By Deacon Neil Daculan

I remember an excerpt from the book of Resil Mojares “The Feast of the Santo Niño: An Introduction to the History of a Cebuano Devotion” that caught my attention: that the celebration of the Sr. Sto. Niño is not just a religious event but socio-political as well. Quite related to this observation is a random family story 480 years down the line: a friend of mine who used to be a Jollibee manager disclosed this inside info on the advertisements utilised by Jollibee to attract the whole family: they target the sensibilities of a child. He reasoned that with the child comes the family, in effect the whole fabric of society.

For a country dominated by rajahs and datus in its history, Philippines does have a ‘faith twist’ in the form of the Holy Child. He is proclaimed to be the ruler of this land, together with His Mother. A Child who does not have an iron hand: rather a scepter in his right and in his left, a Cross on top of a globe, wearing a crown on his head. What can we make of this Child?

The Sto. Niño in Latin is a puer senex, a man-child. He took on the responsibility of an adult while being a child. This sadly is quite common in Third World countries when young kids are forced to grow beyond their age in order to support their family albeit economically, because the man of the house is either a drunkard or the can’t-be-bothered type. We can still see this puer senex in the streets of Manila and Cebu, or any province of the Philippine for that matter. Poverty has a way of expediting manhood to a boy or womanhood to a girl. Could we fault the Sto. Niño on this?

Alternately, a man who abandons his family and live a life of whimsical wantonness – thinking of himself alone and disregarding his family in the process – is the childish one who thinks of responsibility as a cancer. Again, this is a common sight and as we Filipinos used to joke about it “bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaaan…”

Can we keep innocence and maturity then at odds with one another? Or is there a tipping balance between the two? I’d propose that the Sto. Niño tips the balance from licentiousness towards responsibility, the I-me-myself towards otherness and a sense of service, the love of this world in favour of love of the Cross.

If the Señor has not been transported to our island, it would be the classic question that a lot of people ask: quo vadis Filipinas. That would be a sad assessment after 500 years of Christianity in an island chosen by a Child and taken care of by Him and His Mother because our own blood relations are nowhere to be found in the vicinity we call home.