Opening Prayer:
O Holy Infant Jesus of Prague, behold us prostrate at Thy feet imploring Thy blessing and assistance. We firmly believe in Thy goodness, Thy love and Thy mercy. We also know that the more we honor Thee, the more Thou wilt bless us. Remember that thou hast told us to ask, to seek, and to knock at the Door of Thy Infinite Mercy. So it is with the greatest confidence that we kneel before Thee today. Teach us how to ask that we may receive; show us how o seek that we find. Be pleased to listen while we knock, O Divine Infant Jesus, and open Thy loving Heart to our trustful supplication. Amen.
O Mary, Mother of God, and our Immaculate Mother pray to Jesus for us.
MEDITATION
Mortification of Jesus
“Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3)
Our Divine Savior was born in the midst of every imaginable inconvenience. Reflecting for a few moments upon the circumstances of His birth, we shall begin to understand something about His spirit of self-denial. To our human senses, the condition of a stable where animals dwell is a repulsive scene. Yet this is what Jesus embraced for love of us. How His tender Infant limbs quivered in the piercing cold of that first Christmas Night! But the cold and the tears of the manger were not enough for Him; He wanted to do more for us. Behold, even while the heavenly light and the echo of the angelic harmonies were hardly spent above His head, a knife of stone passed over His sacred flesh. It is there where the Infant Jesus shed the first drop of His Precious Blood for our salvation.
The spirit of Jesus Christ is a spirit of mortification. It is with good reason that during the years of His Public Life He so frequently reminded His followers that they should do penance. The acts of penance required of us are given in direct statements as well as in the Eight Beatitudes. To forgive our enemies, to perform acts of charity, justice, and love toward our fellow man are also acts of penance that are fruitful for our souls.
On a certain occasion, Jesus said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” Again He explained: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” When Our Divine Savior advised us to love our enemies, to do good to those that hate us, and to pray for those that persecute us, He was teaching us how to do penance; how to mortify ourselves. Then Our Divine Master concluded that we must do all of these things in order to be the children of our Father Who is in Heaven. We must walk the narrow way to salvation, for narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life.
It is well for us to ponder these thoughts seriously. Jesus repeated so many times. “He that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me.” The whole life of Christ upon earth was a Cross and a Martyrdom. His sufferings were not only physical but moral as well. Not only did He suffer hunger, thirst and the burning heat of the Galilean sun, but more; was not Our Divine Redeemer exposed to the insults, criticisms and persecutions of His enemies? Even as an Infant, did He not have to flee from the cruelty of Herod?
What acts of mortifications did Our Blessed Lord not suffer during His Sacred Passion! Can we begin to imagine the innumerable acts of disrespect, affronts and rebuffs that Jesus supported for us during the last hours of His life on earth? In giving up His life for us and in shedding His blood, Our Blessed Lord taught us how to live for heaven. He showed us the way to get there. May we learn to live sacrificial lives; for unless we do penance, we shall all likewise perish.
Concluding Prayer
O Sweetest Infant Jesus, Thou who didst come upon earth to teach us the way to heaven, enkindle in my heart the love of mortification, self-denial and penance, Help me to be willing to make any sacrifice to gain and retain thy grace. Aid me to realize that every devotion which does not treat of sacrifice is false. May my soul become an altar on which I may offer Thee the sacrifice of my acts of mortifications. Listen O Divine Infant Jesus of Prague to my trustful supplication. If it be pleasing to thee and beneficial to my soul, grant me the intentions of this Novena, (Here mention petition)…Teach me how to fulfill Thy will here on earth, that one day I may come to enjoy Thy infinite loveliness in heaven. Amen.
Mary Queen of Martyrs, Pray for us.
Pater, Ave, Gloria. (Once)
“O Sweetest Infant , born for me,
in suffering and poverty,
All honor, glory be to Thee
The Savior of humanity.