Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Feast of the Sto. Niño, Cycle A, 18 January 2026
Isaiah 9:1-6 ><]]]]'> Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 ><]]]]'> Matthew 18:1-5, 10

On this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, we extend for a day our Christmas celebration with the Feast of Sto. Niño (Child Jesus), a special feast granted to us by Rome in honor of the crucial role in our evangelization by that image gifted by Magellan to Queen Juana of Cebu over 500 years ago.

As Nick Joaquin claimed in many of his writings, it was the Sto. Niño who actually conquered our country to become the only Christian nation in this part of the world which shows indeed as Christ had declared in today’s gospel that whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Matthew 18:1-5).

One of the things I cherish in my hospital ministry since 2021 is visiting new born babies: now I know why there are called a “bundle of joy” and always a sight to behold for me whenever I see them yawning and stretching then curling their little hands and arms when I sprinkle them with Holy Water.

Babies and children have something so uniquely in them that elicit joy in everyone even the most hardened criminals. They are so lovely because they speak to us of the beauty of life, of the joy of living, of the bright future still coming for us all. That is why experts are worried anywhere there is a falling or zero birth rate because that paints a bleak future of all kinds of problems and disaster to any nation or society so evident these days among developed countries that lack younger generation to care for their elderly and workforce to run their economy.

The sight of every child and baby is always a celebration of life, most specially in the arrival of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word in time and space over 2000 years ago. This Sunday, Jesus is inviting us to remember that scene at the first Christmas when he was born, to see him in every child like that one he had called in the midst of his apostles with flesh, bones, and blood pitched among us.

Here is the Son of God so intimate with our own lives including all its mess especially sickness and death itself.

Here is the Child Jesus we fondly call Sto. Niño who came to be born among us because he loves us so much.

Here are the children of the world, the greatest among us because they assure us of continuity in the future.

Looking at the Child Jesus and the child he had called in the midst of the apostles, we are challenged today to feel and realize what is to be with a baby or a child as another person with breath, body and a purpose yet to unfold throughout his/her life. Being like a child is the greatest of all because that is when we are fully human, entrusting everything to God. Que sera, sera!

It is said that in ancient Egypt, people cried aloud whenever a baby was born because of the sufferings every newborn is due to undergo in life. So true! In fact, my earliest lesson about life came through an illustration in a Reader’s Digest magazine of a newly delivered baby crying while being held by a doctor in the OR. I asked my mother why the baby was crying and she told me that when a child is born and cries, then it is alive; if a baby does not cry at birth, it could be dead that is why the doctor has to spank to make him/her cry. That lesson had remained until now with me as a priest – that life is difficult and growing up is always painful.

And how ironic as in the gospel today that Jesus directs us to becoming like children to fully grasp these realities. It is not only Jesus but also the little children who enlighten our unclear minds with such great light that “shone in darkness” (first reading) because of their simplicity. We adults tend to complicate things by overthinking while children remind us of all the beautiful possibilities in life despite the mess and chaos we are into.

It is this simplicity of children that also disarm us of our false securities and pretensions when they playfully smile and laugh at us as they simply live in the present moment enjoying our company. In their fragility and vulnerability is their strength making us so concerned with them that we can’t stand leaving a baby or a child alone especially when he/she is crying, when in need.

There lies the good news of the Sto. Niño and of being like a child: he calls us to stay because Jesus too like children remain with us. There is no turning back for Jesus and for every child here today.

Jesus is here along with every child that is why we too are here gathered today to receive them and to ensure every life is safely protected and lovingly cared. It is in our staying, in our remaining we become child-like as we realize the tremendous blessings God has bestowed on us as his children (second reading) called to grow and mature in Christ by making him felt and known in this world that has slowly become so unwelcoming of babies and of God.

Notice how with the growth of what St. John Paul II called as “culture of death” promoting artificial contraceptives and abortion to control population growth, there is the corresponding turning away of people from God and eventually from one another. In this age of “Do-It-Yourself” Christianity, deciding on the number of kids to raise depend more on the couple’s financial capabilities than faith in God’s grace and power so that couples and people in general have unconsciously considered babies more as things to have than persons to love.

We end our reflection on this Feast of Sto. Niño with this Christmas song we have always taken for granted, “Joy to the World”. Written in 1719 by the English minister Isaac Watts, “Joy to the World” expresses the very joy not only of Christ’s coming but also of the birth of every child who reminds us of God among us in Jesus and of the need for us adults to be one with God always.

Joy to the world,
the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let very heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world,
the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods,
rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy

He rules the world
with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love
And wonders of his love
And wonders of his love

For heaven and nature to sing anew of this joy, we have to be like the children welcoming Jesus in our hearts without any ifs and buts.

For us to repeat the sounding joy in life, we have to be like children in trustingly following Jesus in his Cross; notice how the gospels are silent about children calling for the crucifixion of Jesus. Only the adults demanded his death!

Finally, for us to experience the wonders of God’s love, we have to become like children who let truth and grace be the rules in life, not lies and powers. That is the greatness of being like a child – of trusting more in God than in man and his sciences and technologies, ideologies and philosophies that all fall short in bringing true joy and fulfillment in life. Amen. A blessed week ahead of everyone!