a good night

Noche Buena. Simbang Gabi. Misa de Gallo. All are cherished Filipino Christmas holiday traditions we hold warmly in our hearts. 

Simbang Gabi is the night mass Filipinos attend mass either late at night or in the early morning hours. It is a series of masses held daily for all nine days before Christmas. The belief holds that attending all nine masses will grant ones wish.

@dokmarkus via Instagram

Simbang Gabi can also have a nine-day novena procession that is a reenactment of the nativity of Christ known as the Panunulúyan.

hope & promise

As the holiday season kicks off, the need to quiet and soften our hearts grows with each passing day.

It is apt for the first week of Advent to be dedicated to Hope.

That cherished desire of anticipation and expectation.

Of a promise obtained or fulfilled.

If we surrendered

to earth’s intelligence

we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves

in knots of our own making

and struggle, lonely and confused.

So like children, we begin again...

to fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

Even a bird has to do that

before [s]he can fly.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours

season's greetings

Greetings and blessings this holiday season...