By William Selvaraj, CSC –
Readings: 1Jn1: 1-4; Jn 20: 2-8
Today our mother church celebrates the feast of St. John the apostle and evangelist. St. John, the brother of James, was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Jesus, while dying on the cross, told John to look after Mary his Mother. He was called the beloved disciple. John is given credit for writing the gospel of John, three epistles and the book of revelation. He was the only apostle who died peacefully of old age in the year 100.
It is true that when I am close to a person I can understand the person very well in his or her difficulty and feel one with the person in the joys and sorrows. The more you are close the more you may come to know the originality of the person. It all depends on my personal love and attachment. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, was attached to him in times of joys and sorrows.
Jesus was always accompanied by John. His closeness made him to know and experience him more than other disciples. John wrote those experiences in his gospel. That unique closeness made Jesus say to John “Here is your Mother” and to his mother “here is your Son” (Jn: 11:26-27).
Today I realize that the more time I give to Christ I can have intimate relationship with him through my prayer. I can experience fully his goodness and compassionate heart as apostle John had always, which made him to stand at the foot of the cross at Calvary and run to the tomb in search of Jesus. The invitation for me is that I should make myself a beloved one of Jesus by proclaiming his words and deeds and showing tireless efforts to do the will of God on this earth by showing preferential option for the poor. So therefore each of us should make Jesus as our priority and love him above all things.
Indian Catholic Matters relies on donations in carrying out its Mission to offer inspirational content for free. Your support will indeed go a long way in keeping it that way.
[give_form id=”12111″ show_title=”true” show_content=”below” display_style=”button”]