December 29, 2025
The Fifth Day in the Octave of
Christmas
Lectionary: 202
Reading
1
Beloved:
The way we may be sure that we know Jesus
is to keep his commandments.
Whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.
Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you
but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you,
which holds true in him and among you,
for the darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,
and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness
and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (11a) Let
the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
The LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty go before him;
praise and grandeur are in his sanctuary.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
A light of revelation to the Gentiles
and glory for your people Israel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When the days were
completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
"Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel."
The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
"Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce)
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122925.cfm
Commentary on 1 John
2:3-11
The first part of John’s Letter (1:5—2:28) can be entitled:
‘To walk in the light’. It is divided into four ‘conditions’ for doing this.
The passage from 1:5—2:2 describes the first condition, which was ‘to break
with sin’. Today’s reading looks at the second condition if we are to ‘walk in
the light’. And that condition is to keep the commandments, especially
that of love.
The reading begins by saying that we know we have come to
know God when we keep his commandments, but:
Whoever says, “I have come to know [God]”,
but does not obey his commandments is a liar, and in such a person the truth
does not exist…
These words are clearly directed against the Gnostics, who
said that all that mattered was to be united with the spiritual. The material
was evil and devoid of any reality. Hence anything done on the material
level did not matter, including what we would regard as immoral, indecent,
hurtful and violent actions against others. According to the Gnostic way
of thinking, the commandments, thus, insofar as they involved the material,
including our own bodies and those of others, had no validity.
We might add that, though we may not see ourselves as
Gnostics, ‘knowing’ God is not something merely intellectual. Nor is it an
obsession with doctrinal orthodoxy on which some people seem to base their
adherence to the Church. To ‘know’ God is much more something relational,
calling for love and intimacy and based on experience. The letter says
that anyone who follows the guidance of God, including actions involving what
is material, is ‘in God’. And we have a very concrete example to follow:
…whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk in the
same way as he walked.
It is clear that the “him” refers to Jesus, who is the human
paradigm of God on earth, and who is the example we are to follow. He is
the Way.
The letter now goes on to say that what has just been said
represents not only an “old commandment”, but also a “new” one. This
section begins with the greeting: “Beloved”. The word is translated in
various forms, e.g. ‘my dear friends’ in the New Jerusalem Bible.
The Greek is agapetoi and comes from the word for ‘love’ (agape)
which we will be discussing at length later on in this letter. The “old
commandment” is expressed in the instruction to love God with all our heart and
our neighbour as ourselves, a commandment going back to the Old Testament and
still valid. It is also embraced by the Ten Commandments.
Yet, the letter is also bringing a “new commandment”.
It is the new commandment that Jesus gave, during the Last Supper:
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. (John 13:34)
In the Old Testament, the commandment to love the neighbour
was one among many, and there was some doubt as to who the ‘neighbour’ might be
(see Luke 10:29). Jesus went much further. He asked his followers
not just to love their neighbour as themselves, but to love each other as he
did. And, to make that perfectly clear, he later said that the greatest
love a person could show was to give their life for their friends—just as he
did. And that love was to be unconditionally extended to every single
person. That is the way God himself acts—his love is extended to all, just
as the sun shines and the rain falls on all equally. Therefore:
Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother
or sister, is still in the darkness.
The Gnostics, through their ‘special’ knowledge, believed
they were in the light, but by acting harmfully against their brothers and
sisters—they were still in darkness. On the other hand:
Whoever loves a brother or sister abides in the light…
This is all we need to know to live in the light—to extend
an unconditional hand of love to every single person. So simple and yet so
difficult! One who refuses to live in this way:
…walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go…
Without this kind of love, they are blind.
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Commentary on Luke
2:22-35
The Holy Family was a Jewish family and both Jesus and his
parents are shown as faithfully carrying out the requirements of the Law. In
today’s Gospel there is a double ceremony described: one is the purification of
the mother and the second is the offering of the first-born child to the Lord
(in the past, we used to refer to the upcoming feast on February 2 as the
‘Purification’, but now it is called the ‘Presentation’).
Clearly, the notion of the need for a mother to be purified
after giving birth is not something we feel necessary now. However, for the
Jews during this time, the spilling of blood was a source of uncleanness. So,
after giving birth, there had to be, after a designated number of days, a
ceremony of purification. Sometimes the husband also went through a similar
ceremony. Given the special circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, the
idea of purification seems even less necessary, although Luke does not seem to
have any problem with it.
According to the Mosaic law (Lev 12:2-8), a woman who gave
birth to a boy was not allowed to touch anything sacred for 40 days (and in the
case of a baby girl, the period was even longer), nor could she enter the
Temple precincts because of her ritual ‘impurity’. At the end of this period,
as mentioned by Luke, she was required to offer a year-old lamb as a burnt
offering and a turtle dove or a young pigeon as expiation for sin. Those who
could not afford the lamb could offer two birds instead.
The parents also presented their first-born son as an
offering to the Lord, again in accordance with Jewish law (Exod 13:2,12), but
this did not have to be done in the Temple. Presenting the child in the Temple
seems to re-echo the scene in the First Book of Samuel where Hannah offers her
son Samuel for service in the sanctuary. There is no mention in Luke’s account
of the five shekels that was supposed to be paid to a member of the priestly
family to ‘buy back’ the child.
The account goes on to mention two elderly people—Simeon and
Anna (Anna will appear tomorrow). They represented all those devout Jews who
were looking forward to the expected coming of the Messiah and the restoration
of God’s rule, God’s kingship, in Israel.
Simeon had received a promise that he would not die until he
had laid eyes on the Messiah. Under the promptings of the Spirit, Simeon enters
the Temple just as Mary and Joseph arrive with their child. He recognises who
the Child is and then says a prayer of thanksgiving and surrender to his God.
We call this prayer the Nunc dimittis (“…now you are dismissing
your servant in peace…”), a hymn which is now used during the Night Prayer of
the Church. In harmony with Luke’s vision of Jesus, he describes Jesus as:
…a light for revelation to the gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.
And so, the Feast of the Presentation (which we now
celebrate on February 2nd) is a feast of light sometimes called ‘Candlemas’. It
is a time when candles are blessed and lit to reflect Christ as our Light.
Meanwhile Mary and Joseph are astounded at what is being
said about their child. Even they have not yet come to a full realisation of
just who he is.
But all is not sweetness and light. Simeon goes on to say
some hard-sounding words. He says:
This child is destined for the falling and the rising of
many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts
of many will be revealed…
To say that Jesus brings about the fall of people is a
difficult idea to come to terms with. It seems to fly in the face of the
loving, forgiving and compassionate Jesus of the Gospel. And yet the paradox is
that many, for reasons of their own, can totally reject the way of life that
Jesus proposes. In doing so, they also turn away from the direction where their
fulfilment as persons lies. Jesus’ life is a sign, a sign which points us in
the direction of God, but there are many who contradict that sign and go in
other directions.
And Simeon has more to say. To Jesus’ Mother he also says:
…and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.
Mary will not know the meaning of these words for many years
to come, although a small foretaste will come when Jesus is lost as a boy in
Jerusalem. Mary may be full of grace, but no more than her Son will she be
spared be from sharing some of the pain he will ultimately endure. It is all
part of that unconditional ‘Yes’ which Mary made to the angel in Nazareth. It
too is contained in the offering of her Son that she has just made to God his
Father.
There is a scene in the Gospel of Luke where a woman, having
been impressed by the teaching of Jesus, cries out:
Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that
nursed you! (Luke 11:27)
This is meant to be a great tribute to Mary for having
produced such a magnificent Son. But Jesus replies:
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and
obey it! (Luke 11:28)
Mary’s true greatness is not in the privileges bestowed on
her by God, but in her unconditional acceptance of everything God asked of her.
For each one of us it is the same. Today, let us say a big ‘Yes’ to God no
matter what he sends us.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/a1229g/
Monday,
December 29, 2025
Fifth Day
within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Opening Prayer
God, Father of light, the old man Simeon
recognized your Son as the light that would shine on all. May we too recognize
Jesus, even if he comes to us in a humble way, in the shape and person of
children, of old people, of the poor and the little ones. Make us receive him
too as the light not only of our lives but as the bright dawn for all nations.
For you are the Father of all and Jesus belongs to all as
their Saviour and Lord, now and for ever.
Gospel Reading – Luke 2: 22-35
And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with
the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord -
observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be
consecrated to the Lord - and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with
what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young
pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and
devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit
rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not
see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the
Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God;
and he said: Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you
promised; for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the
sight of the nations; a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your
people Israel. As the child's father and mother were wondering at the things
that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his
mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel,
destined to be a sign that is opposed - and a sword will pierce your soul too -
so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'
Reflection
•
The first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke are
not a history according to the meaning that we give to history. They rather
serve more than everything else,
as a mirror in which the converted
Christians from Paganism, discover that Christ had come to fulfil the
prophecies of the Old Testament and to respond to the more profound aspirations
of the human heart. They are then, symbol and mirror of what was happening
among the Christians at the time of Luke. The communities coming from Paganism
were born from the communities of converted Jews, but they were diverse. The
New did not correspond to what the Old imagined and expected. It was a “sign of
contradiction” (Lk 2: 34), it caused tension and it was a source of great
suffering, of pain. In the attitude of Mary the image of the People of God,
Luke represents a model of how to persevere in the New, without being
unfaithful to the Old.
•
In these two chapters of the Gospel of Luke,
everything turns around the birth of the two children: John and Jesus. The two
chapters make us feel the perfume of the Gospel of Luke. In them, the
environment is one of tenderness and of praise. From the beginning to the end,
there is praise and singing, because, finally, the mercy of God has been
revealed in Jesus; he fulfils the promises made to the Fathers. And God fulfils
them in behalf of the poor, of the anawim,
like Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary and Joseph, Anne and Simeon, the shepherds.
All of them knew how to wait for his coming.
•
The insistence of Luke in saying that Mary and
Joseph fulfilled everything which the Law prescribes, recalls what Paul writes
in the Letter to the Galatians: “When the completion of the time came, God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of
the Law so that we could receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4: 4-5).
•
The story of the old Simeon teaches that hope,
even if not immediately, will be realized someday. It is not frustrated, it is
realized. But the way does not always correspond to what we imagine. Simeon was
waiting for the glorious Messiah of Israel. Going to the Temple in the midst of
many couples who were taking their child, he sees the realization of his hope
and of the hope of the People: “My eyes have seen the salvation, which you have
made ready in the sight of the nations, a light of revelation for the Gentiles
and glory for your People Israel.”
•
In the text of today’s Gospel, we have the
preferred themes of Luke, that is, a strong insistence on the action of the
Holy Spirit, on prayer and on the prayer environment, a continuous attention to
the action and participation of the women and a constant concern for the poor
and of the message for the poor.
Personal Questions
•
Would you be capable to perceive in a poor child
the light to enlighten the nations?
•
Would you be capable of waiting your whole life
for the realization of your hope?
Concluding Prayer
Sing a new song to Yahweh! Sing to
Yahweh, all the earth! Sing to Yahweh, bless his name!
Proclaim his salvation day after day. (Ps 96: 1-2)
Feliz dia de São Tomás Becket!
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