In August 1843, the Golden Arrow Prayer was revealed to a woman religious in Tours, France. Discalced Carmelite Sister Mary of St. Peter and of the Holy Family (Sœur Marie de Saint-Pierre et de la Sainte Famille) called it “an act of praise that our Lord himself dictated to me, notwithstanding my unworthiness, for the reparation of blasphemy against his Holy Name.”

People had become comfortable and were neglecting the first three commandments (Ex 20:1-17):

1. You shall not have other gods beside me.
2. You shall not invoke the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
3. Remember the sabbath day — keep it holy.

Sister Mary of St. Peter said Jesus requested that she promote devotion to his Holy Face, calling acts of sacrilege and blasphemy poisoned arrows. So, the Golden Arrow Prayer was given to her to combat the encroachment of certain socio-political ideologies such as Communism, and she was to pray for reparation for blaspheming against the three commandments.

“This devotion is the divine tool given by God,” according to Emmie Turner, a parishioner at St. Theresa the Little Flower Church in Summerville and a Third Order Carmelite. “The Church made it [the Holy Face of Jesus] a feast day, but the word never got out.”

Cathy French, also a parishioner at St. Theresa, said the devotion is “both old, and it’s new.” Several members of the parish meet in the adoration chapel on Tuesday mornings from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and Tuesday evenings from 6:00-7:30 p.m., to focus on reparations. French said more people are finding the devotion now.

Interestingly, St. Theresa opened its Perpetual Adoration Chapel in 2008 on Shrove Tuesday, which is the Feast of the Holy Face.

“It’s a remarkable devotion,” said Turner. “You will be given a very strong faith. It is wonderful for our time.

“I started reading the Golden Arrow [prayer], and my heart just leapt into it. It really focuses on the first three commandments, which we are neglecting,” she said.

Nothing good can come from not keeping the Sabbath day holy, Turner added. “And when we use the name of God badly, nobody thinks about it” these days. But that is why these parishioners pray, pray and keep on praying.

“More and more Catholics are jumping out,” Turner said. “More and more Catholics are focusing on sports on Sunday.” She believes there will be consequences to neglecting the Lord on the Sabbath.

“It boils down to the first three commandments. The first three belong to God, and we can’t take that away from him” without serious consequences, Turner said, and the remedy is to focus on the Lord’s Holy Face.

Pauline Bergeron believes this, so you will find her at the adoration chapel every Tuesday.

“She has never been absent,” Turner said of Bergeron. “She is admirable,” and Bergeron is 96.

“Pauline says she can’t do much, but she can pray,” said Gail Andrade, another devotee to the Holy Face of Jesus.

Andrade enjoys the Tuesday evening hour. “The JV team meets at night,” she said. She calls those who meet in the morning “the varsity” team.

Nevertheless, the varsity and the JV teams are making powerful prayers for reparations.

The Golden Arrow Prayer

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and most unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven, on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

“Souls are going to hell because no one will pray and make sacrifices or reparations for them,” Andrade said, so their emphasis is on reparations.

They are a small group, but they believe their prayers are making a difference at St. Theresa.

“The Blessed Mother says it; Jesus says it; God says it — pray,” Andrade stated.

And when they devote that prayer hour to the Holy Face, “you get that feeling that you can talk to God,” Andrade said. “That’s what adoration does.”

They are joined by Carla Oliveira, who has moved around a bit, living in North Carolina and Florida before settling in South Carolina. She said Summerville has been very kind to her.

“This group, they pray together,” Oliveira said. “I was super happy to find out about the Holy Face. I fit right in. It’s been my devotion for a lot of years.”

The groups pray an Our Lady of Sorrows rosary, the Chaplet of the Holy Face and the Golden Arrow Prayer.

Oliveira said she loves being in the chapel focusing on Christ’s face.

“Everything in my life looks better.” Oliveira explained. “I think it’s because of the praying. When you look at God’s face, it pleases him … You can’t go wrong. It brings you peace.

“Just look at his face. That is who you are going to see when you get to heaven,” she said.

Group prayer strengthens the devotion.

“This devotion was so long ago, and now it’s on its way back,” French said. “There is a peace about it. We are called to be part of it. He [Jesus] wants us to pray for sinners and to be mindful of the blasphemies.”

One reason the devotion is making its way back into popular consciousness is because of the tireless efforts of Father Lawrence D. Carney, III, who is from the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas. He travels the country speaking about the importance of the Holy Face.

Turner said that Father Carney visited Charlotte, North Carolina, and five more parishes began participating in the devotion.

Now, Father Carney is coming to Summerville. He will speak at St. Theresa the Little Flower on Jan. 8-10, 2025. His focus will be from this book, “The Secret of the Holy Face,” during a eucharistic retreat.

Yes, when people get so comfortable that their prayer life goes dormant, they truly need to look into the face of Jesus.

“It is a devotion for our times,” Turner concluded.

Reparation, devotion in the face of Christ

By Father Michael Cellars

The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus has been a part of St. Theresa the Little Flower parish for more than 10 years. Most people are unaware that St. Thérèse of Lisieux, while she has many titles like “the Little Flower” or “of the Child Jesus,” [they are] not her religious name. Her professed name is “Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.”

The devotion to the Holy Face predates the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, and is powerful in that it reorients our gaze to what is important, namely Christ. For myself, it is important to recognize that in the challenges of our lives, especially in the secular world that is constantly attacking our faith, we have someone to not only turn toward, but genuinely look to. In Psalm 27, we read, “‘Come,’ says my heart, ‘seek his face’; your face, LORD, do I seek!”

The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is in many ways a prayer of petition and reparation; petitions for ourselves and the needs we bring, and reparations for not only our own sins and failings, but all the sins and failings of those who have turned away from his face.

We remember that it is the face of Christ himself who shows us the Father — and that beautiful face is filled with love for us.

Father Lawrence Carney, who in many ways has been a champion of the devotion to the Holy Face, will lead our parish in January (8-10) to have a better understanding of this devotion and encourage us to constantly “Seek His Face.” I hope that many will take advantage of the opportunity to grow in this important devotion.

Father Cellars is the pastor of St. Theresa the Little Flower Church in Summerville. Visit sttheresachurch.com for further information on the event.