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Epiphany, or manifestation, is what the Lord has delighted us in, revealing His love for us. It is an invitation to go deeper now, friends, at this very start of the new year. To dwell more deeply into the relationship we have with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to dwell in the mystery, of the water, the spirit, and the blood.

His love for us is so great that He has allowed us to be one with Him through our baptism. That is through the waters of our baptism. And then, He has given us His blood, body, and soul so that we can be one with Him through His divinity in the Holy Eucharist. And the Holy Spirit is always present to draw us deeper into His bosom.

Today, the Lord reminds us that we do not need to ask. Of course, He wants to heal and deliver us. And as we grow deeper in our loving relationship, we will move from inwardness to outwardness, to seek out all those in need of His healing and deliverance.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Amen.
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First reading
1 John 5:5-13

There are three witnesses: the Spirit and the water and the blood


Who can overcome the world?
Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God:
Jesus Christ who came by water and blood,
not with water only,
but with water and blood;
with the Spirit as another witness –
since the Spirit is the truth –
so that there are three witnesses,
the Spirit, the water and the blood,
and all three of them agree.
We accept the testimony of human witnesses,
but God’s testimony is much greater,
and this is God’s testimony,
given as evidence for his Son.
Everybody who believes in the Son of God
has this testimony inside him;
and anyone who will not believe God
is making God out to be a liar,
because he has not trusted
the testimony God has given about his Son.
This is the testimony:
God has given us eternal life
and this life is in his Son;
anyone who has the Son has life,
anyone who does not have the Son does not have life.

I have written all this to you
so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God
may be sure that you have eternal life.



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Gospel
Luke 5:12-16
‘If you want to, you can cure me’

Jesus was in one of the towns when a man appeared, covered with leprosy. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once. He ordered him to tell no one, ‘But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your healing as Moses prescribed it, as evidence for them.’
    His reputation continued to grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.

Today’s first reading reminds us that our love for one another must reflect that of the love of God, our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And today’s gospel shows us just how much He loves us. In His mercy, compassion, and love, He saw the people were hungry. He commanded His disciples to buy what was necessary to feed them. Then He performed the miracle and fed each and every one present. He provided for them in abundance. Their cup runneth over.

And that was a shadow, a foreshadowing of how He would feed us our daily bread in the Holy Eucharist. We are nourished and sent to exercise His love for one another. Amen.


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First reading
1 John 4:7-10 ·

Let us love one another, since love comes from God


My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.



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Gospel
Mark 6:34-44

The feeding of the five thousand

As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late. So send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves have you?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

If there is division in our church, our church communities, or our families, then we are not living as children of God our Heavenly Father, whom He so dearly loves. Division breeds strife. And in this battle between good and evil, who do you think wins?

As disciples of the one true God, who lives and reigns in our hearts, we cannot harbor unforgiveness. We must be quick to forgive, to love, and to serve. Let us shift our focus from ourselves and extend our hands to those in need.

What good does it do to hold many titles in the church? To be a leader among leaders and yet fail to follow the one true leader, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Therefore, let us be proactive. Let us be the first to forgive. Let us be the first to make amends. Let us bring the Lord’s light into all darkness, dispelling it and paving the way for Him.

Let me be a light in the world, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for I love Thee and adore Thee. Amen.


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First reading
1 John 3:22-4:6

The Son of God has come and given us the power to know the true God


Whatever we ask God,
we shall receive, because we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that he wants.
His commandments are these:
that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his commandments lives in God and God lives in him.
We know that he lives in us
by the Spirit that he has given us.

It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God, there are many false prophets, now, in the world.
You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about.
Well, now he is here, in the world. Children, you have already overcome these false prophets,
because you are from God and you have in you one who is greater than anyone in this world; as for them, they are of the world, and so they speak the language of the world and the world listens to them.
But we are children of God, and those who know God listen to us;
those who are not of God refuse to listen to us.
This is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.



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Gospel
Matthew 4:12-17,23-25

The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light

Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:

‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee of the nations!
The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.’

From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
    He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them. Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordania.

Every day is a struggle due to the challenges we face in the world and the various idiosyncrasies of people that might irritate or offend us. Not everyone leads a Christian life. Many people are selfish and only look out for themselves.

However, as disciples of Christ, we must strive for holiness. We should aim to be pure like Christ and holy as our Heavenly Father is holy. By living Christ-like lives, we show gratitude and can guide others by pointing to the living God. We can show them Jesus, who wants to embrace them, love them, and lead them to everlasting life.

This purity of heart allows the love of Christ to flow through us. Let’s take the first step in following the footsteps of Christ. Amen.

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First reading
1 John 2:29-3:6
Everyone must try to be as pure as Christ


You know that God is righteous –
then you must recognise that everyone whose life is righteous
has been begotten by him.

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be called God’s children;
and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him,
therefore it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God
but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that when it is revealed
we shall be like him
because we shall see him as he really is.

Surely everyone who entertains this hope
must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.
Anyone who sins at all
breaks the law,
because to sin is to break the law.
Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin,
and that in him there is no sin;
anyone who lives in God does not sin,
and anyone who sins
has never seen him or known him.



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Gospel
John 1:29-34
‘Look: there is the Lamb of God’

Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. I did not know him myself, and yet it was to reveal him to Israel that I came baptising with water.’ John also declared, ‘I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.’

As we enter the new year, it’s a good time to reflect on our baptism. Through baptism, we were inserted into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord. This sacred rite made us children of God, our Heavenly Father.

During our baptism, grace and truth were bestowed upon us as we were anointed with the chrism oil. Later, through our confirmation, we were sealed with the holy anointing. This anointing empowers us to be bold disciples of our Lord Jesus.

We are called to go forth and prepare the hearts of people and share the joy of the Gospel. Our mission is to ensure that His salvation reaches the ends of the earth. Amen.

Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Doctors pray for us…

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First reading
1 John 2:22-28 ·

The anointing he gave you teaches you everything


The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ –
he is the liar,
he is Antichrist;
and he is denying the Father as well as the Son,
because no one who has the Father can deny the Son,
and to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father as well.
Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning:
as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you,
you will live in the Son
and in the Father;
and what is promised to you by his own promise
is eternal life.
This is all that I am writing to you about the people who are trying to lead you astray.
But you have not lost the anointing that he gave you,
and you do not need anyone to teach you;
the anointing he gave teaches you everything;
you are anointed with truth, not with a lie,
and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him.
Live in Christ, then, my children,
so that if he appears, we may have full confidence,
and not turn from him in shame
at his coming.


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Gospel
John 1:19-28

‘One is coming after me who existed before me’

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

Hail the holy Mother of God, who gave birth to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the ruler of heaven and Earth. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Dearest Mother, as we welcome the new year, 2026, we ask and pray for your continued intercessions so that we may be pure of heart as you are pure of heart, that we may be holy as you are holy, that we may be obedient as you were obedient, that our thoughts and our actions are purified through the grace of your son, Jesus. Be with us, holy Mother, throughout the year and lead us deeper into worship of your son, Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Mary, the Holy Mother of God pray for us… – 
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First reading
Numbers 6:22-27

They are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’



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Second reading
Galatians 4:4-7 ·

God sent his Son, born of a woman

When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.



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Gospel
Luke 2:16-21

The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found the baby lying in the manger

The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.
    When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.