REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 12/31/21 (Seventh Day Within the Octave of Christmas)

John 1:14

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

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Blessed last day of the year and blessed seventh day within the octave of Christmas! Jesus is the fullness of God's revelation because He is the Word who is God. As God, He created us with the purpose of being united to Him. However, His people remained in the darkness of sins. Out of His Merciful Love, He became one of us as the Word was made flesh in order to free us from our sins by His light. He came to reveal to us the good news of salvation. By accepting His teachings in the gospel and by imitating His life, we can be saved. 

Do we meditate on the gospel and apply it in our lives? After reflecting, do we spend time with God in our personal prayer? For some, they may think that it's not necessary to read His Word. Even worse, we may substitute it with something else. Rather than give our time in prayerfully reading the Scriptures, we may just waste it on reading information about horoscope. We may trust what Feng Shui "experts" say for the upcoming 2022 instead of listening to Christ. Unfortunately, we may do this because of being influenced by the world, and we do not know that truth can only be found in Jesus. Because of seeking approval from other people who follow the trend of believing in superstition, we may forget that we can only know how to serve God based on what He reveals to us, especially in the Gospel. When we do not spend time with our bible reflection and when we attach ourselves to ungodly things, we will fall away from the grace of God. Rather than sing praise to our God, we may shout blasphemies by promoting activities that violate God's commandments, especially the 1st commandment. 

Our God is calling us to repentance and to seek His mercy in confession if we commit the practices such as horoscope, Feng Shui, lucky charms, and many more. Jesus, the Eternal Word, is also inviting us to reflect on the Gospel as we live in this world, so we can remain in His love. We can only remain in truth by obeying Him. He will free us from our sins and make us open to accepting His eternal life because God will reveal to us through the Scriptures how we can act in accordance to His Will. He will grant us wisdom to follow His example in our own lives. May we always remember that His Heart is filled with joy everytime someone repents and follows Him. The heaven will be glad if we reject the ways of the world and accept the ways of the Word, Jesus Christ. 

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic