Praha sv Jindricha: Church of St. Henry and St. Kunhuta

Thomas Merton's prayer from Thoughts In Solitude.   I listened to Father James Martin read it out loud.  He told Krista Tippet that this prayer and other writings by Thomas Merton changed his life.  The prayer speaks to me.  I like what Father Martin says about how anyone can pray this prayer.

Earlier today I stopped at the Church of St. Henry and St. Kunhuta in Prague.   The Jindřišská Tower  is next to the church.  Wikipedia says it is gothic, renaissance and baroque.  Both Henry and Kunhuta were canonized.  She was a the Duchess of Bavaria and the Roman Empress.  Interesting as a married  couple they were both canonized.   Church was built in the gothic style in the 14th century, consecrated in 1351.  Of course, had several iterations or changes over time.

It was pouring rain, I was walking, walking as I do, just walking and feeling a sense of place.  I stopped at the church after being drawn to the candles, flowers and pussy willows set up outside in a small garden, that needed weeding, at the foot of a cross.  I wondered if the temporary shrine was left over from Easter.

I stepped inside, lit a candle for my Dad and sat for a moment and meditated and prayed in silence.

Later listening to prayers and poetry I came across Father Martin reading Thomas Merton's prayer.

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

https://onbeing.org/blog/thomas-mertons-prayer-that-anyone-can-pray/

The city is beautiful and mostly intact though perhaps worse for wear.  Was not bombed during WW II like so many of the other cities we have seen on this river trip.  The Munich Agreement, or Munich Betrayal, as our guide called it yesterday, protected the city.  In fact the city was a protectorate. 

We particpated in a tour of the main locations of Operation Anthropoid including the crypt where paratroopers hid from the Nazis.  This was about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and the members of the Czech resistance who carried this out.

 After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the offenders, together with 5 paratroopers, hided in this crypt in the Karel Boromejsky Church, also known as the Saints Cyril and Methodius Church. After treason, over 700 SS-troops layed on 18 June 1942 siege to the church. After a 2-hour gun battle, three men in the crypt were killed. One of them was Jan Kubiš. Jozef Gabčík and the three remaining paratroopers committed suicide when the Germans flooded the crypt. In the battle, also 14 SS-soldiers were killed and 21 wounded.