The Infant of Prague is one of the universal devotions towards the incarnation of the Christ. His divine infancy already contains all the glories of the kingdom yet to come. The child is robed in clothes of glory and the kings of Saba and Seba kneel before him in adoration.
Today an illustrious pilgrim, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI will join that never ending line of the many who kneeled in front of the Infant of Prague. As I see the Holy Father contemplating the Mystery of God’s love in the Incarnation, in that humanity that both veiled and proclaimed Divinity, I wonder what his pilgrimage and visit to the UK could bring.
I think the visit of the Holy Father is a gift. It will help us reflect on where our loyalties lay, is it with Christ or inflated opinions, mine or others? Yesterday I met someone who described himself as a liberal anglo-catholic. At the end of the conversation, which I enjoyed as he is a great guy, I realised that this chap is afraid of holding what the Church held across the countries down the ages. He is afraid that he will not be accepted in a sensible modern world, he will not be allowed to “get on in society”. I hope that the visit of the Holy Father in this country will give an opportunity for reflection, a call for deeper reflection to liberals in the Anglican and Roman communions, to see that the easy option, the options favoured by the spirit of this passing age are not necessarily the good options. One of the valid contributions that orthodox Christians can offer, especially in the climate of a papal visit, is to help our brothers and sisters who inhabit in the error of the easy option; to enable them understand that the way of the cross, the way of truth is not the easy way out. At least we owe this much to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are looking in the wrong direction. May the Infant of Prague assist us.