We celebrate many different saints during this first week of Christmas. Yesterday we celebrated St Stephen, the first martyr of the early Church. Today, it is St John. John was the brother of St James the Greater, both of whom were called the Sons of Thunder by Jesus. James and John were fishermen from Galilee and were the sons of Zebedee and Mary of Salome. Tradition has it that John's Gospel has been traced to him, probably through a community that traced its identity and spirituality to John. Of the twelve apostles, John is the only one described in the Gospels as being present at Christ's crucifixion. Tradition holds that John was the last of the apostles to pass away, the Beloved Disciple who lived out the rest of his life in Ephesus with Mary. We heard the beginning of John's Gospel at the mass on Christmas day. John's Gospel does not contain the story of Christ's birth, but rather describes Jesus as the word of God that existed from the very beginning.
John 1:1-5, 9-14
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
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