Today, the Church celebrates the Feast day of Saint John, the apostle and evangelist. Saint John was among the youngest of Jesus' apostles: the one referred to as the apostle that Jesus loved (Jn 20:2). This same disciple is the one credited with the writing of the fourth gospel and the one believed to have written three of the letters which are included at the end of the New Testament.
John was one of the disciples who went running to the tomb on that first Easter morning. Having heard from Mary Magdalene that the tomb was empty, Peter and the other disciple ... both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first. He bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in (Jn 20:3-5). What was it like to hear such surprising news? They ran to the tomb to see for themselves. And what about us? Have we known the excitement of hearing such news? Have we had the experience of hoping against hope that the nightmares of unspeakable events that take place in our lives might truly have happy endings?
We hear the excitement in John's writings as he tells the story in his own words: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life — for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us (1 Jn 1:1-3). Let us pray today that Saint John may inspire such excitement in our hearts and that through his prayers, we may know the great gift of being excited about sharing the good news of faith that we have heard and seen with those we meet.
Have a great day.
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