Simbang Gabi 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
December 15, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ, ¹

I’m very happy to be with all of you this evening for this beautiful Eucharist that we celebrate every year — to begin these nine days of Simbang Gabi.

This is a wonderful time for us to accompany the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph for the coming of the Child Jesus. I pray that these days will be a beautiful time for you and your families to draw closer and to renew your love for one another in Jesus Christ.

As you all know, we also celebrate tonight the great faith of the Filipino people and your contribution to the universal Church. Because this year, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Christian faith coming to the Philippines.

As you also know this past March, the Holy Father Pope Francis celebrated the Mass in Rome to mark the anniversary of the first Mass celebrated on Filipino soil on March 31, 1521 on the island of Limasawa. ²

So we thank God today for the gift of faith and we thank the generations who have come before us and passed on this precious gift and helped to build a strong and flourishing Filipino Catholic community, not only in the Philippines or here but around the world.

So we especially give thanks to God for the extraordinary blessing this evening.

So as we prepare for Christmas, we know that our God is coming into the world. He’s coming to deliver us, to save us from sin and death and bring us the joy of divine life! So our salvation is drawing near.

And this is the beautiful message of the prophet Isaiah in tonight’s first reading. This is what this time of Simbang Gabi celebrates. The prophet Isaiah tells us: “Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other!”         

This is the call of Christmas! To turn to the Child who comes into the world, to know that this Child is God, that he is the One and there is no other in whom we can find salvation.

And that’s exactly that question that we find in our Gospel passage tonight.

We know the scene: St. John the Baptist is in prison because he offended the wicked King Herod. We know, too, that he will soon be executed.

But John, as he is in his last hours, is trying to give strength and hope to his followers. He wants to direct their minds toward Jesus. He wants to get them to see for themselves that Jesus is the One that John was sent into the world to announce.

So, he sends his followers to Jesus, and he tells them to put this question to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

This is their question, but my brothers and sisters, it is also the question we all have to ask about Jesus. It is the question of faith.  

Do we believe, with all our hearts and minds, that he is the One, that Jesus Christ is our Savior?

Obviously we do.

But tonight let us especially ask for the grace to strengthen our conviction about this beautiful reality — that Jesus is perfect God and perfect Man.

And it is, I think, especially important during this time as we prepare for Christmas.

It is also interesting that in the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had been taught by the prophets to expect the Messiah to come as a healer, as a worker of miracles.

It’s interesting because that’s exactly what Jesus responds to the question of the disciples of St. John the Baptist. As he tells them: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”

So these were the signs that the prophets had talked about.  Healing the sick, raising the dead, bringing hope to the poor. This is what the people had been taught to look for.

So, Jesus is saying, not directly, but he is saying: “Yes, I am the One. I am the Messiah that you have all been waiting for. Go and tell, John.”

Again tonight, let us ask the Lord to increase our faith! That we might believe more deeply and live our faith with greater confidence.

It’s also very interesting to see that Jesus askes John’s disciples tonight to reflect on what they have “seen and heard.” And he is inviting each one of us to do the same.

He is inviting us to reflect on the Gospels, on the words of Jesus, and on his deeds.

And as we know, my brothers and sisters, everything in the Gospels — his every word, his every action — reveals the truth that Jesus loves us. Each one of us, personally. He loves us with a precious love, an exclusive love.

And because he came into our world, we can see clearly that our daily lives are the road that we should take to get to heaven. Right there were we are — we are called to strive for holiness. To follow Jesus, to walk with Jesus.

And then finally, Jesus tells St. John the Baptist’s followers: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.” And again, my dear brothers and sisters, he is giving each one of us that mission.

We need to tell the world what we seen and heard — to tell the world of the love that we have found in Jesus. Tell the world that he is the One and there is no other!

And again, of course we do this, not only by our words, but especially by our actions, by the way we live our lives. What we see and hear from Jesus, we need to imitate in our lives.

So as we this evening start this Simbang Gabi, these beautiful days of anticipation, this precious time of intense waiting, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to come and to renew our souls.

Let us ask the Lord to return, to stir the fire of faith in our souls, to come and enter into our hearts in a new way. Let us let him to work in our lives, the miracles of his love.

And of course, let us invoke the great saints of the Filipino people:

St. Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us!
St. Pedro Calungsod, pray for us.

And let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to watch over us in her tender care, and guide our every step.

May she help us, all of us, to experience in a new way this Christmas, the deep joy of finding Christ — who is the One who comes to love us and to walk with us.

1. Readings (Wednesday, 3rd Week of Advent) :Isa. 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25; Ps. 85:9-14; Luke 7:18b-23.