We celebrate the feast days of the Evangelists and the Apostles in our Church’s liturgical calendar, signifying to us how important these individuals are to the founding of our Church and to the way their efforts helped pass down the faith to us. Just two days after we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we celebrate the feast of St John the Evangelist. The poetic opening words of his Gospel was proclaimed at our mass on Christmas day.
Today, however, we hear from one of the last chapters in John’s Gospel, about how the followers of Jesus arrived at his empty tomb with great astonishment and shock. They had believed in Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, but they had just seen him put to death. They were trying to make sense of everything, wondering what his life and his death meant, wondering what God’s will was for them. Mary Magdalene and Peter were the first of the disciples to reach Christ’s tomb. What they saw did match their hopes and expectations. Yet, when John reached the tomb, he went inside, he saw, and he believed.
Sometimes things happen in our own lives that don’t make any sense. Sometimes our lives take a direction that we can’t anticipate, that tests the very core of our faith. Yet, we are asked to lift all of this up to the Lord. We are asked to walk by faith. We are asked to believe. Just as these early followers of Christ were often confused and bewildered, we are called on to follow the example of John. May we look at all that is going on around us. May we face that reality. Yet, in the midst of the conflicting and confusing messages we receive in our lives, may we believe.
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