Beloved Father, yesterday I shared with Your children the wonderful gift You bestowed upon us three years ago, on the most holy day of Your Son’s death, and which remains with us to this day. Contemplating the Face of the Lord, who draws us to Himself with His gentleness, is always a great comfort. In an inner word, the Lord has exhorted us: “From the cross of this world, which causes so much suffering, lift your gaze with Me to the Father.”
These words leave us with an important lesson, for, having set out to follow Your Son, we wish to resemble Him as closely as possible. Everything Jesus did, He did with His gaze fixed on You. In His High Priestly Prayer, we hear Him say to You: “I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do” (Jn 17:4).
It now falls to us, who follow Your Son, to serve this work, which must be made known throughout the world.
We see the world’s ruin. We see how, all too often, people have forgotten Your love, do not know You, have fallen into error… Often, they are also unable to fully grasp the consequences of living this way and, therefore, do not turn to You.
It is a cross for us to see this reality, beloved Father. Like Your Son, we long for people to listen to You and live as Your children, so that true peace may come.
But often this is not the case. What remains for us to do? We will proclaim Your name, in season and out of season. We will not grow weary of bearing witness to how much You love us, that Your Son is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6).
Together with the Lord, we will lift our gaze to You from the cross of this world and present all its suffering to You. Fixing our gaze on You will sustain us, just as it sustained Our Lord.
NOTE: At the following link, you can find some images of the Face of Christ that appeared on the purple veil covering the Crucifix in our chapel: https://cloud.harpadei.com/s/FaceofJesus