Called from mending the nets to follow Jesus; became the beloved disciple. St John wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse. His passages on the pre-existence of the Word, who by his Incarnation became the light of the world and life of our souls, are among the finest of the New Testament. Thus he is regarded as the evangelist of the divinity of Christ and of fraternal love.
St James, St Peter and he witnessed the Transfiguration. At the Last Supper, he leans on the Master’s breast. At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts his Mother to his care. John’s pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary.
Ref: Fr James Socias, et al (Eds), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1720
St John the Evangelist
Before our eyes, above all, lies that scene so graphically described by the evangelist John. We are on Mt Calvary, a cross is there, and Jesus is nailed to it. Nearby is the mother of Jesus, surrounded by a number of women. The beloved disciple, John, is there too.
The Dying Man speaks, with the troubled breath of the last agony: “Woman, there is your son.” Then, addressing the disciple, “There is your mother”. The intention is clear: Jesus wills to entrust the mother to the care of the beloved disciple.
Is that all? The ancient Fathers of the Church discerned a more profound theological significance behind that apparently so simple occurrence. Origen identified the apostle John with every Christian. Since him, more and more recourse has been made to this text to justify “the universal motherhood of Mary”.
This conviction has a precise basis in the revealed fact. How can we fail to think, as we read this passage, of the mysterious words which Jesus uttered during the marriage feast at Cana? When Mary made her request to Him, He answered, addressing her as “woman” -- as above -- and postponed the beginning of His collaboration with her for man’s sake to the moment of the Passion, His “hour”, in fact, as He was accustomed to call it.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p39
The disciple whom Jesus loved
St John was a native of Bethsaida, a Galilean town on the northern shore of the Sea of Tiberias. His parents are Zebedee and Salome. His brother was St James the Greater. They were a well-to-do family of fisherfolk who, when they first met our Lord, put themselves completely and resolutely at his disposal.
John and James, answering Jesus’ call, left their father in the boat with the hired hands, and followed him. Their mother also followed Jesus, helping him with her possessions in Galilee and Jerusalem, accompanying him up to Calvary.
The youngest of the Apostles, John was not yet twenty years old when he responded to Our Lord’s call with an exclusive love for Him. His whole life centered on his Lord and Master, his fidelity brought meaning to his life. Ever faithful, he was at Calvary when all other disciples had fled.
Our Lord’s supreme confidence in the beloved disciple was expressed from the Cross when he entrusted to him His greatest love on earth, His most holy Mother. If the most outstanding event in John’s life was when Jesus called to leave all things and follow him, on Calvary he received a more refined intimate charge -- to care for the Mother of God.
We can imagine Our Lady’s enormous influence on the soul of the young Apostle. If we recall those periods in our life when we turned to the Mother of God and were specially close to her, we can appreciate this relationship better. In addition to Sacred Scripture, Tradition relates some details which confirm St John’s great care to preserve the purity of doctrine and his fidelity to the commandment of fraternal love. (“The Navarre Bible”, note on “St John”, 24)
St Jerome tells that when John was a very old man he repeatedly told the disciples who came to seek him, “Little children, love one another”. They asked him why he always went on repeating the same thing. St John answered, “It is the Lord’s commandment and, if that is kept, it is enough”. (St Jerome, “Commentary on Galatians”, 3:6)
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1:245-51
The Apostle of charity
His older years were lived chiefly in Jerusalem and Ephesus. He founded many churches in Asia Minor. In Rome, tradition relates that Emperor Domitian had him cast into a caldron of boiling oil. Unhurt, he was exiled to the island of Patmos for a year. He lived to an extreme old age, outliving all his fellow apostles; and died (~100 AD) at Ephesus.
A stately church erected over his tomb was afterwards converted into a Muslim mosque. St John is called the ‘Apostle of charity’, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master, and which he constantly inculcated by word and example.
Ref: Rev Hugo Hoever, SOCist, PhD, “Lives of the Saints”, p523
‘Queen of apostles. Pray for us.’
Marian ‘Te Deum’
“We praise you, O Mother of God, we proclaim you Virgin and Mother!
“The entire world venerates you as Spouse of the Eternal Father!
“And to you all Angels, Archangels, Cherubims and Seraphims sing unceasingly; Holy, Holy, Holy is the Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin!
“Heaven and earth are filled with the majesty of your Son!
“You are honored as Queen by the whole heavenly court!
“You are invoked and praised as Mother of God by the entire world and by the holy Church.
“You are the gate of Heaven, the ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven and blessed glory!
“You are Spouse and Mother of the eternal King, the temple and sanctuary of the Holy Spirit; the altar of the Blessed Trinity.
“You are the Mediatrix between Jesus Christ and men, the Advocate of the poor!
“You are, after Jesus, our only hope, Mistress of the world, Queen of Heaven!
“We bow to you and salute each day, O Mother of Love!
“Sweet and good Mary, in you we place all our hope, defend us for all eternity!
Amen.”
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, "Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p16
· “If you do not want a refusal, entrust to Mary’s care everything that you want to offer to God.” -- St Bernard (In Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, op cit, p17)
Institution of the Order of Knights of Our Lady, in the year 1370 by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. — Andrew Favin, lib. viii., Histoire de Navarre, and Theatre, d’Honneur, lib. iii. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm).
Institution: Order of the Knights of Our Lady / ‘Militia Sanctae Mariae’ (1370). Knights were principally opponents of usury (understood as exploitive or excessive interest, rather than interest per se). New ultra-traditionalist Order of same name founded 1945 in France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm).
Institution: Order of the Knights of Our Lady in 1370. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html).
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