Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
December 31, 2024
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.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This verse is so encouraging, and yet, there is darkness, often seen and felt in the tragic events that transpire in our disordered world. Sometimes, it is simply found in the apathetic busyness and distractions of our daily lives that cloud our ability to notice and appreciate the light that should always guide us.
Amid my own daily routines and distractions, I sometimes fear that I am better at articulating Christian truth than living it. Do I allow what I see in the light of Christ to change me? Do I give to charity as much as I should? Could I do more for homelessness in my community? Am I as charitable as I should be to others I may disagree with? Do I sacrifice for truth, love, and the kingdom of God? I fear I recognize Christ’s light intellectually but don’t always allow it to require much of me.
Christ gave us an example and instruction on how to combat our own callousness and willfulness—prayer. In prayer, we can ask Christ to help us see the life he led on earth more clearly as an example of the life he wants us to lead.
I take solace in the knowledge that the darkness has, in fact, not overcome the light. I will pray for the grace of true enlightenment and the courage for each of us to adjust our actions to be a better witness to that light.
Prayer
Jesus, your coming was heralded by John, who never failed in his vocation to point only to you. You call us to take up John’s work of testifying to you by our thoughts, words, and action. Help us to grow in humility so that we can recognize that anything of our own that is worth pointing to is a gift from you. Show us how to put those gifts into your service and let them bear fruit for the Kingdom. Grant that many may accept our testimony, and grant us perseverance when they reject us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Pope Sylvester is better known for the events that took place during his pontificate than for anything we know about his own life. He was ordained pope in 314, less than a year after the Roman Empire granted freedom to Christianity.
Legends accrued around Sylvester because he was pope when Constantine opened the empire to Christianity, an event that changed the Church forever. One story tells of Constantine suffering from leprosy until he converted to Christianity and was baptized by Sylvester, and thereupon cured. In gratitude, it is said that the emperor granted special privileges and lands to the pope and Church. These are likely fabrications, however, created to serve political ends.
Constantine did, however, give the Lateran palace in Rome to Sylvester, who used it as the seat from which he oversaw the Church in Rome. It has since become the Lateran Basilica, and remains the official seat of the pope, whose fundamental role is bishop of Rome.
He died in 335, and is depicted in this stained glass window (with mitre and crosier) in the Basilica with St. Helena as she discovers the true cross.
Pope St. Sylvester, who oversaw the growth of the Church into a world-wide institution, pray for us!