Daily Mass Readings For Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God The Octave Day of Christmas
Reading I:
Numbers 6:22-27
Reading II:
Galatians 4:4-7
Alleluia:
Hebrews 1:1-2
Gospel:
Luke 2:16-21
Liturgical vestments: White
Solemnity
Wednesday, January 1, 2025: Readings & Responsorial Psalm & Gospel
Each day, the Mass readings invite us into a deeper encounter with God. Through Scripture, we hear His voice speaking to our hearts, guiding us, comforting us, and calling us to a life of holiness. The Word of God is not just a story from the past; it is alive, relevant, and transformative.
Every reading is an opportunity for grace. Some days, the words challenge us to grow; other days, they console us in our struggles. But always, they nourish our souls, strengthening our faith and drawing us closer to Christ.
Let us open our hearts to the Word of God daily. May we not just hear it but live it, allowing it to shape our actions and deepen our love for Him. Lord, speak to us today, and help us to follow You more faithfully. Amen.
Reading I
Numbers 6:22-27
The LORD said to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.”
Reading II
Galatians 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, “Abba, Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;
in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
Reflection
“The entire community of the city of Ephesus waited anxiously for the resolution [of Mary's motherhood synod] ... When it became known that the author of the blasphemies [Nestorious] had been deposed, with one voice we began to glorify God.” (Saint Cyril of Alexandria)
“Jesus is the Son of God and at the same time he is the son of a woman, Mary. He comes from her. He is of God and of Mary. For this reason one can and must call the Mother of Jesus the Mother of God, “Theotókos” (Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.” (Benedict XVI)
“The Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that was born from her.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 466)
Today the Gospel reveals to us that Mary’s greatness does not consist in performing an extraordinary deed; rather, while the shepherds, having received the announcement from the angels, hurry towards Bethlehem (cf.Lk 2:15-16), she remains silent. The Mother’s silence is a beautiful feature. It is not the simple absence of words, but a silence filled with wonder and adoration for the wonders that God is working. “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart”, Saint Luke notes (2:19). In this way she makes room within herself for the One who was born; in silence and adoration, she places Jesus at the centre and bears witness to him as Saviour. Mary, the Mother of silence; Mary, the Mother of adoration.
Thus, she is Mother not only because she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him, but because she brings him into the light, without occupying his place. She will remain silent even beneath the cross, in the darkest hour, and will continue to make room for him and generate him for us. A 20th-century religious and poet wrote: “Virgin, cathedral of silence / [...] you bring our flesh into paradise / and God into the flesh” (D.M. Turoldo, Laudario alla Vergine. “Via pulchritudinis”, Bologna 1980, 35). Cathedral of silence : it is a beautiful image. With her silence and humility, Mary is God’s first “cathedral”, the place where he and humanity can meet.
But our mothers too, with their hidden care, with their thoughtfulness, are often magnificent cathedrals of silence. They bring us into the world and then continue to attend to us, often unnoticed, so that we can grow. Let us remember this: love never stifles; love makes room for the other. Love lets us grow.
Brothers and sisters, at the beginning of the new year, let us look to Mary and, with a grateful heart, let us also think of and look to mothers, to learn that love that is cultivated above all in silence, that knows how to make room for the other, respecting their dignity, leaving the freedom to express themselves, rejecting every form of possession, oppression and violence. There is so much need for this today, so much! There is so much need for silence to listen to each other. (Angelus, 1 January 2024)
Saint of the Day
The Council of Ephesus in 431 confirmed a truth very dear to the Christian people: Mary is the true Mother of God, insofar as she is mother of Jesus, true God and true man: two natures in one Divine person, without confusion, without change, without division.
A native of Civitavecchia (1745-1824), he became a Passionist priest, over the objection of his father. A great preacher, he became bishop of Macerata. He cared for seminarians’s formation and helped the poor. After refusing to swear loyalty to Napoleon, the Pope called him as his advisor in Rome.
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