In his Apostolic Letter, Porta Fidei (11 October 2011), Pope Benedict XVI
declares a Year of Faith, commencing on 11 October 2012, the 50th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and culminating on 24
November 2013, the Feast of Christ the King. The Year of Faith is a response to
a crisis of faith experienced today in many developed countries that were once
Christian and have now abandoned the faith in favor of secularist philosophies.
According to the Pope, the Year of Faith
would be “a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of
particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith” [PF, no 4].
The Filipino people have not lost the faith yet. But signs of secular mindset creeping in are
not difficult to notice and are gradually undermining the integrity of faith in
Filipino communities and families. Besides, the faith of a great number of
Filipino Catholics needs to move on from being just “sacramentalized” to
becoming truly evangelized. The Year of Faith then can, indeed, be a process of
deepening and an opportunity of living out consciously, and sharing our faith.
As we celebrate the Feast of the Santo Niño in this
particular year when we endeavor to profess our Christian faith with more joy
and conviction, we might as well align our colorful celebration to the goal of
deepening and strengthening our Christian faith. Can our devotion to the Santo
Niño help us achieve that? How? I suggest three ways:
Gratitude for the
gift of faith. Today’s second reading (Eph 1:3-6, 15-18) should inspire us
to be grateful because of the faith we received. St. Paul writes: “Therefore,
I, too, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus..., do not cease in giving
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him” (v.15-17).
Our devotion
to the child Jesus has to nurture our gratitude for the gift of faith. The
feast of the Santo Niño is particularly significant to us Filipinos because it
was the image of the child Jesus that was first instrumental to the
introduction of Christian faith to us. When we dance the sinulog step, we recall the joy of Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah
Humabon, the ruler of Cebu in 1521, as she
danced upon receiving the image of the Santo Niño as baptismal gift from
Magellan.
We will be celebrating the 500th anniversary
of the Christian faith in 2021! How can this realization not move us to
heartfelt thanksgiving? Let our celebration of the Feast of the Santo Niño,
then, express our gratitude to God for the gift of our faith. Gratitude is a sign that we just don’t take
our faith for granted but we appreciate it and we are conscious of its value
and influence in our personal and communal lives. Gratitude for the gift of
faith is recognizing the gratuitousness of God in loving us sinners. When we
thank God for the gift of faith, we thank Him because we have Him in our lives.
Let our devotion to the child Jesus remind us of this.
Nurturing the gift
of faith in our children. The Santo Niño represents a child. One reason
perhaps why the natives of this land did not resist the faith is the disarming
appeal of a child. Jesus Christ himself has always welcomed the presence of the
children and has seen in them the qualities of those who should belong to God’s
Kingdom. If Christian faith has to
continue to flourish, we need to nurture the seed of faith in our
children. If we fail in this, how can we
hope to succeed in sharing the beauty of our faith to grown-ups who have become
arrogantly materialistic, astute in electronic technology but spiritually
bankrupt?
In today’s gospel (Lk 2: 41-52), the child Jesus is found
by his parents after three agonizing days of search in the temple having
serious exchange of views with the teachers. When confronted about his act of remaining in
the temple, He replies: “Why are you looking for me? Did you not know that I
must be in my Father’s house?” As a child, Jesus is already concerned about his
relationship with his Father. He is already aware of his calling to do the will
of his Father. Joseph and Mary, as
parents, just have to recognize Jesus’ valid concern.
Our devotion to the child Jesus then should heighten our
recognition of the initial calling of our children. God calls all of us for a
purpose. We need to nurture that calling in our children early on that they may
grow in the path set for them by God and that faith may be their guide in their
search for meaning in life.
Cultivating a
mature Christian faith by outgrowing popular piety. Popular piety has led people to flock to the
image of the Santo Niño for its supposed ‘lucky charm,’ or ‘miraculous powers.’
While it’s a function of faith to trust in God’s providence to answer our human
needs, it is bordering onto fanaticism to assign the divine power to the image
of a divinity. While we love the image of the child Jesus, for whatever
reasons, it is perhaps a form of fixation to see the person of Jesus only as a
child.
Our devotion to the Santo Niño has to help us encounter
the whole person of Jesus. Jesus’ concern as a child to be in His Father’s
house tells a lot about Jesus’ commitment to do his Father’s will. When we see the child Jesus asserting the
utmost importance of doing His Father’s work, it should not be difficult for us
to see that this is the same person who reaches out to serve the poor, the
destitute, and the oppressed. He is the
teacher who teaches us to love one another and instructs us to forgive as the
Father in heaven forgives, i.e., seventy times seven times. He is the same
person who agonizes in the garden of Gethsemane as He chooses the path of
self-sacrifice that His Father’s design may be accomplished. The child Jesus
whom we love so much is the Jesus who has saved us through his total obedience
unto death on the cross and His glorification in the resurrection.
Beyond the excitement of dancing the Sinulog steps, our devotion to the Santo Niño has to lead us to the
joy of mature discipleship and the challenge of being his witnesses in this
changed and increasingly secularized milieu. May our celebration of the Feast of the Santo Niño
be an opportunity for us in this Year of Faith, indeed, to rediscover our
faith.
