Dec 27: St. John, Apostle & Evangelist
1 John 1:1-4 / John 20:2-8
Cyril Egan wrote a poem called “A Kind of Prayer.” It's about a person who's looking for something. Everywhere he goes, he searches, searches, searches. One day someone asks him what he's searching for, He responds, "I'm looking for God.” Then he adds quickly: "Don't tell me I'll find him in my heart (Though in a sense that's true); And don't tell me I'll find him in my fellow man (Though in a sense that's true, too). What I'm looking for is a God making a five-sense breakthrough to humanity." In other words, he's looking for a God that he can see and touch. That's precisely the kind of God John speaks about in today's reading.
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Do we relate to Jesus in a personal way? "Thomas ... look at my hands ... and believe!” John 20:27
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According to some accounts, St. John lived to a ripe old age whereas the other Apostles were martyred as they went out to preach the Good News. There were also reports that St. John also had suffered persecution and was plunged into boiling oil from which he miraculously escaped unscathed.
There is also the notion that John became a disciple as a very young man, and hence he is often portrayed as the young, beardless apostle at the Last Supper images. The letters of John and the gospel according to John are accredited to his authorship, and in the gospel of John, he is often identified as the "disciple whom Jesus loved".
Indeed, the theme of love is prominent in the letters and in the gospel. St. John was not only in the inner circle together with St. Peter and St. James, he was also a witness to the Resurrection, as we heard in the gospel.
But St. John is also a witness to the love of Jesus and he experienced it such that he even wrote it down in the gospel. It is said that St. John preached this message of love right up to his ripe old age. St. John not only says that he is the disciple whom Jesus loved, he is also saying that we are the disciples whom Jesus loves. Let us ask for his prayers that we will experience the love of Jesus as he did and go out to proclaim that message of love.
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Close to our Lord, obsessed by love. This may well be the marks of John the Evangelist. He had experienced in his person what it means to be loved by Jesus and to love in return. And Jesus was the Lord, God’s Son! In later life he was driven by this love, as his gospel and his first letter reveal to us. He was the man who preached love; the words he used, the urgency and insistence with which he spoke cannot come but from a man who lived this love deeply and who felt that this should be the mark too of the Christian communities.
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How privileged people feel to have a glimpse of the Pope, a living Saint, or a charismatic world leader! How eagerly people reach out to touch them or to have a photograph taken with them! If this is how we feel about earthly leaders, how would we feel about the privilege to see, hear, touch, and live with the Word who is Life! St. John, whose memory we keep today, writes about how privileged he and the other apostles were to have heard, seen, touched, and lived with Christ, the Word of God. He shares his experience of God with us in order to complete his joy, just as Jesus shared with the apostles his experience of the Father for his joy to be in them and their joy to be complete (Jn 15:11).
How privileged must we feel, for we are able to see, touch, and feed on the Lord in the Eucharist! How blessed are we to see and serve him in every human being around us!
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Feast Day December 27
St. John the Evangelist had the experience of living with Jesus—walking at his side, watching him perform miracles, listening to his teaching, and receiving signs of personal love.
Much of what we know about John’s life comes through the Gospels. According to Matthew’s Gospel, John was in a boat mending nets with his older brother James and his father Zebedee when Jesus called them to follow him. Their “Yes!” led to a great adventure.
John and James were called Sons of Thunder, possibly because of their fiery tempers. One example was when people in a Samaritan town would not accept Jesus. James and John wanted to call down fire to destroy the town. At another time the brothers secretly asked Jesus to have the highest place in his kingdom. Jesus explained that real greatness comes to those who serve.
John had the special privilege of being with Jesus at crucial times. With Peter and James, John was permitted to watch the miracle of Jairus’s daughter coming back to life. The three witnessed the glory of Jesus’ transfiguration. They were also the three invited to be with Jesus during his agony in the garden. John was also favored when he was the only apostle standing at the foot of the cross. Jesus entrusted to him his mother, Mary.
After Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, John continued to respond to Jesus’ call. One day he and Peter cured a lame beggar in the name of Jesus and were arrested and jailed for the night. The next day religious leaders listened to their message about Jesus’ resurrection and were amazed that these fishermen could speak so convincingly.
It is said that when St. John was very old, people had to carry him to where the Christians assembled to worship. Each time he preached, he gave the same homily: “Little children, love one another.” When people asked if he would talk on a different topic, he said that this is the Lord’s word and if they really did this, they would do enough.
The symbol for John as a Gospel writer is the eagle. An eagle soars higher than other birds, and John’s ideas reach heights that the other Gospels do not. Tradition holds that John is the author of three letters and the Book of Revelation. He was exiled to the isle of Patmos, where he died.
St. John, pray that we may understand the mysteries of our faith more and more!
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Prayer
Lord God, you are love itself. We know that you loved us first before we could ever love you. Let this unforgettable experience of your “beloved apostle” John become also our deep and lasting experience. May the love you have shown us in your Son Jesus Christ move us to love you very deeply in return and overflow on all those we meet in life. We ask you this through Christ our Lord. Amen
