December 31, 2013 The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

2013년 12월 31일 화요일 성탄 팔일 축제 내 제7일

제1독서

요한 1서. 2,18-21
18 자녀 여러분, 지금이 마지막 때입니다. ‘그리스도의 적’이 온다고 여러분이 들은 그대로, 지금 많은 ‘그리스도의 적들’이 나타났습니다. 그래서 우리는 지금이 마지막 때임을 압니다. 19 그들은 우리에게서 떨어져 나갔지만, 우리에게 속한 자들은 아니었습니다. 그들이 우리에게 속하였다면 우리와 함께 남아 있었을 것입니다. 그러나 결국에는 그들이 아무도 우리에게 속하지 않는다는 사실이 드러났습니다.
20 여러분은 거룩하신 분에게서 기름부음을 받았습니다. 그래서 여러분은 모두 알고 있습니다.
21 내가 여러분에게 이 글을 쓰는 까닭은, 여러분이 진리를 모르기 때문이 아니라 진리를 알기 때문입니다. 또 진리에서는 어떠한 거짓말도 나오지 않기 때문입니다.

복음

요한. 1,1-18
1 한처음에 말씀이 계셨다. 말씀은 하느님과 함께 계셨는데 말씀은 하느님이셨다.
2 그분께서는 한처음에 하느님과 함께 계셨다.
3 모든 것이 그분을 통하여 생겨났고 그분 없이 생겨난 것은 하나도 없다. 4 그분 안에 생명이 있었으니 그 생명은 사람들의 빛이었다. 5 그 빛이 어둠 속에서 비치고 있지만 어둠은 그를 깨닫지 못하였다.
6 하느님께서 보내신 사람이 있었는데 그의 이름은 요한이었다. 7 그는 증언하러 왔다. 빛을 증언하여 자기를 통해 모든 사람이 믿게 하려는 것이었다. 8 그 사람은 빛이 아니었다. 빛을 증언하러 왔을 따름이다.
9 모든 사람을 비추는 참빛이 세상에 왔다. 10 그분께서 세상에 계셨고 세상이 그분을 통하여 생겨났지만 세상은 그분을 알아보지 못하였다. 11 그분께서 당신 땅에 오셨지만 그분의 백성은 그분을 맞아들이지 않았다.
12 그분께서는 당신을 받아들이는 이들, 당신의 이름을 믿는 모든 이에게 하느님의 자녀가 되는 권한을 주셨다. 13 이들은 혈통이나 육욕이나 남자의 욕망에서 난 것이 아니라 하느님에게서 난 사람들이다.
14 말씀이 사람이 되시어 우리 가운데 사셨다. 우리는 그분의 영광을 보았다. 은총과 진리가 충만하신 아버지의 외아드님으로서 지니신 영광을 보았다.
15 요한은 그분을 증언하여 외쳤다. “그분은 내가 이렇게 말한 분이시다. ‘내 뒤에 오시는 분은 내가 나기 전부터 계셨기에 나보다 앞서신 분이시다.’”
16 그분의 충만함에서 우리 모두 은총에 은총을 받았다. 17 율법은 모세를 통하여 주어졌지만 은총과 진리는 예수 그리스도를 통하여 왔다.
18 아무도 하느님을 본 적이 없다. 아버지와 가장 가까우신 외아드님, 하느님이신 그분께서 알려 주셨다. 

Daily Readings — Audio

Tuesday, December 31, 2013 Daily Mass Reading

December 31, 2013

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

Reading 1

1 Jn 2:18-21

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

Ps 96:1-2, 11-12, 13

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!

Gospel

Jn 1:1-18

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

 http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php

Today is the last day of the year, but the gospel reading begins with the words “In the beginning.…”  Yesterday, Anna, though she was at the end of her life, was “looking forward,” not back.  In the life of faith it is always the beginning.  There are no dead ends for a Christian; the end is always the beginning of something immense.

A monk from Thomas Merton’s abbey visited our priory, and I apologised to him for the many steps as we climbed the stairs.  “There are many steps in Gethsemani abbey, too,” he replied.  Then he added, “I count them as I climb…. This is how I count them: one, one, one…!”  In the spiritual life it is always the beginning. 

The Scriptures are deep beyond words, and I pray that I haven’t misused or trivialised them, or mangled them too badly.  I feel nothing but gratitude for having been allowed to accompany you: we were like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as he walked with us.

http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html

The Word was made flesh

Today, is the last day of the year. Often, a mixed feelings —even contradictory ones— can be found in our hearts at this time. It is as though a sample of the different moments we have lived and those we would like to have lived make themselves present in our memories. Today's Gospel can help us pour them out, in order to start the new year with strength.

«The Word was with God (...). All things were made through Him» (Jn 1:1.3). When making inventory of the year, it is necessary to think that every day we have lived was a gift. Because of that, and whatever the profit might be, it is necessary to thank God for every minute of the year.

The gift of life is not whole, though. We are needy. Because of that, today's Gospel gives us a key word: “to welcome, to accept”. «And the Word was made flesh» (Jn 1:14). Accept God Himself! God, turning into man, puts Himself within our reach. “To welcome” means to open our doors, to allow Him to enter our lives, to be in our projects, in those acts which fill our days. To what degree are welcoming God, letting Him into our lives?

«For the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone» (Jn 1:9). Accepting Jesus means to allow Him to question us. Letting His criteria influence our more intimate thoughts as well as our social and work performance. Let's reconcile our actions to His!

«Life which for humans was also light» (Jn 1:4). Faith is more, however, than a few criteria. It is our life embedded into Life. It is not only effort —which indeed is. It is, above all, gift and grace. Life received at the heart of the Church, especially through the sacraments. What is the place of the sacraments in my Christian life?

«All who have received Him he empowers to become children of God for they believe in His Name» (Jn 1:12). What a passionate project for the year that we are about to start!

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

At the closing of the year it is a good thing to look back, even as we continue to move forward. It is good to look in our rear-view mirror to see our experiences of God in our lives during the year we are closing and to reflect on them. Yes, even as we keep on driving and looking to the road ahead.

It is interesting that at the end of the year the gospel reading brings us back to the absolute beginning: In the beginning... As the year’s end invites us to look back on the completed year with gratitude, the prologue of John’s gospel invites us to look back as far as “back” goes: In the beginning... (beginning of creation of course, since God and the Word have no beginning).And, looking at the beginning, the reading gives us a capsule summary of the mystery of Christ, the Word.

The Word was in the beginning, but the Word did not stay there statically. The Word is now. The Word, who became flesh and (literally) pitched his tent among us, as we have just celebrated at Christmas, remains with us: I will be with you to the end of time [Mt. 28:20]

We glance at the past year in our rear-view mirror, but keeping our sight on the present, as we keep moving into our future to be made of an uninterrupted sequence of presents. It is a moment of both gratitude and hope: gratitude even as we recognize experiences we regret and hope even as we  perhaps fear possible experiences that could hurt us. Knowing all along that we are never alone, because the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, the Word who gave us his word that I will be with you to the end of time.

 http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/

  

 

 

  http://www.presentationministries.com/

KNOW JESUS OR NO JESUS?

"You have the anointing that comes from the Holy one, so that all knowledge is yours." —1 John 2:20

Today's Gospel reading directs our attention to Jesus, for it reveals that Jesus is: the Eternal Word (Jn 1:1), the Word Who is God (Jn 1:1), the Word incarnate as a human being (Jn 1:14), the Creator (Jn 1:3), the Life (Jn 1:4; 14:6), the Light (Jn 1:9; 8:12), the "Christ," that is, the Anointed one, the Messiah (Jn 1:17), the uniquely begotten Son of God (Jn 1:18), and the Revelation of the Father (Jn 1:18; Heb 1:3) and the only Way to Him (Jn 14:6). These verses beginning John's Gospel are only the beginning of knowing Jesus. "Absolute fullness reside(s) in Him" (Col 1:19). Spend this next year, the rest of your life, and eternity in knowing Jesus, for "eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3). Know Jesus.

Prayer: Father, by Your grace may I end this year completely repentant, forgiving, forgiven, healed, freed, and obedient.

Promise: "Of His fullness we have all had a share — love following upon love." —Jn 1:16

Praise: Pope St. Sylvester believed so strongly in the power of fasting to overcome the strongholds of Satan that he proclaimed Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays as days of fasting for the Church.

 http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html

 

http://biblereflection.blogspot.com/

 

More Homilies

December 31, 2012 The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas