AN INNOCENT INFANT
Based on a medieval legend, José María Sánchez Silva (1911-2002) wrote the popular novel entitled,
‘Marcelino pan y vino’ [Marcelino Bread and Wine] in 1952. It was adapted to
make a successful Spanish film in 1955, directed by Ladislao Vajda and its
several revised versions have appeared later.
The story portrays the short but sweet life of an orphan boy and his
innocent and intimate relationship with a statue of crucified Christ. The
infant was abandoned at the gates of a monastery in Spain. The twelve monks in
the monastery failed to find his parents and raised him affectionately, naming
him Marcelino. As he was very active, out of deep concern for his safety, he
was forbidden to go up the stairs that led to the attic of the monastery where
old furniture and other articles were dumped.
One day, little Marcelino went up the stairs and reached the attic.
There he was stunned to see a life-sized carved statue of Jesus Christ nailed
to a wooden cross. He ran away in fear but gradually developed an attraction
and affinity to the loving and lovely face of Christ in the statue and visited
it frequently. He watched the statue with admiration and started to talk to the
crucified Christ. Miraculously, Jesus replied to his innocent queries and they
started a conversation. Finding that the figure of Christ showed signs of hunger
and thirst, Marcelino used to steal bread and wine from the monastery and offer
them to Christ on the Cross. Christ appeared to come down from the cross and
thankfully eat the bread and drink the wine offered by the child.
When the Superior noticed that bread and wine were being stolen from the
refectory, he asked a monk to spy on the movements of Marcelino. The monk who
followed the child to the attic was surprised to witness the miraculous
dialogue between the child and Christ who descended from the Cross. He called
the monks together to watch the miracle. While they were watching with wonder,
Jesus asked the child how he could reward him for his kindness. Marcelino replied
that his only ambition was to be reunited with his own loving mother whom he
missed from early years. He also wanted to meet the mother of Jesus.
Jesus
agreed, embraced him affectionately, holding him close to his heart and asked
the boy to sleep in his arms. Marcelino enjoyed the tender loving care of Jesus.
While sleeping peacefully in the affectionate
arms of Jesus, Marcelino breathed his last. The monks rushed into the attic.
They found the child’s lifeless body bathed in a heavenly halo. The statue of Jesus
was found to have returned to its earlier state on the cross. They wondered
about the vision. Marcelino was buried ceremoniously underneath the chapel in
the monastery and was venerated by all the visitors. The chapel became a famous
shrine.
King David sang in the Psalms, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they
are a real blessing {Psalms 127: 3}.
Jesus said, "Let the children come
to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as
these" {Matthew 19: 14}. That is the beauty of
the innocence of infancy. That is the true spirit of Christianity as Christ
intended it to be.
Jesus
loved children. When His disciples argued among themselves to decide who among
them was the greatest, Jesus introduced a child and said, “I assure you that
unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself
and becomes like the child. And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as
this, welcomes me” {Matthew 18:2-5}.
The word ‘mother’ meant the entire world to Marcelino. Abraham Lincoln
said, “No man is poor who has a godly mother.” It is said that a godly mother is
worth a hundred clergy. Lyndon. B. Johnson remarked, “My mother was a saintly
woman. I owe everything to her.”
There is a meaningful Jewish proverb, modified by Rudyard Kipling: “God could not be everywhere and therefore He created
mothers.”
സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു ഭൂമിയിൽ - മാതാക്കളെ." (Translation by Dr. Babu Philip)
………………………………………………………………………
© By: Prof. Dr. Babu Philip,
Darsana Academy, Kottayam-686001, Kerala, India ( Former Professor, Cochin
University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala,
India), Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St.
Dominic's College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St.
Antony's Public School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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