A Year of Reparations: 365 Days of Penance and Prayer

“Be perfect … as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus spoke these words in Luke 5:48, after explaining how praying for our enemies will help us achieve perfection. One of the greatest signs of holiness is someone who prays for his persecutors. Holiness means being set apart from the world, or to be like God. Souls that pray for their enemies live on a higher spiritual plane than ordinary souls; they also pray for sinners.; they perform expiation, fasting, abstinence, and suffrage for sinners including themselves—this is called reparation.

This book will teach you, Dear Reader, how to become a saint by employing a year-long spiritual program composed of a reparation prayer for each of the 365 days and the example of a saint of reparation for each of the 52 weeks. Accompanying these daily prayers are spiritual exercises based on guidance from the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face of Jesus. Devotions intended to encourage reparation, like the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Face of Jesus, are explained for readers who are on their journey toward sainthood. 

The detailed discussion of reparation theology, which includes all the key historical contributors to its development, is intended to help the aspiring saint understand the tenets of propitiation, vicarious satisfaction, atonement, and penance. This year-long act of reparation will keep the soul immersed in this most eminent work of salvation and give it impetus to aim for the highest place in heaven that God has prepared for every created soul. 

Quotable Quotations

“Those who make reparation snatch souls from hell, ‘to repair the honor of Christ, and to promote the eternal salvation of souls.’ Reparation helps people grow in patience, ‘strive to repair the injured honor of the Divine Majesty, as well by constantly praying, as by voluntary mortification, by patiently bearing the afflictions that befall him, and lastly by spending his whole life in this exercise of expiation.’ By this we fulfill the office of the Angel consoling Jesus in the garden.” (Quotations from Miserentissimus Redemptor [1928])

“In the 1840s heaven gave devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre. In 1917 heaven gave devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to Sts. Francisco and Jacinta and Ven. Sr. Lucia at Fatima. Both apparitions were committed to reparation. Both gave the seers a vision of hell. Why hell? Should children not be told about hell because it is too scary? On the contrary. Our Dear Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary care too deeply for us to leave out the doctrine of hell when they communicate to their children. ‘Then,’ said Sr. Marie de St. Pierre, ‘I was given a vision of hell.’ Our Lord did this so that His special plans might be accomplished. This also allowed her to make a more perfect abandonment to surrender her merits that His plans might be fulfilled.”

“What are the works of satisfaction or reparation? 1. Prayer is an act of religion (i.e., vocal prayer, meditation, contemplation, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading, assisting at Mass, at Vespers, at sermons, at catechism, at confession, communion, etc.). 2. Fasting includes all privations and mortifications of body and mind. 3. Alms are works of mercy to neighbor. How are these acts medicinal? Prayer expiates sins against God; and, in particular it atones for pride. Fasting expiates sins against ourselves, especially sensuality. Alms expiates sins against our neighbor, especially avarice.”

“Reparation and penance are not just a one-time ordeal. It is not just for beginners who are struggling with mortal sin; it is a life-long habit. We should never cease to do penance. Why do so many souls not advance from beginners to proficient? It is the want of abiding sorrow for sin. Notice that the saints never stop making reparation or explaining how they are the greatest of sinners. The saints grow because they love and remember to be thankful for forgiven love. Beginners purify themselves by active exercises of penance, but the perfect endure passive trials without complaint, the ones that God gives.”

“How happy I should be if my Master also desired that I should shed my blood for Him, but what I ask of Him especially is that martyrdom of love which consumed my holy Mother Teresa [of Avila] whom the Church proclaims Victim of Divine Love; and since the Truth has said the greatest proof of love is to give one’s life for the one loved, I give Him mine, that He may do with it as He pleases. If I am not a martyr by blood, I wish to be one for love.”  —Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880–1906)

Bullet Points

• This book contains a section written specifically for priests (though beneficial for lay readers) to help them understand and celebrate Passion Masses because they are the greatest means of reparation the Catholic Church has to offer. These Masses are a great means to restore justice when our human family attacks God our Father by their sins that offend Him. 
• Each week readers are introduced to a saint who devoted his life to reparation for sinners. Brief biographies are provided for each spiritual role model or exemplar and sources are included in a bibliography at the end of the book for further study.
• The Marian apparition at Fatima made an important contribution to the theology of reparation. Throughout the book readers are encouraged to incorporate Marian devotions into their spiritual life, including the Angelus, the Miraculous Medal and the Brown Scapular. 
• Beyond a summary of Marian devotions, the author lists 15 benefits given to those who pray the Rosary according to Our Lady of Fatima. 
• Also provided is a list of spiritual benefits gained by those who are active in the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face of Jesus in addition to 12 promises given to those committed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.