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Mass Readings Catholic IrelandLiturgical Readings for : Friday, 2nd January, 2026Léachtaí GaeilgeNext Sunday's ReadingsWeekdays of the Christmas season 01-02  Before Epiphany To become ‘children of God’ we must be ‘born again’ from above or ‘born of God’ Saints of the Day: Jan 2; Ss  Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, ascetic, monk and theologian, d. 389 and Gregory Nazianzen, bishop of Sasima, friend of St Basil.  Both were doctors of the Church. c/f short history of today’s saints can be found below today’s Readings and Reflection.      FIRST READING         A reading from the first letter of St  John          2:22-28 Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ- he is the liar, he is Antichrist; and he is denying the Father as well as the Son, because no one who has the Father can deny the Son, and to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father as well. Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning: as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you, you will live in the Son and in the Father; and what is promised to you by his own promise is eternal life. This is all that I am writing to you about the people who are trying to lead you astray. But you have not lost the anointing that he gave you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; the anointing he gave teaches you everything; you are anointed with truth, not with a lie, and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him. Live in Christ, then, my children, so that if he appears, we may have full confidence, and not turn from him in shame at his coming. The Word of the Lord       Thanks be to God Responsorial Psalm    Ps 97:1-4. R/v v3 Response                         All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of  our God. 1. Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation.                                 Response 2. The Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.                       Response 3. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord all the earth, ring out your joy.                                              Response Gospel  Acclamation         Jn 1: 14, 12 Alleluia, alleluia! The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. To all who received him he gave power to become children of God. Alleluia! Or                                           Heb 1:1-2 Alleluia, alleluia! At various times in the past and in various ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; But in our own times, the last days, he has spoke to us through is son. Alleluia! GOSPEL                                       The Lord be with you.                    And with your spirit A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 1:19-28       Glory to you, O Lord One is coming after me who existed before me. This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?‘ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ’. ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?‘ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?‘ He answered, ‘No’. So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am,’ as Isaiah prophesied: ‘ a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord’. Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?‘ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap’. This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising. The Gospel of the Lord.                    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. **************************** Gospel Reflection      2 Jan.   before the Epiphany     John 1:19-28 The priests and Levites ask John the Baptist two questions in today’s gospel reading, ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Why are you baptizing?’ The more fundamental of the two questions is the first one, because the answer to the first question determines the answer to the second question. It is because of who we are that we do what we do. It was because John was the voice crying in the wilderness to draw people’s attention to the presence of Jesus among them that he was engaged in the water ritual of baptizing that prepared people to receive Jesus with open hearts. The question ‘Who are you?’ is one of the most fundamental questions of life because our identity is the foundation for what we do and why we do it. We all need to keep returning to that question ‘Who am I?’ It can be answered at different levels, ‘I am Irish, I am a bus driver…’ At the deepest level of my being, who am I? What is my deepest identity? John the Baptist was very clear about his deepest identity, which is why, when asked, he could deny that he was the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet. As the voice, he was the witness to the Word, the light of the world. John the Baptist points us in the direction of our own deepest identity, which is to be a witness to Christ. Saint Paul would even go further and say, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’. Our deepest identity is our Christ identity. It is that identity which is to shape all we do and why we do it. ________________________________ The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/ The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings  The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/ ________________ Saints of the Day: Jan 2; 1. Ss  Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea,  d. 389  and  2. St Gregory Nazianzen, bishop. Basil: Born about 330 at Caesarea (Turkey); died there on 1 January 379. First a hermit, then bishop of his native city. Noted for his pioneering monastic rule, and for writings which developed the doctrines of the Incarnation and of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Gregory: Born at Nazianzus (Turkey) in 329; died there in 389. Also a hermit before becoming bishop of Constantinople. Known as the “Theologian” because of his wisdom and acumen in maintaining orthodox doctrine against the Arians. Basil of Caesarea, his younger brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory Nazianzen are often called “the Cappadocian fathers” after the province of Cappadocia in central Turkey from which they originated. Although Basil and Gregory of Nazianzen were friends, ecclesiastical politics put strains on their relationship. Patrick Duffy tells their story. St Basil’s Early life Basil was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia, Central Turkey, of a deeply Christian family (ten children, three of whom became bishops: Basil, Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste). His grandmother, Macrina, both his  parents and his eldest sister are all honoured as saints. His maternal grandfather had suffered martyrdom. Monastic community Basil received training in rhetoric and philosophy first at Caesarea (where he befriended Gregory Nazienzen), and later at Constantinople and at Athens. After his baptism in 358 he visited monasteries in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia and on his return set up a community at Annesoi in Pontus, where his mother (now widowed) and sister joined him in giving themselves to prayer and pious works. Bishop of Caesarea Basil then left this community to become a hermit with his brother Gregory, but was called upon by Eusebius of Caesarea to refute the Arian heresy. He was ordained priest in 365 and when Eusebius died he was chosen as bishop of Caesarea. Here organised a great complex to care for the sick and to feed the hungry. It was called the Basiliad. Writings Basil wrote both a longer and a shorter Rule for monastic life as well as doctrinal writings on the divinity of Christ, the role of the Holy Spirit and the theology of the Trinity (three persons and one nature). He also edited a eucharistic liturgy which is still in use and bears his name. Basil’s Friendship with Gregory, his father was a bishop Gregory also came from a very Christian family with many saints and his father was bishop of Nazianzos. Gregory became a friend of Basil while both were students first at Caesarea and later at Athens. For a while he joined Basil at his monastic community at Annesoi in Pontus. His ageing father put pressure on him to come home and help him manage the home bishopric. Contrary to his own inclination, he agreed to be ordained priest, then fled to Basil for ten weeks and eventually returned to write a work on the nature and duties of the priesthood. St Gregory – bishop at Sasima, Nazianzos and Constantinople – and resignation When Basil became archbishop of Caesarea, he had Gregory consecrated bishop of Sasima to keep out a rival. Sasima was not a healthy place and Gregory didn’t actually go there. This strained the relationship between the two. Gregory preferred to help his father at Nazianzos. In 379 the bishops around Constantinople persuaded him to go there to support the Nicene doctrine. He was installed as bishop there and along with the emperor convened the Council of Constantinople (381), which eventually succeeded in overcoming Arianism, but as there was continued opposition to him, he resigned in order to bring peace. He returned to his homeland and for a while resumed as bishop of Nazianzos (Nazianzenos is a Greek adjective, meaning “from Nazianzos”). Gregory then established his successor, retired to his family estate and died on Jan 25, 389. Dilemmas of his Life Gregory lived his life in a dialectic of stark choices – between being a public speaker (rhetor) or a philosopher; between monastic community or public ministry; between what he felt drawn to himself or what others thought he should do.            St Gregory and the Holy Spirit Gregory’s use of “procession”in trinitarian theology Gregory’s greatest contribution to theology was his use of the word “procession” to describe the relationship between the Spirit and the Godhead: “The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by generation but by procession, since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness.” This was a significant step forward in developing the theology of the Trinity Memorable Quotes from Ss Basil and Gregory A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. ~ St Basil the Great ~  Grace is given not to them who speak [their faith] but to those who live their faith. ~St Gregory Nazianzen ~ ********************************************