Infant Jesus Shrine

According to Wikipedia, a shrine is a holy or sacred place dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr or saint. It’s a place where the above mentioned are venerated or worshipped as shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated. Shrines can be found in various settings, such as churches, and in the Roman Catholic Code of Canon law, canons 1230 and 1231 read: "The term shrine means a church or other sacred place which, with the approval of the local Ordinary, is by reason of special devotion frequented by the faithful as pilgrims”.

Another use of the term shrine in colloquial Catholic terminology is a niche or alcove in most – especially larger – churches used by parishioners when praying privately in the church. Shrines were always centered on some image of Christ or a saint – for instance, a statue, painting, mural or mosaic, and may have had a reredos behind them (without a Tabernacle built in).

In Mira Road (East), we have Infant Jesus (Child Jesus, Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, or Christ Child) shrine representing Jesus from his Nativity to age 12. And I go to this shrine every possible day of my life while going to school. Earlier I would sit and pray privately and also meditate over there, but nowadays because of lack of time, I am unable to do so. But I make sure that I go there every day without fail to at least say hello to Infant Jesus. But no matter how much I try, still there are days when I cannot go. But whenever possible I go and the thing which touches me the most is that no matter how many days pass by without me going there to pay my oblations, Baby Jesus waits for me to say hello to Him. No matter how tired, sad, upset, or angry I am, Infant Jesus is just the same. He always welcomes me with a smiling face and always has a smile on his face. I feel so nice the moment my feet touch the shrine. I experience an exhilarating feeling and I am always sure that whatever worries or tensions I carry with me gets surely crushed under His feet the moment I lay them down there. Every day I go to the shrine with a new problem and every day I find a solution for my problem. I never come home empty-handed, with the same problem lingering on my mind. It miraculously gets cured and solved.