Saint John

The Church celebrates the feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. He is a saint for this Christmas Time and a saint for the Year of Faith, because we are all called to be evangelizers and live and share the Good News with others. We come to know Christ through John's own experience. This is what one of the Entrance Antiphons for Mass said, "This is John, who reclined on the Lord's breast at supper, the blessed Apostle, to whom celestial secrets were revealed and who spread the words of life through all the world" (Magnificat, 405). There are also two quotes that the Magnificat has for our consideration: our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI says, "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person." Saint Edith Stein says, "Through John we know how we are to participate as our destiny in the life of Christ" (405). John had a personal encounter with our Lord and that is what he expresses in his gospel and in his preaching. During the Year of Faith, we are asked to work on our deep, personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. We are the evangelizers, the disciples asked to continue our Lord's mission in our present day. Like Saint John, may we be "Joy-Filled Witnesses to Christ" and live and share what the Lord has done in our lives. May our example touch the life of another so that we can make the presence of Christ known to all peoples!!! Saint John, Pray for Us!!!