Can this Philippine Tradition Help Bring More Joy to Christmastide?

Advent and Christmastide Joy

Now that we are in the forty days of Christmastide season, expect to see an increasing amount of people lose the joy of Christmas. The first group of people is the secular folks who’ve already lost it, albeit a very superficial version of it. Many of them have already thrown out their Christmas trees, some as early as Christmas morning. Many Christians and Catholics will also begin losing the Christmas joy they had on Christmas Day. There are, however, Catholics who will cherish the true joy of Christmas throughout the entire forty days of Christmastide, which ends on Candlemas Day (February 2^nd ) when the Church commemorates the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus. For them, Christmas had just begun. There will be no taking down of trees, ornaments, and decorations until the end of Christmastide. Their Christmas joy is a flame that burns strong in their hearts.

What makes them different from the secular world and the vast number of Christians whose flame is easily blown out? The answer is quite simple – they used the Advent season to spiritually prepare for Christmas. While the world around began celebrating Christmas a month or more before Christmas Day, these Catholics entered into a four week mini-Lenten period of spiritual preparation at the beginning of Advent. They followed the example of Advent’s patron Saint, St. John the Baptist, who showed us how to achieve true joy through penance, sacrifice, and humility. His example was wonderfully articulated in Rev. Canon Matthew Talarico’s Advent homily, whereinhe also pointed out:

“. . The Lord’s increase comes first. He must increase and I must decrease, words of John the Baptist . . . and that gives motivation and meaning to our decrease. It enables us to rejoice in the Lord in proportion to our own diminishment. The less our lives are full of ourselves, the more room there will be for our Lord to bring us the joy and happiness that our souls are craving for. . . “

Restoring the Sacred Simbang Gabi

The true spiritual joy of Christmas becomes more profound and lasting when we refrain from celebrating it prematurely, and spend the Advent season preparing like St. John the Baptist. There are many ways of doing this through prayer and other Advent traditions, but allow me to introduce you to one of the most efficacious traditions that American Catholics are really missing out on. It’s a Catholic tradition that’s more than four centuries old, but has yet to be embraced in America. It started in Spain and later took root in the Philippines. Filipinos call it “Simbang Gabi,” which is a nine day novena of Masses just before Christmas. 

Upon reading the above paragraph, many Filipino-Americans would probably say, “That’s not true.” Many would likely make the case that Simbang Gabi is celebrated throughout America with great attendance, especially in places like Chicago. A plethora of pictures depicting crowded churches and Cathedrals would likely accompany their words as proof of Simbang Gabi’s strong presence in America.

Yes. This is true. Simbang Gabi is already observed throughout the country, but what I am referring to is not the same. The already popularized Simbang Gabi Masses today are the ones being celebrated in the New Rite – the Novus Ordo - known today as the Ordinary Form. The Simbang Gabi I am referring to, however, is the one that is celebrated in the Old Rite – the Traditional Latin Mass – known today as the Extraordinary Form. I call it the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) Simbang Gabi.  These nine days of TLM Masses goes back to the Misa de Aguinaldo, which is rooted in the Traditional Missae Rorate.

In a past article titled, “Filipino Reflections on Restoring the Sacred in Advent,” I encouraged the restoration of the Sacred Simbang Gabi done in the old rite. Why have these Masses in the old Rite? Of all reasons, most people tend to gravitate to the ones that are feelings or emotions-based (mainly revolving around reverence), which often leave people with the notion that choosing between the new and old Rite is strictly a matter of personal preference. Most people believe that except for the obvious outward differences between language and rubrics, both are essentially the same – a Mass is a Mass.  I used to be one of these people, but now I know one has more “extrinsic” value or merit than the other. In this regard, exorcist and theologian, Fr. Chad Ripperger, teaches us:

In discussing the value of the Mass, one must make a distinction between intrinsic and the extrinsic value. The intrinsic value of any valid Mass is infinite since It is Christ, Who is infinite, Who is offered Hence, in this respect every Mass has an infinite value. The new rite of Mass is just as efficacious as the old rite of Mass in this respect since they are both the same sacrifice of Christ. The Mass, because it is the offering of God the Son to God the Father, gives infinite glory to God. However, the extrinsic value or merit of the Mass is finite. This is so because man, a finite creature, is incapable of receiving infinite effects. In this respect, the value of the Mass is “intensive limited,” which means that the fruit of the Mass is limited in its measure. . . “ [i]

He then supports this by elaborating on the six things that the extrinsic merit of the Mass are essentially based on: 1) The Church, 2) The priest as public servant of the Church, 3) The priest as private person, 4) The faithful, 5) The decora, and 6) The merit of the ritual itself. Afterward, he concludes:

“. . . objectively speaking, with respect to the ritual itself, the old rite of Mass has an ability to merit more than the new rite of Mass. . . While it is not our intention to denigrate the new rite, we must recognize that the ritual of Mass used in the old rite is more meritorious and therefore more beneficial for the people who assist at it and for the priests who offer it.” [ii]

I’m not surprised, therefore, that Pope Benedict XVI claimed in 1997 that the Traditional Latin Mass is the Church’s “Holiest and highest possession.” [iii] It only makes sense to restore this highest and Holiest possession during the nine day novena of the Simbang Gabi.

Chicago Becomes the Pioneer

Since its start in America, Simbang Gabi Masses were never celebrated in the old Rite in the Chicagoland area, and to my knowledge – the same is likely true for the entire United States of America. This changed, however, on December 16, 2017 when the very first Simbang Gabi Mass was celebrated in the old Rite at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priests in Chicago.

The Mass was celebrated by Rev. Canon Joel Estrada, a Filipino priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priests. It was a beautiful Traditional Latin High Mass that was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the priest broke from the Advent purple vestments and wore the traditional white vestment of Simbang Gabi. After Mass, “preparatory Advent activities” immediately followed in the Shrine’s St. Benedict Hall.

In contrast to the increasingly joyful “Christmas celebrations” that take place at Simbang Gabis these days, the priests and coordinators focused on providing for the spiritual and corporal needs of the faithful present.  The activities after Mass began with the blessing and sharing of Filipino foods, such as pancit, aroz caldo, egg rolls, rice cakes, etc. This was followed by a flower offering at the Nativity Crèche by the youth, prayer novena to the Infant King, the blessing of attendees’ Infant Jesus statues in the old Rite, a cultural dance performance, and Advent carols sung in Tagalog.

Although a Philippine tradition, the efficaciousness of Simbang Gabi in the old Rite that day transcended ethnic lines.  Approximately 1/3 of those attending were non-Filipinos. Their reactions to their first Traditional Latin Mass Simbang Gabi were extremely positive, such as the case with the following two people:

Magdelana (a Mexican lady who brought her family) said,

“Oh, it’s awesome. It’s beautiful. I didn’t know what to expect. . . I can’t wait to see the rest of the program. . . I love to see and know more about other cultures and people, in this case Philippines. . . I’m very happy to be here.”

Tommy Ngyugen (a young 18 year old Vietnamese man) said:

“It’s really a beautiful experience. . . This is as Roman as it gets, Roman Catholic. We all have our different cultures, but at least with the Latin Mass we’re able to have one culture – the culture of Catholicity. It’s really nice to bring that in. We have our own highlights of where we come from. And really, it’s that Catholicity that brings us all together as one family, and leads us back to the parol (Filipino star decoration) as Canon Estrada mentioned in the homily, so we’re all reaching for the stars and reaching for our Lord.”

In addition to hearing the positive feedback of the laity, it was wonderful to hear the feedback and support from the priests who were present:

Rev. Canon Matthew Talarico, ICKSP:

“We’re very blessed to welcome so many newcomers and so many of our faithful here at the Shrine for this Simbang Gabi event. It’s very important to prepare for during Advent for Christmas, and we do so in a Christ-like manner. . . We’ve been hearing about the various traditions, and devotions, the prayers, and also the food associated with this event, the various cultural traditions, and it’s important that we share it with our young people to teach the all the beauty of our Catholic Faith, and how our Catholic Faith is lived out in a very human way throughout so many cultures throughout the world. . . we hope it will be the first of many.”

Rev. Canon Joel Estrada, ICKSP:

“As a kid in Los Angeles, I grew up also with this celebration with my family, being Filipino and also being devout Catholics. I’ve always grew up with the nine days of Simbang Gabi, which precedes Christmas Day, but however, in the times when I was a kid – it was more like Christmas celebration already. And yet, in the celebration of it in the Extraordinary Form, we kind of see more of the Advent preparation for Christ. So it’s more of a pre-Christmas celebration of waiting in expectation and prayer and preparation to prepare our hearts for Our Lord, King of Kings. And that is what we see clearly in the Simbang Gabi Mass done in the Extraordinary Form. And this was probably how it was done with our ancestors who were celebrating Simbang Gabi in the Philippines. . . This would be a great way of really celebrating our Advent season, which has become more secular and more pompous, more celebratory, rather than a more preparatory season to celebrate Christmas, which begins really on Midnight Mass and for forty days. It’s a good re-orientation of the Liturgical calendar, and to promote the true nature of why we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord.”

The feedback and attendance is in itself a testament of the potential Simbang Gabi has in becoming a great vehicle to help all Catholics deepen their Advent. As more churches offer this tradition, there will be more opportunities for Catholics to pilgrimage from church to church each night to pray the Traditional Latin Mass Simbang Gabi., which will result in a more joyous and lasting Christmastide season for Catholics.

If you would like to see the Traditional Latin Mass Simbang Gabi in your parish, contact your pastor and share this article with him and the Filipino community in your parish. Also, follow the “Restoring the Sacred Simbang Gabi” facebook page.

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Notes:

[i]“The Merit of a Mass” by Fr. Chad Ripperger, Latin Mass Magazine, Summer 2003. Copy of entire article is here.

[ii] “The Merit of a Mass” by Fr. Chad Ripperger, Latin Mass Magazine, Summer 2003. Copy of entire article is here.

[iii] This was said in 1997 when Pope Benedict XVI was Cardinal Ratzinger. Source: “Salt of the Earth” by Joseph Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 1997