Day 9: Conclusion

The ninth and last day of the Infant of Prague Novena closes with the same disposition that has been deepening through the past eight days: trust in the Christ Child. The novena ends; the devotion continues. Today we close with thanksgiving, with the final entrustment of our intention to the Infant of Prague, and with the Catholic resolution to keep the relationship with the Christ Child as a daily companion of the rest of our lives.

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 intention and act of thanksgiving

Bring to the Infant of Prague for the last time in this novena your principal intention. Whatever the visible state of the matter at the close of the novena, give thanks for His maternal attention.

A traditional Catholic act of thanksgiving and entrustment:

Divine Infant Jesus of Prague, glorious King of the universe, lover of children and all who approach You in trust, I thank You for the prayers You have heard with me through these nine days. I commit my intention finally to Your hands. Bless me with Your peace. Bless my family. Make our home a household of trust in You. Through Your maternal care, bring me at the end of my days to the Beatific Vision in Your eternal Kingdom. Amen.

Practical follow-through

In the days and weeks following the close of the novena, consider:

• Placing or renewing an image of the Infant of Prague in your home, in a place of honor.
• Adopting the brief invocation Divine Infant Jesus, I trust in You as a daily prayer.
• Keeping the Catholic family devotion to the Christ Child during the Christmas season (the family crèche, the Christmas Mass, the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena).
• Making a Catholic pilgrimage to the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague if travel to Europe is possible during your lifetime.
• Praying this novena annually, particularly in moments of acute family or personal need.

Reflection

The Catholic devotion to the Infant of Prague is, like every Catholic devotion, the beginning of an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time transaction. The Catholic faithful who have prayed this novena once and forgotten about it have received less than the devotion offers; the Catholic faithful who keep the relationship daily through the brief invocation, who place the image in the home, who pray the novena annually, are gradually formed by the Christ Child in the disposition of trust that is the principal Catholic spiritual gift of our era.

The Catholic spiritual tradition has long observed that the modern Catholic faithful, in the conditions of secular Western culture, are particularly in need of this Catholic disposition of trust. The cultural pressures of distrust, anxiety, and self-reliance work daily against the Catholic disposition. The deliberate Catholic relationship with the Infant of Prague (and with the broader Catholic Marian, Eucharistic, and saintly devotions of which the Infant of Prague is a particular instance) is a Catholic discipline that can sustain the soul against the cultural pressures and form it gradually in the Lord's love.

Conclusion of the novena

The Infant of Prague Novena is the last of the ten novenas in the principal collection on this site. The Catholic faithful who have prayed this and the other novenas (the Surrender Novena, the St Jude Novena, the Divine Mercy Novena, the St Joseph Novena, the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena, the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena, the Holy Spirit Novena, the Sacred Heart Novena, the Miraculous Medal Novena, the St Therese Novena, the St Andrew Christmas Novena, the St Peregrine Novena, the Immaculate Conception Novena, the St Anthony Novena, and this one) have access to a comprehensive Catholic devotional library that addresses the principal needs of the Catholic spiritual life.

For the broader Catholic theological context, see Mary, Mother of God, the Communion of Saints, and the related Catholic devotions in the novenas hub.

Closing prayers

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

Divine Infant Jesus, I trust in You. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.