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Thursday, January 30, 2014

The talking Sto. Niño of Mactan!

From Cebu Daily News of the Inquirer.

***



Thousands of people lined-up to get a glimpse and touch a ‘talking doll’ in barangay Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City.

Three-year old Neñil Balermo told his friends Charmel Arellano, 6, and KJ Ace Arellano, 4 about the talking doll he saw on the beach of Sea Breeze neighborhood.

When the three went back to place where Balermo saw the ‘doll’ the elder Arellano picked it up. Upon careful observation the girl did not take any interest and was about to throw it to the shore when the ‘doll’ spoke again.

“Ayaw ko ninyo ilabay kay buotan ko (Don’t throw me away because I am good),”  was how the children recalled hearing from the ‘doll’ whose texture softened like that of a human. They heard a few more sounds but it was already inaudible.



Junito Balermo, father of Neñil said that when their attention was called about the ‘talking doll’, they investigated and saw that the ‘doll’ was actually the image of the Sto. Niño or the child Jesus.

Junito and other adults who heard of the story in the impoverished community thought a miracle had happened.  [They had to emphasize that the place was impoverished.  Wait now.  These anti-Catholics would then say "Gutom!  Kung ano ano naiisip!"  Bah!]

They built a makeshift chapel in the neighborhood for the image. Word spread quickly and people have been lining up to touch the image and the three-year old boy.

Since Friday, the boy did not have a decent sleep according to his parents because believers also want to touch and kiss him. [What the?!?!]  Some even brought him food.

Balermo saw the doll Friday morning. It was the day when the yearly ritual of bathing the replica of the original image of Sto. Nino was held at the Basilica del Sto. Niño to close the Sinulog festival.  [Hmmm...]

Fr. Benjamin Balsamo parish priest of Sto Niño parish in Mactan said they still have to get more data and verify the claims of the children.


***

So the anti-Catholics would say...

"Someone accidentally left the image floating in the sea for the bathing!"

And the voice?

"Poverty leads to hallucinations!"

And then someone would come forward and in a squeaky little voice claim "Ako si Sto. Niño".

Run away.......get a broom....and then *whack*

Images being found and proven to be miraculous are becoming "common" to Filipino Catholicism.

This was how the revered image of Cebu was found, the Lady of Antipolo, the Virgin of Manaog, Ina Poon Bato, the King Child of Tondo...

Miracles do happen.

Always.

Pit Senyor!






6 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post.

    Do you know that even if there was heavy rains during the nine days novena, nagtataka yung mga pulis kasi, hindi nabawasan yung mga nagsisimba instead mas lalong dumadami yung mga nagsisimba kahit basang basa sa ulan.
    And on the day of the fluvial parade, it was not decided kung itutuloy ba ang fluvial parade o hindi dahil sa banta ng mga malalaking alon dulot ng typhoon Agaton, pero at 2 am, the sea calmed down at natuloy ang fluvial parade, and then walang ulan during the foot procession, and on the day of Sinulog festival, may makapal na dark clouds pero walang malakas na ulan na bumagsak. Nagtataka yung mga tao, "Nasaan si bagyong Agaton?" sabi kasi ng PAG-ASA na it will be a very WET RAINY feast day of Sto. Niño, pero walang ulan eh, Kaya PIT SEÑOR talaga,

    Thank you Sto. Niño. I don't care what the non-believers will say. This is not for them. Para ito sa mga naniniwals sa Holy Child.

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  2. PART 1

    First of all, allow me to express my sincere admiration for that orderly procession of the Sto Nino. I believe the CBCP should issue a pastoral letter on the proper reverent manner of executing a prayerful procession which is a public witness of our Faith.

    Second, allow me to rehash for the NTH time that our Catholic Faith is Christo-centric, contrary to the criticisms that we get from our separated brethrens who believe ONLY the Bible, and NOT the Church that Christ founded on the Apostles. These separated Christians would wantonly accuse Catholics [1] of having other Intercessors, aside from the Christ, the only Mediator as mentioned in the letters to the Hebrews. However, what they conveniently ignore was the fact that Christians, even of the first century, venerated their departed, especially the holy confessors and martyrs, NOT because they overshadow Christ's Mediating office to the Father, but BECAUSE it is an expression of our belief in the Communion of Saints handed down to us by the Apostles, NOT the Bible. Hence, when we ask for the Blessed Virgin Mary's intercession, we do not intend to bypass Christ. In fact, we want to get the same result as what the couple of Cana got when Mary came to their rescue by going and interceding on their behalf TO CHRIST.

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  3. PART 2

    Third, let me emphasize that our Catholic Faith, while retaining the tradition of venerating sacred images and icons since the time of the Christians within the catacombs, we do NOT ADORE nor WORSHIP these images per se. For images of saints, we simply venerate them because of the Holy Person that they represent, in fact, we pray to the person whom they represent, NOT TO THE STATUE, NOT TO THE ICON. For the Virgin Mary, we give a higher form of veneration, in obedience to Christ who wanted us al to take her into our home. If to the saints, we accord δουλεία, (douleia or service,veneration). Curiously, the greek word for SLAVE is δοῦλος (doulos). But distinctively only for the Holy Mother of God (or Theotokos), we accord an extra-special form of veneration which is also called Hyperdulia (ὑπέρδουλεία = above or higher service or veneration).
    But to GOD, and to GOD ALONE do we accord λατρεία, (Latreia= adoration or worship). Born Agains will try to murk-up the distinction between veneration and adoration to accuse Catholics of worshipping statues, and will always cite the Biblical passages from Exodus, Deuteronomy of God's commandment against graven image worship. This is one of their deceptive manners they win Catholics [who do not know well their Faith] that Catholicism was not Biblical, ergo false. However, they will never cite the passages from the Bible that God ordered Moses to craft images of Angels to go at each side of the arc, that God himself ordered Moses to fashion an image of the saraph serpent and to hang it on a pole to save those bitten by the venomous snake from certain death. They will even ignore the historical facts that early Christians, who escaped from the bloody persecutions, droodle graffittis and religious images on the catacomb walls.

    In the Philippine setting, we sometime have a disoriented way of venerating images and statues. Often times, Catholics tag the statue as miraculous, and NOT the person that the image represents. This should be the other way around. Again, in the particular case of the Sto Nino (or Holy Child Jesus), it SHOULD BE Jesus who should be the object of our attribution of miraculous powers, NOT that statue per se. And when we pray to that image or to any other image of the Sto Nino, it is to Jesus whom we should intend to pray to, NOT to that image. The same phenomenon exists in the devotees of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo. This misled belief that it is the Black Nazarene image that is miraculous MUST BE CORRECTED and devotees must be re-educated in their Faith. Then, perhaps, the procession in Quiapo may be more reverent, prayerful, and orderly instead of a fanatic disorderly fashion in which it is done every year which is VERY UNCATHOLIC. While we venerate statues and images, it is ONLY the Holy Eucharist that we physically adore or worship. Pope Paul VI further underlined this practice in his 1965 encyclical Mysterium Fidei. Yet what we saw at Luneta for the 2nd time was utterly appaling. Misled devotees started barging into the fences and forced their way to the Black Nazarene image long before the Holy Mass could end. In fact, the Cardinal was unable to end the Mass with that rowdy crowd and had to end it inside another indoor venue. This is very UNCATHOLIC, and utter mockery of the Eucharist to whom we owe our Adoration. Yet misled devotees ignored the Eucharist (Christ's physical presence among us) in favor of a wooded image of the same person whom they worship. Very Embarassing! That was so shameful! I sincerely pray that the archdiocese of Manila can do something real serious about this by re-educating their Faithful about their beautiful Faith, especially about the Liturgy. The misled devotion in Quiapo is already an embarassing indicator of how so many Catholics have a poor knowledge of their faith, hence their perverted practice of it. And this is just one misled area, there are more.

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  4. PART 3

    In 1981, Blessed John Paul II made his 2nd visit to Manila after he became Pope; his first visit was when he was yet a Cardinal, when he sneaked-out of Manila International Airport during the Martial Law years (while waiting for a connecting flight to Australia). He asked a taxi driver to bring him to the nearest Church. He was able to say his Mass in Baclaran. His 1981 Pastoral Visit indeed boosted the sagging spirit of Filipino Catholics during the repressed years of Martial Law, true to his office of strengthening his brethren in the Faith. That was the time he beatified Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions at Luneta. By the time he left, there was a tale among priests and bishops who were able to get near him. It was said that John Paul, before leaving for Rome, intimated to the clergies that he was very happy about the lively Faith of the Filipinos, BUT he said that, like the Sto Nino, IT MUST GROW UP. True or not, this anecdote gives us a good lesson in learning more about our beautiful Faith.

    Praised be Jesus Christ, who did not spare himself, and humiliated himself by stripping himself of his Divine Form and by taking the form of a small humble Child so that he can oneday give up his life for humanity!

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  5. Worship God in Spirit and in Truth....not through images.

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