Saint JohnDecember 27
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist. Son of Zebedee (Mk 1:20; Mt 4:21), brother of James the elder (Lk 5:10), and disciple of John the Baptist (Jn 1: 35-41), was among the first to follow Jesus He is the beloved disciple who at the Last Supper placed his head on Jesus’ chest (Jn 13: 23-25). Witness of the transfiguration (Mt 17: 1) and of the Lord’s agony (Lk 14:33), he is present at the foot of the cross, where Jesus entrusts his Mother to him (Jn 19: 26-27). Together with Peter he saw the empty tomb and believed in the resurrection of the Lord (Jn 20: 1-9). Evangelist theologian, he deeply penetrates the mystery of the Word made human, full of grace and truth (Jn 1: 1-14). In the first letter, the summit of wisdom theology, he gives us the highest definition of divinity: God is love (1 Jn 4: 8). Exiled to the island of Patmos, he was caught up in ecstasy on the day of the Lord (Rev 1;9-10) and had the visions described in Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. His memory on December 27 is mentioned in a Syrian “Breviary” from the end of the 4th century, and in the Hieronymian martyrology (6th century). Fr. Dehon wrote: “Saint John was formed as a model of the Priests of the Heart of Jesus especially in the Upper Room and on Calvary. On the burning Heart of love of his divine Master and under the cross, John became a victim of the Heart of Jesus, a victim of love and reparation” (DSP 1919, 107).
