A comparison, as simple as it is just, will enable us to see how the impious, by their blasphemies, attack the adorable Face of our Lord, and how faithful souls glorify it by the praises which they render to His Name and to His Person. Merit is in the persons, but the glory which accompanies them is in their name. It casts a luster upon them when it is pronounced. The merit or demerit of a person is attached to his name. The most holy Name of Jesus expresses the glorious victory which He has obtained over hell, and it embraces in it the infinite merits of His adorable Person. The most holy Name of God expresses the Divinity, and it embraces in it all the perfections of the Creator.
Hence, it follows that the blasphemers of these sacred names attack God himself. Now let us recall to mind those words of Jesus. I am in my Father and my Father is in me. Jesus has rendered Himself passable by the incarnation. It is He who has suffered in His adorable Face, the outrages inflicted upon the Name of God, His Father by blasphemers. There is something mysterious in the face of a man who is despised. Yes. I see that there is a particular link between his name and his face.
Look, He said, at a man distinguished by his name and through his merits in the presence of his enemies. They do not indeed attack him with blows, but they overwhelm him with injuries. They affix derisive and bitter epithets to his name, instead of the titles which are his due. Then observe what passes over the countenance of the man subjected to such insults. Would you not say that all the outrageous words which issue from the mouth of his enemies, fix themselves on his face, and cause him to suffer real torments? His brow is flushed and covered with shame and confusion. The opprobrium and the ignominy he suffers are more cruel to bear than real torments in other parts of his body. Behold then, here in a feeble portrait of the Face of our Lord, outraged by the blasphemies of the impious. Let us now represent to ourselves the same man in the presence of his friends, who having heard of the insults he has received, hasten to console him, to treat him in accordance with his dignity, and to do homage to the greatness of his name, by giving him all the exalted titles to which he has a right.
Then you see that the man's face reflects the pleasure these praises give him. Glory rests upon his brow, and flowing down his face renders it resplendent. Joy shines in his eyes. There's a smile upon his lips. In a word, his faithful friends have healed the painful wounds inflicted on his face, outraged by his enemies. The glory has exceeded the opprobrium. Behold then, what the friends of Jesus performed by the work of reparation. The glory which they give to His Name rests upon His august brow and rejoices his most Holy Face in a very special manner, in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar.