Simbang Gabi 2012, Day 9: Joy to the World!

“Contagious joy.” Can you think of a more beautiful phrase? Today’s presider at the final 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Mass, Father Andrew Gonzalo from DC’s St. Augustine Parish, challenged us to shine the light this Christmas season “on people shivering in the dark… with people we have forgotten.” As parochial vicar in a transitional neighborhood in the District, he’s all too familiar with the contrast of those folks shivering in the dark vs. those dressed up to go clubbing or to dinner.

“Joy is meant to be shared,” Father Gonzalo told us. “It is meant to be communal. If it is not, that is not joy.”

At least for this morning, there was plenty of “contagious joy” to be seen and felt at St. Charles. Nearly all of us stood in line and patiently waited our turn to bow and kiss the baby Jesus. Santa and his elf (also known as Giovanni, the best little altar server in the world) passed out gifts to those under twelve. The serving tables groaned with noodles, soups, cookies, sausages, and delicious things for which I don’t know the name. Our parish hall and two adjoining rooms were abuzz with jam-packed tables of people sharing Christmas plans and hopes and challenges. There was lots of hugging, lots of laughter. Darkness was banished, at least for a couple of hours.

And then it was over, for another year. Only a handful of people remained when my friends and I made our way to our cars, off to run errands or perhaps take naps before the evening Masses. The serving tables were for the most part cleared; some of the chairs were being put away.

As I went about my morning, I found myself thinking about something else Father Gonzalo said, that those of us who had made the full novena now had the right to ask God for something. At breakfast, I said I would ask for patience–with myself and with others, a comment that drew knowing chuckles from my friends. But that’s an ongoing struggle. Rather, I think I’ll ask for the gift of the contagious joy Father Gonzalo described. I’ll ask for the gift of getting outside my head a little more… and into the selfless, God-filled moments I experienced and observed during Simbang Gabi, before next December 16 rolls around and we start the novena all over again.