Children, it is the last hour.
(1 Jn 2:18-21)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(Jn 1:1-18)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123121.cfm
You can’t say the Liturgy doesn’t have a sense of humor. Most of us don’t remember that the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel was read following the final blessing of low Mass. Here on the last day of the year, we are told it is the “last hour” and then we get the “Last Gospel” to close out 2021 A.D. (anno domini—in the year of our Lord). Pope Sylvester was pope during the construction of the original Basilica of St Peter (today's photo is an artist's rendering of the old basilica). He was also pope during the First Council of Nicea. Today we have a Colombian New Year’s Eve song, Faltan 5 pa’ las 12 (It’s 5 Minutes to 12).
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saint Sylvester I, pope, December 31
