Bishop Emeritus of Novaliches
THE month of January is Sto. Niño month in the Philippines. Peculiar to our country in the liturgical calendar is the feast of the Sto. Niño on the third Sunday of January, I noticed that Pandacan in Manila already celebrated the feast of the Holy Child last Sunday, January 14.
Tondo, however, which has the bigger fiesta in Metro Manila, celebrated the feast on its proper day last Sunday, (January 21). Of course there was the massive celebrations in Cebu, and also the Ati-atihan in Aklan, featuring the Sto. Niño.
I noticed as I watched the gala night celebrations of the Asean last Sunday that there was a dance that featured the Sto. Niño.
The devotion to the Sto. Niño is here to stay, and there are truths and values in the Catholic religion which it highlights. First and most basic, the Sto. Niño feast reaffirms the truth we celebrated last Christmas season, that the Child born of Mary was true God from the moment of his human conception and birth.
It was the Son of God who was conceived as a human being by Mary and born from her. Jesus was true God and true man from the beginning of his human existence.
The Son of God did not start to dwell only later in the human Jesus, as was wrongly taught by people like Nestorius. The human nature formed in the womb of Mary was from the beginning the humanity of the Son of God. That is why the Christ Child is depicted in regal robes, and holds a scepter in one hand and the globe in the other. This Child was God, the king of the world.
The feast of the Sto. Niño also points to our Lord’s words that unless we are converted and became like little children we shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 18: 3). The feast of the Sto. Niño is an invitation for all of us, children and adults, to live as children of God, trusting him completely as our Father.
The feast of the Sto. Niño further highlights the Filipinos’ love for life and for children. We who love the Christ child must love also our children and take care of them. It would be incongruous to take care of the image of the Christ Child while neglecting the children in our midst with whom he identifies himself.
Finally, the feast of the Sto. Niño reminds us that the Son of God, in becoming little, identified himself with the little ones of this world.
We should not despise those whom the world considers of little account, but value them highly, remembering Christ’s words that whatever we do to one of the least of his brethren we do to him, and whatever we neglect to do to one of these least ones we neglect to do to him (Mt. 25).
As you can see, the feast of the Sto. Niño helps us remember and preserve fundamental truths and values of our Christian religion.
Having said that, however, we must again be aware of the possible pitfalls of this devotion. The concrete way in which the cult of the Sto. Niño is observed may lead to the domestication of God. A devotee of the Sto. Niño may fall into the mistake of thinking that if he/she took good care of the image of the Sto. Niño, dolling up the image of the Christ Child, then the Christ Child will just wink at his/her sins. In this way, the devotion to the Sto. Niño becomes an obstacle instead of a help to spiritual conversion.
The devotion to the Sto. Niño may also lead to the retardation of the spiritual maturity of the devotees if it became mixed with superstition. Already one hears it said that giving the statue of the Sto. Niño brings good luck to the recipient. Or, that the Sto. Niño with green clothes brings good luck. Such beliefs degrade the cult of the Sto. Niño.
Still another pitfall may be that devotees will be contented to be not child-like in the sense of the Gospel but infantile in their faith, no longer aspiring to grow in the maturity of their understanding and practice of the faith. When Pope John Paul II was leaving the Philippines after one of his visits here, he remarked, upon noticing the simple faith of our people, that our people’s faith should grow in maturity.For all these reasons, the devotion to the Sto. Niño must be accompanied and sustained by a sound and vigorous catechesis. Church authorities should not be contented to see people coming in droves to the churches or joining processions in honor of the Sto. Niño.
They should not be satisfied with the emotional fervor and the financial contributions of the devotees. They should rather instruct them in the fundamental doctrines and values which the devotion enshrines, and teach the people that the Sto. Niño did grow up and carry out his public ministry culminating in his death and resurrection.
The Christ whom we encounter today is no longer the Christ Child but the risen Christ who was once a child but has now metamorphosed into an adult, the crucified and risen Lord. Just as we are taught that if Christ had not risen, then we would still be in our sins, so it must also be said that if Christ had not grown, worked, suffered, died and risen again, we would still be unredeemed. /mPmailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
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