Revealing the face of Love

The other day a friend and I walked around St Ignatius church in Stamford Hill, in London. Built about 120 years ago by the Jesuits, who still run the parish, its walls are gilded with stunning mosaics, and some interesting symbolism, which we enjoyed interpreting and discussing in enthusiastic whispers. My friend drew my attention to the arch above the entrance to the Sacred Heart chapel; to the lustrous mosaic showing Jesus surrounded by thirty or so saints and a few angels. How many of those saints can you identify? My eyes swept the throng, which contained a few instantly recognisable ones... But in a second, before I'd even started noticing let alone naming them... A sudden leap of recognition, as I spotted one who is so very dear and very familiar... Oh, there's Sophie! There, kneeling on the right... holding an image of the Sacred Heart...

My friend peered at the mosaic, and chuckled softly. Sophie was one of the saints he hadn't been able to identify, but he admitted that he'd also been confused by the image she was holding. The Sacred Heart? I thought it was something like Veronica's veil! My phone's camera couldn't zoom in enough to do justice to the details, but - my outstretched hand tracing the pattern in the air - I assured him she was definitely holding an image with an outline of a heart, surmounted by a cross. (There's an enlarged detail further down, or you can try viewing it on this page of the church's website)

It was, of course, lovely to see Sophie up there, but especially lovely to see her great love and passion for the Heart of Jesus acknowledged and honoured in this way. She had spent her life pointing to Jesus, and must surely have been delighted when my attention instantly skipped from her to his Heart. On earth, she had longed to make this Heart known to the world, and now here she was, immortalised with her own Veronica's veil, bearing his imprint.

And yes... Veronica's veil... because as I pondered it, I realised my friend wasn't far wrong. 

Tradition tells us that Veronica, in a rush of compassion for Jesus as he carried his cross, used her veil to wipe his face, which became imprinted on it. The face of Jesus, filled with anguish and devoid of beauty; but overwhelmingly the face, the image of Love in all its self-giving abundance. And that, surely, is what the Heart of Jesus is, par excellence! And that is what Sophie is holding and showing forth: the truest face and image, and very source of Love, unlimited, unconditional and revealed in Jesus' Heart, pierced by a cross. And this Love is what we are all called to show forth, daily, in our living and our loving.

How and where are you being called to reveal the face of Love today?