Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 27th December, 2025Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
12-27-St John, Apostle and Evangelist
St John was the brother of James, son of Zebedee and desarly loved by Jesus, was the author of he fourth Gospel, the Book of Revelation and three letters in the new Testament. He died at Ephesus. In his latter days, it was said that John preached only one message :Love one another
c/f short history of today’s saint can be found below today’s Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of John 1:1-4
What we have seen and heard we are telling you.
Something which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard, and 
That life was made visible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us.
What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us, as we are in union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 96: 1-2, 5-6. 11-12, R/v 12
Response Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Cloud and darkness are his raiment; his throne, justice and right. Response
2. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord of all the earth.
The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory. Response
3. Light shines forth for the just and joy for the upright of heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord; give glory to his holy name. Response
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 20:2-8 Glory to you, O Lord
The other disciple, (John) running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first.
and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb‘ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in.
Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection 27th Dec. Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist John 20:2-8
Yesterday was the feast of St Stephen, today we celebrate the feast of St John, traditionally understood to be the author of the fourth gospel. Whereas Stephen was martyred as a young man, John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, as he is referred to in today’s gospel reading, seems to have lived a long life. Like Stephen, the beloved disciple was a wonderful witness to Jesus. Yet, whereas Stephen witnessed to Jesus primarily by his death, the beloved disciple witnessed to Jesus primarily by his life. He was the eye witness who was close to Jesus in love and who witnessed to what he had seen and heard by his preaching and teaching, and eventually by inspiring the writing down of the fourth gospel.
In this gospel the beloved disciple is described as close to the bosom of Jesus at the last supper. The opening verses of John’s gospel, the Prologue, describe Jesus as close to the bosom of the Father. In other words,’ this disciple has the same loving relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with God the Father’. The beloved disciple is the disciple we can all become. We are all invited to have the same intimate relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with the Father and peter had with Jesus
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from Martin Hogan’s book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is Near to You, on your lips and in your heart published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Saint of the day: Dec 27th; St John, Apostle Evangelist
St John was the son of Zebedee, a fisher man from Bethsaida near the Sea of Galilee. With his brother James and Peter, he shared in some of the most significant events in the life of Jesus and wrote about them later in life in the Fourth Gospel.
The author of the fourth gospel is identified with “the disciple Jesus loved” who took Mary as his adoptive mother. In later life both Mary and John are associated with Ephesus, where John’s tomb is venerated and Mary’s house preserved.
The Fourth Evangelist
The tradition that identifies John as the author of the fourth gospel goes back to the 2nd century and his identification with the beloved disciple of that gospel (Jn 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7 and 21:20), was widely accepted until more modern scholars, who are inclined to say that John, the son Zebedee, is not the author of the fourth gospel. The Gospel of John is strictly speaking considered to be anonymous but Christian tradition historically has attributed it to John the Apostle, son of Zebedee, one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles and supported by his followers.(The image left was painted by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, i.e. El Greco – the Greek).
Sons of Zebedee
Their mother is sometimes identified with the Salome who later served Jesus and stood with Mary and the other women under the cross (Mt 27:56). She had been bold enough to ask that her two sons would sit on either side of Jesus in his kingdom (Mt 20:20-21). The ardent temperament of the two brothers is revealed both in their nickname Boanerges: “Sons of Thunder” (Mk 3:17) and the fact that they wanted permission to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan town that did not welcome Jesus (Lk 9:51-56).
John Left the Baptist to Follow Jesus
It is likely that John had been a disciple of John the Baptist. When the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, John and his brother James went with Peter’s and his brother Andrew to follow Jesus (Jn 1:35-42). John together with his brother James and Peter were with Jesus for the more significant events of Jesus’ life, such as the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5:35), the transfiguration (Mk 9:2) and the agony in the garden (Mk 14:32-42).
A Leader in Jerusalem and in Samaria
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, John seems to have stayed in Jerusalem as one of the leaders with Peter of the followers of Jesus (Acts 1-4) and testified to the resurrection before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:5). He and Peter went to Samaria to confirm new converts (Acts 8:14, 25). And when Paul is converted, he submits his orthodoxy to those reputed to be “pillars” of the young church – John, Simon Peter, and James(Gal 2:1-10).
Place of his Death – Ephesus/Patmos?
Later tradition associates John with the city of Ephesus where his tomb is venerated along with the ruins of a basilica in his honour. The house where Mary lived is located just outside the town. Another tradition relates that John was banished to the Greek island of Patmos during the persecution of Domitian (81-96) where, it is said, he wrote the Book of Revelation.
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Memorable Wisdom for Today
The glory of God is not that of a despotic tyrant,
but the splendour of love before which we fall not in abject terror
but lost in wonder, love and praise.”
~again~
“If the word was with God before time began,
if God’s word is part of the eternal scheme of things,
it means that God was always like Jesus.
Sometimes we tend to think of God (of the Old Testament as stern and avenging;
and we tend to think that something Jesus did changed God’s anger
into love and altered his attitude to human beings.
The New Testament knows nothing of that idea.
What Jesus did was to open a window in time
that we might see the eternal and unchanging love of our Father God.
~William Barclay~
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