Daily Mass Readings For Friday, January 3, 2025
Christmas Weekday
Reading 1 :
1 John 2:29–3:6
Alleluia :
John 1:14a, 12a
Gospel:
John 1:29-34
Liturgical vestments: White
Memorial
Friday, January 3, 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 1
1 John 2:29–3:6
If you consider that God is righteous,
you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness
is begotten by him.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness,
for sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who remains in him sins;
no one who sins has seen him or known him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.
To those who accepted him
he gave power to become the children of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel."
John testified further, saying,
"I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."
Reflection
“Let us celebrate the feast day, on which the great and eternal Day came into this brief and temporal day of ours. He it is who was made for us redemption.” (Saint Augustine)
“The Earth is restored to good order by virtue of the fact that it is opened up to God, it obtains its true light anew. The song of the angels is an expression of joy over the fact that Heaven and Earth are once more united to God.” (Benedict XVI)
“After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist (…) pointed Jesus out as the ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (Jn 1:29). By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who (…) bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover (Ex 12:3-14). Christ's whole life expresses his mission: ‘to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mk 10:45).” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 608)
The Evangelist John, unlike the other three, does not describe the event, but proposes to us the witness of John the Baptist. He was the first witness of Christ. God had called him and prepared him for this. The Baptist cannot hold back the urgent desire to bear witness to Jesus and declares: “I have seen and have borne witness” (v. 34). John saw something shocking, that is, the beloved Son of God in solidarity with sinners; and the Holy Spirit made him understand this unheard-of novelty, a true reversal. In fact, while in all religions it is man who offers and sacrifices something to God, in the event Jesus is God Who offers His Son for the salvation of humanity. John manifests his astonishment and his consent to this newness brought by Jesus, through a meaningful expression that we repeat each time in the Mass: “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” (v. 29). (…) Let us learn from John the Baptist not to assume that we already know Jesus, that we already know everything about Him (cf. v. 31). This is not so. Let us pause with the Gospel, perhaps even contemplating an icon of Christ, a “Holy face”. Let us contemplate with our eyes and yet more with our hearts; and let us allow ourselves to be instructed by the Holy Spirit, Who tells us inside: It is He! He is the Son of God made lamb, immolated out of love. (Angelus, 19 January 2020)
Saint of the Day
Of Greek origins, Anterus was Pope for only 40 days. He was martyred in 236 under Emperor Maximinus the Thracian for collecting the Acts of the martyrs in the archives of the Church of Rome, so that they would not be dispersed. He was the first Pope to be buried in the catacombs of St. Callixtus.
Born in Licata, in 1649, of the noble Sicilian family of Lampedusa, he renounced his title in favor of his brother and became a Theatine religious. Precursor of the liturgical reform, he was named cardinal by Pope Clement XI in 1712. Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed him a Saint in 1986.
Telesphore was an anchorite in Egypt and Palestine. He reigned from 125 to 136. He established the Midnight Mass at Christmas with the song of Gloria in excelsis Deo, the celebration of Easter on Sunday, and fixed the Lenten fast. He also worked to counter Gnostic heresy, and died a martyr.
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