The Feast of the Sto. Nino

When our first parents succumbed to temptation by eating the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, sin entered the world. Sin destroys unity with God. We disintegrate within. We shatter our inner-self, bereft of grace, and eventually fall into a state where there is no sense of sin. Christian faith becomes no longer the standard – but ‘Progress’ – that many put their faith in with zeal. Not long ago, millions died in the concentration camps… With all the indifference going on, the worst may yet to come. No wonder, St. Augustine points to the name of Adam whose letters comprise the four Greek words for the points of the compass. Sin scatters.

Only the mercy of God unites everyone through His Son who became a child born in Bethlehem to a family. This life of obedience and dependence culminated in the Mystery of the Cross, where Christ collects us unto Himself as His Body, and fills us with His fullness. Thus, restoring unity with God, as He originally envisioned it.

When we celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Niño, we are reminded of the saints who projected and engendered the life of unity with God which gives hope to the last, the least, and the lost. Look to the orphanages, the hospitals, the universities, and other initiatives through the centuries for signs of this grace.

The Virgin Mary in her teens, exercised audacity when she left her house in a haste to tell her cousin, St. Elizabeth, the greatest news ever. Let us be children like the Sto. Niño, obedient and dependent to God, the source of unity.