Saint John
Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist (d. AD 101)
Christmas, December 27
Third Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)Prayer
O God, who through the blessed Apostle John, has unlocked for us the secrets of your Word, grant, we pray, that we may grasp with proper understanding what he has so marvelously brought to our ears.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
1. Today at the side of the newborn King we find, with the Virgin Mother, the virgin apostle, John.
2. John is the living expression of the blessings that have been brought to us by the redemption.
John is the unerring witness of the Incarnation and of the fufillment of the birth of Christ, the God-man.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14).
"And we know that his witness is true," cries the liturgy today in the Gospel and in the Alleluia verse.
Because of his virginal purity and his spirituality, John drew closer to the person of Christ and had a keener insight into the mysteries of His life than any other apostle.
He rested upon Christ's breast at the Last Supper, and drew the great riches of his Gospel from the heart of Christ Himself.
In his writings he poured forth upon the world the riches of the Word of God.
As a result of his contemplation and of his great personal love for the Savior, he is full of wisdom and initiated into all the mysteries of Christ.
In St. John we have a reliable witness; we know that is testimony is true.
In St. John is fulfilled the promise of the Epistle:
"The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5).
We should add to the testimony of John the testimony of our own faith. Still more should we bear witness to Christ by the purity of our lives, and by manifesting our love for those with whom we live....
"Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And everyone that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is charity" (I John 4:7-8).
—Excerpted from The Light of the World, Volume One by Benedict Baur
BIO: St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
St. John, the Evangelist, who is styled in the Gospel, "the beloved disciple", was a Galilean, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother to St. James the Greater, both of whom were fishermen.
It seems that St. John remained for a long time in Jerusalem, but that his later years were spent at Ephesus, from whence he founded many churches in Asia Minor.
Amen.
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Introduction
Born in Bethsaida, John was called while mending his nets to follow Jesus.
He became the beloved disciple of Jesus.
He wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse.
He wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse.
His passages on the pre-existence of the Word, who by His Incarnation became the light of the world and the life of our souls, are among the finest of the New Testament.
He is the evangelist of the divinity of Christ and His fraternal love.
He is the evangelist of the divinity of Christ and His fraternal love.
With James, his brother, and Simon Peter, he was one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration.
At the Last Supper, he leans on the Master's breast.
At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts His Mother to his care. John's pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary in years to come.
At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts His Mother to his care. John's pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary in years to come.
Unlike all the other Apostles who died as martyrs for Christ, John was eventually exiled to the island of Patmos under Emperor Domitian, and lived to a ripe old age.
Christmas Reflection
Christmas Reflection
St. John the Apostle....His testimony is true
1. Today at the side of the newborn King we find, with the Virgin Mother, the virgin apostle, John.
2. John is the living expression of the blessings that have been brought to us by the redemption.
John is a man of virginal purity, the man who rested on the breast of the Master, who is filled with divine wisdom.
"In the midst of the Church, the Lord opened his mouth and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding; He clothed him with a robe of glory"
His life is absorbed in Christ, the incarnate Wisdom...
"She (Wisdom) will meet him as an honorable mother.
"In the midst of the Church, the Lord opened his mouth and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding; He clothed him with a robe of glory"
His life is absorbed in Christ, the incarnate Wisdom...
"She (Wisdom) will meet him as an honorable mother.
With the bread of life and understanding she shall feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink. And she shaIl be made strong in him, and he shall not be moved; and she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded; and she shall exalt him among his neighbors, and in the midst of the Church she shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall clothe him with a robe of glory.
The Lord our God shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name"
These are the works which Christ, the child in the manger, the eternal Wisdom, accomplishes in John, His disciple, and in His Church. These, too, the fruits of the Incarnation, He will accomplish in our lives if we would only permit it.
The Lord our God shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name"
These are the works which Christ, the child in the manger, the eternal Wisdom, accomplishes in John, His disciple, and in His Church. These, too, the fruits of the Incarnation, He will accomplish in our lives if we would only permit it.
John is the unerring witness of the Incarnation and of the fufillment of the birth of Christ, the God-man.
John in Scripture and Tradition
Yesterday, December 26, we honored St. Stephen. By his words and by being the first to lay down his life for his faith, bore witness to the child we see in the Nativity crib.
Today, we receive the testimony of John, the apostle and evangelist. He has given us his testimony in his Gospel...
Today, we receive the testimony of John, the apostle and evangelist. He has given us his testimony in his Gospel...
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14).
"And we know that his witness is true," cries the liturgy today in the Gospel and in the Alleluia verse.
Because of his virginal purity and his spirituality, John drew closer to the person of Christ and had a keener insight into the mysteries of His life than any other apostle.
He rested upon Christ's breast at the Last Supper, and drew the great riches of his Gospel from the heart of Christ Himself.
In his writings he poured forth upon the world the riches of the Word of God.
As a result of his contemplation and of his great personal love for the Savior, he is full of wisdom and initiated into all the mysteries of Christ.
In St. John we have a reliable witness; we know that is testimony is true.
In St. John is fulfilled the promise of the Epistle:
"He that feareth God will do good; and he that possesseth justice shall lay hold on her. . . . With the bread of life and understanding she shall feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink; and she shall be made strong in him, and he shall not be moved."
In John we recognize ourselves, for in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass our Lord feeds us with the bread of life and wisdom.
When we celebrate Christmas in the proper spirit, we, too, add our testimony to that of St. Stephen and St. John.
When we celebrate Christmas in the proper spirit, we, too, add our testimony to that of St. Stephen and St. John.
"The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5).
We should add to the testimony of John the testimony of our own faith. Still more should we bear witness to Christ by the purity of our lives, and by manifesting our love for those with whom we live....
"Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And everyone that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is charity" (I John 4:7-8).
—Excerpted from The Light of the World, Volume One by Benedict Baur
BIO: St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
St. John, the Evangelist, who is styled in the Gospel, "the beloved disciple", was a Galilean, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother to St. James the Greater, both of whom were fishermen.
The two were both called by Jesus to be disciples as they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus showed St. John particular instances of kindness and affection above all the rest.
Jesus showed St. John particular instances of kindness and affection above all the rest.
- He had the happiness to be present with Peter and James at the Transfiguration of Christ, - He was permitted to witness His agony in the Garden.
- He was allowed to rest on Our Savior's bosom at the Last Supper.
- Jesus confided to John the care of His own holy Mother as He hung dying on the Cross.
- St. John was the only one of the Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion and Death.
It seems that St. John remained for a long time in Jerusalem, but that his later years were spent at Ephesus, from whence he founded many churches in Asia Minor.
St. John wrote his Gospel well after the other Evangelists, about sixty-three years after the Ascension of Christ; also three Epistles, and the wonderful and mysterious Book of the Apocalypse, or "Revelation" as it is also known.
He was brought to Rome and, according to tradition, was cast into a caldron of boiling oil by order of Emperor Domitian.
Like the Three Children in the fiery furnace of Babylon, he was miraculously preserved unhurt.
He was eventually exiled to the Island of Patmos by Domitian, where he wrote the Apocalypse, but in time, je returned to Ephesus.
In his extreme old age, John, continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assemblies of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: "My dear children, love one another."
St. John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (according to Eusebius' history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth year of the Christian era, and the sixty-sixth from the crucifixion of Christ, St. John then being about ninety-four years old, according to St. Epiphanus.
In his extreme old age, John, continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assemblies of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: "My dear children, love one another."
St. John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (according to Eusebius' history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth year of the Christian era, and the sixty-sixth from the crucifixion of Christ, St. John then being about ninety-four years old, according to St. Epiphanus.
—Excerpted from Heavenly Friends, St. Paul Editions
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