Feast of St John, Apostle
Today is the feast of the apostle St. John. We know some important things about St. John. He was a fisherman with his brother James. Jesus called James and John the Sons of Thunder. He is considered to be the beloved disciple. He is the only apostle who did not desert Jesus, as he remained at the foot of the cross. Jesus gave his mother to the care and protection of St. John. John was the first apostle to reach the empty tomb but did not go in as he waited for Peter, the leader of the Apostles.
After the resurrection, when Jesus appeared to the disciples as they were fishing it was John who recognized the Lord. John wrote the fourth gospel, three Epistles, and it is thought he also wrote the book of Revelation. John was the only apostle to die a natural death even though he had been beaten, poisoned, and thrown into boiling oil he survived all this unharmed. There are many miracles and wonders worked by John, too many to list here but they make for interesting reading.
St. John should be our model of faith. Even into today’s gospel we read that after Peter entered tomb John entered, saw, and believed. We might wonder what John saw that caused him to believe. Would it not be better to understand it was what John did not see that caused his belief? Just as the gospel states, the burial cloth was there, the cloth for the head rolled up and set aside but there was no Jesus. Many times, in our faith we believe because of what we do not see with our eyes but know and understand through the eyes of faith. O come all ye faithful.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and if the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen