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| The Image of the Holy Child Jesus in Kingly Robes and Sceptre |
FOR
FROM THE MOUTH OF BABES I HAVE ORDAINED PRAISES
“And
said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
Today the whole Philippines celebrates the
feast of the Holy Child Jesus, popularly known as the Sto. Nino. It was said that when Ferdinand Magellan
converted King Humabon of Cebu and her wife Juana, he gifted them with an image
of the Sto. Nino. Later expeditions marveled
that after several decades since the discovery of the Philippines, this
material vestige of the first expedition was venerated by the natives even without
guidance or supervision from church authorities. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi named the city, Villa
del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, now known as Cebu.
The significance of the Sto, Nino to the
evangelization of the Philippines is significant. Not only was it inscribed in the Scripture in
Matthew 18:3 that one has to become like little children in order to enter into
the kingdom of God, but this devotion has spread to all Christianized
Filipino. Hardly a home does not contain
an icon or image of the Sto.Nino, To this day the Catholic religion has been
established in the Philippines.
What is the personal signification of
this feast to us as individual Christians? Indeed we need to be converted on a
daily basis. This conversion is not just
a once and for all experience but it is renewed on a regular basis. Like love gained it has to be regained many times
over. But then this message of
conversion will not take root in ourselves as long as we do not have the faith
of a child. We need to have the heart of
a child, one who is poor in spirit, one who is thirsty for truth, one who is
not presumptuous of one’s self, and one who is ready to obey.
Faith comes by hearing the word of God
(Romans 10:17). Like a child we must be
willing to hear and listen. But as a
child we need to mature into that faith.
The seed of the word of God must not only germinate in our hearts and
minds but it must grow and it must bear fruit.
Being a Christian is not only being a baptized member of the Church, but
someone who knows, understands and acts upon the Word of God. Religious piety is good, it is a vehicle for
expression of faith, but religious piety must be translated into something
concrete. It must transcend towards
moral action and goodness. Many people
wonder why despite being Catholic and Christian for so many years, and despite
the religious piety, why is our country plagued by corruption? It is because most of us only listen, we
conform, but few take to heart and endeavor to let the Word of God bear fruit
in our lives. Our hearing is so
superficial and we never take the effort to make it real. So as we celebrate the feast of Sto. Nino we
hope that this religious devotion, the fervor that we see on the street as the
image of Sto. Nino is held in solemn processions, may this fervor be also seen
in us as we fight corruption and cleanse our society from so many evils that
confronts us. Our religious fervor will
mean nothing unless we take the effort to cleanse our midst from the filth of
sin. For only through this
transformation will our Lord be pleased and bless us.
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