Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 31 December 2013
“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words
of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).
The 7th Day in the Octave of Christmas
Saint of the Day:
SAINT SYLVESTER
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
The 7th Day in the Octave of Christmas
1 John 2: Warning against Antichrists
18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that
antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that
it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us;
for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going
out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. 20 But you have been
anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.[a] 21 I write to you,
not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know
that no lie comes from the truth.
Footnotes:
a. 1 John 2:20 Other ancient authorities read you know all
things
Psalm 96: Praise to God Who Comes in Judgment
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 forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord;
for he is coming,
for he is coming to
judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with
his truth.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John The Word
Became Flesh
1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into
being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come
into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came
as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true
light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[b]
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through
him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[c] and his
own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in
his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of
blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have
seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and
truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said,
‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From
his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was
given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has
ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[e] who is close to the Father’s
heart,[f] who has made him known.
Footnotes:
a. John 1:4 Or 3 through him. And without him not one thing came
into being that has come into being. 4 In him was life
b. John 1:9 Or He was the true light that enlightens everyone
coming into the world
c. John 1:11 Or to his own home
d. John 1:14 Or the Father’s only Son
e. John 1:18 Other ancient authorities read It is an only Son,
God, or It is the only Son
f. John 1:18 Gk bosom
The 7th Day in the Octave of Christmas
Commentary of the Day:
Julian of Vézelay (c.1080-c.1160), Benedictine monk
1st Sermon of Christmas; SC 192
"The Word was the true Light"
“A peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its
swift course was half spent. Your all-powerful Word, Lord, bounded from
heaven's royal throne” (Wsd 18,14-15).This scriptural text sets out the most
holy time when God's all-powerful Word came down to us to tell us of our
salvation. Leaving the most intimate depths of the Father it came down into a
mother's womb...
“When the night was half-spent”: all was shrouded in the silence
of midnight – between the prophets who were no longer shouting out their cry
and the apostles who were about to do so... What a wonderful coming, during
this midnight silence, for a “mediator between God and man” (1Tm 2,5)... who
takes on mortality to save mortals and who will save the dead by his death! In
his mediating role he is the “doer of saving deeds in the midst of the earth”
(Ps 74[73].12): he died on a cross, “lifted up from the earth” (Jn 12,32)
between heaven and earth, a symbol of reconciliation between heaven and
earth...
“When night was in the midst of its course”. What is that night?
Perhaps it means that period in which, from the beginning of the world to the
end of time, the descendants of Adam live in this darkened Egypt, in the thick
darkness of their ignorance and wholly unable to see one another (cf. Ex
10,21f.). Indeed, can we see other people when we cannot see their heart?
Taking advantage of that darkness covering every heart, deception and lies make
themselves at home there... It was in the middle of that night, amongst “those
who were seated in darkness” (Lk 1,79; Is 42,7), that “the true light” came
“who enlightens everyone coming into this world”. This is the light that will
truly cast out all darkness when it will “bring to light what is hidden in
darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts” (1Cor 4,5).
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