Simbang Gabi 2017: And So It Ends… and Begins

What to say about 2017 Simbang Gabi at the neighborhood parish?

Litong, Jandi, and Rachel

That we may have had the biggest crowds ever? Yes. That we had nine days of thoughtful, soul-stirring homilies? Yes. That we had nine days of great food, traditional Filipino and otherwise coordinated by the gentle, always organized Rachel? Yes. That we sang a lot of marvelous music, a good share of it written and performed by Jandi Arboleda, and that every time we sang his “Anima Christi,” I assumed he...