“THE HOLY CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

The grace and peace of the New Born King, Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. I am very pleased to write to share with you some few thoughts on our faith immediately after the celebration of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

In my capacity as the Supreme Knight, I have taken it upon myself to work together with you towards the attainment of our spiritual growth and upliftment. One of the means to do this would be the regular monthly reflection on some important topics.

For the month of January, the theme for our reflection will be the “Holy Childhood of Jesus”. This will be based on the Gospel of Luke: “…’The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be Holy and shall be called the Son of God’” (Lk 1: 35)

1. JESUS THE HOLY CHILD OF GOD: THE CHILD TO BE BORN WILL BE CALLED HOLY — THE SON OF GOD

There is the most fundamental fact about Christmas and about the incarnation. It starts with God. It comes from God. An angel was sent from God. Christmas will be meaningless when God is completely taken out of it. It is God who gives it its true meaning.

Christmas is about the Creator of the universe, who is himself not part of the universe, moving himself, in the person of his Son, into the universe that he made. And what makes this fact even more remarkable is that this created universe — the personal part of it, the moral part of it — is in rebellion against its Maker, and yet he came to die for us. St Paul clearly pointed out “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” (1Tm 1:15)

So Christmas is about something God initiated — something God did in history. It has to do with the way the created universe relates to the one Being who is absolute — no beginning, no ending, no development, no becoming — he simply is who he is. In fact, He is “I am who I am” (Ex 3:14). Christmas is about how God relates to us and how we relate to him.

In the annunciation episode, we are told “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy.”

Holy means pure, good, without any defect or deficiency or blemish. This Word is full of hope for us, because it means that this person is fit to die as a spotless Lamb of God in our place, and he is fit to rule as a flawless king. Unholy kings create the need for democracy. A perfectly holy king would create universal peace and perfect justice. This is who he is. He is holy.

Again, “He will be . . . called the Son of the Most High.” (Lk 1:32). This means that when God broke into the universe the person he became was both divine and human. The king who rules the world is not just the king of Israel as the son of David. He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords as the Son of God. To have this king as your king is to be protected by infinite power. No one can destroy you.

• KINGDOM OF GOD BELONGS TO CHILDREN

One thing which we can’t neglect as we reflect on the Holy Childhood of Jesus is the association of Little Children with the Kingdom of Heaven found in the Gospel of Matthew 19, 13 – 15: “Then little children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them. Jesus then said, “Let them be! Do not stop the little children from coming to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” So Jesus laid his hands on them and went his way.”

“LET THEM BE! DO NOT STOP THE LITTLE CHILDREN FROM COMING TO ME, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO SUCH AS THESE.”

We are reflecting on the Holy Childhood of Jesus. Sincerely, children have much to teach adults who have observed their sense of adventure and discovery. Sometimes we neglect actions and questions of children but they carry a lot of important messages and lessons for us as adults. I vividly remember when my own little siblings began to jabber words and sentences that only gradually began to make sense, I was amused and touched. Sometimes, something more happens. Adults can rediscover important things they had forgotten about.

A child once asked me these series of questions; “Why is that flower red?” “Why is that man got no hair on his head?” “Why is that pregnant woman’s tommy big?” “Why did she swallow the baby?” In situations like this, you can choose to answer these questions or leave them as unanswered lest you begin to question all the things you had taken for granted; and sometimes, because you are an adult with an adult’s experience. The questions are more searching. But there is more. Their questions can be devastating.

• CHILDLIKE ATTITUDE, A VIRTUE TO IMITATE

And if we are honest, something of the child still survives in us, that we can only lose to our great cost. Let the nine-year-old persist in the ninety-year-old! In welcoming children “let the children come to me” and laying his hands on them, Jesus was conveying a practical parable about recapturing childhood; and his warnings about scandalizing the little ones including protecting that beautiful child within us from being reduced to an ugly urchin (cf. Mt 18:6).

Children bear the image of God, are worthy of respect and dignity, having an uncorrupted and spiritual nature, capable of being virtuous and heroic, ever redeemable, whatever their misdemeanors, and destined for eternal life, “Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” (cf. Jn 3:1-21).

4.      WORKING YOUR OWN SALVATION

It is really my wish that the year 2020 will be a year of spiritual growth for us in the Noble Order. And as I said, and will continue to say, the Church has made it possible for us as Catholics to grow in faith and in holiness. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has given the reasons for which Christ became man:

• “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” (CCC 456)
• in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who “loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins”: “the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world”, and “he was revealed to take away sins”: (CCC 457)
• The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God’s love: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (CCC 458)
• The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: “Listen to him!” Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: “Love one another as I have loved you. “This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example. (CCC 459)
• The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature“: “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.” (CCC 460)

Being a Christian and a Marshallan is not sufficient for salvation; we have a lot to do. That is why the Holy Roman Catholic Church has given us all the necessary tools needed for salvation; therefore, we have to use these tools to work out our salvation. St. Paul in his letter to Philippians stated: “Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil2:12).

As Marshallans, we have to reflect what we profess. Jesus tells his disciples to bear good fruit: “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruits, but a bad tree cannot bear good fruit…” (Mt 7:17-18). A Marshallan is a model and many people will always want to look up to us. We must therefore allow our actions to speak for us and not only our words. Both must correspond in our day to day life and activities.

Not too long, the Holy Church celebrated the Extraordinary Missionary Month in October 2019 under the theme “Baptized and sent: The Church of Christ on Mission”. The Holy Father Pope Francis reminded the Universal Church that the central focus of mission is that “God wills that all people be saved by coming to know the truth and experiencing his mercy through the ministry of the Church, the universal sacrament of salvation,” (Pope Francis wrote in his message for the month of October).

Catholics must not think that missionary outreach belongs to the Church’s past. Today, as in Jesus’ age, it means hitting the road or, at least, supporting those who do it.

“The Church,” the pope wrote, “needs men and women who, by virtue of their baptism, respond generously to the call to leave behind home, family, country, language and local church, and to be sent forth to the nations, to a world not yet transformed by the sacraments of Jesus Christ and his holy church.”

All men are called to accept in faith the saving Gospel. The Church is sent to all peoples, all lands and cultures: “Go … and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28: 19-20). These words, spoken by Christ before ascending into heaven, together with the promise he made to the Apostles and their successors that he would be with them until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28: 20), are the essence of the missionary mandate: in the person of his ministers, it is Christ himself who goes ad gentes, to those who have not yet received the proclamation of the faith.

Thérèse Martin, a discalced Carmelite of Lisieux, ardently desired to be a missionary. She was one, to the point that she could be proclaimed patroness of the missions. Jesus himself showed her how she could live this vocation: by fully practicing the commandment of love, she would be immersed in the very heart of the Church’s mission, supporting those who proclaim the Gospel with the mysterious power of prayer and communion. Thus, she achieved what the Second Vatican Council emphasized in teaching that the Church is missionary by nature (cf. Ad gentes, n. 2). Not only those who choose the missionary life but all the baptized are in some way sent ad gentes.

We are therefore called upon as Marshallans to put into practice all the fundamental principles or motto of the Noble Order: Unity, Charity, Fraternity and Service in our daily activities. Doing this will portray a reflection of the nature of the holy Child Jesus in us.

May the blessing which Christ the New Born King brought from God the Father in the Unity of the Holy Spirit descend upon us all as we continue to journey from this world to our heavenly abode.