Children, it is the last hour. – 1 John 2:18

It’s really no different from all the other months that have ended. But December coming to a close also concludes the year to welcome a new one.

In a few hours we will bid 2007 goodbye. For many, it was a good year. A year of promotion, a time of abundance, a recordbreaking feat, a wedding, a birth of a much awaited child, an ambition achieved.

For others, it could have been bad. A death in the family, a job lost, a devastating accident, a severed relationship, a painful goodbye, a missed opportunity, a major setback.

But that’s precisely why God divided time into months and years; seasons and cycles; past, present and future. So that in the past, we can have a place to bury our mistakes. In the present, we can set a benchmark with which to measure our success. In the future, we can have a goal to peg our hopes on. 

Yes, it is the last hour, as our reading proclaims. But as soon as the ticking of the clock marks the end of 2006, a New Year

begins. No matter how your year ends, begin anew in the Lord. Rissa S.

REFLECTION:

Today, offer to the Lord your failures of the past and your hopes for the New Year.

Lord, You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will live every moment for You. 

1 John 2:18-21

Truth will save us from any of the lies of the enemy. This is why it is important for us to seek to go deeper into our faith and what we believe as Catholics. It is in seeking the truth that we will grow in our understanding of who God is and what He asks of us. It is seeking to respond to this knowledge that will protect us from the lies of the enemy and world because our hearts and minds will have been captured by the truth of God.

18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. 20 But you have the anointing  that comes from the holy one, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.

P S A L M

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

R: Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!

1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands. 2 Sing to the LORD; bless his name; announce his salvation, day after day. (R) 11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; 12 let the plains be joyful and all that is in them! Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD. (R) 13 The LORD comes, he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. (R)

G O S P E L

John 1:1-18

It is the truth of God that lights the way for believers in Christ. Jesus, the truth that sets us free, has given His life and ministry, His passion and death, His resurrection as the sure signs and lights for our walks of faith. If we embrace the truth that Jesus reveals, the truth of God’s redeeming love for each one of us, we will not stray too far from the path that leads to eternal salvation. Let us give over our minds to God so that He can form them in His truth and love.

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 to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be 4 through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; 5 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. 12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’’’ 16 From his fullness we  have all received, grace in place of grace, 17 because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

my reflections

think: Truth will save us from any of the lies of the enemy.

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God’s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Revelation 19-22

REVIEW OF THE QUARTER

Did I fulfill my last Quarter Goals?

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What were the most important words the Lord gave to me this quarter?

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What were my greatest blessings these past three months?

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What are my most pressing needs for the next quarter?

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NOTES:

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Today is the last day of the year. Interestingly, the Gospel on the last day of the year begins with the words, “In the beginning...”  

What was in the beginning? The Word.

What was about the Word? The Word was with God and the Word was God.

Why was the Word significant? Through the Word, all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through Him. All that came to be had life in Him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower.

What happened to the Word? The Word was made flesh, He lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory that is His as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

How does the Word affect us then? Indeed, from His fullness we have, all of us, received – yes, grace upon grace, since, though the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.

On the last day of the year is the beginning of everything: the Word- Made-Flesh, Jesus Christ, the source of all things, through whom everything was made, and in whom all things are held together. Jesus, the Eternal and  Creative Word of God, is the alpha and the omega. Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, is the beginning and the end. To Him belongs the first and the last of days.

We thank the Father through Jesus Christ for the year that is about to end. Through Jesus Christ, too, we offer Him the year that beckons to us. May everything we think, do, and say start and end with Jesus, who is the Word, the beginning of all things. Fr. Bobby T.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Does Jesus hold everything in my life?

Jesus, may You always be the beginning and end of all things in my life. In everything I say, may You be my Word. In everything I do, may You be the Word made flesh. I place my entire life in Your hands. Use me and do with me whatever pleases You, my Lord and my God. Amen.

St. Hermes, martyr, pray for us.