint Gaetano, Thy priest,
that we, having our eyes fixed, like his,
on the Eucharistic Face of Jesus,
may live in ceaseless prayer
and in the humble service of those
most in need of compassion.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

The Priest of the Holy Face of Jesus

Gaetano Catanoso was born on 14 February 1879 in Chorio di San Lorenzo, Reggio Calabria, Italy. His parents, prosperous landowners, were exemplary Christians. Gaetano was ordained a priest in 1902, and from 1904 to 1921 he served in the rural parish of Pentidattilo.

Adorer of the Eucharistic Face

The Holy Face of Jesus illumined Father Catanoso's life. He venerated the Holy Face as depicted in the image of Veronica's Veil diffused by the Carmel of Tours in France. He began "The Holy Face" Bulletin and established a local chapter of the "Archconfraternity of the Holy Face" in 1920. "The Holy Face," he wrote, "is my life." Saint Gaetano directed anyone seeking the Face of Christ to the Most Holy Eucharist, saying, "If we wish to adore the real Face of Jesus, we can find it in the divine Eucharist where, with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Face of our Lord is hidden under the white veil of the Host."

A Eucharistic Parish Priest

On 2 February 1921, Father Catanoso was transferred to the large parish of Santa Maria de la Candelaria. He served there until 1940. The daily celebration of Holy Mass and Eucharistic adoration were the soul of his priesthood and the sustenance of his apostolate.

As the parish priest of Candelaria, Saint Gaetano drew people to Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar and renewed devotion to the Madonna. The plight of orphans moved him to undertake a number of charitable initiatives. He played an active role in the catechetical instruction of children and young people. Deeply moved by the message of the Blessed Virgin Mary at La Salette, Father Gaetano preached against blasphemy and taught the faithful to sanctify Sundays and the feasts of the Church.

Father Catanoso was compelled to reach out to orphans and to children suffering from neglect and abuse. He sought to provide youth with Christian role models. His charity extended to the forsaken elderly and to priests who found themselves isolated and without support. In all who suffered Father Gaetano saw the Face of Christ. His ardent love for the Most Holy Eucharist found expression in the restoration of churches and abandoned tabernacles.

Servant of Priests

"The Missionary of the Holy Face" spent hours or entire days in prayer before the Tabernacle. In his parish and beyond it he promoted Eucharistic Adoration in the spirit of reparation. He set up "flying-squads" of priests willing to assist other priests by preaching and hearing confessions on special occasions. In 1915 Saint Gaetano published for the first time a "Eucharistic Holy Hour" for priests. Saint Gaetano never let a single day pass without speaking of the Holy Face of Jesus.

Victim Priest

Father Gaetano patiently accepted sickness and, in the last stage of his life, blindness, desiring to unite himself to the saving Passion of Christ. In 1929 he offered himself as a victim priest to the Heart of Jesus.

La Madonna

Saint Gaetano's devotion to the Madonna was tender and childlike. He began praying the rosary daily as a little boy and remained faithful to the practice until his death. The rosary never left his hands, becoming for him a ceaseless prayer of the heart. To all who approached him for spiritual counsel he communicated his love of the Mother of God and his confidence in her intercession.

Spiritual Father and Founder

From 1921 to 1950 Saint Gaetano served as confessor to various religious communities and in the Reggio Calabria prison. He served as spiritual director of the Archdiocesan Seminary. Everyone called him "Father," a title not normally given parish priests in Italy. He was, in fact, a beloved spiritual father generating holiness of life in countless priests and consecrated women. Father Gaetano's simple and ardent preaching attracted sinners to the contemplation of the Holy Face of Jesus and inspired souls to imitate his life of adoration and reparation.

In 1934, Father Catanoso founded in Riparo, Reggio Calabria, the Congregation of the Sisters Veronicas of the Holy Face of Jesus. The Sisters devote themselves to Eucharistic adoration and reparation to the Holy Face, catechesis, assistance to children, youth, priests and the elderly.

Canonized Three Years Ago

Father Gaetano Catanoso died on the Thursday of Passion Week, April 4, 1963. Pope John Paul II beatified him on May 4, 1997. Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 23, 2005. The liturgical memorial of Saint Gaetano Catanoso was fixed on September 20, the date of his ordination to the holy priesthood.

Thanks to the encouragement of Father Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S., and the expertise of Webmaster Richard Chonak, this blog's first entry was on September 1, 2006, the very day of Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Holy Face at Manoppello. This is what I wrote:

Hearts in Pilgrimage

Today our hearts are in spiritual pilgrimage as we follow Pope Benedict XVI to the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello in the Abruzzo region of Italy. I got up at 3:30 a.m. to witness the event transmitted live via internet from Manoppello. Upon arrival the Holy Father knelt in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and then made his way behind the altar and up the steps leading to the back of the reliquary. A Capuchin Father opened the glass door for him and, in that moment, I saw Peter face-to-face with the precious image of his Master crucified and risen. The Holy Father looked intently at the Face of the Lord. The Pope's gaze was one of childlike wonder.

The Generation of Those Who Seek the Face of God

In his discourse the Holy Father invited us to be "the generation of those who seek the Face of the God of Jacob" (Ps 23:6). One who desires to contemplate the Face of God, he said, must approach His holy place "with clean hands and a pure heart" (Ps 23:4). "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8). The Holy Father described the Christian life as a continual seeking after the Face of Christ. "It is thy face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not thy face from me" (Ps 26:8-9). Addressing the many priests present, he invited them to open themselves to the imprint of the holiness of the Face of Christ. We will have occasion to return to the Holy Father's discourse and to learn from it.

The Verbum Crucis

For the moment, let us turn our hearts to the Word of God given us by the liturgy today; it too opens onto the mystery of the Holy Face. When Saint Paul speaks to us in today's First Reading of "the word of the Cross" (1 Cor 1:18), he is referring not only to an event, and not only to a message. The Verbum crucis is the mystery of Christ Himself who is the Word Crucified. One who contemplates the Holy Face of Jesus gazes upon the Word Crucified. The image of the Holy Face of Manoppello draws us into the heart of the Paschal Mystery; it is an icon of the Word crucified, buried, and waking to the glory of the Father in the resurrection.

The Face of the Power and Wisdom of God

If you would know "the power of God" (1 Cor 1:24), expose yourself to the Face of Christ. If you would know "the wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1:24), study the Face of Christ. The image of the Holy Face reveals that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor 1:25). Those who look upon the Face of Jesus with a pure heart discover there "the secret and hidden wisdom of God" (1 Cor 2:7). "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8).

The Face of the Bridegroom in the Night

In the Gospel we see that the one desire of the virgins waiting in the night was to catch the first glimpse of the Bridegroom's face. Our Lord invites us to be vigilant, to keep watch with lighted lamps and to feed their flame with the oil of a pure, adoring love, a love that consumes itself while waiting for the unfading light of His Holy Face. "Even the darkness is not dark to thee," says the psalmist, "the night is bright as the day; for darkness is light with thee" Ps 138:12).

The Eucharistic Face of Christ

The Bridegroom comes in the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. The human face is the expression of a presence that is personal and real. The human face is the epiphany of the heart, and Christ Jesus is the Human Face of God. The Eucharist is the Human Face of God - His real presence - turned toward us to reveal the burning desire of His Heart: "With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer" (Lk 22:15).

Bring your lighted lamps - hearts aflame with faith, hope, and love - before the Blessed Sacrament today. The Bridegroom will make the light of His Eucharistic Face shine upon you. Last October 23rd in his homily for the canonization of Saint Gaetano Catanoso, Pope Benedict XVI quoted the humble priest of Calabria, saying: "If we wish to adore the real Face of Jesus, we can find it in the divine Eucharist, where with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Face of Our Lord is hidden under the white veil of the Host." In every Mass we should want to cry out, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes! Go forth to meet him!" (Mt 25:6).

Reparation

Prayer before the Eucharistic Face of Christ will always have a character of reparation. Reparation belongs to the vocabulary of love. It is an imperative of the heart. Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI addressed priests of the diocese of Albano at Castel Gandolfo. The most insistent advice he gave them had to do with prayer and notably with the prayer of reparation. "Prayer," he said to them, "is not time taken away from our pastoral responsibility; it is precisely pastoral work to pray, to pray also for others ... substituting ourselves for others who perhaps do not know how to pray, who do not want to pray, or who do not find time to pray."

Do this today. Go before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, substituting yourselves there for those who do not know where to seek His Face, for those who do not know how to seek His Face. Expose yourselves to the radiance of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus for those who do not want to pray and for those who are afraid of prayer. For the sake of those who find no time to adore, be generous today in adoring Him whose Face is hidden beneath the sacramental veils.

A Pilgrimage Not Made in Vain

"Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). Let not the Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Holy Face of Manoppello be in vain: in the dark night of this world let us become "the generation of those who seek the Face of the God of Jacob" (Ps 23:6). "Behold, the Bridegroom comes! Go forth to meet him!" (Mt 25:6).