Simbang Gabi 2012, Day 3: Answered Prayers

by Melanie on December 18, 2012

in Catholicism, Life in the 50s, Memoir, Nonfiction, Spirituality

It was the day of answered prayers.

It was the day we found out that a Simbang Gabi friend’s husband who suffered a heart attack early Tuesday was doing so well that he would likely be going home on Thursday.

It was the day that during the Prayers of the Faithful I offered a wish that Jandi Arboleda, our Simbang Gabi musician and a founder of Bukas Palad, the popular Filipino religious musical group, would lead us in his arrangement of “Anima Christi” (the medieval prayer)… and it was the next song we sang.

It was the day that the scheduled priest wasn’t available and the substitute arrived within ten minutes of the 5 a.m. Mass starting time.

It was the day I was reminded anew of what treasures two of my friends, with whom I sat at Mass, are.

It was the day a dawn Mass friend quietly intervened on my behalf with someone who was being difficult about something that needs to be done this weekend.

It was the day when I reintroduced myself to the gentleman who would be reading the Prayers of the Faithful I had written and mentioned we’d met during the previous Simbang Gabi, I got a big smile and, “Oh yes! And the year before that, and the year before that! Haven’t you been coming for ten years now?” from him, even though I’m only on year six.

It was the day I felt like I belonged, one with the Holy Spirit and the Simbang Gabi community. It was the day I realized I feel that way at Simbang Gabi no matter how tired I am.

It was the day I gave thanks for answered prayers.

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