Devotion to the Holy Infant and the Child Mary

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Does anyone here practice this devotion? I wasn’t too aware of this until I heard a CAL program on it. Can anyone explain it, or recommend sites/books?

Two questions:

Is it proper to pray to the Holy Infant as we pray to God now? Jesus is, after all no longer an infant, so hasn’t He changed? I mean, when we say “Holy Infant Jesus, bless us” isn’t that infant now grown up, and reigning in Heaven? so why still pray to the Infant?

Second

Why ask the child Mary for intercession. The child is now grown up. she is not the same as She was. So why would we ask Mary as She was in Her past to pray for us even though that little girl has now changed.

I hope my questions are understandable. Thanks.😃
 
Hi narrowpath.

I’m not sure if this is what you’re looking for . You could try it maybe.

infantprague.org/

I might be to give a little personal perspective to the first question: Some of the Saints were blessed by visits/ from the infant/child Jesus.

I believe St. Anthony of Padua was one. I’d also read about St. Faustina Kowalska who, after receiving Holy Communion, and going back to her prie Dieu to kneel down looked beside her to see the little Child Jesus stretching out his arms to her asking to be held in her arms.

It is purported to have happened on several occasions because at one point St. Faustina asked our Lord [paraphrase], “Why do you grant me such a privilege - to permit me to hold you as a little Child in my arms?” and Jesus replied, “Because I want you to let me do the same thing with you.”

So even if the concept of God being beyond time is a difficult one to grasp, we can at least know that Our Lord does choose to sometimes manifest himself as a little child.

Personally when I pray, I usually have an image of the adult Jesus in my mind; but I find it very easy to adore Him when I contemplate Him as a little one.

God bless.
 
Well, Jesus and Mary exist outside of time, so it’s probably not quite right of us to take our earthly, linear approach to time into the afterlife. We also pray to and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, so I don’t think a devotion to Him as a baby is all too unusual. Praying to the baby Jesus makes sense to me, though; after all, Jesus did choose to come to earth as an infant for a reason: to show us His humility. He deliberately incarnated Himself into a small, defenseless baby. So I think it is easy to understand why people have always been captivated by the image of the Child Jesus.

I have heard of devotion to Mary as a little girl, but I’m not as familiar with it as I am with people who pray to or keep images of the Child Jesus. I did, however, find a neat web page through Google that I like.
 
Maybe continuing to think of the Lord as a baby means some people can have power over Him.

After all, a baby doesn’t demand much beyond being kept warm, dry, and fed.

A dead man needs only to be buried.

A man who rises from the dead is in a position to make non-negotiable demands.
 
Cluny said:
Maybe continuing to think of the Lord as a baby means some people can have power over Him.

After all, a baby doesn’t demand much beyond being kept warm, dry, and fed.

A dead man needs only to be buried.

A man who rises from the dead is in a position to make non-negotiable demands.
Click to expand...
What are you describing? Your posting is unclear.
 
Yeah, I’m talking about the Catholic devotion. Not the nativity Jesus as sweet little baby not rightous judge secular depiction of Him.
 
narrowpath said:
Does anyone here practice this devotion? I wasn’t too aware of this until I heard a CAL program on it. Can anyone explain it, or recommend sites/books?

Two questions:

Is it proper to pray to the Holy Infant as we pray to God now? Jesus is, after all no longer an infant, so hasn’t He changed? I mean, when we say “Holy Infant Jesus, bless us” isn’t that infant now grown up, and reigning in Heaven? so why still pray to the Infant?

Second

Why ask the child Mary for intercession. The child is now grown up. she is not the same as She was. So why would we ask Mary as She was in Her past to pray for us even though that little girl has now changed.

I hope my questions are understandable. Thanks.😃
Click to expand...
Two answers:

Jesus is outside of time, so we can pray to Him at whatever time in His life: infancy, teenage years, minstry, Passion, etc. Indeed, He is sympathetic of us in our younger years, in our teenage years, in our lives and hardships, having born it all upon Himself. So we can pray to the teenage Jesus, and teens can pray to Him for the graces they need, and He will surely answer their prayers.

Second

I have never heard of the child Mary devotion, but I know of the child Jesus devotion. Jesus appeared to many saints as a Child, in order to teach them the humility and simplicity of a child, and this is the whole point of devotion to the Holy Infant: to become childlike, to become humble and simple like a child.

I suppose devotion to the infant Mary is alright, and that because we do have a feast of her presentation in the Temple, and all devotion to Mary is based on devotion to Jesus, and she would certainly be praying for us as a child, given her sinlessness and great faith in God. So I suppose one can be devoted to the child Mary just as they are to the child Jesus. But this can lead to an unhealthy child devotion to the saints, where one prays to the saints in their youth years, so one must keep themselves in check in their devotion.
 
I have seen the child mary depicted many times in representations of Ste. Anne and Ste. Joachim. I never realized that I could pray to Mary as a child.

That having been said, I have a great devotion to the Infant Jesus:

a) as he appeared to or received devotion from “St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Teresa of Avila” (from here)

b) in Mary’s arms as she appeared to the Martyrs of Vietnam

c) to the right of the sun at Fatima, “As the crowd was witnessing the miracle of the sun, the children saw visions of the Holy Family, Jesus, Joseph and Mary.”

d) as the Infant of Prague
 
I believe it is proper to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ who is now in the right hand of the Father, the Bible does not mention anything about praying to the infant nor to the child Mary. Why pray to the infant when Our Lord and Our Lady are glorious in the Heaven with the Father Almighty.

Pax Christi

Good day
 
Cluny said:
Maybe continuing to think of the Lord as a baby means some people can have power over Him.

After all, a baby doesn’t demand much beyond being kept warm, dry, and fed.

A dead man needs only to be buried.

A man who rises from the dead is in a position to make non-negotiable demands.
Click to expand...
Let me just take a WILD GUESS at who you are?
protestant?
how can i guess… in your message you (name removed by moderator)ly that the resurrected lord is whom we should focus on… not the crucified or infant Lord… 🤷 am i right?
 
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