The Feast of the Child Jesus-Sto. Ni?o is fast approaching. Pit Senyor ahead to you all!
The sacred and secular celebrations of Sinulog are ongoing. Expect the crowds to swell from now till the 3rdSunday, January 18.
Organizers are anticipating about six million people for this event, double the 2024 attendance!
Posts of Church-related activities and preparations have been posted in various forms of media. Already, thousands of devotees flocked to attend masses, offer novenas, prayers and songs to Sto. Ni?o.
This Feast of the Child Jesus, Baby Sto. Ni?o in Cebu City is at the center of attention now.
Just a few weeks back, in December, Pasko or the birth our Baby Jesus Christ was celebrated.
A few weeks after, all eyes were on theFeast of theBlack Nazarene or the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo Church, Manila.
This year saw a sea of about 8.2 million devotees for thetraslacion, a procession marking the historic transfer of the Black Nazarene image from its old home in Intramuros, Manila, or this year, from Luneta, to the Minor Basilica of the Nazarene or Quiapo Church.
Held every January 9, since 1787, devotees accompany the image of the Black Nazarene back to Quiapo Church.
This year, anestimated 8.2 million devotees joined what has been described as the longest traslacion - it took over20 hours for the Black Nazarene image to arrive at the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno or Quiapo Church.
This week, Baby Jesus, everyone’s dear Sto. Ni?o, remains the focus of worship and celebration here in Cebu City.
Comparisons have been shared about the raucous behavior of certain Quiapo devotees and the quiet, orderly demeanor of the Cebu City devotees.
Both Quiapo and Cebu devotees, however, have been observed and reported to share one common practice every year.
After the devotees have lifted their worship, prayers, petitions, thanksgiving, songs, masses and novena to both the Black Nazarene and to Sto. Ni?o,WITHOUT FAIL, THEY LEAVE BEHIND A SEA OF BASURA.
Manila LGU reported collecting a total of 382 metric tons, more than 100 truckloads of basura, from January 8-10, 2025!
Cebu City DPS reported collecting 202.3 tons of basura for 2024 Sinulog!
These unsegregated basura ended up in unsanitary landfills of both cities. You can imagine how much filth, stench, harm and risks to health of people, communities and environment the devotees left behind!
Why are both the millions of devotees and the Church seemingly oblivious to the harm that their basura is causing to people and planet, “our common home?”
Cannot the devotees and Church remember to responsibly manage basura during these religious celebrations?
Devotees and the Church lift their prayers/petitions/thanksgiving to God for various urgent personal and other intentions.
They ask God for favors and yet they cannot respond to God’s plea for them to be stewards of His creations?
Shouldn’t the Catholic Church in Cebu City, Quiapo and elsewhere in the Philippines and throughout the world be the committed advocates of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment?
“The ecological crisis is a summons to profound interior conversion. It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an ‘ecological conversion’, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue;it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”
Will Archbishop Palma finally lead this year’s Laudato Si-centered Basura-free Sinulog?