By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass with the Filipino community at St. Bernard Church in Sunrise, Jan. 20, 2019.
Viva Santo Niño de Cebu! Pit Senor!
From the time of Queen Juana until today, the Santo Niño continues to reveal his glory to the Pinoy and Pinay so that they, like the first disciples, might believe in him. Today, we are all Cebuanos!
In the first reading the Prophet Isaiah speaks about how a people who have walked into darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah addressing the Lord says, “You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing.” And aren’t Isaiah’s words today also descriptive of the Filipino people, who since the baptism of Queen Juana have embraced the Catholic faith and have become members of the Church.
This beautiful devotion of the Filipino people reminds us of the humility of Christ, the Santo Niño; and this devotion points out to us the path that we should follow. The theme of this year’s celebration is simply: Santo Niño: guide of God’s children to humility and service. And so, we dance the sinalog as an expression of our willingness to walk humbly with our Lord and to serve one another after the example of Christ.
This is a beautiful celebration – in a way, it extends for us the feast of Christmas when we celebrate that our Savior and Redeemer became a “little Child” precisely to save us and to introduce us to the intimacy of his family which is the life of the Most Holy Trinity. He became one like us so that we could become like him.
In the Gospel, the disciples asked him what they must do to become great in the Kingdom of God. His answer had to surprise them – because children did not enjoy the status that we accord them today. Yet, Jesus put that little child before them and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
He is trying to make an important point – and drives it home with this example. He wants to remind us that the way things are valued in this world is not how they are valued in his kingdom. We do want to feel important, and we want to feel valued – and that’s why drives most of us to succeed in school and in our workplaces. We live in a very competitive society: It is dog eat dog out there; and to succeed, it seems that we have to be the meanest dog. The world tells us, nice guys finish last.
Jesus tells us something different. Yes, it’s good to be important; but it’s more important to be good – and to do good.
Now that child in front of Jesus most likely was not interested in the question, who is greatest. He was not seeking any rewards or making any claims for following Jesus. If the parents are there, that is enough for him, he is satisfied. And here is the lesson that Jesus wanted to give: Unless we can be satisfied with just being in God’s mercy and under God’s rule, we cannot say that we are like little children. If we have thoughts of wanting to make demands from God and from others for expected rewards for what we have done, we cannot say we are like little children.
We must have a change of heart at that level and change directions otherwise we will seek our satisfaction according to the criteria of the world – and not that of the Gospel.
Jesus also says, “Whoever receives a child like this one on behalf of my name is receiving me.” What does this mean? If it was about accepting someone who is easy to accept, he would not have had to say this – and so, this verse is also about accepting the hard-to-accept person. A little child is dependent, he or she requires care. Kids can create a burden, they are certainly great responsibilities. How do we make room in our lives for those hard-to-accept people, unless we are humble? How do we bear with one another’s burdens, unless we are humble? Only if we know of our own “littleness” under the mercy of God are we able to see others as people also under the mercy of God. To reject the other because he or she is annoying, because he or she is in no position to help us, because he or she is unimportant, at least in ways that the world evaluates what is important, is to reject Christ himself.
Christ humbled himself – he was God yet became a little child; Christ humbled himself – he was innocent and without sin yet he suffered and died on the cross for sinners.
Our Lord’s humility is what makes him accessible to us – and when we are humble we become accessible to others, especially those most vulnerable, those most in need. It is humility that leads us to seek not to be served, but to serve.
Through this image of the Christ Child, given to Queen Juana on the day of her baptism, God began to reveal his glory to the Filipino nation. Faith in God has animated the life and culture of the Filipino people for almost five centuries. From this first encounter between that faith and Queen Juana there has emerged a rich Christian culture which has found expression in the art, the music, the literature and above all in the people’s religious traditions and their whole way of being. May the Santo Niño continue to guide the people of the Philippines, made children of God through baptism, so that we may offer ourselves as he did in humble service to others. This is path to true greatness that the Lord shows us in this beautiful popular devotion of Santo Niño de Cebu. Pit Senor!
