Three million people at the Santo Niño festival after the serious tests that were experienced in the second city of the Philippines due to Covid-19 and the disaster of Typhoon Odette. Monsignor Palma: “We have seen that in times of difficulty Jesus is the hope we can cling to.” The story of María Leriza who, thanks to this devotion, changed her life and gave up gambling.
Cebu () – After three years of forced suspension due to Covid-19, more than three million devotees participated on Sunday, January 15, in the celebration of Santo Niño de Cebu, the popular festival that each year pays tribute to the revered local image of the Child Jesus. In 1565 the Spanish invaders found it under some rubble in the province of Cebu and tradition has it that it had been a gift to the Cebuana queen, on the day of her baptism, from Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese sailor who led the first Spanish expedition. to the islands in 1521.
In the homily of the solemn Pontifical Mass that he celebrated in the minor basilica, Msgr. José Serofia Palma, Archbishop of Cebu, said that the “Holy Child is our companion, the source of faith on our path of peace.” Bishop Palma also praised the faith and resilience of the people of Cebu who, in addition to Covid-19, have bravely faced other challenges in recent years, such as the destruction caused by Typhoon Rai in the Philippines in December 2021. Known as “Super Typhoon Odette”, it was the second most severe after the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in October 2013, which left houses and churches flattened by the storm.
“In times of great difficulties – said the Archbishop of Cebu – Jesus is the hope we can cling to, the light that always shines in the darkness and the source of happiness and peace that nothing and no one in the world can give” . “Zebu recovered, we helped each other and now tourists don’t see the damage Odette caused.” But this – he concluded – must be an invitation addressed to all, to build fraternal relations for the sake of peace and work concretely to protect the environment.
After the mass, the faithful joined the long procession marked out by the “sinulog” -the traditional dance-prayer in honor of the Santo Niño- that traveled more than 5 kilometers from the minor basilica to the main streets of the city of Cebu.
During the procession, many shared their personal story of unwavering devotion to this great sign of the Filipino faith. For example, María Neriza Lawas, a 65-year-old mother who in her youth was a fan of gambling. In 1983, when she learned that she was expecting her third child, she used the winnings from her gambling to buy an image of the Santo Niño, and her life changed.
For her part, Daniella Liz N. Maurecio, a student from Minglanilla who regularly attends church, asks for the gift of wisdom: “I want to inspire my classmates so that, with the help of the Santo Niño, they speak clearly and support each other. each other as we fight for our aspirations.”
According to Father Daniel Franklin Pilario, a professor at Manila’s Vicentina Adamson University, the Fiesta del Santo Niño in the Philippines is something unique: “When young people raise their statues and dance with them in their hands, one can only imagine what they are asking for. in the bottom of his heart”, he comments. The feast of the Holy Child unites rich and poor, young and old. But, as the SVD priest Bel R. San Luis recalls, afterward, this testimony of faith must be transferred to daily life , which is often imperfect or irregular: “The real challenge is to build bridges between devotion and our behavior.”
Images provided by the Minor Basilica of the Santo Niño de Cebu
