Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 115

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 9: It’s Not About the Baby

When you think of Christmas Day, the image that comes to mind likely is a placid, peaceful baby Jesus in the manger andMary and Joseph praying, perhapsthe shepherdsand some livestock nearby, the star overhead.

And if that is as far as you go with your vision of Christmas, you’re missing the point.

Father Ramel, a missionary priest and pastor of a neighboring parish, rocked my world today at our final Simbang Gabi 5 a.m. Mass. Enough already with focusing on the infant, he in essence said, becau...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 8: Refinement

Let’s get it out of the way. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people. I suspect we never will, because in heaven we’ll be too busy praising God to concern ourselves with demanding explanations about things that happened in this life.

But still, bad things do happen. It can be difficult to find something wonderful in the diagnosis of a fatal disease or in a sudden death or in the end of a relationship or in endless despair.

The celebrant at today’s 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Mass, my friend...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 7: Adaptations

We’re in the final trimester, as my friend Litong likes to say, of our 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Masses. The takeaway for me this day was our ability–and need–to adapt.

The day’s four readers were sisters and a brother we’ve all watched grow up at the annual pre-dawn Masses. They all do their jobs like pros, but it’s a bit disconcerting to realize only the youngest still needs a stool to reach the ambo microphone. They lost their father to Lou Gehrig’s disease four years ago, and we all pray for him...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 6: And Now, for Something Entirely New

Our celebrant at this morning’s 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Mass had a confession. Just as when he celebrated last year, when his alarm clock went off at 3:45 a.m., it took him a few minutes to recall what was going on and why he had to be up so early. Something entirely new was afoot, not an emergency or a mistake.

“Something Entirely New” was the theme for Father Dundon’s homily. He noted that at the Visitation, Elizabeth’s thought was not of herself or her own pregnancy: “She cried out to Mary, ful...

The Bible’s 18 Most Challenging Words

Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

Can you think of eighteen more challenging words in the Bible?

Here’s this simple young girl, a faithful servant of God. But faithful servant or no, we have no indication that talking with angels has been a regular part of her life.

The angel promises so much: That God...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 5: Hump Day

Today was Hump Day at Simbang Gabi, four Masses done, four Masses to go after today. It’s usually my toughest day in the novena, and this year was no exception. No offense to our celebrant, but I’m pretty sure I fell asleep twice during the readings and his homily. I think I also may have nodded off while I led the novena near the end of Mass, but I’m not sure.

Tomorrow will be better, I thought as I struggled to keep my eyes open. It’ll be the weekend, and the congregation will swell to doubl...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 4: Of Loaves and Fishes

“It’s like loaves and fishes,” a good friend said as we crossed paths this morning, taking full serving platters in and empty ones out of the post-Simbang Gabi Mass breakfast line.

“Either that or the locusts,” I said, laughing.

It was Anglo day, which meant that about a dozen friends and acquaintances and I were responsible for feeding the pre-dawn Mass-goers. We had ham, strata, quiche, bacon, sausage, four kinds of soup, juice, pastries, deviled eggs, and a smattering of finger food. Every y...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 3: Of Fear and Pride

I love it when someone turns my head around on a Bible interpretation. It happened last week, when my friend TonyD wrote about Elizabeth’s close moment to the Lord during the Visitation; I’d only ever thought about her interaction with Mary at that time. This morning, it was Joseph and that dream we hear about in Matthew 1:18-25 when the angel came to provide reassurance about Mary’s pregnancy.

I’ve always seen Joseph as a bit prideful and stiff-necked at finding his betrothed with child. The...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 2: The Genealogy We Choose

The genealogy of Jesus, as we learn in Matthew 1:1-17, is complicated–full of unsavory sinners, of wise and foolish kings, of virtuous and unvirtuous women. Yet it was the lineage that God chose to deliver His Son to the world.

Our celebrant at today’s 5 a.m. Simbang Gabi Mass opened by asking us to turn to the person next to us and welcome him or her. Then, in his homily, Father Steve noted we are all adopted children of God, no matter how we came into the world. Families are grown, not made,...

Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 1: A Year of Healing

“It’s really been a year of healing,” my friend said at today’s first Simbang Gabi Mass. A year ago, her husband suffered a heart attack in the early days of our nine-day novena. Now, the doctors say you would never know it had happened.

One of our celebrants, a longtime friend, focused on the big change in our Church of the past year–the brave decision of Pope Benedict XVI to abdicate, and the selection of a new pope, Francis I, a man whoas my friend notedis a Jesuit in the clothing of a Domi...