Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 31, 2025 - Dec. 31 - 7th Day in the Octave of Christmas
[1 John 2:18-21 and 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 came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it....And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we sw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth. [John]
The "prologue" to the Gospel According to John has to be one of the most majestic and profound pieces of literature in the Bible. The full significance and truth of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ are put into words. [In the old Tridentine Latin Mass, at every Mass, this gospel was read just before the final blessing and everyone genuflected at the words, et Verbum caro factum est..] Scripture scholars tell us that the prologue was probably composed last because it sums up the Gospel According to John and appears in the text in various ways. At first glance it seems abstract, but it is a challenge to see the whole truth of God's plan of salvation and not just the one event in the life of Christ that we celebrate as Christmas. As the Book of Revelation would put it, "I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end...[Rev. 22:13].
Tomorrow we will celebrate the beginning of the secular New Year 2026. But as a matter of faith we will celebrate the role of a human person, Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and a few days later the story of the Magi. The accomplishment and continuation of God's plan of salvation has rested on human beings proclaiming the meaning of the words, And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...." We who have been "born again in baptism" are called to give birth to - "to put skin on" - the Word of God! AMEN
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