Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (1: 1-18) which begins ‘In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God’.

Fr Paul says today’s Gospel is what is called the ‘Prologue of St John’ and it has a special place in Christian theology and, for centuries, it was actually recited at the end of Mass as it summed the whole work of our redemption. It begins with God’s creation and ends with the completion of why God created everything, Jesus Christ our salvation.

Mark’s Gospel begins with a voice declaring Jesus as the Son of God which takes place at Jesus’s baptism. Matthew and Luke’s Gospels begin with the infancy stories that show that Jesus possessed divine qualities right from his birth.  John’s Gospel goes back before even this to mediate on the ultimate part in both creation and its fulfilment of the Word, Jesus, who became flesh.

So mindful of these words of Mark, mindful of the words of Luke and Matthew but especially mindful of John’s Gospel that we read today – all of whom acknowledge that Jesus is divine – Fr Paul says we might reflect that Jesus is our Saviour and the Saviour of the world.