31ST DECEMBER: MIDNIGHT MASS – 31/12/25.

31ST DECEMBER: MIDNIGHT MASS – 31/12/25.

COLLECT: (Let us pray that our gratitude to God may bear fruit in loving service to our fellow men and women)

FATHER ALMIGHTY, YOUR GIFTS OF LOVE ARE COUNTLESS AND YOUR GOODNESS INFINITE. ON THIS DAY OF THANKSGIVING, WE COME BEFORE YOU WITH GRATITUDE FOR THE KINDNESS: OPEN OUR HEARTS TO CONCERN FOR OUR FELLOW MEN AND WOMEN, SO THAT WE MAY SHARE YOUR GIFTS IN LOVING SERVICE. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.

SUGGESTED READINGS: Deut 8:7-18; 1Tim 6:6-11,17-19; Lk 17:11-19.

“GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HIS CONSTANT LOVE AND MERCY UPON US”.

The purpose of this celebration tonight is to give thanks to God for his unfailing love and mercy upon us throughout this year. We want to thank him for all he has done for each one of us in the last Year, which will soon pass on to eternity in a couple of hours to come.

All the selected scriptures we are reflecting on this night emphasised the need to be grateful to God for his constant blessings upon humanity. In the passage from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people of Israel to be humbly grateful to God for the blessings of the Promised Land. God guided them through a vast and dreadful desert, a land of fiery snakes, scorpions and thirst. He brought them water out of the flinty rock. He fed them with manna unknown to their ancestors.

Therefore, the people should not think that their own strength and might had given them the power to act that way. Rather, they should remember God and not forget him and follow other gods. They should be thankful to God.

In the passage from the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy, the theme of gratitude continues. St Paul, in this letter, advises on living a simple, thankful and grateful life by pursuing spiritual values or treasures, by seeking after integrity, piety, faith, love, steadfastness and a gentle spirit. The above are actually the signs of someone who is under God.

St. Paul exhorts Timothy and all of us to avoid being materialistic. This can lead us to evil and ungodliness, especially the ‘god’ of materialism. Usually and normally, it is when people are not content with what they have and with what God is doing for them in their lives that they easily fall into the sin of materialism.

Again, our gospel passage continues with the theme of gratitude to God. This story of the healing of the ten lepers illustrates the widespread ingratitude in society today. There is a need to be a person or a people, a community, or a nation thankful to God. In other words, there is a need to always be thankful to God for his love and mercy upon us.

It must be noted that the greatest and fitting gratitude or thanksgiving we can give to God for all he has been doing for us is to always be faithful to him, and in obedience, show mercy and love to fellow human beings. May the Lord forgive us and grant us mercy for those moments we have not been grateful to Him and to fellow human beings for the favours we received from them. May you be filled with the spirit of gratitude to always appreciate what the Lord and fellow human beings have been doing for you.

WE MEDITATE TODAY, WEDNESDAY, ON THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: ‘THE RESURRECTION, THE ASCENSION, THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ASSUMPTION, AND THE CORONATION’. (WE PRAY FAITH, HOPE, LOVE OF GOD, GRACE OF A HAPPY DEATH AND TRUST IN MARY’S INTERCESSION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

PRAYER: “LORD GOD, IN THIS CELEBRATION WE HAVE SEEN THE DEPTHS OF YOUR LOVE FOR EVERY MAN AND WOMAN AND BEEN REMINDED OF OUR NEGLIGENCE TOWARDS YOU AND OTHERS. HELP US TO REACH OUT IN LOVE TO ALL YOUR PEOPLE, SO THAT WE MAY SHARE WITH THEM THE GOOD DEEDS OF TIME AND ETERNITY. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.

Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com