January 10, 2026
Saturday after Epiphany
Lectionary: 217
Reading
I
Beloved:
We have this confidence in him
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask,
we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,
he should pray to God and he will give him life.
This is only for those whose sin is not deadly.
There is such a thing as deadly sin,
about which I do not say that you should pray.
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin;
but the one begotten by God he protects,
and the Evil One cannot touch him.
We know that we belong to God,
and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One.
We also know that the Son of God has come
and has given us discernment to know the one who is true.
And we are in the one who is true,
in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against idols.
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 149:1-2, 3-4, 5-6a and
9b
R. (see
4a) The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of
praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the
children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lord takes delight in
his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let
them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he
adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lord takes delight in
his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let
them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is
the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lord takes delight in
his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus and his
disciples went into the region of Judea,
where he spent some time with them baptizing.
John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was an abundance of water there,
and people came to be baptized,
for John had not yet been imprisoned.
Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew
about ceremonial washings.
So they came to John and said to him,
“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,
to whom you testified,
here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
John answered and said,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.
You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,
but that I was sent before him.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011026.cfm
(Note: This Reading is used in those regions where the
Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on a Sunday rather than on January 6.)
Commentary on 1 John
5:14-21
We come today to the last part of John’s Letter. It forms a
kind of postscript to the rest of the work, much as chapter 21 is an epilogue
in John’s Gospel. The passage consists of two parts: a prayer for sinners, and
then a final summary of the main points in the Letter.
The section begins with an important definition of true
prayer:
And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us.
Sometimes in our prayer when we are just asking for
something that we want, it can happen that we feel disappointed or even angry
when we do not get it.
But true prayer consists in trying to discover what exactly
God wants of me, under the firm conviction that he always wants the very best.
It is not a question of my demanding that God give me what I want or I think I
need. Nor is it fatalistically submitting to a God who does things I don’t want
to happen. Rather, it is a matter of God’s will and mine being brought fully
into harmony, so that I really want (and not just am prepared to accept) what
he wants. In this case, my will and God’s will coincide. I am doing what he
wants and I am doing what I want! The secret of much happiness is right here
and is the ultimate goal of Christian living.
One thing we are particularly urged to pray for here are
brothers or sisters who have gone astray in their faith or morals, so that life
might return fully to them. However, there are some who have committed “deadly”
sins and the writer tells us:
I do not say that you should pray about that.
This is to say, the author suggests there may not be much
use in praying.
What is such a “deadly” sin? In the Gospel, the only sin
that cannot be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit, that is, the sin of
totally closing one’s mind to truth (see Matt 12:31-32). Once we have taken
such a step and remain in that state, there is no way that we can be reached by
a loving and forgiving God. As long as a person is in this state, they are
beyond help. Nevertheless, despite what the writer implies, it would seem that
we could certainly pray that such an attitude might change.
In the context of this letter, “deadly sin” may refer to
those who have abandoned their Christian faith and become apostates, perhaps
under the pressure of persecution. To save their skins, they have given up the
Truth that is Christ; they have closed a door which only they can reopen.
Additionally, it could also refer to those heretics who
denied the ‘Sonship’ of Jesus, either partially or totally. Similarly, it could
refer to those who had taken up a Gnostic position which, on the one hand,
believed in separating oneself entirely from all that is material in this world
and then, by a perverted kind of logic, believed in living a totally amoral
life. (Their thesis was: If physical matter is an evil to be avoided and is
destined to non-existence, does it really matter what you do with it? Does it
matter what you do with your body or someone else’s?)
Yet another view is that a deadly sin is so serious that it
results in physical death, hence putting the person beyond prayer.
In the final summary of his letter, the writer makes three
statements all beginning with: “We know that…” The first is:
We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but
the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch
them.
As long as one is consciously committed to Christ and has
totally submitted his or her life to his Way, sin is a contradiction. The two
cannot co-exist.
The second statement says:
We know that we are God’s children and that the whole
world lies under the power of the evil one.
Being a Christian (in a real and not just a notional sense)
and being under the influence of the “world” are again mutually exclusive.
And the third says:
…we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is
true, in his Son Jesus Christ.
By being “in” Jesus Christ we are also “in” God who sent him
among us. This is the blessed role of Jesus, to be God made visible so that we
know how and where we can find God in our lives.
In conclusion, we are warned to be on our guard against
idols. There is a sharp antithesis between the children of God and those
belonging to the world and to the ‘evil one’. In the context of the letter, it
is a warning against the many idols in which the surrounding peoples believed,
and in the idol of the emperor as a divine being to which no Christian could
give an allegiance which was due only to God. Many died martyrs because of
their refusal to worship the emperor’s image. But there must have been many who
caved in because of fear.
Perhaps we are not touched by such idols today (even when we
live in places with statues of gods and deities), but there are many other
idols of a more subtle kind which we can easily fail to recognise as such.
These include materialism and consumerism, the obsession with money and wealth,
the cult of sex and even of the body (through slavery to image and fashion),
and the cult of the hero whether in the media or in sports (‘fans’ = fanatics,
a word used to describe the actions of frenzied worshippers in another age).
Obsession with such idols can blind us to the very real needs—material, social
and spiritual—of those around us. Then we fail in the essential quality of
being a child of God—love for each other.
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Commentary on John
3:22-30
In this passage from John’s Gospel we are given one of the
last appearances of John the Baptist before his arrest. It is still part of the
transition from the time of his preaching to Jesus’ taking centre stage.
Both Jesus, with his disciples, and John are in the region
of Judaea, the southern province where Jerusalem is situated. John, we are
told, is at a place called Aenon (a place whose location is not now known).
There was plenty of water there, so it was suitable for baptism.
Apparently a dispute had arisen “between the disciples of
John and a Jew about ceremonial washings.” The disciples then came to John to
tell him that Jesus was also baptising, and that large crowds were going to
him. Clearly, they felt somewhat upset that their own master was being
upstaged.
But it did not bother John in the least:
No one can receive anything except what has been given
from heaven.
In other words, each person has their own calling from God,
and the only thing that matters is that they respond to that calling. John reminds
his disciples that he had said already he was not the Messiah, but that he had
been sent to prepare the way for the Messiah’s coming. That was John’s calling
and the one he had responded to.
He then gives an example which expresses his relationship
with Jesus:
He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the
bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
In this context, the “friend of the bridegroom” is the ‘best
man’, or the shoshben of Jewish tradition—the one who arranges
the wedding. The idea of rivalry between him and the groom would not make
sense. On the contrary, the ‘best man’ is delighted to see bride and groom
happy together. John concludes by saying:
He must increase, but I must decrease.
John knows perfectly well—and fully accepts—his secondary
role. There was a time when he was in the limelight, but now he steps aside and
allows Jesus to be the centre.
This can apply to us in our evangelising work for the
Christian community. Once we see that Jesus has fully entered a person’s life,
it is for us to draw back. We must never try to be possessive. Our role is to
let go and let God be the one who guides people.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/saturday-after-epiphany-sunday
Saturday, January 10, 2026
Christmas Time
Opening Prayer
God our Father,
through your Son you made us a new creation.
He shared our nature and became one of us; with his help, may we become more
like him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - John 3: 22-30
After this, Jesus went with his disciples
into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptized. John also
was baptising at Aenon near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and people
were going there and were being baptized. For John had not yet been put in
prison.
Now a discussion arose between some of John's
disciples and a Jew about purification, so they went to John and said, 'Rabbi,
the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom you
bore witness, is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him.' John replied:
'No one can have anything except what is given him from heaven. 'You yourselves
can bear me out. I said, "I am not the Christ; I am the one who has been
sent to go in front of him." 'It is the bridegroom who has the bride; and
yet the bridegroom's friend, who stands there and listens to him, is filled
with joy at the bridegroom's voice. This is the joy I feel, and it is complete.
He must grow greater, I must grow less.
Reflection
•
Both John the Baptist and Jesus indicated a new
way to the crowds. But Jesus after having adhered to the movement of John the
Baptist, and after having been baptized by him, advanced a step ahead and
created his own movement. He baptized the persons in the Jordan River, when
John the Baptist was also doing it. Both of them attracted the poor and
abandoned people of Palestine, by announcing the Good News of the Kingdom of
God. • Jesus, the new preacher, had a certain advantage over
John the Baptist. He baptized more people and attracted more disciples. Thus, a
tension arose between the disciples of John and those of Jesus, concerning the
“purification,” that is, concerning the value of Baptism. The disciples of John
the Baptist experienced a certain envy and went to John to speak to him and
informed him about the movement of Jesus.
•
The response of John to his disciples is a
beautiful response, which reveals his great spirit. John helps his disciples to
see things more objectively. And he uses three arguments: a) Nobody receives
anything which is not given by God. If Jesus does such beautiful things, it is
because he receives them from God (Jn 3: 27). Instead of having envy, the
disciples should feel joy. b) John reaffirms once again that he, John, is not
the Messiah but only the precursor (Jn 3: 28). c) And at the end he uses a
comparison, taken from the wedding feast. At that time, in Palestine, on the
day of the wedding, in the house of the bride, the so called “friends of the
bridegroom” waited for the arrival of the bridegroom to present him to the
bride. In this case, Jesus is the bridegroom, the crowd is the bride. John the
friend of the bridegroom. John the Baptist says that, in the voice of Jesus, he
recognizes the voice of the bridegroom and can present him to the bride, to the
crowds. At this moment, the bridegroom, the people, leave the friend of the
bridegroom and follow Jesus, because they recognize in him the voice of their
bridegroom!. And for this reason, the joy of John is great, “complete joy.”
John wants nothing for himself! His mission is to present the bridegroom to the
bride! The last sentence summarizes everything: “He must grow greater; I must
grow less!” This phrase is also the program for any person who follows Jesus.
•
At the end of the first century, in Palestine as
well as in Asia Minor, where there were some communities of Jews, there were
also people who had been in contact with John the Baptist or who had been
baptized by him (Acts 19: 3). Seen from outside, the movement of John the
Baptist and that of Jesus were very similar to one another. Both of them
announced the coming of the Kingdom (cfr. Mt 3: 1-2; 4: 17). There must have
been some confusion between the followers of John and those of Jesus. And
because of this, the witness of John about Jesus was very important. The four
Gospel are concerned about giving the words of John the Baptist saying that he
is not the Messiah. For the Christian communities, the Christian response, the
response of John, “He must grow greater
and I must grow less” was valid not only for the Disciples of John at the
time of Jesus, but also for the disciples of the Batiste or Cambric community
of the end of the first century.
Personal Questions
•
“He must grow greater, I must grow less.” This
is John’s program. Is this also my program?
•
What is important is that the bride finds the
bridegroom. We are only spokespersons, nothing more. And, am I this?
Concluding Prayer
They shall dance in praise of his name, play to him on
tambourines and harp! For Yahweh loves his people, he will crown the humble
with salvation. (Ps 149: 3-4)
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