Embrace the child within: AJHS gathers for Feast of the Sto. Niño Votive Mass

On 14 January 2026, the Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) community welcomed the new year with its first schoolwide eucharistic mass, celebrating the Votive Mass of the Feast of the Sto. Niño at the High School Covered Courts. The mass was presided by Fr. Mamert B. Mañus SJ, AJHS Chaplain; and was assisted by concelebrants Fr. Richard P. Sumera SJ, Director of the Jesuit Vocation Promotions; and Fr. Noel Bava SJ, Ateneo Senior High School Chaplain.

Alongside them was Rev. Dom Joseph B. Bulan, Associate Director of the Jesuit Music Ministry and Jesuit volunteer of the Sta. Cruz Chapel in Payatas B, Quezon City, who also delivered the homily. The mass collection and love offerings will be donated to the construction of the chapel’s canopy.

Preceding the mass, a rendition of the Sinulog dance was performed by Indayog ng Atenistang Kabataan (IndAK) while student representatives who brought images of the Sto. Niño lined up to have them blessed. Other mass volunteers include students, parents, and class moderators from the sponsoring classes of 8-Cottam and 9-Ishida.

Rev. Bulan opened the homily narrating his volunteer experience at the Sta. Cruz Chapel, where he serves during the chapel masses and spends time with the community, especially with the kids in the area. For the children, the chapel is their “safe space where they could play, make new friends, and learn more about Jesus and the Christian faith,” and where they are led to become servants of God. Referencing the Gospel, he called for the community to embrace the child within just as Jesus did.

Imbued by his experiences with the children of the Payatas chapel, Rev. Bulan shared three reflection points as to how devotees of the Sto. Niño can also emulate child-like qualities: to always allow themselves to play and live with curiosity, to embrace failure and not letting it define their worth, and to entrust themselves to other people and to God.

“The feast of the Sto. Niño reminds us that our God chose to fully embrace all that is human about us — including our childhood,” Rev. Bulan concluded. “As God has embraced us as His children, I pray that we may also embrace the child within us; to play, to fail, and to trust, and discover that this, too, is a worthy and joyful path to the Lord’s kingdom.”

The mass was livestreamed on the Ateneo de Manila University YouTube channel and can be viewed here: