This last day of the year gives us the same gospel passage as the Mass during Christmas Day: the prologue of the Gospel of John (Jn 1:1-18).  John introduces Jesus as the Word who exists from all eternity.  Through Him all things came to be and He Himself is the light of the world.  John the Baptist is shown to be the one who testified to the light so people might believe.  But Christ’s own people rejected Him anyway.  Those who did accept Him were able to become the children of God.  All life came through Jesus.  As we know from the first chapter of the Bible, it was through the Word being sent out (“God said…”) that all creation came to be.  Since “the beginning” (Gn 1:1) this life giving has continued to breathe souls into all living things, most importantly, human beings.  The great tragedy of artificial contraception in marriage is the refusal to allow Jesus into this part of a relationship.  The greater tragedy of abortion is that Jesus gives life and then men destroy it.  In euthanasia, we, not God, determine when life is no longer worthy of life.  We must return to a culture of life.  It is in the Word that we have life: the Word in Scripture and the Word in Sacrament.  These come together in the most beautiful and necessary aspect of the Catholic Faith: the Mass.  How are we to have life if we don’t devour the Word in word and Eucharist?  It is obligatory to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days but we should go more often if at all possible.  We should encourage family and friends to do so as well.  For fallen-away Catholics, let us reintroduce them to the life giving, life changing power of the Mass.  For non-Catholics, the Mass experience will let them absorb plenty of the Bible and hopefully will bring about in them the desire for union par excellence with Jesus in Holy Communion.  Yes, through the Word comes life — abundantly (cf. Jn 10:10).  Pray that the Lord use us to spread the message of the Word to convert the culture and the world from darkness to light (cf. v. 5).