SOCL, Christmas2

Sunday January 05, 2025

We saw his glory, as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

See

We are at the start of the new civil year and beginning again is an invitation to look in two directions. What happened for me in the last year, both in my ordinary life and in my life as a believer, a person of faith? For what do I ask forgiveness? For what do I give thanks? We also look forward and the new beginning gives us a chance to start again on the Way of discipleship. Both thanksgiving and renewal are to be found in today’s readings. The Gospel is in invitation to wake up, to keep watch, to live fully the present moment under God, in whom we live and move and have our being.

Listen

Sirach 24:1-2, 8-12; Psalm 147; Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18; John 1:1-18

Reflect

(John 1: 1-18)

-John opens his Gospel with a profound reection on the meaning of creation, of life and of Jesus. Remember when you had a special awareness of the gift of life that lled you with gratitude to God for creation and the beauty and wonder of the world: ‘All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being.’

-We hear the gospel message frequently. Sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other. Then there are occasions when it made us feel more alive, times when it helped us see the way ahead, like a light that shines in the darkness. Recall when the gospel gave you hope in the midst of anxiety or sadness and helped you to see what action would be most life giving for you and for others.

-Bring to mind people who have had a prophetic voice in the world - speaking the truth for the world to hear, like as a witness to testify to the light. Some of these may have been public gures. Others were ordinary people who have helped you see the 'light' by the witness of their own lives and words.

-“No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son of God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” Jesus came to us to teach us about God and put a human face on God for us. For the people of his day, and for us, that was a mission of getting us to think again about how we see God and to believe in a God who is a God of love. Recall how the life and ministry of Jesus have changed your picture of God.

Pray

God most high, your only Son embraced the weakness of our esh to give us the power to become your children; your eternal Word chose to dwell among us, that we might live in your presence. Grant us a spirit of wisdom to know how rich is the glory you have made our own, and how great the hope to which we are called in Jesus Christ, the Word made esh who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit in the splendour of eternal light God for ever and ever.

References

Praise the Lord, Who Heals the Brokenhearted