Day 1: The Statue

The first day of the Infant of Prague Novena begins with the contemplation of the statue itself. The Catholic devotion to the Infant of Prague is, in many ways, a particular Catholic example of how a single sacred image, contemplated faithfully over centuries, can become a means of grace for millions of souls. Today we contemplate the statue and let the Catholic theology it expresses begin to form our prayer.

Today's invocation

O Most gracious Infant Jesus, I have recourse to You. I beseech You by the love and tenderness with which You came down from Heaven and were born of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, that You may have mercy on me. I commit my prayers, my work, and my whole being to You. (State the petition.) Through Your grace and the protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, hear me. Amen.

Today's meditation

The Infant of Prague is a wax-coated wooden statue, about nineteen inches in height. The Christ Child is depicted as a young boy of perhaps three or four years of age, standing with His right hand raised in blessing and His left hand holding a globe surmounted by a cross. He is dressed in royal robes; the precise robes change throughout the liturgical year (the Carmelite sacristan dresses the statue in colors corresponding to the liturgical season). On the Christ Child's head is a small crown, often a real crown of precious metal and stones donated by Catholic devotees over the centuries.

The iconographic elements of the statue are theologically precise. The raised hand of blessing identifies the Christ Child as the One who blesses (the Father's blessing through the Son, given to the Catholic faithful who turn to Him). The globe with the cross identifies the Christ Child as Lord of the world: the entire globe is in His hand, and the Cross by which He redeemed the world surmounts the globe. The crown identifies the Christ Child as King: the same Lord whose Solemnity of Christ the King is celebrated at the close of the Catholic liturgical year is here represented as a small child with the royal dignity already manifest.

The statue's small size (nineteen inches) is itself part of the Catholic theological message. The Infant of Prague is intentionally small, the size of a real young child rather than the size of an adult devotional figure. The Catholic faithful who pray before the statue are addressing a small Lord, who has chosen to come into the world in human smallness, and who is approachable in the way a small child is approachable: without awe-keeping ceremony, with the directness of trust.

Today's intention

Bring to the Infant of Prague today the principal intention for which you are praying this novena. Be specific. Divine Infant Jesus, I bring before Your small Lordship the matter on which I am asking Your help.

Reflection

The Catholic devotion to the Infant of Prague is, like every Catholic devotion to a sacred image, the devotion to the Person represented by the image, not the image itself. The Catholic Church teaches the doctrine, defined definitively at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, that the veneration of sacred images is the veneration not of the wood and paint but of the Person depicted, who is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, present sacramentally and visibly through the image. The small wax-coated wooden statue at Prague is therefore a particular Catholic point of contact with the Lord, who through the small statue becomes accessible to the Catholic faithful in a particular form.

The novena's first day is the appropriate Catholic moment to bring this doctrine to mind. The Catholic faithful who pray to the Infant of Prague are not praying to a statue; they are praying to the Lord Jesus, who has chosen to receive their prayers through the particular form of this Catholic devotional image. The small Christ Child is the same Lord whose Heart appeared to Saint Margaret Mary, whose Mother revealed the Miraculous Medal, whose Mercy Saint Faustina recorded. The Catholic devotions are many; the Lord is one.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Divine Infant Jesus, I trust in You.