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
Category: Memoir
Simbang Gabi 2017: Hump Day
It’s fitting that this year, Simbang Gabi’s fifth day of the novena, fell on Wednesday. Hump days can be hard–intellectually, we know we’re past the beginning of the novena and the week, but we’re still too far away from the end to be excited. So we all came in, most of us a little later… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Hump Day
Simbang Gabi 2017: Taking People Into Our Home
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. (Matthew 1:24, NAB) I remember the first time my friend Mimi told me about Simbang Gabi. Even for an early riser like me, nine days of 5 a.m. Mass sounded like a rather large… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Taking People Into Our Home
Simbang Gabi 2017: Testifying to the Light
Day two of the 2017 Simbang Gabi novena brought a familiar celebrant–Father Jack O’Hara, who was vicar at the neighborhood parish back in 2005 when I returned to faith. Father Jack’s and my paths have crossed numerous times in the intervening years, most recently at last month’s viewing for his colleague of 13 years and… Continue reading Simbang Gabi 2017: Testifying to the Light