{"id":83671,"date":"2013-12-27T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T18:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=83671"},"modified":"2013-12-27T10:29:11","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T18:29:11","slug":"john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/john\/","title":{"rendered":"John"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation.<\/p>\n

I<\/span>t was a little different for me, as I was baptised and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth, and for my confirmation, I took the name of John, for the Apostle and Evangelist, whose feast day is today.<\/p>\n

Given my rather Germanic middle name of Georg, I elect to use a German form of John \u2013 Johannes.<\/p>\n

\"Saint<\/a>

Saint John, apostle, as a young man.<\/p><\/div>Who was Saint John? You can get a pretty good idea by reading (or better yet, praying) the Litany of Saint John<\/a>. <\/p>\n

We know of John from the Gospels, where he is one of Christ’s first apostles, the beloved disciple, younger brother of James. With James and Peter, John forms the inner circle of the apostles, closest to their Master’s confidence. <\/p>\n

He is the fiery son of a fisherman, and he was known to the High Priest in Jerusalem. He was certainly educated, and his family may well have moved through the upper circles of Jewish religious life.<\/p>\n

At the last supper, he lay his head on his Saviour’s breast.<\/p>\n

He was the only apostle to witness the crucifixion. He was one of the first to confirm the resurrection.<\/p>\n

It was to him that Christ entrusted His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n

\"Saint<\/a>

Saint John, evangelist, as an old man<\/p><\/div>He was himself a magnificent witness to Christ, penning a Gospel that begins with thundering words that echo throughout the heavens:<\/p>\n

\n

In the beginning was the Word,
\nand the Word was with God,
\nand the Word was <\/em>God.
\nHe was in the beginning with God.<\/p>\n

All things came to be through him,
\nand without him nothing came to be.
\nWhat came to be through him was life,
\nand this life was the light of the human race;
\nthe light shines in the darkness,
\nand the darkness has not overcome it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He wrote more of the canon: the Book of Revelation<\/em> and at least one letter, and possibly all three that bear his name.<\/p>\n

Two of the verses he wrote are probably the most quoted verses in the entire Bible:<\/p>\n

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)<\/p>\n

and <\/p>\n

“God is love.” (1 John 4:8)<\/p>\n

Alone of the apostles, John did not suffer a martyr’s death. Instead, he died an old man having spent much of his life in a prison exile on the island of Patmos. <\/p>\n

\n

Saint Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: “My dear children, love one another.”<\/p>\n

Saint John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (as seems to be gathered from Eusebius’ history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth of the Christian era, or the sixty-sixth from the crucifixion of Christ, Saint John then being about ninety-four years old, according to Saint Epiphanus.<\/p>\n

(Heavenly Friends<\/em>, St. Paul Editions)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently at one point, some brave soul asked Saint John why he always preached the same sentence. The apostle reportedly replied something like, “Once you’ve got that part down, I’ll move on.”<\/p>\n

What a model for us! Saint John, apostle and evangelist, pray for us.<\/p>\n

\n

O God, who through the blessed Apostle John
\nhave unlocked for us the secrets of your Word,
\ngrant, we pray, that we may grasp with proper understanding
\nwhat he has so marvelously brought to our ears. <\/p>\n

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
\nwho lives and reigns with you
\nin the unity of the Holy Spirit,
\none God, for ever and ever.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptised and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth, and for my confirmation, I took the name of John, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual","category-saint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1aGBK-john","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88008,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-john-apostle-evangelist\/","url_meta":{"origin":83671,"position":0},"title":"Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist","author":"Thom","date":"27 December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptized and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/johntheologian.jpg?fit=600%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/johntheologian.jpg?fit=600%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/johntheologian.jpg?fit=600%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84586,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-john-apostle-and-evangelist\/","url_meta":{"origin":83671,"position":1},"title":"Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist","author":"Thom","date":"27 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptised and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint John, apostle, as a young man.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/john-240x309.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33939,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/my-name-is-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":83671,"position":2},"title":"My Name is John","author":"Thom","date":"27 December 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. Now I was baptised and confirmed on the same day as an adult, so it was a little different for me. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Saints"","block_context":{"text":"Saints","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/saint\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint John, apostle, as a young man.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/john-240x309.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86360,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/john-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":83671,"position":3},"title":"John","author":"Thom","date":"27 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy third day of Christmas! Were today not a Sunday (and the Feast of the Holy Family!), it would be the feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. 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