FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST – FEAST DAY ~ DECEMBER 27TH: Today is the Third Day in the Octave of Christmas and we celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.
SAINT JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST: St. John the Evangelist (1st c.), the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. James the Great, was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His Public Ministry. He was one of the Twelve Apostles, and one of the three in Jesus’ inner circle, along with his brother, James, and Simon Peter. St. John was the disciple who reclined on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper, and the only one of the twelve to not forsake Christ during His crucifixion and death. Saint John, traditionally is regarded as the author of the fourth Gospel. In addition to being called “The Evangelist” he is also known as the “Beloved Disciple.” He is often identified with the person referred to in the fourth Gospel as ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’. He became the “beloved disciple” and the only one of the Twelve who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion. St. John stood faithfully at the foot of the Cross alongside the other holy women, and therefore he was the disciple to whom Jesus entrusted the care and guardian of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, St. John was an important leader of the Church in Jerusalem. St. John’s later life was passed chiefly in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. He founded many Churches in Asia Minor. He wrote the fourth Gospel that bears his name and three Epistles, and the Book of Revelation, called the Apocalypse, is also attributed to him. Although many scholars believe that the final editing of the Gospel was done by others shortly after his death. Tradition relates that, brought to Rome, he was by order of Emperor Domitian cast into a caldron of boiling oil but came forth unhurt and was banished to the island of Patmos for a year. He lived to an extreme old age, surviving all his fellow Apostles. He is the only one of the Twelve Apostles who was not martyred, instead being exiled to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea under the persecution of Roman Emperor Domitian. He died at Ephesus about the year 100. St. John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue that learned from his Divine Master and constantly inculcated by word and example. The “Beloved Disciple” died at Ephesus, where a stately church was erected over his tomb. It was afterward converted into a Mohammedan mosque. He’s the Patron Saint of Asia Minor. St. John the Evangelist’s feast day is December 27th.
PRAYER: God, through St. John the Apostle You willed to unlock to us the secrets of Your Word. Grant that what he has so excellently poured into our ears, we may properly understand. Amen🙏