As we close off the year 2019 and cross over into 2020; let us give thanks to the Lord our God for the continued Blessings and graces He had showered upon us. We look ahead to the new year in which we will strive to deepen our relationship with Him.
Before we do so let us look back to 2019 to see if we have lived out our fully redeemed lives in the Lord our God? Have we been living in the light of Christ Jesus? Have we resisted all sin as best we could and have frequently received the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Eucharist? Have we been beacons of His light for others? Have we shared the joy of the Gospel with others? Have we grown in Holiness as children of God our Father?
As we move ahead let us encourage one another to do more, to be more. To live more fully in the light of our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and to be witnesses of His love for all. Amen
First reading
1 John 2:18-21 ·
You have been anointed by the Holy One
Children, these are the last days; you were told that an Antichrist must come, and now several antichrists have already appeared; we know from this that these are the last days.
Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged; if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us; but they left us, to prove that not one of them ever belonged to us.
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and have all received the knowledge.
It is not because you do not know the truth that I am writing to you but rather because you know it already
and know that no lie can come from the truth.
Gospel
John 1:1-18
The Word was made flesh, and lived among us
In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower.
A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, only a witness to speak for the light.
The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men; and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world that had its being through him, and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God, to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock or urge of the flesh or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh,
he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me ranks before me because he existed before me.’
Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received – yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though 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 nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.
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