October 2022
Intro
From Spain to Prague in 1556 and around the world, the devotion to the Infant of Prague venerating the childhood of Jesus has spread.
I was introduced to the statue at Queen of All Saints School in 1949 where it stood atop a tall pedestal, gold and crowned in liturgical colors – even to today.
Many years later, I celebrated the January 21 feast in Cebu, Philippines where millions of people gather to honor Jesus the child, as the adult Jesus reminded us that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the child-like.
What would that look like for us today? – to be childlike?
- May we walk in innocence and purity
- May we learn early and keep the gift of innocence and simplicity in our own lives
- May we hold the world and its future in our hearts like Jesus did
Let us pray:
Jesus, we admire your simplicity and genuineness! We admire your curiosity and genuine love. May we keep the gift of fresh beginnings and the natural joy of living life. Touch us with the spirit of your genuine care. We do not heed royal robes, crowns or orbs. All we need is your heart in our hearts, and so we pray… in the Name of the Infant of Prague,
Amen
Homily
My dear brothers and sisters.
St. Paul called out the Galatian people: “O stupid Galatians.”
The root meaning of the word [“stupid”] signifies being stunned and without sense from inside out.
“Bewitched” – like being taken over by a witch.
“After beginning with spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?”
The early followers of Jesus were having a difficult time in detaching and freeing themselves from the Mosaic law, and practices of circumcision, kosher meats, the observance of the Saturday Sabbath and its practices.
These practices and the spiritual fears induced by not practicing, St. Paul calls “the flesh.”
St. Paul even asks them, “did you experience the Spirit of Jesus that I shared with you in vain?”
Each moment after the words of consecration, we are invited to proclaim the Mystery of Faith. And we do so in a variety of words:
“We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.”
We do not proclaim the infancy and childhood of Jesus as an end in itself because Jesus is incomplete, and so are we, until He rises from the dead.
The infant of Prague reminds us that we began our childhood in order to learn and grow into our lives that we might be in our world as Jesus was.
In each phase of life, we are on our way to a fullness that overflows into an eternal life.
We are always moving forward and becoming what God opens to us!
Today’s Psalm invites us to remember that we are a people of a covenant, and that God, Our Father, through the inspiration of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, help us to uphold our end of the covenant.
“We are set free to worship him without fear and to be holy (as in set apart as an example) and to be righteous in his sight all the days of our lives.”
Hopefully, our pilgrimage and time together has refreshed our awareness of who we are and where we are going and how we are to live!
There is a human tendency to want to give up – to carry and live the consistent and constant spirit of Jesus 24 hours a day is a human dream ever needing to be realized.
We are to be seeking, knocking for the rest of our lives. We become exhausted because we don’t also seem to find what we think we need. We then begin to learn that there is a Holy Spirit who is trying to align our lives and God’s good will for us together.
Let us make our prayers together with the Holy Spirit and inspired by the Holy Spirit:
O Infant of Prague, remind us that you did that from your childhood to the end of your life and beyond!
Harvest and Hope 