CHILD'S FAITHFUL IMITATION
FEAST OF THE STO. NIÑO
Today is the Feast of St. Niño, which is deeply rooted in the hearts and heritage of Filipinos. The devotion to the Holy Child is the oldest and one of the most popular in the Philippines, and the Holy See has granted us special permission to celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Niño every third Sunday of January. The feast draws our attention to the enigma of childhood. This means having an open and trusting disposition to accept the Lord’s gifts with gratitude while seeing ourselves as humble stewards who serve the Lord in the least of our brothers and sisters. This Sunday we also remember the children in our family, and ultimately all of us, for we are all children of the Father in Heaven. Thus, we see in the childlikeness of Jesus His humility, dependency, and mystery.
First, we see the humility of Child Jesus. The humility of Jesus calling on the little ones in the gospel is a kind of humility that Jesus shows in the gospel today. It stretches our hands to the little ones, especially to the poor, sinners, and despised. Second, we see Jesus' dependence in his childhood. The dependency of Jesus is exemplified by His obedience to His earthly parents and especially to the will of the Father. As God's only begotten Son, the creator and builder of the universe, Jesus chose to be submissive to His earthly parents. Third, we see the mystery of being a Child. The mystery of being an adopted son of the Father gives us the courage to say, "Abba, Father." Complementing this is our response to say, "May your will be done, Father." We also see the way Jesus identifies the children He encountered in the gospel today: He sees their greatness in their littleness. Being small is regarded as significant, for the only way to Heaven is to be childlike.
As Christ became man and was like one of us except for sin, we are being invited to look on Him as the only begotten Son of God and imitate His childlike faithfulness to the Heavenly Father. St. Therese of Lisieux exemplified this by saying, "I get whatever I want because I want whatever I get."
