We are Writing this so that Our Joy may be Complete

Today's Mass Readings

In the midst of this octave of Christmas and immediately following the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, we find this feast of John the Apostle and Evangelist. John was known as “the beloved disciple” in the gospel attributed to him. Hence we see that his ministries overlapped; it was in his writing of the gospel that he brought Christ to others. In today’s gospel passage, we read that John went into Jesus’ empty tomb and, “he saw and believed.” This was in some sense the beginning of his overlapping ministry to bring Christ to others; when faced with the empty tomb, John believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And this message is also conveyed in the first reading from an epistle of John. He notes that the Word of Life was made visible, and it is to this Word of Life that the followers of Jesus testify.

Jesus was the Father made visible, and John’s works of proclamation were in the hopes of completing the joy of all others. In this time of Christmas, we reflect especially on God made visible – on Emmanuel, our God with us in the form of a tiny infant. Hence John’s feast fits in here perfectly; he spent most of his life testifying to this God made visible – the God who so loved the world that he sent his only son to live among us. This God among us comes to us in order to complete our joy; the many saints who have gone before us have shared this message with us. Let us follow in the footsteps of John, the Apostle and the Evangelist, by witnessing to the Word of Life made visible, to the God who lives among us and dies for us.

Let our lives bear testimony to the birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.