December 30, 2025
The Sixth Day in the Octave of
Christmas
Lectionary: 203
Reading
1
I am writing to
you, children,
because your sins have been forgiven for his name's sake.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the Evil One.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong and the word of God remains in you,
and you have conquered the Evil One.
Do not love the world or the things of the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (11a) Let
the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts;
worship the LORD in holy attire.
Tremble before him, all the earth.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
A holy day has dawned upon us.
Come, you nations, and adore the Lord.
Today a great light has come upon the earth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
There was a
prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123025.cfm
Commentary on 1 John
2:12-17
The first part of John’s Letter describes the four
conditions for ‘walking in the light’ (1 John 1:5—2:28). Today’s reading
focuses on the third condition: ‘detachment from the world’.
The writer reminds his readers that their sins have been
forgiven through the name of Jesus. And he addresses his words to the different
generations in families—to the fathers, the young, the children and the
parents. In various ways he says basically the same thing: they have come to
know Jesus, “who is from the beginning”, and the Father. And, he says, they
have “conquered the evil one”, who is not, however, as in the Gnostic way of
thinking, to be identified with the material world. He is rather the Source of
Darkness who leads people away from the Light that is Life.
At the same time, but again not in a Gnostic sense, the
author tells us not to love the ‘world’ or what is in the ‘world’. The word
‘world’ has two meanings in John’s writing. On the one hand, it can refer
simply to the material environment in which we find ourselves and includes
everything on our planet and in the whole universe. In other words, it refers
to God’s creation which the Creator found “very good”:
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was
very good. (Gen 1:31)
We are called by the gospel to be very much part of that
world, to be fully inserted into it:
You are the salt of the earth… (Matthew 5:13)
And indeed we are an integral part of the earth; we come
from it and at the end we go back to it:
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return. (Gen 3:19)
On the other hand, ‘world’ also refers to all that thinking
among people which is far from the thinking of God, as presented to us by revelation
and especially through the witness of Jesus the Word. So, in this sense, we
speak negatively of people being ‘worldly’:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The
love of the Father is not in those who love the world…
By embracing those things which are in conflict with the
vision of God, we close ourselves to his love for us. This is the ‘world’ from
which we must be detached.
These ‘worldly’ inclinations are summed up in today’s
passage from John’s letter as:
…all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the
desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the
world.
“Desire of the flesh” includes not only sexual indulgence,
but every form of uncontrolled physical gratification. “Desire of the eyes”
includes all forms of greed and envy for what others have. “Pride in riches”
points to all forms of arrogance or ostentation in one’s lifestyle, where
people put themselves as the centre of attention with little regard for the
needs of others.
These three tendencies refer to the uncontrolled sensuality
by which oneself and other people are reduced to mere objects of pleasure; to
the uncontrolled greed to have everything one lays one’s eyes on (what today
often comes under the term ‘materialistic consumerism’); and to an uninhibited
desire for personal wealth and the power over others that goes with it.
These are all in total contradiction to the vision of the
Kingdom, where the over-riding passion is to find one’s happiness in the
well-being of others, in living one’s life with only what is really necessary,
and in having the desire to create a world of sharing where everyone gives and
everyone gets. These ideas are summarized as the passage concludes:
…the world and its desire are passing away, but those who
do the will of God abide forever.
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Commentary on Luke
2:36-40
Today’s Gospel is a continuation of yesterday’s reading
about the Presentation in the Temple. It deals with the second person who was
present on that day. Her name was Anna and she is described as a prophetess, in
other words, a person who was a spokesperson for God. One does not often meet
women prophets in the Scriptures—most of them are men. She was also quite
elderly:
…having lived with her husband seven years after her
marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.
And, as we have said before, widows were at the lowest rung
of the social ladder. They had very little chance of getting remarried, and as
such, were very unlikely to have children after being widowed.
But Anna was a deeply spiritual person who spent her waking
hours in the Temple, praying and fasting. She also came on the scene just as
Jesus and his parents were in the Temple. She, too, must have realised the true
identity of the Child, and gave thanks to God. She then began to speak about
the Child to everyone, especially those awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
This short passage says a few important things:
- Our
social status is of no consequence where our relationship with God is
concerned.
- If
we want to be close to God, prayer has to be a very important part of our
day.
- Jesus
can come into our life at any time and in any place—it may be a church or
it may be at a dance.
- Once
we really come to know Jesus, we cannot keep it to ourselves, but must
share the experience with the people around us, especially those who are
looking for some meaning in their lives.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/c1230g/
Tuesday,
December 30, 2025
Sixth Day
within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Opening Prayer
Almighty Father,
You let humble, faithful people
recognize Your Son and welcome Him as the Savior who brought freedom and life
to His people.
May we too recognize and welcome
Jesus in all that is little and humble and with Him grow up in wisdom and grace
to the maturity of Your sons and daughters, so that we attain the full image of
Jesus. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading - Luke 2: 36-40
There was a prophetess,
Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in
years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She was now eighty-four years
old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and
prayer. She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke
of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done
everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their
own town of Nazareth. And as the child grew to maturity, He was filled with
wisdom; and God's favor was with him.
Reflection
•
In the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel,
everything revolves around the birth of two people: John and Jesus. The two
chapters make us feel the sense of the Gospel of Luke. In it, the environment
is one of tenderness and praise. From the beginning until the end, the mercy of
God is sung and praised: The canticles of Mary (Lk 1: 46-55), of Zechariah (Lk
1: 68-79), of the Angels (Lk 2: 14), of Simeon (Lk 2: 29-32). Finally, God comes
to fulfill his promises, and He fulfills them on behalf of the poor, [1] the anawim, those who knew how to persevere
and hope in his coming: Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, the
shepherds.
•
Chapters 1 and 2 of Luke’s Gospel are very well known,
but do not go far enough. Luke writes by imitating the writings of the Old
Testament. It is as if the first two chapters of his Gospel were the last
chapter of the Old Testament, which opens the door for the coming of the New.
These two chapters are the foundation or bridge between the New and the Old
Testaments. Luke wants to show that the prophecies are being realized. John and
Jesus fulfill the Old and begin the New.
•
Luke 2: 36-37: The life of the Prophetess Anna.
“There was a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She
was well on in years. She had been married for seven years before becoming a
widow. She was now eightyfour years old and never left the Temple, serving God
night and day with fasting and prayer.” Like Judith (Jdt 8: 1-6), Anna was also
a widow. Like Deborah (Judge 4: 4), she also was a prophetess, i.e., a person
who communicates something of God and who has a special ability in matters of
faith to the point of being able to communicate them to others. Anna got
married when she was young, and lived seven years married, then she became a
widow and continued to dedicate herself to God up to the age of eighty-four
years. Today, in almost all of our communities throughout the world, we find
groups of older women, many of them widows, whose life is consumed in prayer
and in giving service to their neighbors.
•
Luke 2: 38: Anna and the Child Jesus. “She came
up just at that moment and began to praise God, and she spoke of the child to
all who looked toward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.” She went to the Temple
at the moment when Simeon embraces the child and speaks with Mary concerning
the future of her son (Lk 2: 25-35). Luke suggests that Anna takes part in this
activity. The vision of Anna is one of faith. She sees a child in the arms of
His mother and discovers in Him the Savior of the world.
•
Luke 2: 39-40: The life of Jesus in Nazareth.
“When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to
Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And as the child grew to maturity, He
was filled with wisdom and God’s favor was with Him.” In these few words, Luke
communicates something of the mystery of the Incarnation. “The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1: 14). The Son of God becomes equal to us in all
things and assumes the condition of Servant (Ph 2: 7). He was obedient even
unto death and death on the cross (Phil 2: 8). He lived thirty-three years
among us, and of these, He lived thirty in Nazareth.
If we want to know how the life of the Son of God was
during the years that He lived in Nazareth, we have to learn about the life of
the average Nazarene of that time, change his name, give him the name of Jesus
and then we will have an idea about the life of the Son of God in these first
thirty years, being in everything like us except sin (Heb 4: 15). During these
years of His life, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and
the grace of God was upon Him.” In another passage, Luke affirms the same thing
using other words. He says that the child “grew in wisdom, age and grace before
God and men” (Lk 2: 52).
To grow in wisdom means to assimilate
knowledge of what is true or right, just judgement and discernment, as well as
prayer, customs, etc. This is learned through living and living together in the
natural community of the people. To grow in age means to be born small and to
grow and become an adult. This is the process of every human being, with its
joys and sadness, its discoveries and frustrations, anger, and love. This is learned
by living and by living together in the family, with parents, brothers and
sisters, and relatives. To grow in grace means to discover the presence of God
in life, His action in everything that happens, and His call. The Letter to the
Hebrews says that:
“Although He was the Son, He learned obedience through His
sufferings”
(Heb 5: 8).
Personal Questions
•
• Do you know any people like Anna who look on
things in life with eyes of faith?
•
• To grow in wisdom, age, and grace - how does
this take place in my life?
Concluding Prayer
Sing to Yahweh, bless His name! Proclaim His salvation day
after day, declare
His glory among the nations, His marvels to every
people! (Ps 96: 2-3)
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