Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the Feast of Santo Niño – 15 Jan 2023, Talamban, Cebu City

Not so long ago there were two friends who went to Sto Niño Basilica to attend the Novena.  After the Mass nag-ingon ang babayi sa iyang amigo (the girl said to her friend): Dong, ako na lang unta si Santo Niño. (How I wish I could be the Santo Niño.) The boy asked: Mmmm.. ngano man, dai? (Hmmm… Why?)  The girl replied: Aron ako ang kanunay nimong gigakos ug gisayaw. (So that I will always be the one you are hugging and dancing with.)

Pit Senyor! Today we are gathered here to celebrate the feast of Senyor Santo Niño. The first time I came to Cebu was in 1988. That was the very first assignment I received from my Provincial superior at that time after finishing Philosophy. On January of the following year I experienced “Sinulog” for the first time in my life. And since then I realized how Cebuanos are strongly devoted to Senyor Sto Niño.

Today I am glad to see that even after so many years of difficult trials the Cebuanos’ Sto Niño devotion has remained as strong as ever. Just look at how many people joined yesterday afternoon’s foot procession around the city.  The Police gave an estimated number of 3M, a number that has surprisingly tripled from pre-pandemic times.  This is not yet counting the crowds that came everyday for the Novena Masses and those who joined the fluvial procession early Saturday morning. We cannot but recognize the fact that our devotion to Him has grown even mucg stronger through these past years. And I strongly believe it is principally because we consider the Sto Nino to be God’s mega-blessing in our lives. 

First and foremost we owe our Catholic faith to Him.  If you remember your history, the Santo Niño was the very first image of Jesus brought to us by the Spanish explorers led by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.  And it was given as a gift to the first couple who accepted Christian baptism here in Cebu. On the day of their baptism they received new names, Carlos for Raja Humabon and Juana for his wife.  These were names taken from the King of Spain at that time, King Carlos and his mother, Juana.

Moreover, the couple and the whole tribe of Cebu received the statue of Senyor Santo Niño as a symbolic gift for having accepted our Lord Jesus Christ in their lives through their profession of the Catholic Faith. Fast forward… This very image has miraculously survived 500 years of history, and is now enthroned at the minor Basilica of Santo Niño here in Cebu City. We Filipino Catholics therefore consider Senyor Santo Niño as our most precious heritage and possession.

We must know, however, that the Santo Niño is not just an image or a statue.  He is a very real person.  He is Jesus, the holy Child, really present in our midst.  Allow me to highlight two remarkable things in the Santo Niño or Balaang Bata.  Though he is little and small, He is precious and powerful.

Firstly, as a child, the boy Jesus was the most precious gift Joseph and Mary ever received from God as a married couple.  Although they chose to live a poor and simple life style in Nazareth Joseph and Mary felt they were richly blessed everyday by the Santo Niño Jesus who was their greatest treasure and possession in their humble home.  But with the gift comes responsibility. And so Joseph and Mary did not neglect their duty to the holy child.  They did their best to nourish him, to keep him strong, healthy, and safe from all danger, harm and the influences of the evil one.  Above all they taught him the faith of their fathers, to live always in God’s grace and to be obedient to His holy will.

Today we are also called to do as Joseph and Mary did, to consider children and young people as our most valuable treasures, more valuable than our most expensive material possessions.  We are called to handle them with so much care, with so much love and respect, making sure that they grow up as good Christians and upright citizens, by means of both our guidance and good examples. In fact in the Gospel we have heard today Jesus proclaimed clearly that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these little ones, that is, the little children.  Furthermore Jesus also taught “whoever welcomes these little ones, welcomes him” who is Jesus himself.

Secondly, though seemingly small and weak, the Santo Niño is mega-powerful.  The way the Santo Niño de Cebu is invested depicts him to be that powerful and eternal King mentioned several times in Sacred Scriptures. Do you see the golden crown on his head and the red cape around his shoulder, the scepter on his right hand and the globe on his left?  All these symbolically manifest this holy child to be the King Messiah who has power over the entire world.  Our faith conviction tells us that it was God the Father who has bestowed this power on him and to no one else. Even before his birth took place in Bethlehem, God already announced through the angel that the child to be born of Mary would be King whose reign will be without end.

Today we Christians are therefore called to pay homage and submit ourselves to him as our one and only King, striving everyday to make our life – indeed everything we say and do – pleasing in his sight at each passing day.  This is precisely what we Catholics mean whenever we put the image of the Santo Niño above our heads.  We are actually proclaiming to everyone in this world “Senyor Santo Niño, you are my King and my God. And as I enthrone you in my heart, I surrender myself entirely to you and allow you to rule and reign in my life.” 

Consequently when we proclaim Santo Niño, ang Balaang Bata nga Jesus, to be our King we are also empowered to overcome all fear, worry, and anxiety be means of our firm faith, full trust and joyful confidence in Him. This I believe is something many of us would still need to develop and even teach our young people.  We need to trust him more & more knowing that whatever happens to us, he continues to hold all of us in the palm of his powerful hand. 

Finally, I would like to share one more insight about the statue of Senyor Santo Niño de Cebu, which you will not find in other statues or images of the Santo Niño. Have you ever noticed that the Santo Niño image is not holding the scepter, but that the scepter is just hanging from his right hand?  I have always wondered why he is not holding that scepter. So, what is his right hand doing if not holding that scepter? It is positioned as though he is blessing all of us, and not beating us. 

Brothers and sisters, this is why I love being a Catholic.  God’s Word speaks to us not only in Sacred Scriptures, but often in our popular devotions too, especially in those that have been approved by the Church authorities.  Just take another long loving look at this holy image, and see that, instead of holding the scepter to punish those who break the law, Senyor Santo Niño chooses to bless sinners with his love, mercy and compassion.

And that is why whenever we sing the Gozos or the hymn to Santo Niño especially when we come to the words “Kanamo malooy Ka unta, nga Kanimo nangilaba” (That you may have mercy on us who confidently call on your name) we pray with hearts filled with trust and joyful confidence that even though we deserve punishment for our sins He will show only mercy and compassion. The raising of our right hands is a humble gesture manifesting both our homage to the great King & our trust in his divine mercy.

From this reflection now comes the challenge. This I believe is our greatest challenge today, that we who invoke Senyor Santo Niño for mercy should also learn to show mercy to those who hurt us, and above all to those who call out to us for help, especially the poor, the weak, the neglected, the abused and the abandoned, including the victims of violence and natural calamities.  Indeed we, as a community, are called and challenged to live everyday with a much greater trust in the Lord and also with a greater sense of mission for those who need our help.  We know that if we follow the way of mercy and compassion of Senyor Santo Niño we will soon become like him, “Batobalani sa Gugma” a powerful magnet of Divine Love. We pray therefore in this holy Mass that Senyor Santo Niño may have mercy on all of us and make us ministers of his mercy to one another, and magnets of Divine Love.  We also pray that he may finally intervene to put a definitive end to this Covid pandemic and above all to crush the pandemic of sin that is the real cause of many of our sufferings.  GiGsss!

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