On the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus, a Catholic bishop called on the faithful to never cease to seek Christ’s face.
Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon of Daet said the feast reminds the people that in the poor and suffering, they will see the face of Christ who became poor and suffered.
“Today, we are reminded to seek Jesus’ face continuously,” Bishop Alarcon said in his homily during Mass at the Shrine of the Holy Face of Jesus in Manila’s Quiapo district.
“And where do we find him? In the little ones, in the poor once,” he said. “Let us pray that we may radiate the face of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who offered his life for his sheep.”
In the world of many faces, the bishop said, “they almost become faceless so we turn to them one at a time.”
“Let us go back to the real faces, to the actual faces, and be able to see signs of hope, see the face of God,” he added.
The church leader, who heads the bishops’ Commission on Youth, also encouraged the people to be faces of hope, joy and love no matter how hard it is.
While acknowledging its difficulty for it demands “great discipline and deep spirituality,” he invited the faithful to pray that the joy that comes from the Gospel will not be lost.
“We are called to preach, not so much with words, but by the attractiveness of Christ, the beauty that is in Christ,” Bishop Alarcon added
“We are all invited, not only to have, but to be truly holy faces,” he also said.
The feast of the Holy Face is a moveable date and is always on Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday.
