by Fra Angelico
O Jesus, the Blood is pouring from Your Face, cut by the blows of the soldiers! Your eyes are swollen and filled with tears… not from physical pain, but from the much greater agony of seeing Your Love rejected.
Precious Jesus, the thorns are piercing Your head, streams of Blood run down into Your Beautiful Eyes. Your whole Face is red with Your Precious Blood. You can no longer be recognized. You are truly the Man of Sorrows.
O my God, they have even spit in Your Face! What an abomination! Yet, You endure it for me. You endure it so that You will not have to spend eternity without me. You are thinking: Anything, if only she will love Me. No pain is too great, no humiliation too much, only that she may love Me and be Mine forever. I endure all for Love, for I AM LOVE.
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The above is true, but it does not even begin to approach the reality of the Love Jesus Christ bears for each one of us. When we contemplate His Passion, and meditate on the humiliation, suffering, torture, rejection, hatred, physical agony and more that He suffered for us, there is one thing that we can spare Him…..not loving Him in return.
Oh, let us love Him, let us love Him and cling to Him, consoling His Sacred Heart, so that we will know that 2000 years ago when He went to the Cross for us, He Saw Us Loving Him Now, and that is how the angel comforted Him in Gethsemane, and that is why He found the strength to struggle to His feet again after He had fallen. Your love, my love, our love consoled Him long before we were born, for He saw that we would accept His Mercy and allow Him to wash away our sins in the River of Divine Blood that flowed on that Day.
Let us implore His Mercy for those who do not know, do not yet love Him. Through the intercession of our Sweet Mother of Sorrows, may our number multiply, that Jesus, so long ago may see from His Cross, countless souls standing beneath the Blood and Water which flowed from His Pierced Heart.
He knew us, even as He was dying for our sins. He knew that we would claim Him as our Savior and King. He was consoled by our love.
But how much do we love Him? It is not too late, even now, to tenderly kiss that disfigured Holy Face…..once betrayed by a kiss. To kiss with love and tenderness the Face of God.
And as He never forgot Mary anointing Him with fragrant perfume, or Veronica wiping His Face with her veil, neither will He forget you.
We are all in that crowd watching. What will we do?
How much do we dare to love JESUS?
I Want to See God 
Patricia,
Thank you for this beautiful reflection. Indeed, how much do we dare to love Jesus? This side of heaven, most of us don’t come close to how or how much we should, but today’s feast of All Saints reminds us that we do have heavenly help. We also have Mary, through whose Immaculate Heart our love for Jesus can be purified and perfected. May we each strive to love Him as much and as best we can not just for ourselves, but for those who do not love Him.
Karin, I so much agree with you that we have Mary, Whose Immaculate Heart can purify our love. Isn’t that so amazingly wonderful? Long ago, I started inviting her to receive every Holy Communion with me, hiding me in her Most Pure Heart. How beautiful that we can, in a way, pass through her on our way to Jesus….bearing her fragrance with us. I’m so grateful I made the Act of Total Consecration. What a gift Our Mother is!
And like you said, we have to love Him for those who don’t! And here I am falling so far short, just for myself. I have to apologize to Him every night. I think He loves our efforts though, and is always ready to give us another chance to do better. I know that my life will be a continual falling down and getting back up again. I just hope that as years pass, I fall less and stay on my feet more 🙂 With Him, all things are possible!
Let’s pray for each other! Hugs and prayers….
Oh, this is – well, it’s beyond words for me. Does that sound dramatic? It’s just the truth. This is something to keep with me in meditation.
Dearest Nancy, I am so blessed by your very kind words, and deeply grateful that you found a bit of inspiration here. I always find so much at your blogs. The chapel rosary has become my nightly companion. It’s so perfect for me, because I need to pray with others to “move along..,” else I take forever to complete one rosary.
As for your “drama,” well, it’s so very Mary Clancy 🙂 And you are so very endearing! xoxoxo
Patricia, When I read this, I thought of the Scripture, : “Zeal for thy house consumes me.” That love was so all consuming that He endured the cross. And in turn how much am I consumed with zeal, for Him?
I love your Friday link-ups.
Love and blessings +
Hugs, Caroline! I love First Friday link-ups too. Maybe you will join us next month? You always have something beautiful to share.
I love that Scripture you quoted. I also love the one on our Carmelite shield: With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts. I just love saying that! I wish I had zeal everyday! I have been so tired and busy lately. Instead of complaining, I know I should offer it up. Why is it human nature (mine at least) to complain about the everyday drudgeries? This was Therese’s secret. She embraced them wholeheartedly. Much to learn…
I watched a special on EWTN about Carmelite nuns last night. Their day was so quiet and peaceful. Yet, imagine the monotony of such days stretching out for months and years and decades. What commitment, what love that demands! Here I am off on a tangent, because I always love “talking” with you. Love and prayers…
Oh Patricia..such a beautifully written plea to love our dear Jesus!
I’m kissing His adorable Face along with you today.
Much love and blessings as always..Trish xx
Trish, it’s always so good to see you here. Hugs! I’m wondering what you are up to 🙂 I do so hope you are happy on this new journey you have begun. I saw a statue in Rome of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss. It was so very striking and sad. I think that is the only record in the gospel of someone kissing His Holy Face. I know He is so grateful for your kiss of love today! Much love to you too! xoxo
How much do we dare love Jesus? That is THE question. What an amazing post! I will be contemplating your words for a long time. “I endure all for Love, for I AM Love.” Wow. Thank you so much for your beautiful and inspiring writing my friend. I would have commented earlier but my computer has been inaccessible. God Bless. May we have zeal and love for our beautiful Lord. May He help us….
May He help us….
Oh Cynthia, how true that is! Yet, it’s also consoling. What would become of us if we had to do anything on our own! Surely God will answer our prayers to love Him more. (I think it might even be His favorite prayer 🙂 I hope so!
Oh computer problems! I’ve been there…so frustrating. I wondered where you were; I needed another poem! I’ve come to depend on them…or maybe become addicted to them 🙂 I’m so glad you are back! God bless you too! xoxo
Patricia, this is beyond beautiful. You wrote, “there is one thing that we can spare Him…..not loving Him in return.” And it just cut my to the heart. Thank you for this!! I pray we will all console the Heart of Jesus who loves us so much and asks for so little! God bless you! (Sorry this comment is a bit after First Friday too! I’ve been ill most of the week.)
Laura, I’m so sorry you have been ill. I hope you are much better now. Thank you for the very kind words. Your First Friday post was the first one I read. I had never heard such a thing before…that Jansenists actually hated the Sacred Heart. Makes your blood run cold! I love the First Friday link-up idea. I feel so strongly that Jesus’ beautiful Heart may need to be consoled now, maybe more than ever. Thank you so much for commenting. Feel better, and God bless you!