It is 31st December 2019. We celebrate the memorial of St. Sylvester I, Pope. The readings are from 1 John 2:18-21 and the Gospel from John 1:1-18. Goodbye 2019. How can we conclude the year without gratitude? Every farewell, departure, and goodbye deserve thanksgiving. God is the first person to be thanked along with our parents, siblings, friends, well-wishers and all those who helped us to reach where we are in our life. It is not the time to be sorry about what has gone wrong but to be gladly thankful for all that went right and fruitful. To be thankful is indeed the genuine emotion and prayer of our life. We all have gone through some form of pain, disappoints, loss, humiliation and betrayal yet we too have celebrated moments of love, joy, peace and compassion with forgiveness in an unlimited way. Being ungrateful is the manifestation of being antichrist. The first reading reminds us that we must never abandon Christ because we are the children of God who have embraced truth and knowledge of God. We must not allow anyone to cheat us and lead us in any way especially with regard to our faith in God. Whoever opposes the teaching of Christ and working against Him is the antichrist. As there are as many antichrists in the world, so we too have the sentiments of antichrist in us to deal with. To oppose the values of the kingdom of God and living a life contrary to the Gospel is proof of being ungrateful to God who loves us through Jesus. Having noticed the wickedness and evil in us and become stubbornly refusing to change is living against Christ. St. John teaches us that we are all anointed to belong to Christ. The responsorial Psalm thankfully acclaims, “Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.” (Ps.95:11). We reflect the prologue from the Gospel. We are children of God as long we live by the Word of the Lord. Whatever we have gone through and faced in this passing year, we are encouraged by the passage, “Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received yes, grace in return for grace… grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.” (Jn.1:18). Jesus is our light of our life. Without the light of Christ, no one reach the Father and creator of light. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (Jn. 8:12). Our gratitude is the light of our souls and of our lives. May we be grateful to God and to one another for all that we have been through this year and carry the lessons for a fruitful resolution of the year to be born. God bless you and have a good day.