Viva Senior Santo Niño!

That's what the dancer's shouted in the mass we attended last Sunday in a presentation for the Feast for the child Jesus.  The Philippines, as mostly composed of Roman Catholics, annually celebrates the feast every third Sunday of the month, with this year falling on the 15th of January.  Like the feast of the Black Nazarene, it is also a very colorful event attended by a lot of faithful devotees and characterized by dances, singing and parades, most especially to places where it is known to be celebrated like Cebu City and barangays or parish churches named after the Sto. Niño (which is very common nationwide).

The Gospel Reading was related to the celebration with emphasis on children, it was taken from Mark 10:13-16 "The Little Children and Jesus" :

¹³ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. 

The story is very familiar to me, since my children has that Bible story in their book which we often read to them before they go to sleep.  In the priest's homily, he emphasized that faith to the Lord must be that of a child.  Innocent children don't have any biases, they don't choose whom to play with, they don't look at their playmates' status in life... they just play together.  He said, it is from the adults influence that they learned to be cruel, oppressive, doubtful, greedy, rebellious, and a lot more unpleasant behavior.  And I guess, he's right, these behaviors are not innate to a child, he must have learned it from someone.  That's why Jesus reminds us that God's kingdom are for those whose faith is like of a child, always open, willing to accept and unbiased.  

As human beings, it is normal for us to seek knowledge and ask questions, but why must we include questioning God for our faith... to what extent do we question Him for this?  Is it not enough that He gave His only Son as a sign of His eternal love for us, more of His existence?  Still we seek physical truth of Him, isn't that the exact opposite of faith?  The more we seek for answers, the more we find meaningless in life.  Frustration then takes place and leads to rebellion... and rebellion makes us do the opposite of what He wants us to do.  And before we know it, we are no longer with Him... 

In faith, we must all be like a child that believes without any apprehensions... without any doubts.  For believing in something we don't see and beyond the physical aspect is the very definition of faith, and only an uncorrupted and pure mind can accept that without any reservations.  Yahweh bless.