The prologue of John's Gospel reveals Jesus Christ is the Word and Light that fills all with grace who believe and follow him. (Lectionary #204)
December 31, 2024 - Cathedral Rectory - Superior, WI
Fr. Andrew Ricci - www.studyprayserve.com
Catholic Inspiration
Daily Mass: Our lives are guided by the Word and Light of Christ
This is Father Andrew Ritchie, and you're listening to Catholic Inspiration, a podcast from my website at StudyPrayServe.com. These homilies, presentations, and retreats are part of my ministry as a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Superior, and now I invite you to open your hearts to some Catholic inspiration. Today is December 31st. It is the seventh day in the Octave of Christmas, and our gospel reading is the prologue of John's gospel, the very beginning, chapter 1, verses 1 to 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. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through Him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light, the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, but His own people did not accept Him. But to those who did accept Him, He gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not by natural generation, nor by human choice, nor by a man's decision, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us. And we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father's only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. 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.'" From His fullness, we have all received grace, in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only begotten Son, God who is at the Father's side, has revealed Him. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word, my dear brothers and sisters, is Jesus Christ. I love, I love this particular passage of Scripture. The prologue is a meditation, and you can use it for prayer every day. This reflection on who is Jesus, what Jesus did for us, and how our lives are configured to Him, the source of grace. Today, I'd like to reflect on two aspects of Jesus that we have here in this prologue. Word and light, Christ is the Word of God. From the beginning, with God, He is God, Christ is the Word, and Christ is the light. The light that shines, the light that casts out darkness. The light that darkness cannot comprehend or understand. The light that brings hope and joy. The light that shines in and through our lives. Word and light. What I love about this is because it really does help us get a handle on if Christ is this Word and this light, then we want Christ dwelling in us. We want to be able to give the Word of God an echo through our language. We want to give the light of Christ, evidenced by our actions and example. Simply put, friends, what we say should be in harmony with the Word of God. And what we do should point out the light that comes from heaven, the light of Christ. Word and light then can guide us in two profound ways. One were at the end of 2024, and we can ask ourselves, quite honestly, as kind of an examination of conscience, generally speaking over the year, how did 2024 go? Did God's Word have a place in my speech? Did God's light have a revelation through how I acted and lived? Was it a good year? Maybe, you know what, lots of things were going well. Maybe we look back on the year and say, wow, there were a lot of blessings. Praise God. Maybe it was a bad year. Maybe I look at and go, oh, there's a lot of things that need to be changed. Okay. Maybe it was a mix in between. There it is. We can just look back and say, Lord, how did I speak your Word? How did I live your light? Okay. We can just look at it that way. Kind of a review. Did my language, did my action reveal Christ? Because now, friends, it's a good time to make perhaps a change to say, you know what, I have a New Year's resolution. I know that many people like to do them. I know that it can be a good time just to rethink and pause and say, New Year, new beginning, new opportunities. All right. How do we want to let the Word find a place in our speech? How do we want the light to shine in our hearts? Is there anything we want to change? Is there any way that we want to maybe think about how we're speaking, how we're acting in the New Year? Is there anything that we want to say, Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart in a powerful way in 2025, Lord, I open my heart to you. I invite you in as Lord and Savior, as the Messiah, so that my speech echoes your Word and my life shines with your light. Lord, come into my life. Lord, I ask you to be Lord of my life, to guide it, direct it, empower it. Lord, I ask for that grace upon grace. I want to be your disciple. I want to shine your love. And I want my speech to fill people with hope and joy and peace. Lord, help me as your disciple, that your Word and your light are evident in my life. Friends, I pray that this conclusion to the year 2024 finds us all one step closer to Jesus. I pray that it deepens our resolve to say, Lord, I want to follow you. I want to offer my life for you. I want to live for you, your Word, your light in my life. God bless you all. This is Father Andrew and I hope that this podcast inspires your faith. Now, if you found it helpful, please share it with a friend and you can help me by going to your podcast engine and leaving me a rating and a review. I remember all of my listeners in my daily prayers and I ask that you keep me in your prayers as well. God bless you, my friends. [BLANK_AUDIO]