December 31, 2025
The Seventh Day in the Octave of
Christmas
Lectionary: 204
Reading
I
Children, it is
the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.
Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.
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;
announce his salvation, day after day.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
The LORD comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.
To those who accepted him
he gave power to become the children of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
In the beginning
was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John
was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the
world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who
did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word
became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to
him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123125.cfm
Commentary on 1 John
2:18-21
Today we look at the ‘fourth condition’ for ‘walking in the
light’.* This
calls for us to be on our guard against ‘antichrists’.
The writer tells his readers:
Children, it is the last hour!
It is the last hour in the sense of being that period
between the death and resurrection of Jesus and his Second Coming in glory and
judgement. The early Christians believed that the Second Coming would happen
within their lifetime. They believed that they were living in the ‘last hour’,
and one of the signs would be the appearance of anti-messiahs and false
teachers. However, by the time this letter was written towards the end of the
1st century AD, that expectation was already being modified.
Nevertheless, it is a warning that we need to take
seriously. Our planet as we know it may continue for thousands of years
(although some believe we are doing our best to prevent that happening!), but
what is much more relevant is that the ‘last hour’ of each one of us is not far
away. Some of us will go on to a ripe old age and slip away when we have
reached the fullness of our time, but others will have their lives cut short by
sickness, disease or some other unforeseen happening. The warning today is
timely.
Before that final day, the letter warns that “now many
antichrists have come.” It is a term found only in the First and Second Letters
of John. However, both Matthew (24:24) and Mark (13:22) speak of “false messiahs”.
Speaking of the ‘last days’, Mark quotes Jesus as saying:
And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is
the Messiah!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’—do not believe it. False messiahs and
false prophets will appear… (Mark 13:21-22)
In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thess 2:3)
there is mention of “the lawless one”. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew and the
Book of Revelation speak of several persons rather than just one.
The First Letter of John seems to make a distinction between
an ‘antichrist’ who comes from outside the community (personified in the Roman
emperors who persecuted the church), and those false teachers who come from
inside. The Church has always been, and always will be, attacked from without
and within.
“Antichrists” in the plural are linked to all those who are
spreading false teaching about Christ and the gospel within the community. And
their presence is, says the letter, an indication that the ‘final hour’ is
already on its way. However, many of these have since left the community, an
indication that they never really belonged. Those who stay:
…have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have
knowledge.
In other words, they are genuinely in touch with Jesus and
with God. The ‘knowing’ is based on personal experience and not simply on a set
of ideas.
As Christians today, we are constantly bombarded from within
and without by people who, wittingly or unwittingly, are trying to undermine
the vision of the Kingdom which Jesus passed on to us. We should not be
surprised at this. It was foretold again and again in the Gospels and the New
Testament. And we have to admit that some of the accusations thrown against us
are true. Many, however, are trying to undermine our central mission. What is
important is how we respond. The only way we can respond is, through word and
action, always to speak the Truth in love. The passage concludes:
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth,
but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth.
___________________________________
*The first part of John’s Letter describes four conditions for
‘walking in the light’. See 1 John 1:5—2:28.
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Commentary on John
1:1-18
There are three occasions when we read the Prologue of
John’s Gospel during the Christmas season. The first is at the Daytime Mass on
Christmas Day, the second on the 2nd Sunday after Christmas and finally today,
New Year’s Eve.
This magnificent passage provides a powerful opening to this
Gospel. It lays out the main themes of John’s Gospel—Life, Light, Truth, the
World, Testimony and the pre-existence of Jesus Christ. He is the
Incarnate Logos or Word, who reveals God the Father to us. It
was originally probably an early Christian hymn, and parallels closely two
other great hymns quoted in the Pauline letters—one in the Letter to the
Colossians, and the other in the Letter to the Philippians. All speak of Jesus’
special relationship to God as his Father.
Its opening words are the same as the very first words in
the Old Testament:
In the beginning…
But whereas Genesis is really speaking of the beginning of
our created universe, John goes back much further to the infinite nature of God
himself. And in this, we find the Word already existing. The Word was in a
close relationship with God and the Word was of the very same nature as God.
The term ‘Word’ has a number of inter-related meanings. For
us a word can describe a person (e.g. man, woman, child) or a thing (e.g.
house, table, tree). But here, Word indicates an active and creative word
(somewhat akin to the power a great work of art can express). The Word, as
distinct from the Father, is also seen as the instrument through which God
creates:
All things came into being through him, and without him
not one thing came into being.
And Word also points to God as the ultimate source of all
meaning and reality. Jesus then is the Word of God—God’s self-communication.
Through him the world came into being and through him we are led to God as the
source of all meaning for our lives. That meaning is totally beyond the power
of our human minds, but Jesus opens the door a little for us to see more than
we could manage on our own.
The two great gifts that come to us through the Word are
Life and Light. Later Jesus will say:
I AM the Resurrection and the Life… (John 11:25)
and
I AM the Bread of Life… (John 6:35)
and he will also say:
I AM the Light of the world… (John 8:12)
The Light that is Christ shines in the darkness of our
world. It is a light that cannot be overcome, because it represents the
ultimate values of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Justice and Love, Compassion and
Fellowship, Freedom and Peace.
The coming of the Light was prepared for by John the
Baptist. He had been sent by God, just as Jesus himself is sent by his Father.
John himself was not the Light, but gave witness to the Light. In addition to
John, there are many testimonies to Jesus: the Samaritan woman, the Scriptures,
Jesus’ works, the crowds, the Spirit and his own disciples. And, finally, we
might add—each one of us.
Jesus was fully inserted in the world, the same world which
owes its very existence to him, and yet it did not know him—‘know’ in the sense
of not recognising him or acknowledging him to be who and what he really is.
The Gospel also records, surely with sadness, that the Word came to “what was
his own” (i.e ‘his own home’), Israel, but his own people did not accept him.
Of course, that is a generalised statement because there were many, including
all the first followers of Jesus, who were Israelites. But the leadership by
and large (again with exceptions like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea) did
not accept him and were instrumental in his death.
Those, however, who did accept the Word were given the power
to become children of God. As such they are brothers and sisters of Jesus, the
Word. And this does not happen simply by natural birth or because they were
born into a particular community, but by the choice of God. A Jew was someone
born of Jewish parents and circumcised, and who chose to observe the Law.
Then comes the dramatic statement: “the Word became flesh”.
The Word took on our human nature in all its fullness. He did not have, as some
people believed, just the external appearance of a human, but was through and
through a man like us in all things. And he lived right among us. The Greek
term literally means he “pitched his tent or tabernacle”. In the Old Testament,
God was believed to be present to his people in the Tent of Meeting. The Word,
in his humanity, is the new presence of God among us. And we might add here,
that in our times the Christian community, as the Body of the Risen Christ, is
now the tabernacle of Jesus’ presence in the world.
And then we saw his “glory”, namely, the glory of God’s
visible manifestation of his power. Formerly filling the tabernacle and the
Temple, it is now found in the Incarnate Word, Jesus, God’s only Son. It is a
presence “full of grace and truth”. ‘Grace’ is the love of God as experienced
in our lives, and ‘Truth’ is that wholeness and integrity which reflects the
deepest values we associate with God.
And now:
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace*.
We have all been given a share of the fullness of Grace and
Truth, a share which we hope will grow with time. It is “grace in place of
grace”. The grace of the Old Covenant is now replaced with the richer grace of
the New Covenant. And it is “grace upon grace” as the grace of the Old Covenant
is enriched by the grace of the New Covenant.
Obviously, the text is very rich and dense and needs a lot
of contemplation, more than can be shared in a brief reflection. And the same
message is really given by Luke in his more down-to-earth story of the
conception and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. In truth, the two passages
complement and enrich each other.
_________________________________
*also translated, “grace in place of grace”.
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Wednesday,
December 31, 2025
Seventh Day
within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Opening Prayer
Loving Father,
You gave us your Son Jesus Christ and let him share our
poverty.
He brought us grace upon grace, for all
that comes from you is a free gift. Accept our thanks for the moments when we
accepted your gifts and shared them with one another.
Accept our thanks for the times we
listened attentively to your Son’s words and put them into practice.
Help us go forward with hope and joy with joy and mutual
encouragement with the companion in life you have given us, Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Gospel Reading – John 1: 1-18
In the beginning was the Word: the
Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except
through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light
of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it. A
man came, sent by God. His name was John.
He came as a witness, to bear witness to
the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light; he
was to bear witness to the light. The
Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the
world. He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the world
did not recognize him. He came to his own and his own people did not accept
him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believed in his name who were born not from human stock, or human
desire, or human will but from God himself.
The Word became flesh, he lived among
us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of
the Father, full of grace and truth. John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This
is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because
he existed before me.' Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received
-- one gift replacing another, for the Law was given through Moses, grace and
truth have come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the only
Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. Reflection
The
Prologue is the first thing which one sees in opening the Gospel of John.
But it was the last one to be
written. It is the final summary, placed at the beginning. In it, John
describes the way of the Word of God. It was at the side of God, before the
creation, and through him all things were created; everything which exists is
an expression of the Word of God. As it happens with the Wisdom of God, (Prov
8: 22-31), in the same way also the Word wishes to get closer to us and becomes
flesh in Jesus. It comes in our midst and carries out its mission and returned
to God. Jesus is this Word of God. Everything that it says and does is
communication which reveals the Father to us.
In saying: “In the beginning was the Word”, John
recalls the first phrase of the Bible which says: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth” (Gen 1: 1). God
created all things by means of his Word. “He
speaks and everything is made” (Ps 33: 9; 148: 5).
All creatures are an expression of the Word of God. This living Word of God,
present in all things, shines in darkness. Darkness tries to overpower it, but
it could not succeed. The search for God which is always new, is reborn in the
human heart. Nobody succeeds in covering it. We cannot bear to live without God
for a long time!
John the Baptist comes to help
people to discover and to relish this luminous and consoling presence of the
Word of God in life. The witness of John the Baptism has been very important,
so much so that many people thought that he was the Christ (Messiah) (Acts 19:
3; Jn 1: 20). This is why the Prologue clarifies
saying: “John was not the light! He has come to bear witness to the light!”
Thus, as the Word of God manifests itself in nature, in creation, so also it is
manifested in the “world,” that is in the history of humanity, particularly, in
the history of the People of God. But the “world” does not recognize, does not
receive the Word. “He came to his own and
his own people did not accept him.” Here when he says people , John wants to
indicate the system of the empire as well as that of the religion of the time,
both of them closed up in themselves and, because of this, incapable to
recognize the Good News (Gospel), the luminous presence of the Word of God.
But the persons who open themselves to
accept the Word, become sons and daughters of God. The person becomes son or
daughter of God not because of his/her own merits, neither because of belonging
to the race of Israel, but because of the simple fact of having trust and
believing that God in His goodness, accepts and receives us. The Word of God
penetrates within the person and makes the person feel accepted as a son, as a
daughter of God. This is the power of the grace of God.
God does not want to remain far away from us. Because
of this, His Word, gets closer and becomes present in our midst in the Person
of Jesus. The Prologue literally
says: “And the Word became flesh and lived
among us.” In ancient times, at the time of Exodus, in the desert, God
lived in a tent among the people (Ex 25: 8). Now, the tent in which God dwells
with us is Jesus, “filled with grace and truth.” Jesus comes to reveal who is
this our God, present in everything, from the beginning of creation.
Personal Questions
•
Everything that exists is an expression of the
Word of God, a revelation of his presence. Am I sufficiently contemplative to
be able to receive and experience this universal presence of the Word of God?
•
What does it mean for me to be called son of
God?
Concluding Prayer
The Lord comes, he is coming to
judge the earth; he will judge the world with saving justice, and the nations
with constancy. (Ps 96: 13)
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