December 31, 2004, the seventh day in the octave of Christmas.

A reading from the first letter of St. John.

Children, it is the last hour.

And just as you heard that the Antichrist was coming,

so now many Antichrist have appeared.

Thus we know, this is the last hour. They went out from us,

but they were not really of our number. If they had been, they would have remained with us.

Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,

and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you

do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. The word of the Lord.

The response oral psalm.

The response is,

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.

Sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord all you lands.

Sing to the Lord bless his name.

Announce his salvation day after day. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. Let the sea and what fills it resound. Let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then shall all the trees of the forest exalt before the Lord.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. The Lord comes. He comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

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