“Your prayer has been heard,” the angel Gabriel told Zechariah. The elderly priest and his wife would be blessed with their first child, who would lead many of the Israelites to God,
Category: Catholicism
Simbang Gabi Day 3: Silent Night
Simbang Gabi, Mass of the Night, got its start in the Philippines back 400 years ago. At the nine-day novena, which my parish observes at 5 a.m., we get a few hundred Filipinos and
Simbang Gabi Day 2: Working with What He Has
It’s no easy task to read out loud, much less make an interesting homily out of, the genealogy of Jesus. Yet Father Randy Gonzales managed to do both at today’s pre-dawn
Simbang Gabi Day 1: Emptying Ourselves
“God can’t fill what is already full,” Father Jack O’Hara reminded us this morning at the first of nine 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Masses at my parish. That’s Father Jack for you. A soft-spoken priest who was our vicar for many years until a