The Third Day of Christmas (Feast of St John the Evangelist)
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. I John 1:1
St John so often expresses divine mystery with eloquent prose – and as we try to unpack this mystery we lose something of it. It’s rather like the intense scrutiny of a work of art when we look to minute detail and forget the majesty.
We have John’s bold assertion about Jesus the word of life– heard about, seen, and touched. When we rely on this assertion we don’t need to ask the how, when or where – we just accept what we are told.
We can often doubt this – but we do touch, we do hear, we do see Jesus in the Sacrament of the Mass AND also in our neighbours and ourselves. Let us pray for the gift to recognise God present in one another, and in ourselves. Let us resolve to nurture God within us, and around us. We are told in the Gospel that John and Jesus were especially close, and we are called to that same intimate relationship.
St Chrysostom's Church News and Views 