Beloved:
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 —
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. (1 Jn 1:1-4)
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist. John is well known for providing us with the most poetic of the four Gospels. Each Christmas at the Mass during the Day, we hear the beginning of John’s Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn 1:1)
John’s Gospel has us look at the life of Jesus in a different manner than the other Gospels. His Gospel is divided into the major “signs” of Jesus:
- Changing water into wine at Cana (2:1-11)
- Healing the royal official’s son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
- Healing the paralytic at Bethesda (5:1-15)
- Feeding the 5000 (6:5-14)
- Jesus walking on water (6:16-24)
- Healing the man blind from birth (9:1-7)
- The raising of Lazarus (11:1-45)
We have heard about the Lord from the beginning of our own days on earth through the words and example of our parents and teachers. Now, we are called to witness to the Lord by our words and deeds.
There are many different ways to do so. We could take the “standard” approach, just as the other evangelists did, or we can take an entirely different view as John did. As long as our words and actions point to the Lord, who has been with us all from the beginning, we will be doing well.
FAITH ACTION: Ask the Lord to reveal His presence to you throughout your day that you may learn to look to Him more.