Homilies

FEAST OF THE STO. NIÑO: THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS

THIS SUNDAY, the Feast of the Sto. Niño is widely celebrated in the country. This celebration started in and was popularized in Cebu. Thus, the great festivities are to be seen in Cebu City. This devotion to the Sto. Niño in the country is becoming more and more popular. But like other devotions, we should find meanings to what we do.

Let us try to reflect what would this popular devotion mean to us. To do this, we may examine the gospel once again. The gospel passage is part of the Joyful Mysteries: it is the finding of the “lost” Jesus in the Temple. When Joseph and Mary finally found their Child, Mary told Jesus, “Son, why have you done this to us. Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” The reply of Jesus was, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” The gospel says that Mary and Joseph did not understand it. Certainly, Jesus was referring to his responsibility to fulfill and obey the will of his Father in heaven. But we must take note that he Child Jesus was obedient, not only to his heavenly Father, but to his human parents, Mary and Joseph.

In the olden times, the obedience of children was never seen as problem. With the presence of authoritative parents, children had no other way, but to obey their parents’ words. Unfortunately, we seldom find this attitude today. In some countries, with their rights, children can be even powerful. There are situations that parents are “powerless” toward their children. Moreover, the childlike attitude of obedience also disappears from among the young and adults. 

John Paul II had once said that one of the values of the modern world is freedom. Most young people want to do things freely or independently, without anybody to dictate them. Parents are seen as people who curtail their freedom. Thus, out of rebellion, they disobey their parents or they leave their parents.

Freedom is indeed a value. But freedom should be seen in the confines of what is good. If we do things that are already bad and harmful, then we no longer live as free people. On the contrary, we are enslaved by these things. Some of our young today are into different vices: drink, smoke, drugs, promiscuity, etc. In doing so, they are not actually free. They are slaves to these vices and immoral acts.

For John Paul II, the only way to live or have freedom is to obedience to God. For some, this could be hard to understand. We have to take note that obedience is a value. We can even see the importance of obedience on the physiological level. For instance, when we are hungry, we obey the call by eating food. When we are tired, we obey the call to sleep. We obey the call of nature. We obey because we know the consequence of disobedience: it brings harm to our physical bodies. 

So, the late Holy Father is right. If we want to remain healthy, we need to obey the will of the Father. This “will” can be found in the teachings of the Church. The will of God for us can also be found in our parents. Obedience to the Church teachings, for instance, is good for our moral and spiritual life.

The Feast of the Sto. Nino shows us that Jesus did not only become a Child, but also became an “obedient” Child. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of the Father.” Food is something we need every day, without which we would die. Thus, for Jesus, he could not live without obeying the Father. The feast reminds us that one of our responsibilities as children of God is to obey the will of the Father. Like Jesus, this should be something of importance to our life. Let us try to appreciate the value of obedience once more. Viva Sto. Niño! Pit Señor!

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