Gospel: December 24, 2025

December 24, 2025 (Wednesday)

4th Week of Advent

Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)

Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 & 29 (2a)

Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

1st Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

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Gospel: Luke 1:67-79

Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, sang this canticle: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has come and redeemed his people. In the house of David his servant, he has raised up for us a victorious Savior; as he promised through his prophets of old, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered his holy Covenant, the oath he swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives. And you, my child, shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the Lord, to prepare the way for him, and to enable his people to know of their salvation, when he comes to forgive their sins. This is the work of the mercy of our God, who comes from on high, as a rising sun, shining on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, and guiding our feet into the way of peace.”

Reflection:

“Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.”

St. John of Avila has a beautiful image of Christ as sunlight. He said that just as light can get through even the tiniest crack, so Christ can enter our lives even through the smallest of opportunities and scatter the darkness. John the Baptist’s name pointed to God’s merciful desire to save his people. Now, this mercy “comes from on high” and takes flesh in the womb of Mary, thus making her the ark of the New Covenant. And so, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy” (Misericordiae vultus, 1). He is the mercy of God at work and in person. We are to look to Christ and follow his light “into the way of peace.” Christ comes as the “rising sun,” who scatters the darkness of sin and death, and whose coming proclaims the dawn of a new age, one which is rooted in Christ’s victory. Sunlight can get through the tiniest crack. We are never to doubt the power of God’s loving mercy no matter the extent of our sinfulness. Darkness cannot overpower light. Nor can our sins overpower God’s loving forgiveness, if we open the door even just a crack.