Simbang Gabi gathers Fil-Ams across tri-state

A few years ago, we experienced quite a memorable Christmas Eve Mass at St. Mary's Church in downtown Jersey City's Resurrection Parish.

Clothed in robes, schoolchildren from the parish schools acted out the reading from the Gospel of Matthew. As the deacon and the celebrant read the passages, lights were turned off to let the congregants reflect on the spiritual and physical trek of Joseph and Mary.

Providing the accompaniment to the service was a joyful mix of Advent and Christmas music along with popular Filipino Mass music, like the late Jesuit Fr. Ed Hontiveros' Papuri (Luwalhati) sa Diyos, or Glory to God. It was priceless to hear seasonal, Western music like Silent Night and Adeste Fideles played with guitar and octavina and the Philippine bandurria. It was an unexpected Christmas gift for my wife Mae and me.

Today, the Simbang Gabi gathers Fil-Ams across the tri-state area -- connecting or, in the case of the youth choir at St. Mary's last Monday, reconnecting with their heritage and living out their faith in a new world. In our research, we compiled a list of nearly 60 parishes that this year will participate in the Simbang Gabi novena of Masses that traditionally in the Philippines begin on December 16, leading up to the Misa de Gallo on Christmas Eve.

Long way from home

The Simbang Gabi at once reflects the Filipino Catholic community's unique customs and its linkage to other Catholic ethnic traditions. Fr. Sebastian Garcia, a priest from Spain at St. Aedan's in Jersey City, noted in an interview that in Spain they do not have this nine-day cycle, simply the midnight Mass (or Misa de Gallo), yet he could be seen on the third day of this cycle almost gleefully interacting with the choir and the parishioners. (It is a stark reminder of our presence in Catholic churches that the number of attendees swells when Filipino-Americans come to express their faith, as during the Simbang Gabi novena or the Perpetual Help devotion on Wednesdays.)

Indeed, says Cebu's Fr. Vic Paloma, the pastor of Our Lady of Victories or OLV-- at which 90% of the parishioners are of Filipino ancestry– this time of year highlights the Simbang Gabi as an important part of the parish experience, now on its 18th year. The Philippine Center's Simbang Gabi sa Konsulado is on its 21st year, started not long after the 1986 People Power Revolution. The first Mass in the 2008 cycle was attended by Consul General Cecile Rebong, Ambassador to the UN Hilario Davide, Jr. and Mrs. Virginia Davide, Deputy Consul General Millie Thomeczek, Phil. Center GM Gavino Abaya, and other officers and staff of the Phil. Consulate, Mission to the UN, and the Phil. Center Management, Tourism and Trade offices.

The link to the motherland was brought home a couple of years ago, when we had the opportunity to present the successful Phil. Mt. Everest Team to the Fil-Am community on final Simbang Gabi celebrations at St. Aedan's (then with Masses at 6am) and at the St. Brigid's Church in Brooklyn in the evening, at which the Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano presided (and prayed for the climbers for their upcoming second attempt at Everest's peak).

At Union County (schedule provided by Msgr. Jerry Rebanal), Essex County (Fr. Juancho de la Cruz)and the Metuchen Diocese in New Jersey (with 11 churches), or in Staten Island, different parishes band together to rotate the Masses over the nine days.

The Simbang Gabi sa Konsulado, San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel in Manhattan headed by Fr. Erno Diaz, and many others similarly engage different organizations, such as Philippine alumni associations, to sponsor each Mass, or to raise funds for a cause.

Linkages

While many call these Masses Misa de Gallo or Misa de Aguinaldo interchangeably, the Misa de Gallo, as states the websites of the Manila Archdiocese and of the Staten Island San Lorenzo Ruiz Association under Fr. Deo Lingan notes, and echoed by Fr. Sebastian from Spain, more properly refers to the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass.

Whatever one calls them -- Misa de Gallo, Misa de Aguinaldo, Simbang Gabi, even Zornica- the intent is to prepare during the penitential season of Advent.

-Robert P. De Tagle, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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