December 27 2024 - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist - So our joy might be complete

 

Yesterday, the Church celebrated the first martyr of the Church, the deacon St. Stephen. Today we celebrate the only one of the faithful apostles not to be martyred, yet one who loved Christ from the depths of his soul, St. John the evangelist, the patron of our Diocese.

And for his feast today, we read two passages of his writings: his Gospel account of running with St. Peter to the empty tomb and also the beginning of his first New Testament letter.

Like the prologue of his Gospel, which we read on Christmas morning, the prologue of his first epistle describes the incarnation of Christ—how the Eternal Word made his dwelling among us. 

St. John laid his head on the breast of the Lord at the last supper, and did you notice how John echoed the Lord’s Last supper discourse in his opening lines? John explains that the reason he is writing is so that our joy might be complete. Here John echoes the Lord’s teaching explaining why it is so important for us to remain united to him as branches to the vine. We are to remain united to Him by following his commandments, by loving one another, so that his joy might be in us, and our joy might be complete.

And now in the opening lines of his letter, John claims that he is writing for the same purpose. John sees his vocation as apostle and evangelist for the purpose of helping souls become and remain united to Christ, that life and joy might full our lives. John writes so that we may know Christ, and believe in Christ, and understand his teachings, and obey his commands, so that the life of Christ may animate us. 

During Advent we considered the Church’s mission: to help souls prepare for Christmas. Now, we might consider the Church’s Christmas mission: to help souls draw near to the one born for us, to love him and be ever-more united with Him.

Therefore, we do well to invoke St. John to aid us in our Christmas mission: to help us, like him, to proclaim the Word-made-flesh with integrity and courage, to grow in loving union with the Word through prayer and charity, to help us run with great effort in the Christian life, that we may come to see his glory, that the Lord’s joy might be in us, and our joy might be complete for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

For the Church of Cleveland under the patronage of St. John, apostle and evangelist, for Bishop Malesic all the clergy, religious and lay faithful, that together we may witness faithfully and tirelessly to the truth of the Gospel

That the birth of the Prince of Peace may bring renewed unity and healing for the people and leaders of our nation; and for the protection of our armed forces, police and firefighters, and all those who risk their lives to preserve our security and freedom. 

For those burdened by illness, depression, joylessness, mental distress, or any other difficulty: that they will experience the tenderness and compassion born for us on Christmas. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

Thursday - 5th Week of Easter 2017 - Remaining in Christ's love

St. John’s Gospel is so filled with teachings on Love that it is sometimes even called the Gospel of Love.

Saint John, the patron of our Diocese, was the only one of the twelve faithful apostles who did not suffer martyrdom.  They tried to kill him because of his faith, he was plunged into boiling oil, but he emerged unscathed. So, he was exiled from his home to the island of Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea where he lived to a very old age. There on Patmos, as you might imagine, as last of the twelve apostles, people would flock to him to hear stories of the Master and to hear the Gospel preached.

Every Sunday, the Christians of Patmos, would make pilgrimage to see Saint John and he would celebrate Eucharist for them and preach.  And Sunday after Sunday he always had the same message for them: he would say, “My little children, God loves you.  Now you love Him and love one another.”  Always the same message, Sunday after Sunday: “my little children, God loves you.  Now you love Him and love one another.”

After some time, someone, asked him, “why do you keep repeating the same message, over and over again?” To which St. John replied: “I keep repeating it over and over again because the Master repeated it over and over again. “My little children, God loves you.  Now you love Him and love one another.”

Love is to be at the heart of the Christian life—Jesus tells us to love one another as he loves us. And in the Gospel today, he tells us to remain in his love by following his commandments.Which commandments? Well, all of them. And through the scriptures Jesus issues quite of few of them:

His first command in the Gospel of Matthew is “repent”, turn away from sin and back to God. He commands us to follow him, to rejoice in the things of God, to let the light of faith shine for all to see, to honor God’s law; he commands us to be reconciled with our brothers, to rid our hearts of lust, to go the extra mile in caring for a brother in need, to love, love, love your enemies. He commands us to lay up treasures in heaven and seek first the kingdom of God. He commands us to be baptized, to eat his flesh and drink his blood, to deny yourself take up his cross and follow him.

By keeping his commandments, we remain united to Him and to His Father, we are filled with the Holy Spirit who produces peace, fortitude and joy in us. May we remain in him always, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For ever deeper faithfulness in following the commandments of Christ and for the grace to love those who are difficult to love. We pray to the Lord.
For lasting peace throughout the world: that Christ, the Prince of Peace will put an end to all enmity and division, and unify the peoples of the world.
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, and for the 8 men who will be ordained priests for our diocese tomorrow evening in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.
That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, especially the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.
For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness, and that the Lord may grant his gift of peace to those most in need of it.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Homily: Dec 27 2016 - St. John - Apostle & Evangelist - "Abiding in Love"

Icon by Ann Chapin

Today we celebrate St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, the principal patron of the Diocese of Cleveland.  Our Cathedral is dedicated to this former fisherman who saw the Lord face to face, who laid his head on the Lord’s breast, who heard his words, and in turn proclaimed the message to the world.  

The Apostles were people like us: they walked and talked and slept.  They accompanied the Lord in His public ministry while still on earth.  Yet, like us, their journey with the Lord was also an interior one, they had to learn to trust, to have faith in moments of darkness; their learning how to love like the Lord, and to suffer for the sake of the kingdom, was not without difficulty.

But because they learned the lessons, finished the race, and were faithful to the end, they are our guides teaching us how to walk with Jesus, how to love Jesus and love like Jesus.

The writings of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, his letters and Gospel are saturated with the love of God.  “God is love,” John writes, “he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.” 

John of course is not the only New Testament author to speak of love, but he is the only New Testament writer to give us definitions of God: John writes “God is love”, “God is spirit”, “God is light”.  John is not merely asserting that “God loves” as if God sometimes exercises love and sometimes does other stuff…and John is certainly not deifying human emotion, like our culture does.  John is saying that all of God’s activity is essentially love, born from love and impressed with love: all that God does, he does out of love and with love, even if we are not always immediately able to understand that. 

Such a fitting saint to honor during the Christmas season. For it is from His Gospel we hear that the Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us, out of love for us.

Because we are loved by God, the only adequate response is to love in return: to love him, with our whole hearts and minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

John the Apostle laid his head on the breast of the Lord, putting his ear to His heart.  And we are to do the same, every day, through quiet reflection upon the words and deeds of Christ.  Putting our ears to the heart of the Lord, means listening to his great love for each of us and the love we are to have for one another.

And so we are challenged by our Saint today, called often “the Apostle of Love” to consider, how deeply do I want to know Jesus and to love him?  How seriously do I take the commandment to love my neighbor and love my enemy?   Who have I failed to love as I should?

May our apathy, our selfishness, our fear be transformed into love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.