Child Jesus Mission (I), Mission History

Where did the Baby Jesus Mission begin? Where did the idea come from?

I would have to say that the beginning would probably have been Halloween of 2012. Father Juan and I had been here in Arizona for a few months, and I remember that we were both negatively affected by seeing vampires, ghosts, witches, and skulls on the front of so many houses. We had seen this in movies, and even in Europe, this custom has spread considerably now, especially with many children "who do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34). What I couldn't imagine before I got here was the magnitude of this custom in the United States. Call me weird, but I don't see beauty in any manifestation of death, no matter how nice they try to make it seem. Life is celebrated, death is suffered in union with Christ and endured; life is a sign of our future immortality, death is the mark that sin has left on man and creation.

But what saddened me the most was the fact that Halloween took place on the eve of the Solemnity of All Saints. As a priest, this caused me not a little inner pain. The Holy Trinity and the Church give us this very beautiful day to celebrate the triumph of the heroes and champions of our faith, and the world opposes this celebration of light with a coven of darkness. It seemed a macabre move to me: to distract people, even those of good faith, from the heavenly and wonderful music that the saints sing in the glory of heaven and replace it with the strident cacophonies of the underworld. Sorry, but I can't "buy" that.

I am convinced that the majority of people who celebrate Halloween act without malicious intent or without knowing the background of it. The world tells us that it's "fun". That good faith or ignorance only serves to perpetuate the custom, so that people continue, year after year, putting "nice" symbols of death in their homes. And I said to myself, in the interior of my heart, “Lord, one day I will put images of you where now I see monsters. If from this country something as ugly as this has spread, then something else will also come from here, something that will be very beautiful and will give you great joy.”

Now, if death marks the end of our existence on earth (Halloween), then birth is the most extraordinary manifestation of the gift of life (Christmas). Wouldn't it be beautiful, then, to see the Child Jesus as we pass through the streets of our cities and thus conquer ground for God in the same neighborhoods where before there were signs of darkness?

I thought then that the Lord would bless these efforts and that He would find comfort in such an initiative. The first motivation was to console the Heart of Jesus. The second motivation is evangelization and the salvation of souls, and I will speak more about this in the coming weeks.

Then the memory came to me of what had happened in Spain more than 10 years ago when the government tried to secularize Christmas. The nativity scene was no longer placed in public buildings. The state banned the singing of Christian Christmas carols in schools and began saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas”. Many people reacted to these efforts to desecrate Christmas by placing images of the Child Jesus on the balconies of their homes. It was a way of rejecting this rejection of God in public life, on the part of ordinary people. It was a way of saying, “If in Spain many are ashamed of Jesus, I am not! If some want to tear God from the eyes of men, at least in my house it will not happen.” My parents have told me that this is still happening, although perhaps not on the same scale as then.

So this has been in my heart since 2012. Every October 31st the prompting to start this mission returns as if the Lord wants us to start it. Finally, last year, I asked my parents to help me find a beautiful image of Baby Jesus. They sent me several pictures that I didn't like until one day they told me, "Don Toribio —the priest of the little town where they live— has a very beautiful image of Baby Jesus in the parish." They took a photo with their phone — I was here in Arizona — and when I saw it… it was love at first sight. On October 29, 2019, on a quick trip to Spain to renew some documents, I took the photograph of the image myself at my parents' house.

I know the image will never win a Pulitzer Prize, but it has several advantages:

It is very large, so large sized copies can be made.
It is simple, and in that simplicity it reflects part of the mystery of Christmas.
The Child Jesus is precious! At least, he seems very beautiful to me, although I admit that I am biased!

So, in a nutshell, this is the "history" of the Baby Jesus Mission. May the Lord do with it as He wills, and may we cooperate with Him so that his Will is done in everything.

God bless you,
Father Sergio

Fiat Voluntas Tua

Published November 06, 2020 , Reflections, Missions, Projects

Child Jesus Mission (I), Mission History

Sergio Muñoz Fita

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