Wednesday December 31, 2025 - Good News Ministries

Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

Instead of relying on the Second Coming of Christ we are to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus today.

Good News Reflection for:

Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
Memorial of Saint Sylvester I, Pope
December 31, 2025

Today’s Prayer:

Thank You, good Father, because You made me Your child in Jesus Christ due to the huge love You have for all humanity. Amen.

IMPROVE YOUR DAY!
Powerful Catholic prayers are available on our YouTube channel.

Today’s Readings:

1 John 2:18-21
Ps 96:1-2, 11-13
John 1:1-18
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123125.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-december-31-2025

The final hour

Our Gospel reading for today tells us: “Children, it is the last hour.” Okay, so — what is the “last hour”? When will it finally happen? Or has it happened already?

For more than two millennia, people have been looking for the Second Coming of Christ, expecting it to happen soon, wishing it would happen very soon to rescue our world from evil-doings. It seems like now would be a good time for it, right? Just look at the rampant immorality that’s occurring everywhere. And it’s only getting worse! Where is Jesus? When is that “last hour”?

I vaguely remember a time when we could leave home without locking our doors. Now we not only have to lock up everything, we don’t even feel safe walking alone outside the house. Respect for human life has decreased so much that many now think it’s okay to kill an unborn baby minutes before birth. Children are being encouraged to “switch” genders, and psychologists who see the harm in gender-identity crises are not supposed to provide therapy that would help people heal from whatever caused their confusion. And the persecution of Christians is increasing world-wide.

Making matters worse, the devil is even showing up in our Church, causing abuses by priests, coverups by bishops, and confusion and wrong ideas about Church teachings.

Where is Jesus? When is that “last hour”?

Year after year, the world keeps becoming more and more demonized. We naturally want Jesus to hurry up and bring us victory over evil by destroying all evil-doers and rapturing us from this terrible world.

The good news is: God is not idle. He’s been unfolding a plan. It might actually lead to the Second Coming of Christ in our lifetime, or it might not. Either way, God is going to cover the world with so much Divine Grace that the good will be far greater than the bad. Jesus is victorious over evil!

Meanwhile, we can look for Jesus in what he is doing now and expect him to bring his victory to every situation that we turn over to his care. He delights in making good come from bad.

We are already in the “last hour” that scriptures speak of. It is the “hour” (which from our human perspective is an era, not 60 minutes on the clock) after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the era of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to bring Christ’s victory into the world. Instead of relying on the Second Coming of Christ to rescue us, we are to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus overcoming evil in the world today.

The words of John draw us back to the first hour: “In the beginning was the Word.” Jesus is the first and the last Word. As the old year ends, let us ask: “What will I do in the new year to be the Good News of Jesus and renew our world?”

For more on this subject, use our video called: “3 Weapons for Ousting the Devil” @ https://gnm-media.org/3-weapons-for-ousting-the-devil/.

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