Preparation for Total Consecration to the Holy Face of Jesus

Julie Storr reviews a spiritual book that invites readers to grow in holiness through devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

Preparation for Total Consecration to the Holy Face of Jesus: How God Draws the Soul into the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive Ways

By Father Lawrence Daniel Carney III

Published by TAN Books

I heard once about a mom whose kids always wanted tacos for supper. Trying to expand their palate a bit, she conducted an experiment. For one week, she stopped asking them what they wanted and always made tacos. About the fifth night, the kids noticed and asked if they were ever going to eat something else, and she was happy to oblige.  

Sometimes our spiritual reading can be the same. If we only read books about theology, we miss learning about the lives of the saints. We need variety, and this book was the variety for me.   

The previous volume of this book, The Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society, is the work that tells what the devotion is. This title, Preparation for Total Consecration to the Holy Face of Jesus, is the how. 

I had not really contemplated a devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus before, even though many years ago, I heard the author speaks at a nearby parish. The author, Father Lawrence Daniel Carney III, believes it a necessary devotion in our day and age. I now agree with him. Jesus is still being insulted today and as we consecrate ourselves to this devotion in reparation to Him, we can also grow in holiness. 

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus began in 1843 when Sister Marie of Saint Peter reported visions of Jesus and Mary, urging her to spread devotion of the Holy Face in reparation for the insults Jesus suffered in His Passion. Devotions to the Holy Face were approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1895 and Pope Pius XII in 1958.   

This book leads the reader through a 33-day consecration with the Three Conversions of Father Garrigou-Lagrange, the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive ways. Each day’s reading has given me much food for thought and at times even stunned my thoughts. For example, on Day 3 we read,

Remember humility? God fashions Adam out of clay. He infuses an immortal soul into this human pottery, as if it were a spark of the divinity.  

I hadn’t thought of myself as human pottery before, but then the realization hit me that God breathed His divine life into this piece of pottery, confirming my identity, which is who I am and not what I do.  

As I read this book, I imagined what it was like to look on the newborn face of our Savior. I also thought about what Lazarus saw on the face of Jesus when he walked out of the tomb. Jesus, with streaks of tears down His cheeks, was He still weeping, or was He smiling? Likewise, what is on the face of Jesus when we walk out of our own tomb of sin and into a life of grace after we receive reconciliation?  

I am grateful for the opportunity to have been brought back to the devotion to the Holy Face. In the first promise given to those who honor the Holy Face, we learn that

[They] shall be so illuminated by it in their inmost souls, that, by their likeness to My Face, they shall shine with a brightness surpassing that of many others in eternal life.  

This devotion might also be a path to sainthood! If you are a fan of Thérèse of Lisieux, remember that her full profession name is Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. There is a widely-used photo of Saint Thérèse, and I have now noticed that the image is often cropped. When you see the full photo, you notice that she is holding a photo of her namesake, the Holy Face of Jesus. 

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Copyright 2026 Julie Storr
Images: Canva