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| Nativity scene in UST's Grandstand |
Merry Christmas! Wow, time really flies! After a year of unexpected surprises and realizations, it's Christmas once again and for Christmas, I'll post here my Simbang Gabi experiences. Actually, not all of them were dawn masses, in fact, some of them were anticipated Simbang Gabi masses and they actually used the readings of the next day (At some of the days, because of this, I heard the same reading all over because while I already attended the night before, I still attended the dawn mass the next day). I'll tell which ones were the dawn masses and the anticipated ones. What can I say, it was a great and blessed experience and on Dec 16 (or 15 for the anticipated) next year, I intend to do the Simbang Gabi again and for the years to come. I already posted the ones for Dec 15 and 16 in separate posts so I'll just post those from Dec 17-24.
Dec 17 (anticipated mass for Dec 18) -
Shrine of the Divine Word, Christ the King Mission Seminary, E. Rodriguez.
Well, I didn't go to the dawn mass of Dec 17th, I was so tired or
something the day before that. I decided to attend the mass at night
time instead and that time for the 2nd day of the Misa de Gallo, I went
to the Shrine of the Divine Word, Christ the King Seminary along E.
Rodriguez. While I have been to this church and attended mass here
before, I had never attended the Simbang Gabi here, so that was my first
time. I know it was an anticipated mass for the 3rd day (i.e. Dec 18) and they
used the readings for Dec 18th. The church wasn't full this time, in
fact, there were still a lot of vacant chairs but a good number of
people attended nonetheless. During the homily, the priest preached
about the importance of and praying to the Holy Spirit. He also told
stories about his experiences when the Holy Spirit had helped him. The
choir during the mass was quite good.
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| Shrine of the Divine Word |
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| Their Belen |
Dec 18 (Dawn Mass) -
Christ the King Parish, Quezon City
Now, I may have attended the anticipated Simbang Gabi mass the
night before but I still decided to attend the 3rd Misa de Gallo on
December 18. For Day 3, I attended it in the church nearest our place,
Christ the King Parish. While this is our parish, I don't really go to
mass here much. The last time I think was months ago. The priest who
presided delivered quite a
homily. He did a funny homily and he also sang as well, hopefully the
congregation got the message. The homily was
focused on the example of St. Joseph, who said yes to the will of God and he mentioned that St. Joseph didn't say
anything, he just did what God had willed him to do. The crowd was big,
and there was a good number of people outside, but some people were
wearing sandos and some weren't taking the mass seriously. Despite that,
there were also many who were reverent too.
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| Entrance procession |
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| During communion |
Dec 19 (Dawn mass) -
UST Open field, Manila
For the 4th day, I
decided to go back to a place I have already been to earlier, UST in
Manila. I have been here already for December 16th's mass but that time, the mass was finally held in the open field. The mass
was solemn and the homily of the priest was focused on the gospel of that day , which was the Birth of John the Baptist. From what I remembered He reflected on names
and said that the name of John actually means "God is gracious". The
choir was decent enough there were really a lot of people for that morning's mass.
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| Simbang Gabi at the grandstand |
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| Really big crowd attended |
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| More of the crowd |
Dec 20 (Paskuhan 2013) -
UST Open field - already posted
here because it was part of the Paskuhan
Dec 21 (Anticipated Mass for Dec 22) -
Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, SM Megamall
That
was one very busy day, I'll just try to post what happened without
going for too long. First, I went to Greenhills to see their Christmas
on Display, while I didn't see the show, it was nice to see it though.
That was around 6 or so in the evening and then I hurriedly went to the
MRT to the Ayala Triangle to see their Christmas lights and wow, they
were beautiful but I really was in a hurry that day because I was going
to attend the Simbang Gabi, but because of that, I got really tired and
it wasn't that good of an experience, I shouldn't have went to
Greenhills and Ayala at the same time. A lesson could be learned there, I
should become more decisive and choose one if I can and I shouldn't
have done what I did on that day because I got myself tired and
stressed. But anyway, I attended the Simbang Gabi and for that day, it
was at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord in SM Megamall. It was not
only an anticipated mass for the 7th day, but also for the 4th Sunday of
Advent. This was the longest of the masses I attended, at about an hour
and a half long (started at 8 PM and ended around 9:30 PM). The homily
for that day was long, but it wasn't boring and it was really nice. It
focused on being committed and not losing sight of what is necessary
during Christmas. While the homily was long enough, before the end of
the mass, a group of seminarians sang for us as well. Despite the
length, it was still a very solemn celebration and right after, I had
dinner at Jolibee and from there, went home by bus. Wow, even by then
there was quite the traffic and the bus had to pick up so many people
along the way. I can't believe that I came home past 11. Should've taken
the MRT back then. Oh well, I should make better decisions.
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| Before the mass |
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| Seminarians singing before the end of the mass |
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| Belen |
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| Advent wreath |
The rest will be in another post.
