Simbang Gabi 2013 - Dec 17 to Dec 21

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.

Shrine of the Divine Word

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.

Entrance procession

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.

Simbang Gabi at the grandstand

Really big crowd attended

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.

Before the mass

Seminarians singing before the end of the mass

Belen

Advent wreath

The rest will be in another post.