In early 2017 a good friend of mine (a very pious one) asked me if I can help her put together a 2 page flyer of prayers on the Holy Face. This friend of mine has been distributing various traditional prayer cards for years, it’s her calling. I didn’t know anything about The Holy Face back then so when she presented to me the prayers it didn’t really hit me as there was no explanation behind it. Lovely prayers I thought. I told her if you want to spend money on printing thousands of copies we have to do this right with some background information of the prayers so people would appreciate it. And so she gave me two books to read, The Golden Arrow and The Holy Man of Tours. I am no bookworm and it takes me a very long time to finish a book. But with The Golden Arrow I finished it so quickly enough I couldn’t put it down, and then onto the next, The Holy Man of Tours. It drew me in and I felt the love of this devotion starting to grow in me. I then searched online for more stories, articles, websites and read through the Arch Confraternity Manual. Three to four months after I was fully immersed and contacted a group in Ireland dedicated to the Holy Face. I was sent a copy of the image, the chaplet and a small booklet to start with.
Such a beautiful devotion, a 2 page flyer was impossible. I started putting all the prayers together with some background information which has turned into a 37 page booklet instead of a flyer. It took me approx 8 months to finish, from drafting, revisions and more revisions and not to mention the hurdles and attacks in between from the devil which my friend took the brunt of – she was constantly ill and had unexplained family problems. I also had my share but we persevered.
Around November of 2017 we finally sent it off to the printing shop. There were more delays as it was getting close to Christmas. We prayed and prayed and waited. It was finally finished and delivered just before Christmas. That was our target date.
I cannot remember exactly when but it wasn’t too long after the Holy Face booklets were delivered, that on a particular Sunday I was alone in my house for a couple of hours, I took one booklet out from the box to do a test run, a quality check, just like one does with any new product – you give it a test to see if it’s good!
So I knelt before the Holy Face image that I placed on my living room , lighted a blessed votive candle and started reading and praying. Somewhere in the middle of my prayers I suddenly felt an electric shock on my back, a little strong it jolted me. I stopped for a moment to look around. I wasn’t near any electrical cord or switch. I continued on till the end. I felt very different after as if God has given me renewed strength and energy to my ailing prayer life.
My friend and I were heavily distributing copies in 2018-19 at a very minimal cost. Abundant blessings came our way, answered prayers to difficult problems, people telling us also of answered prayers and because of that they have helped us distribute in many parts of Australia.
Most notably during covid, I 100% believe the Holy Face and the Divine Mercy images in my living room have protected my family from this terrible virus, and we have not taken the vaccination either, but have put all our trust in God. God is good !
Countless blessings continue …
God bless
Carmen