＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

1 John 2:18-21

 My dear children,

It is the last hour. You were told that an antichrist would come; but several antichrists have already come, by which we know that it is now the last hour.  They went out from us though they did not really belong to us.

Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. So it became clear that not all of us were really ours.  But you have the anointing from the Holy One, so that all of you have true wisdom.  I write to you, not because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you already know it, and lies have nothing in common with the truth.

 

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

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!

     ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 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 were made through him, and without him nothing came to be.

Whatever has come to be, found life in him; life, which for human beings, was also light, light that shines in darkness, light that darkness could not overcome. A man came, sent by God; his name was John. He came to bear witness, as a witness to introduce the Light, so that all might believe through him.

He was not the Light, but a witness to introduce the Light; for the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and through him the world was made, the very world that did not know him.

He came to his own, yet his own people did not receive him; but to all who received him, he empowers to become children of God, for they believe in his name. These are born, but not by seed, or carnal desire, nor by the will of man: they are born of God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father: fullness of truth and loving-kindness. John bore witness to him openly, saying, "This is the one who comes after me, but he is already ahead of me, for he was before me."

 

SWe now end the year with the majestic hymn to the Word made flesh. The last word of the year is the reality of the incarnation. This is perhaps to give us a fresh start on how to be fully human again in the new year.

After all, our journey is not so much to discard our fallen nature as to reclaim its original pristine state before the fall. To be human is not to be broken and bruised by sin, but to be originally good and friends of God, just as it was before in the Garden of Eden.

That is why we are reminded that the Son of God became human in the fullness of time so that we will remember how it was once in a time almost forgotten. The Word made flesh made alive the memory of that blessed humanity we lost through sin.

May we end the year with an awareness that the most important quest of all is to be fully human, modelled on the Word incarnate.

 

St. Sylvester I, pope

Saint Sylvester was born in Rome around the year 250.   Died:335. Rome Italy

That they publicly honored him as “confessor” Though not suffering martyrdom, lived a life completely given to Christ.