O most holy Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore You, I loved You, and with a lively sorrow for sins, I offer You this poor heart of mine. Make the humble, patient and pure  wholly obedient to Your will. Grant, good Jesus, that I may live in You and for You. Protect me in the midst of danger; comfort me in my afflictions; give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, Your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen

O dear Jesus , I humbly implore You to grant  Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace , purity , love , labor and faith. I beg you , dear Jesus , to      protect and bless all of us , absent and present , living and dead.

O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus , and our Mother , pray to Jesus for our family , for all the families of the world , to guard the cradle of the newborn , the schools of the young  and their vocations.

Blessed Saint Joseph , holy guardians of Jesus and Mary , assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which he granted to you to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and dying , so that with Mary and with you, heaven  may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus . Amen

- From the Most Sacred of Jesus and Mary Prayer Book

Apart from having our home blessed by a priest before moving in, we also have a proliferation of devotional objects around the home. At the second floor, we have the main altar, where one can find a crucifix , the statues and pictures of saints. We also keep prayer and religious books, sacramentals like Holy Water , candles and religious articles in the main altar.

We have a crucifix in every room of our home, including icons and statues of saints. In the living room, we had a statue of Christ the King enthroned and blessed five years ago.

Palm leaves, blessed on Palm Sunday are hung on windows and doors. Bottles of Holy Water handed out during the Easter Sunday Mass are also kept at home. We bless our home most especially at times when the Catholic Church is celebrating a Feast. I bless my son with Holy Water before leaving home and at bedtime. I do the same with myself all the time.

These religious icons, statues and sacramentals remind us constantly to think of Jesus and His Mother and turn to them at all times. It keeps them always in our thoughts and and our hearts.

Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Immaculate Heart of Mary,

full of love for God and mankind,

and of compassion for sinners,

I consecrate myself to you.

I entrust to you the salvation of my soul.

May my heart be ever united with yours,

so that I may hate sin,

love God and my neighbor,

and reach eternal life with

those  whom I love.

May I experience the kindness of your motherly heart

and the power of your intercession with Jesus

during my life and at the hour of my death.

                                                          Amen                                                                                                                                                                

As revealed to St. Margaret Mary:

I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

I will give peace in their families.

I will console them in their troubles.

I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.

I will abundantly bless their undertakings.

Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

Tepid souls shall become fervent.

Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.

I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.

I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.

Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally  written in my Heart.

In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

 The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Succor) captures the essence of several elements of the faith, namely the Way of the Cross,  Mary’s loving intercession, the Glory of the Divine Light (reflected in the golden background), and our path to redemption. It is said  to have been painted in the 13th century. It is painted on wood and has a golden background. In this image, the Theotokos holds the Christ Child in the presence of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, who carry the instruments of Christ’s Passion.

The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was brought to Rome in the late fifteenth century  by a merchant who had stolen the icon from a church on the isle of Crete. He then became terminally ill and requested that the image be exposed for public veneration. It was finally placed in the Church of San Matteo, Via Merulana . There it was popularly referred to as the Madonna di San Matteo. It remained there for approximately 300 years. The church of San Matteo was served by the Agustinians, who had been sheltering Irish  brethen in need. When the French invaded Rome, the church was destroyed and the icon disappeared for neary 40 years. It was , however, rediscovered in 1865 in an oratory of the Augustine Fathers  at Sta. Maria in Posturela.

The Pope of the day, Pius IX. had often venerated the Mother of Perpetual help in San Matteo. He was consequently eager to display the icon once again for veneration in Via Merulana, but at a different church, St. Alphonsus. It has remained there to this day. 

Prayer to Our Mother of Perpetual Help

Mother of Perpetual Help

you have been blessed and

favored by God. You became

not only the Mother of

the Redeemer but the Mother of

the redeemed as well. We

come to you today as your

loving children. Watch  over

us and take care of us. As you

held the child Jesus in your

loving arms, so take us in

your arms. He who is mighty

has done great things for you,

and God’s greatest fear is

that, in time of temptation, we

may fail to call out to you and

become lost children.

Interecede for us, dear Mother,

in obtaining pardon for our

 sins, love for Jesus, final

perseverance, and the grace

always to call upon you.

Mother of Perpetual Help,

pray for us.

Amen

The devotion to the Infant Jesus is a tradition of the Catholic Church for a long time. Many saints have a strong devotion to the Divine Child , notably, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua and St. Teresa of Avila.

The history of the child Jesus started in Prague during the 17th century when the statue of the Infant Jesus was brought into Bohemia (now Czech Republic) and was given to the Discalced Carmelites in Prague. Since then, the statue has remained in Prague and has drawn many devotees worldwide to honor the Holy Child.

The popularity of the Child Jesus grew in the Baroque period in Spain which may have been caused by the visions of St. Teresa of Avila.  A number of sculptures  made in Spain found their way to Prague, made mostly of wax, ivory and bronze and were dressed in garments which reflected the aristocratic style of the period.

It is speculated that that the statue came from a monastery in Bohemia and from there was obtained by Dona Isabella Manrique  who gave it as a wedding gift to her daughter Marie Manrique who married a Czech noble. The statue was again given to Polyxena , Marie’s daughter as a wedding gift in 1587. In 1628, Lady Polyxena presented the statue  to the Carmelites  at the Church of the Virgin Mary the Victorious  in Mala Strana saying, ” I am giving you the most esteem of my possessions. Keep the sculpture in reference and you will be well off”. This statue then became known as the Infant Jesus of Prague. It stands 47 cm. high and has a long gown around the wax body.

Shortly after 1628, the Saxons and the Swedes  took turns to invade Prague  and the Carmelites had to flee and the veneration of the Holy Infant ceased.  It was not until 1638 that a young priest named Fr. P. Cyril, a Matre Dei, returned to Prague and found the Holy Infant statue  buried in the ruins  of the Lady of Victory church. Fr. Cyril cleaned the statue and placed it in the oratory for worship. While he was praying  before the Infant Jesus, he heard the Infant Jesus say, “Have pity on Me and I will have pity on you. Give Me My hands and I will give you peace. The more you honor Me, the more I will bless you”.

The repairing of the statue’s hand was a miracle since Fr.Cril and his peers did not have the financial resources nor the know-how to repair it. Through prayer, Fr. Cyril asked the Blessed Virgin Mary in several occassions to provide the necessary funds for fixing  the Infant statue. The Divine Infant spoke to him again, “Place me near the entrance of the sacristy and you will receive aid”. Fr. Cyril then did what he was told and in a few day’s time, the statue was fixed by a man who came to the sacristy to offer help.

Since the statue was fixed , a number of miracles had occurred and the word began to spread, resulting in a large increase of veneration to the Holy Child.

In 1641, an altar was built for the Infant Jesus in the church, and in 1644 a chapel eas built, but was not completed until 1654. Many nobles of the time  had greatly supported the Infant Jesus, among them were Lady Polyxena, King Ferdinand (Czech). King Charles Gustav (Sweden), and Bernard Ignatius of the Lords of Martinic. It is interesting to note that the crown over the Divine Infant’s head came from Bernard Ignatius, who presented the Infant statue with a little gold crown set with precious stones and jewels on January 14, 1651 during a procession that carried the Infant Jesus statue from the Lady of Victory church to other Prague churches. The Infant Jesus was solemnly coronated on April 4, 165 by the Archbishop Josef Corta acting for Cardinal Harrach III who was sick.

After that period, Prague went through more wars and unrest  but the church and the Infant Jesus chapel was miraculously protected. In 1776, the altar was rebuilt using marble and two huge scultures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph were placed  on the left and right sides of the altar. The Holy Infant was kept in a glass case standing on a pedestal engraved with crystals, surrounding the Infant were twenty angels in gold.

Since then copies of the Infant Jesus were made and distributed in many European churches. The Spanish colonial efforts later brought the Infant Jesus to the Philippines and to central America. And since then, the devotion has kept spreading to all parts of the world.