December 31, 2019 The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
2019년 12월 31일 월요일 성탄 팔일 축제 내 제7일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
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.
December 31, 2019
The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
1 Jn 2:18-21
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
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
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://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow
«The Word was made flesh»
Fr. David COMPTE i Verdaguer
(Manlleu, Barcelona, Spain)
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
This is the day which ends the past year and the evening which begins the next. Janus, a Roman deity, had two faces, one looking backward and the other forward. Janus was the god of doorways, of transitions, especially in the times of the ending of wars. So Jan-uary is a beginning. Today, with this Eucharistic liturgy, we experience the ending of one year of our lives and the opening of the next.
Our Gospel begins with a “beginning” which actually had no beginning. I know this sounds as if I have lost my way, but that is what it says. The “Word” was always with the Eternal God Who had no before, no starting point. John’s Gospel echoes the first verse of the Book of Genesis in the same way. John’s whole Gospel story of Jesus will echo the creating-God’s laboring to bring light out of darkness, order out of chaos, life out of non-life and honor out of shame.
What we read and hear today are eighteen verses which act as a prelude, a poetic introduction and a hinting of the major themes and events remembered and recorded within the community formed many years after the actual Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Many books have been written about this unique narrative. This Reflection today centers on only one, but extremely important aspect buried within this Prologue. Why did the pre-existent Word become flesh, become visible to “pitch His Tent among us?”
Jesus is come as “Light” into the “darkness.” “Light” is mentioned seven times within the reading of the Gospel for today’s liturgy. “Light” is “Life” for the world, to the world. The first words in the first chapter of Genesis, verse three, are “Let there be light.” The formless is then visible. The whole entirety of our Holy Scriptures and our Faith flows from this very simple creative verse. Creation has to be seen to be known. “Flesh” has to see itself as it is, not merely by itself, but by its Creator. Jesus, as Word and Light, has come into our darkness to enlighten us about who the Creator sees us and all other creatures to be.
Last Wednesday we celebrated, beginning with a liturgy at midnight, how in the darkness a Light had shone. In an instant of time, the Timeless Word took on time to help us see and hear who we are and who we are meant to become. It is a most perfect Gospel for the end of one section of time and the beginning of the next.
This past year we have seen enough of ourselves and each other to know that we need an increase of that Light. We know our human darkness and yet we have seen God’s Light, still pitched among us. The Light remains, inviting us out of our formless chaos into the honor of being “Children of God.” The Light shines, not as a detective, or accuser, but as a Finder, Healer and Savior. Every day, every moment is the continuation of the Old becoming New. Jesus is the timeless resolution, renewed within the moments of our lives. The Old begins something new within each moment of our lives, both this past year and within the year soon to begin. “In the beginning” is always and in all ways, now!
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
THE EJECTION OF REJECTION | ||
| "He was in the world, and through Him the world was made, yet the world did not know who He was." �John 1:10 | ||
Did you feel rejected in 2019? If you did, you're in good company. Jesus was also rejected. "To His own He came, yet His own did not accept Him" (Jn 1:11). What hurts most is that the rejection usually comes from those closest to us. For example, wives and husbands reject each other; parents refuse to forgive their children; sons and daughters rebel and break their parents' hearts. The psalmist cries: "If an enemy had reviled me, I could have borne it; if he who hates me had vaunted himself against me, I might have hidden from him. But you, my other self, my companion and my bosom friend! You, whose comradeship I enjoyed; at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God!" (Ps 55:13-15) Even in the Church we feel rejected by others. But our pain from rejection is almost nothing compared to humanity's constant rejection of the Lord for thousands of years. "Now many such antichrists have appeared. This makes us certain that it is the final hour. It was from our ranks that they took their leave" (1 Jn 2:18-19). No one has been rejected more than Jesus. He understands your pain. As we end the old year and begin this new one, do two things: Forgive and give. First, ask for the power to forgive all the rejections of the past. Second, give yourself to Jesus. He promises: "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; no one who comes will I ever reject" (Jn 6:37). Let 2020 be the best year of your life. | ||
| Prayer: Jesus, don't let me go to sleep tonight without forgiving everyone who has ever hurt and rejected me. I give myself to You. Remind me of this at midnight tonight. | ||
| Promise: "But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy one, so that all knowledge is yours." —1 Jn 2:20 | ||
| Praise: Through the leadership of Pope St. Sylvester, we have received the Nicene Creed. |
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"
Why does John the Evangelist begin his Gospel account with a description of the Word of God and the creation of the universe and humankind? How might the beginning of John's Gospel be linked with the beginning of the first book of Genesis (John 1:1-3 and Genesis 1:1-3)? The "word of God" was a common ｅxpression among the Jews. God’s word in the Old Testament Scriptures is an active, creative, and dynamic word. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made" (Psalm 33:6). "He sends forth his commands to the earth; his word runs swiftly" (Psalm 147:15). "Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces" (Jeremiah 23:29)?
The eternal Word leaped down from heaven
The writer of the (deutero-canonical) Book of Wisdom addresses God as the one who "made all things by your word" (Wisdom 9:1). God’s word is also equated with his wisdom. "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth" (Proverbs 3:19). The Book of Wisdom describes "wisdom" as God's eternal, creative, and illuminating power. Both "word" and "wisdom" are seen as one and the same. "For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command" (deutero-canonical Book of Wisdom 18:14-16).
Truly man and truly God
John describes Jesus as God's creative, life-giving and light-giving Word that has come to earth in human form. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus is the wisdom and power of God which created the world and sustains it who assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. Jesus became truly man while remaining truly God. "What he was, he remained, and what he was not he assumed" (from an early church antiphon for morning prayer). Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother. From the time of the Apostles the Christian faith has insisted on the incarnation of God's Son "who has come in the flesh" (1 John 4:2)
.
Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great early church fathers (330-395 AD) wrote:
Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?
Christians never cease proclaiming anew the wonder of the Incarnation. The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. The Son of God ...worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin (Gaudium et Spes).
We become partakers of Christ's divine nature
If we are going to behold the glory of God we will do it through Jesus Christ. Jesus became the partaker of our humanity so we could be partakers of his divinity (2 Peter 1:4). God's purpose for us, even from the beginning of his creation, is that we would be fully united with him. When Jesus comes God is made known as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By our being united in Jesus, God becomes our Father and we become his sons and daughters. Do you thank the Father for sending his only begotten Son to redeem you and to share with you his glory?
"Almighty God and Father of light, your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night. Open our hearts to receive his life and increase our vision with the rising of dawn, that our lives may be filled with his glory and his peace.”
Psalm 96:1-2,11-13
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The first-fruits of the Gospels, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"I think that John's Gospel, which you have enjoined us to examine to the best of our ability, is the first-fruits of the Gospels. It speaks of him whose descent is traced and begins from him who is without a genealogy... The greater and more perfect ｅxpressions concerning Jesus are reserved for the one who leaned on Jesus' breast. For none of the other Gospels manifested his divinity as fully as John when he presented him saying, 'I am the light of the world' (John 8:42), 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6), 'I am the resurrection' (John 11:25), 'I am the door' (John 10:9), 'I am the good shepherd' (John 10:11)... We might dare say then that the Gospels are the first-fruits of all Scripture but that the first-fruits of the Gospels is that according to John whose meaning no one can understand who has not leaned on Jesus' breast or received Mary from Jesus to be his mother also." (excerpt from COMMENTARY on THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.21–23)
More Homilies
