31 December 2025 (Wednesday) / Christmas Weekday/ Sylvester I, Pope / The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

31 December 2025 (Wednesday)

Christmas Weekday/ Sylvester I, Pope / The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First John 2: 18-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 96: 1-2, 11-12, 13
Alleluia: John 1: 14, 12
Gospel: John 1: 1-18

First Reading: First John 2: 18-21

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.
20 But you have the unction from the Holy One, and know all things.
21 I have not written to you as to them that know not the truth, but as to them that know it: and that no lie is of the truth.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 96: 1-2, 11-12, 13

R. (11) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
1 Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
12 The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
13 Before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!

Alleluia: John 1: 14, 12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
14, 12 The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted him he gave power to become the children of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: John 1: 1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.
9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.
13 Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15 John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.
16 And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

For our reflection today:

“The Word was made flesh” is one of those truths to which we have grown so accustomed that the greatness of the event it expresses barely makes an impression on us. Effectively, in this Christmastide in which these words often recur in the Liturgy, we at times pay more attention to the external aspects, to the “colours” of the celebration rather than to the heart of the great Christian newness that we are celebrating: something that utterly defeats the imagination, that God alone could bring about and into which we can only enter with faith. The Logos, who is with God, is the Logos who is God, the Creator of the world (cf. Jn 1:1) through whom all things were created (cf. 1:3) and who has accompanied men and women through history with his light (cf. 1:4-5; 1:9), became one among many and made his dwelling among us, becoming one of us (cf. 2:14). Thus it is important to recover our wonder at the mystery, to let ourselves be enveloped by the grandeur of this event: God, the true God, Creator of all, walked our roads as a man, entering human time to communicate his own life to us (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-4). And he did not do so with the splendour of a sovereign who dominates the world with his power, but with the humility of a child. (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 9 January 2013)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)