COLLECT: “O GOD, WHO THROUGH THE BLESSED APOSTLE JOHN HAVE 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. AMEN”.
1Jn 1:1-4; Ps 96:1-2,5-6,11-12 and Jn 20:1a,2-8.
The Saint we celebrate today, John the Apostle and Evangelist, along with Peter and James, his brother, was one of the inner or core group of Apostles who were especially close to Jesus. John and his brother James earned the title “Sons of Thunder”. John is traditionally regarded as the author of the fourth Gospel, named after him: “The Gospel of St. John”. Tradition also has it that he was the Apostle that Jesus loved, thus, his name: “St. John the Beloved”. Again, it is held that John was the only one Apostle who was not martyred. He stood at the foot of the cross of Jesus at the crucifixion.
Since Christmas Vigil, our liturgical celebrations reveal or unfold gradually to us the deeper meaning of Christianity. It is full of joy and happiness, but at the same time full of challenges and hardships, all leading to glorification and salvation anyway.
The Christmas Vigil and Day celebrations are full of joy, gladness and happiness. The feast of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, which follows immediately after Christmas, connotes sadness and unhappiness.
Today, the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, presents to us, what we should do or should be doing as faithful believers of the Lord so that, even when we are going through challenges, sadness and unhappiness, we can stay focused till the end. That is, “Whatever we are and are doing, concerns the Word of Life”: Jesus Christ.
Therefore, all we need to do as followers of the Lord like St. John or any of the Apostles, is to follow St. John’s admonition to love God and fellow men/women. “Children, love one another!, Children, let us not love merely with word, but in deed and in truth!, If you do not love your brother, whom you can see, how can you love God, whom you cannot see? He who has love, has the life of God in him. God is love!” “My dearest, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (Cf. 1Jn 4:11).
Indeed, if we keep to and practice John’s admonition, the Son of the Father, who is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will always be made visible to and/or in us as we follow him (one of the meanings and significance of Christmas). This will help us be committed and dedicate ourselves to him and his work, come what may, like St. Stephen, St. John and the rest of the Apostles and the early Christians, leading us to our redemption and glorification (one of the meanings and significance of Resurrection), which Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and John the Beloved witnessed (Cf. Jn 20:1ff).
To help us concretely understand the fact that Christianity always starts with joyous, glad and happy moments, leaping into challenges, sometimes sadness and unhappiness but resulting in glorification and blessedness for those who patiently persevere and endure, we look at the days of our baptism, our confirmation, our marriage (wedding), our ordination or profession of Religious Vows, etc. All these days are joyous and happy moments.
However, after a few months or years as a baptised or a confirmed Christian, as a married person, as an ordained priest or a religious, we begin to encounter challenges, “The martyrdoms”. When we are not patient enough and cannot endure, very often the love that we profess to have for God and neighbour begins to dwindle, if it is not dead. May St. John the Apostle and Evangelist intercede for us all. Stay blessed and stay focused despite the challenges in life. Happy feast to all who bear the name John.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, SATURDAY, ON THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE ANNUNCIATION, THE VISITATION, THE BIRTH OF JESUS, THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE AND THE FINDING OF THE CHILD JESUS IN THE TEMPLE’. (LET US PRAY FOR HUMILITY, LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR, POVERTY IN SPIRIT, OBEDIENCE AND JOY IN FINDING JESUS) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
PRAYER: “GRANT, WE PRAY, ALMIGHTY GOD, THAT THE WORD MADE FLESH, PROCLAIMED BY THE BLESSED APOSTLE JOHN, MAY, THROUGH THIS MYSTERY WHICH WE HAVE CELEBRATED, EVER DWELL AMONG US. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com
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