What to say about 2017 Simbang Gabi at the neighborhood parish? That we may have had the biggest crowds ever? Yes. That we had nine days of thoughtful, soul-stirring homilies? Yes. That we had nine days of great food, traditional Filipino and otherwise coordinated by the gentle, always organized Rachel? Yes. That we sang a… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: And So It Ends… and Begins
Category: Simbang Gabi
Simbang Gabi 2017: Redemption
We saw Zechariah in the Gospel earlier this week, all querulous about the news the angel Gabriel was bringing. How could Zechariah’s wife be pregnant after all these years? Why should he believe? Gabriel, not thrilled about this reaction, struck Zechariah speechless, saying the old man would be unable to talk until after all the… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Redemption
Simbang Gabi 2017: Of Generations… and Mercy
My friend Litong started today’s Simbang Gabi Mass with a look back. At the parish’s first Simbang Gabi Mass twenty-one years ago, he said, some women were pregnant. Today, those babies are in college, married, and in some cases like today, lectoring. I smiled; one of the day’s sponsors’ children weren’t even ten when I… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Of Generations… and Mercy
Simbang Gabi 2017: Visitations
It’s a moving scene that Luke describes in today’s Gospel reading: Mary goes to the hill country to see her relative Elizabeth, who has conceived in old age. The women greet each other… and so do their sons, both still in the womb. Call it, Father Paul Berghout said in his homily, a tale of… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Visitations