Hello, 4:15 a.m.

A week from today, 4:15 a.m. and I are going to resume our annual nine-day relationship. “Friendship” would be too strong a word. Some days, I’ll leap out of bed; some days, I’ll groan out loud.

Yes, it’s that time again, time for the Filipino Simbang Gabi/Misa de Gallo (“Mass of the Rooster”) novena that one of my parishes, St. Charles Borromeo in Arlington, Virginia, hosts every December 16-24. Mass starts at 5 a.m. On a slow weekday, we’ll get 150 to 200 people; on weekends, people will dri...