Third Sunday of January (not to be confused with Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as it comes usually in January) has been designated as the Feast of Santo Nino de Cebu. This feast celebrates the initiation of Christianization of the Philippines. It is because the ruler of Cebu at that time, Rajah Hamabon, and his wife, Hara Humamay, accepted not only a wooden statue of Sto. Nino, brought by a Spanish explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, as a gift of diplomacy, but also Christian faith, on April 14, 1521. Thus, Christianization of the Philippines began upon the arrival of Sto. Nino to Cebu, starting with its ruler and his wife, Rajah and Hara. In fact, this year marks the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Sto. Nino to the Philippines, as well as Christianization of the Philippines.
This 500th anniversary Sto. Nino feast in
2021 is also the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, on Cycle B. A theme of the
Scripture readings for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, B (1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19;
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10; 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20 ; John 1:35-42), is
God’s call on us and our responding to His call. We are to listen to God’s
voice in His call and respond with our actions with our whole body, soul,
heart, and mind. So, what is a theme of Sto. Nino feast and how can it be
related to God’s call on us and our response, a theme for Second Sunday in
Ordinary Time?
Fr. Arturo Bautista, Associate Pastor of Holy Child
Jesus Parish, Chicago, puts the significance of Sto. Nino celebration and
devotion in three-fold way:
I.
Sto. Nino invites us to him and his
Kingdom
II.
Sto. Nino invites us to be child-like
but not childish, because we must be child-like to enter into his Kingdom
III.
Sto. Nino invites us to have peace in
our hearts, because his Kingdom is of peace
In Fr. Arturo’s teaching on Sto. Nino significance,
I and II reflect the Gospel Reading for Sto. Nino feast on Cycle B, Mark
10:13-16, which emphasize the importance of Jesus’ invitation to those who are
child-like, while III reflect the First Reading, Isaiah 9:1-6, which identifies
the child born to us as the Prince of Peace, whose dominion is characterized
with peace.
The salvation that Christ in Jesus brings is
characterized with eternal peace (i.e. John 14:27; 16:33; Romans 5:1-2). Pax Christi!
Sto.Nino invites us everyday, as Fr. Arturo
emphasizes, to him, to become child-like, and to the peace that he bring as the
Prince of Peace, as well as the King of the Universe. Now juxtapose this three-fold invitation of
Sto. Nino to God’s call in Jesus and our response, which are in a general theme
for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
By virtue of our Baptism, we are called by God
through Christ. But to those who were baptized during infancy probably could not
clearly recognize the call yet until at least they grow mature enough to
receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist but should recognize by the time they
are deemed as mature in faith to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation by their
own will. So, if you are mature in faith
enough to have received all three Sacraments of Initiation, Baptism, Eucharist,
and Confirmation, you are able to recognize God’s call not only in Christ but
also in the Holy Spirit, upon your discernment, and follow it upon listening to
it. And, you know that the call is God’s invitation to Him through Christ the
Son and to the peace the Son bring. And,
the Gospel narrative for Sto. Nino feast on Cycle B, Mark 10:13-16, reminds us
that we need to be child-like to recognize, listen, and follow the call, the
invitation, to follow Christ the Son and to do the will of God the Father, as
it leads us to what Sto. Nino invites, as Fr. Arturo teaches: Christ himself in
the child king, Sto. Nino, and his Kingdom, and peace in his dominion.
In the Gospel Reading for Sto. Nino feast Sunday on
Cycle B, Mark 10:13-16, you can generate an image of Jesus inviting children to
him. No matter who they are and where they are from, Jesus invites children to
come to him, as he enjoys blessing them. That is why he rebuked his disciples
for trying to prevent children from coming to Jesus, though the disciples might
have thought that children would be annoying to Jesus. Obviously, they were not
annoying to Jesus but welcomed by him. So, Jesus threw this punch in his
teaching, in response to his disciples’ action:
Let
children come to me; do not prevent them, for kingdom of God belongs to such as
these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a
child will not enter it (Mark 10:15-16).
This Gospel narrative makes us reflect on why Jesus
loves children so much. And, this reflection leads to another reflection: why
God the Father sent His only begotten Son to us in the form of a baby
Jesus. And further leading to reflect on
the image of Sto. Nino.
Given John 1:14 and 3:16, God the Father sent His
Son out of His love in the form of those whom He wants to save and to come to
the Kingdom that His Son reigns. Namely, the objects of salvation are us,
humans, sinners to repent and seek His mercy. For this reason, He sent His Son
in the form of human, incarnating Theos-Logos
in the human flesh of Jesus (i.e. John 1:1).
But, why this incarnated Theos-Logos had to come to us as a little child first? Why God the
Father did not send Jesus as a 30-year-old man, instead? There is a significant reason for God the
Father to send His only begotten Son as infant Jesus. And think again the Gospel narrative of Mark
10:13-16.
The reflection question boils down to why little
children? Why little child for God the Father to send His Son to us? Why little
children for Jesus to invite?
Now if you think of the basics of child psychology,
you get a clue.
Think of the mind and heart of an infant. It has no
preconception. No cognitive bias. The mind’s eyes of infant see things as they
are. Their minds are like bland sheet of paper.
Its state is of tabula rasa. For
such infant children to grow psychologically, as Erik Erikson’s psychosocial
development theory addresses, trust is indispensable. And, this trust that
infant develops with their parents, who provides, is the foundation of the
human development, affecting the entire life span with its unfolding
effects. The trust in Erikson’s theory
parallels the secure attachment between infant children and their parents in
the theory of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. From this perspective of
developmental human psychology, Jesus wants us to be child-like to come to him
and to entre his Kingdom because he wants us to trust him and form secure
attachment with him, just as he trusts the Father and enjoys the benefits of
his secure attachment with Him.
Jesus intuitively knows this fundamental concept of
human psychology, in rebuking his disciples for trying to block children from
coming to him and teaching the importance of being child-like, because he knows
that we need to trust him and form secure attachment with him, based on our
trust. Thus, in Sto. Nino’s invitation,
we are called to be one with him (John 14:20; 17:21) in his peace-filled
Kingdom. After all, this invitation and call to be one with Christ is to live
fully and fruitfully so we can glorify God the Father (John 15:8), as to
reflect these words of St. Irenaeus, “Dei
est vivens homo (the glory of God is a man (fully) living). And, when Jesus
calls us to “come and you will see”
(John 1:39), as in the Gospel narrative for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
(John 1:35-42), it is his invitation to us to be one with him so that we may be
fruitful in doing the will of the Father, thus glorifying Him. Then, we will
find true peace and love. To follow
Jesus’ “come and you will see”
invitation, we must be child-like, drop all these factors that prevent us from
becoming child-like, such as pride, and so forth. For us not to have these
preventing factors, we must form, first and foremost, our trust-based secure
attachment with Christ in Jesus, Christ in the child King, Senor Santo Nino,
based on the psychological theories of Erik Erikson and John Bowlby and Mary
Ainsworth.
May this 500th Anniversary of Santo Nino
de Cebu be a refreshing invitation for us, once again, to be like children of
pure hearts, trusting and securely attached with Christ, who has been
incarnated and came to us as infant Jesus, who trusted his mother Mary and his earthly
father, Joseph, while trusting the Father in heaven, who sent him to us as the
greatest gift of love, without any diplomatic or political interest.
And, by virtue of our Baptism, we have been adopted
to the family of God (Ephesians 1:3-, 15-18), and by virtue of our
Confirmation, we have accepted this greatest gift and his invitation out of our
free will, as Rajah and Hara of Cebu accepted the wooden statue of Sto. Nino
from Magellan and Christian faith via the invitation of Sto, Nino.
Viva
Pit Senor! Viva Senor Santo Nino!
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