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 sacrifice. Mimi was especially animated about the breakfast after each Mass: “Because what else are you going to do at 5:45 a.m. other than eat and talk with friends? And the food’s great!”
Mimi was the initial organizer of the “gringo” (non-Filipino) sponsorship of a Simbang Gabi breakfast. A few years ago, she had some surgery, and my friend Karen and I picked up organizing the gringo breakfast. What could go wrong, we figured; we’re both good project managers. Except we underestimated the size of the crowd–and their appetites. We ran out of food! And we swore, then and there, we would never run out again.
Today was gringo breakfast for Simbang Gabi 2017 at the neighborhood parish, and we figured on sixty to seventy people. We think we had closer to one hundred and fifty. And courtesy of Mimi, Henri, Mike, Marcia, Carol, John, Patrick, Anne, Karen, and me, not to mention a strong lift from Rachel and the Filipino community, we had plenty of food, with some left over for tomorrow. Call it loaves and fishes if you like. I call it a lot of fun and community.
Each year for these nine days, the Lord works miracles among us. We all see people we don’t see for the rest of the year. We have deep conversations with folks whose names we may not even remember from year to year. We 
celebrate the gift of the Mass and of 
Christ’s love. We do as the Lord commands… and take each other into our hearts and this beautiful, temporary home that is Simbang Gabi.
