Daily Catholic Mass Readings for December 31, 2025
First Reading: 1 John 2.18-21
18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
Psalm 96
1Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.2Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.4For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.5For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.6Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.9Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.10Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;12let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;13they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
Gospel: John 1.1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2He was with God in the beginning.3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
Sermon
Today's readings offer a profound understanding of who Christ is and how we are called to respond to Him. The Gospel of John opens with a majestic declaration of Jesus as the eternal Word of God, the creator of all, who became flesh and lived among us, bringing grace and truth. He is the true Light, illuminating humanity, and through Him, those who accept Him are empowered to become children of God. This divine truth provides the backdrop for the First Letter of John, which speaks of the "last hour" and the emergence of "antichrists" – those who deny essential truths about Christ and who have separated themselves from the believing community. John assures us that, despite these challenges, we possess the anointing of the Holy One, enabling us to know the truth.
These passages are deeply interconnected, presenting both the profound reality of Christ and the necessary discernment required of believers. John's prologue reveals the unshakeable foundation of our faith: Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, the source of life and light. When we grasp this truth, we are equipped to understand the warnings in the First Letter of John. The "antichrists" are those who reject this fundamental identity of Christ, denying the very Light that has come into the world. In our own lives, we are constantly faced with voices and ideologies that seek to diminish Christ or distort His message. Our anointing, given to us by the Holy Spirit, empowers us to recognize these falsehoods, drawing us back to the unwavering truth revealed in the Incarnate Word.
The call for us today is to embrace the Light that came into the world, allowing the Word to continually enlighten our understanding and guide our actions. By believing in His name, we live out our identity as children of God, born not of human will but of God Himself. This means living with integrity, constantly discerning what aligns with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ, and rejecting anything that seeks to undermine His divine person or His saving work. We are not left to flounder in darkness or ignorance; through our faith and the indwelling Spirit, we are given the wisdom to navigate the complexities of our world, remaining steadfast in the truth of who Christ is and what He calls us to be.