Cycle A - Year II:  

19 January 2014: Feast of the Sto. Niño

(Liturgical color: White)

Matthew 18:1-5, 10

The Sto. Niño: the human face of God!

Little children are the center of love and affection in every Filipino family, even in the whole world. Our love for children is deeply ingrained in our Filipino culture. Perhaps, it is because it is easy for children to trust. They are wholly dependent on adults. They possess innocence and their child-like attitude to different situations.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Filipinos revere the image of the Holy Child or the Sto. Niño throughout the country. The devotion to the Holy Child is said to be the oldest and one of the most popular in the Philippines, recalling the birth of the Christian faith in our country in 1521. The Holy See granted us a special permission to celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Niño on third Sunday of January.

The Feast of the Holy Child is a celebration of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. That is, God came to us as a child to show us how to become children of God, and how we can entrust our lives to our heavenly Father. In Jesus God chose to make himself visible as an appealing child in order to draw us to Himself. Jesus Himself loves the little children. He sees in their eyes the reflection of the freshness and holiness of his Kingdom.

In today's Gospel by Matthew, Jesus invites people not only to receive the little children but to become like them. The Gospel reminds us that we too need to have the same child-like faith, innocence and trust towards the Lord.

But also Jesus speaks figuratively about "receiving the little children". What he means is the attention and care that his followers should have towards the least of our brothers and sisters, the needy and the poor of society.

Thus, our devotion to the Holy Child should not stop at his infancy. We are reminded that the Holy Child grew up to be Jesus of Nazareth who inaugurates the kingdom of God by his preaching, healing and mission work. So too our devotion to the Sto. Niño should grow and deepen so that we become witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ by our words and good examples of Christian living. In other words, our devotion to the Sto. Niño must bear fruits in practical life.

Today is also the feast day of our village community since our patron is the Sto. Niño. We started our celebration with a nine-day nightly novena commencing January 10. On the Feast Day this Sunday, our celebration starts with procession of the Sto. Niño around our village, followed by community Mass in our chapel. 

We greet everyone in our community and throughout the country a Happy Feast Day. Viva Señor Sto. Niño! 

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!