Second Sunday after Christmas
2nd week, alternating cycle
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The liturgy for this Sunday presents once again the Prologue of the Gospel of Saint John, solemnly proclaimed at the third Mass on Christmas Day. The Word of God became flesh, a human being, a human person like us. The infinite became finite, the invisible became tangible. The Word of God entered into our humanity and became an active part of human affairs. Taking the Gospel in our hands every day, reading it and putting it into practice is the best way to know, welcome and bring Jesus to others. So in these days let us look at the nativity scene, let us look toward Jesus, let us gather before him with open hearts and say a prayer before this Child who, with his yes, has given us salvation.
Texts taken from the January-February 2021 issue of the “Sulla Tua Parola” Missal
FIRST READING
From the Book of Sirach (Sir 24:1-4, 12-16 (NV); [Gk. 24:1-2, 8-12])
Wisdom gives praise to herself, and in God she finds her boast; in the midst of her people she proclaims her glory. In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she proclaims her glory; in the midst of her people she is exalted, in the holy assembly she is admired, in the multitude of the chosen she finds her praise, and among the blessed she is blessed, while she says: “Then the creator of the universe gave me a command, and he who created me made my tent be fixed and said to me: ‘Pitch your tent in Jacob and make Israel your inheritance; sink your roots among my chosen ones.’ Before the ages, from the beginning, he created me, and throughout eternity I shall not fail. In the holy tent I officiated before him, and so I was established in Zion. In the city he loves he made me dwell, and in Jerusalem is my power. I took root among a glorious people, in the portion of the Lord is my inheritance, and in the assembly of the holy ones I took up my abode.” - The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
“I took root among a glorious people, in the portion of the Lord is my inheritance, and in the assembly of the holy ones I took up my abode.” The Book of Sirach presents wisdom to us, that is - considering the etymological meaning of the word - the flavor, the taste of the deepest reality present in God. As today’s Gospel also indicates, it is this same wisdom that has pitched its tent, its roots, in us. This is evident if we think of the many men and women who have accepted God’s word, the sacraments and belonging to the Church. The reading has a solemn flow, typical of one who wishes to communicate something and Someone truly important, indeed fundamental. It moves from the eternity of the ages to the “fullness of time,” in which Christ lives the Incarnation, closely united with the same paschal mystery. From the immense spaces of the boundless heavens, it arrives with millimetric precision at Jerusalem, the city of God. In reality, however, it is not referring to a city of stones, which can be destroyed, but to a people that will never end. It finds its beginning in the Old Testament and its fullness in Christ and his disciples. Let us ask ourselves, then: will we be faithful to the vocation of being an “assembly of the holy ones”?
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (Eph 1:3-6, 15-18)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. In him he chose us, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him in love, having destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved Son. For this reason I too, [Paolo], having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the holy ones, continually give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation for a deep knowledge of him; may he enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you may understand the hope to which he has called you, what riches of glory his inheritance contains among the holy ones. - The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” As Rabbi Giuseppe Laras recalls, already for the Jewish people, blessing “is a universal good that we all need. […] Obviously, the prerequisite for blessing is the willingness to hear and see God as master of the world, to whom we owe thanksgiving and blessing. It is clear that we are moving within the difficult path of religious faith: blessing God, having faith in God, sensing God, feeling him close even when he is far away.” For us Christians, as we heard from Saint Paul’s letter, blessing certainly includes all this, but also much more. A kind of circularity of blessing is created: from humanity to God, because the people themselves feel blessed by the gift of Jesus Christ, God made man. We men and women can bless God the Father in a Christian way only insofar as we respond to his initiative of grace, freely given and undeserved; God has pitched his tent in us: Jesus is never far away.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 1:1-18)
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 of what exists. In him was life, and the life was the light of men; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came as a witness, 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 was made through him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, and his own 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 of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and came to dwell among us; and we have seen his glory, glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testifies to him and proclaims: “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him. - The word of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
“And the Word became flesh and came to dwell among us.” The Word, or rather “the Word” (who is a Person, Jesus), became flesh. This is a particular, specific action that took place in the past, but whose consequences are still current and present. The Word is what John has spoken of up to this point as the principle of creation: the One who gives life to universal history and to Israel, the Person through whom the Incarnation and the birth of the Christian community take place. If we meditate on these two realms, the divine Word and human flesh, and on the bond woven between them, we can only be jolted first by wonder and then by indescribable and complete joy. In the past, some interpreted this passage as follows: “The Word assumed a kind of human cloak, only the appearance of a man, but in reality remained exclusively God.” This interpretation is, however, incorrect, because, if it were so, humanity would not truly be invaded by divine life and we could not be saved by the Word of God. On the contrary, the beginning of John’s Gospel indicates that Mary is the “tent” (the word recalled by the verb “came to dwell”) in which the Creator takes up residence completely. Through Mary, therefore, God truly reached every human being.
