WE SHOULD consider ourselves very lucky and quite blessed that we still have a vibrant spirit of popular piety as evidenced by the tremendous outpouring of devotees during the feasts of the Black Nazarene and of the Child Jesus (Sto. Niño). I don’t know if there are still other countries with the same show of popular piety that we have. We should thank God for this great blessing and strive to keep it strong and growing always.
I would say that this devotion to Sto. Niño is crucial in our Christian life because it helps us to establish a strong sentimental fondness to Christ who shows himself as a little child. And yet he already reminds us that he is not just any ordinary child, but a very important one, a king to whom we have to submit our whole being.
I am always moved to see great crowds of devotees pouring out their affection and fondness for the little Sto. Niño. They carry his image, sing and dance with it, clearly showing how fond they are with the little child Jesus. Human as we are, it is important that we have a basic fondness for Christ as a child so that no matter what happens in our life, Christ will always be in our mind and heart.
And we know that whether we like it or not, we will always have all sorts of trials and challenges in this life, all kinds of difficulties and predicaments, etc. But as long as we would still have a strong fondness and affection to the Sto. Niño, we would not be afraid to face Christ when he appears to us as the Black Nazarene who invites us to suffer with him whatever suffering we have in this life.
It is important that whatever situation we may find ourselves in, we always relate ourselves and our concerns to Christ. And, indeed, it helps that for as long as our fondness for Christ that is fueled by our devotion to the Sto. Niño remains strong, we would be able to do that.
I know of certain persons who get a good spiritual lift and boost whenever they would just picture in their mind the image of the Sto. Niño. Whenever they have problems and difficulties, what helps to keep them going is their devotion to the Sto. Niño.
I believe that we really should promote this devotion more insistently. And that’s because there are now many elements and factors that tend to weaken the faith and piety of people, especially the young ones.
The new things of the world today, while not necessarily bad and in fact are in themselves good, can undermine the spiritual and moral lives of people if they are not referred to God. Our times are in great need of being offered to God. There is so much indifference to God now, so much confusion and ignorance about faith and religion.
We have to find ways of how this devotion can be made more relevant to the lives and concerns of the young ones, especially those living in very urban areas and exposed to many worldly elements. We cannot deny that most of the devotees are the elderly ones and those coming from the provinces whose lives, concerns and challenges are simpler than those living in the cities.
This effort will indeed require a lot of creativity. And we should not be afraid to face that challenge. To be sure, there are many possibilities through which we can infuse attractive and innovative ways in the evangelization of people, especially the young ones.
Let us remember that the very source of what is new, of what is true, good and beautiful is God himself. If we would just persevere in our relation with God, we can always come out with these attractive and innovative ways./PN
