THE INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE

                      " A Powerful Novena of Childlike Confidence " 
                             On the Backside of a Picture Prayer Card             
The one day novena can be said at the same time every hour, for nine consecutive hours.
O Jesus, Who hast said, ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, ask and it shall be opened to you. Through the intercession of Mary, Thy Most Holy mother I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.  ( Make Your Request )

O Jesus, who hast said, all that you ask the father in my Name, He will grant you through the intercession of Mary, thy Most Holy mother, I humbly and urgently ask Thy Father in Thy Name that my prayers be granted. ( Make Your Request )  

O Jesus Who hast said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away." through the intercession of Thy Most Holy Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted. (Make Your Request )   

Miraculous healing has been known to take place through the intercession of the Divine Child Jesus, and this Novena.

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Miracle:  A miracle is an unaccustomed and unexpected event which serves as a motive for credibility by manifesting the power of Christ, and leads the spectator to believe in His person. ( John 2: 11 ) Definition of miracle - taken from the Bible Dictionary.

Novena :  Latin translation: Novenus ( nine each )  The recitation of prayers of intercession for a specific request and the practicing of devotions during ( usually ) a nine day period.  Pentecost, which was the descent of the Holy Spirit, was preceded by nine days of intercessory prayer by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostles.

History of the Devotion to the Infant of Prague.  
Devotion to the Infant Jesus is as old as Christianity.

It ever tends to keep the mystery of our Lord's birth vividly before us. this special devotion to the Divine Child originated with the Carmelites in Prague Bohemia, early in the seventeenth century.  Princess Polyxenia of Lobkowitz had received a statue of the Divine Child as a wedding gift from her mother. The Princess devoted herself to works of charity, particularly to the Carmelites in Prague. In the year 1628 the Carmelite Monastery had been reduced to poverty due to war.
The Princess gave her precious statue to the Carmelites saying:

" I give you what I prize most highly in the world; honor and respect the Child Jesus and you shall never be in want."   

The Carmelites were later forced to flee the city and in the confusion of war they were unable to take the miraculous statue with them. The invaders seized the statue and threw it into a pile of rubbish. The Carmelites returned to Prague in 1635, when peace came. One of them, Father Cyril, who had received spiritual help through through his devotion to the Infant Jesus sought and found the statue amidst the rubbish. Overjoyed he placed the statue in the oratory. As Father Cyril was devoutly praying he heard a voice saying:

"Have mercy on me and I will have mercy on you. Return my hands to me and I shall give you peace. The more you honor me, the more I shall bless you."

Startled by these words, Father Cyril found both hands of the statue were broken. The hands were restored by a a devotee of the Divine Child. Once more peace and prosperity returned to the Carmelites.

Devotion to the Divine Child had always been practiced by the Carmelites for through their Mother, Mary, this Divine Child had come to the world. St Therese of Lesieux, the Little Flower, was also a most fervent venerator.

As time went on, innumerable cures and graces were received by those who prayed to the Divine Child. Then in the year 1642, the Baroness Benigna von Lobkowitz had a beautiful chapel built for the Divine Infant. In 1644 on the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, the chapel was blessed and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated for the first time.  From then on, the feast of the Holy Name remained the principal feast of the Infant of Jesus of Prague.( cf. Infant of Prague Devotion ) 

ST. THERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS     Feast Day  October  1
Saint Theresa, had a great devotion to the Holy Child.

St. Theresa, often called the Little Flower, was born in Normandy, France, in 1873. She was the youngest of the five daughters born to Louis and Zelie Martin. Theresa was a very lively, lovable little girl. Her father  called her his "little queen" Yet she could be too sensitive and irritable. In the story she wrote of her life, she tells how the Infant Jesus helped her over come this weakness.

It was Theresa's great desire to enter the Carmelite convent where two of her sisters were already nuns. But since she was only fifteen, permission was not granted. Theresa felt sure that Jesus wanted her to spend her  life loving him alone. She kept praying and asking the superior to admit her. She even dared to ask Pope Leo XIII himself to grant her heart's desire. And finally she was allowed to enter. 

Although she was only fifteen, Theresa did not expect to be babied. "Obedience, prayer and sacrifice" were her program.  She had a thirst to suffer for love of God. Theresa had the spiritual courage of a real heroine. "May Jesus make me a martyr of the heart or of the body-or better, both!" she wrote. And she meant it. In winter she suffered from the bitter  cold and dampness of her plain bedroom. There were other kinds of sufferings, too. Whenever she was humiliated, she would offer her pain to her beloved Jesus. She would hide her hurts under a smile. She told Jesus to do with her whatever was his will.
                                                                                                                                                                                        Sister Theresa tried hard to be humble. She called her great confidence in God her "little way" to holiness.  She always had a burning desire to become a saint. The young nun wanted to find a "short cut," an 'elevator' to take her quickly to  sanctity. So she looked in the Bible, and found the words, "Whoever is a little one, come to me."

When she lay dying, she could say: "I have never given the good God anything but love, and it is with love that he will repay. After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth."

The Little Flower died on September 30, 1897. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

St. Therese, the little flower.
“O Jesus, my love, my vocation, at last I have found it. My vocation is LOVE!”

Please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden. 
And send it to me with a message of love. 
Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore. 
And tell him I will love him each day more and more.


           
                                            Story of a Soul

I feel that my mission is soon to begin: my mission to make others love the good God as I love Him... to give to souls my little way of trust and self surrender... words of St. Therese - July 17,1897,a few months before her death.

"After My Death, I Will Let Fall a Shower Of Roses"
"I Will Spend My Heaven Doing Good Upon Earth"

 

www.raphael.net                             Guardian  Angel  Prayer                                            St Therese of Lisieux                  O thou who speedest through all space,                  More swiftly than the lightnings fly,                  Go very often in my place                  To those I love most tenderly.                  With thy soft touch, Oh, dry their tears,                  Tell them the Cross is sweet to bear,                  Speak my name softly in their ears,                  And Jesus' Name supremely fair!