STO NINO -- PROPER FEAST IN THE PHILIPPINES BUT ALWAYS FOR ALL

Feast of the Sto. Nino (Proper Feast in the Philippines)
Mk 10:13-16

The Holy See granted the Catholic Church in the Philippines special favor by allowing it to celebrate the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Feast of the Sto. Nino (Holy Child). Today we celebrate this feast nationwide.

Three things come to mind as we celebrate today the Feast of the Sto. Nino: the humble beginnings of the Catholic Faith in the Philippines; the mystery of the Incarnation; and the challenge of the Kingdom.

In 1521, the Spanish conquistadores set foot in the Philippine soil. Without much delay, the friars who were with the fleet began the evangelization of the native settlers. Though met with much resistance, the missionaries were successful enough to have evangelized even the King and Princess of Cebu (an island in the south of the Philippine archipelago). As a baptismal present, Ferdinand Magellan gave Princess Juana an image of the Sto. Nino. Since then, nothing was heard about the precious gift that well marked the Christianization of the Philippines until Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu. In 1565, Legazpi’s men found the same image of the Sto. Nino carefully wrapped inside a chest. Today, the same statue is venerated in the Basilica of the Sto. Nino in Cebu. Historians cannot write an accurate account of the Church’s history in the Philippines without mentioning the fact that the Sto. Nino has always been closely associated with the evangelization of the First Christian nation in the Far East.

As it is intimately linked with the origin of the Catholic Faith in the Philippines, so is the devotion to the Sto. Nino a reminder of the beginning of the Christian Faith. The Sto. Nino gives material representation to the mystery of the Incarnation. When Jesus, the Eternal Word of the Father and the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became man, God became little for us. At the core of the Christian Faith is Phil 2:6-8 that says that Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!” At the heart of every believer is the humbling realization that God became little so that every man and woman might be great. The “poverty” of God enriched us all. Christ came to share in our humanity so that we might come to share in His divinity.

Thus, the challenge for every disciple of the Lord is to follow His kenosis, His way of self-emptying. Every Christian must become little so that others may be great. All who aspire to belong to the Kingdom of the God-who-became-little must become little, too. The Kingdom, therefore, challenges us to become childlike in everyway.

To be childlike, however, is not only to be little. To be childlike also means to be confident in the love of the Father for us. This childlike trust helps us to take the radical road unto self-emptying because we know and we believe that the Father will never abandon us just as He did not abandon Jesus who once became a Child for us.

Ironically, though, we cannot remain children if we want to be childlike. We have to grow and mature in our faith, hope, and love. Just as the Sto. Nino, though always little, did not remain a toddler all His life, we, too, need to become adults in our spirituality even as we remain little. We can only become childlike if we mature; otherwise, we become childish, not childlike.

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Sto. Nino, we remember the humble beginnings of the Catholic Faith in the Philippines and so are grateful; we reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation and so are amazed by the love of God for us; and we are challenged by the Kingdom to strive becoming more childlike. This feast must be observed not only by Filipinos but also by every follower of Jesus, for the Kingdom beckons us all.