7th Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Saints of the day: St. Sylvester I, Pope, (+ 335)
SAINT SYLVESTER
Pope
(? - 335)
Pope
(? - 335)
Sylvester was born in Rome toward the close of the third century.
He was a young priest when the persecution of the Christians broke out under the tyrant Diocletian. Idols were erected at the corners of the streets, in the market-places, and over the public fountains, so that it was scarcely possible for a Christian to go abroad without being put to the test of offering sacrifice, with the alternative of apostasy or death. During this fiery trial, Sylvester strengthened the confessors and martyrs, God preserving his life from many dangers.
In 312 a new era set in. Constantine, having triumphed under the " standard of the Cross," declared himself the protector of the Christians, and built them splendid churches. At this juncture Sylvester was elected to the chair of Peter, and was thus the first of the Roman Pontiffs to rule the flock of Christ in security and peace. He profited by these blessings to renew the discipline of the Church, and in two great Councils confirmed her sacred truths. In the Council of Arles he condemned the schism of the Donatists; and in that of Nicæa, the first general Council of the Church, he dealt Arianism its death-blow by declaring that Jesus Christ is the true and very God.
Sylvester died A. D. 335.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]
7th Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the LordThe First Epistle of John 2:18 Children, this is the Last Hour. You have heard that an Anti-Messiah is coming; and in fact, many anti-Messiahs have arisen now — which is how we know that this is the Last Hour. 19 They went out from us, but they weren’t part of us; for had they been part of us, they would have remained with us.
20 But you have received the Messiah’s anointing from HaKadosh, and you know all this. 21 It is not because you don’t know the truth that I have written to you, but because you do know it, and because no lie has its origin in the truth.
Psalm 96:1 Sing to Adonai a new song!
Sing to Adonai, all the earth!
2 Sing to Adonai, bless his name!
Proclaim his victory day after day!
11 Let the heavens rejoice; let the earth be glad;
let the sea roar, and everything in it;
12 let the fields exult and all that is in them.
Then all the trees in the forest will sing
13 before Adonai, because he has come,
he has come to judge the earth;
he will judge the world rightly
and the peoples with his faithfulness.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah accrding to Saint John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing made had being.
4 In him was life,
and the life was the light of mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not suppressed it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan. 7 He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. 8 He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light.
9 This was the true light,
which gives light to everyone entering the world.
10 He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own homeland,
yet his own people did not receive him.
12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.
14 The Word became a human being and lived with us,
and we saw his Sh’khinah,
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”
16 We have all received from his fullness,
yes, grace upon grace.
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.
7th Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Dominican theologian, Doctor of the Church
Commentary on St John's Gospel, I, 178f.
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Commentary on St John's Gospel, I, 178f.
"The Word was the true light which enlightens everyone coming into the world"
“What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the Word of life, we proclaim now to you” (1 John 1:1-3)... The incarnate Word was made known to the apostles in two ways: first of all they recognised him by sight, as receiving knowledge of the Word from the Word himself; secondly by hearing, this time by receiving knowledge of the Word from the witness of John the Baptist.
Concerning the Word, John the Baptist first of all affirms that: “We have seen his glory”... For Saint John Chrysostom these words are connected with what precedes in John's Gospel: “The Word became flesh”. What the evangelist means is: the Incarnation has bestowed on us the blessing, not merely of becoming children of God, but of seeing his glory. For indeed, weak and feeble eyes cannot of themselves look at the light of the sun, but when it shines through a cloud or some other opaque body, then they can do so. Before the incarnation of the Word human minds were incapable of themselves of beholding the light “that enlightens everyone”. But so that they might not be deprived of the joy of seeing him, the Light himself, the Word of God, desired to be clothed with flesh so that we might be able to see him.
Thus people “turned toward the desert, and lo!, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud” (Exodus 16:10), namely the Word of God in flesh... And Saint Augustine comments that, so that we might be able to see God, the Word healed men's eyes by making a healing eye-ointment of his flesh... That is why, immediately after saying: “The Word became flesh”, the evangelist adds: “And we saw his glory” as if to say that, no sooner had the ointment been applied, than our eyes were healed... This is the glory that Moses desired to see but of which he saw only a shadow and a symbol. The apostles, on the other hand, saw his majesty itself.
Concerning the Word, John the Baptist first of all affirms that: “We have seen his glory”... For Saint John Chrysostom these words are connected with what precedes in John's Gospel: “The Word became flesh”. What the evangelist means is: the Incarnation has bestowed on us the blessing, not merely of becoming children of God, but of seeing his glory. For indeed, weak and feeble eyes cannot of themselves look at the light of the sun, but when it shines through a cloud or some other opaque body, then they can do so. Before the incarnation of the Word human minds were incapable of themselves of beholding the light “that enlightens everyone”. But so that they might not be deprived of the joy of seeing him, the Light himself, the Word of God, desired to be clothed with flesh so that we might be able to see him.
Thus people “turned toward the desert, and lo!, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud” (Exodus 16:10), namely the Word of God in flesh... And Saint Augustine comments that, so that we might be able to see God, the Word healed men's eyes by making a healing eye-ointment of his flesh... That is why, immediately after saying: “The Word became flesh”, the evangelist adds: “And we saw his glory” as if to say that, no sooner had the ointment been applied, than our eyes were healed... This is the glory that Moses desired to see but of which he saw only a shadow and a symbol. The apostles, on the other hand, saw his majesty itself.
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