Today we celebrate the Solemnity of St. John—
apostle, evangelist,
and the disciple Jesus loved.
John lived a lifelong relationship with Christ.
He knew Jesus in person,
and he knew Him in prayer.
From that deep, steady prayer life
came the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation—
a poetic Gospel and a book of powerful imagery,
born from a heart that listened to God.
For John, prayer was never an escape from the world.
It wasn’t wishing for something magical.
It didn’t pull him away from reality.
It sent him deeper into it.
Because real prayer faces what is actually happening in our lives.
It does not deny the world.
It does not deny our struggles.
And it does not deny our dignity.
Prayer is the courage to say:
This is who I am.
This is what I carry.
This is what I need.
Prayer is admitting our limits and saying,
“I need wisdom.
I need direction.
I need encouragement from Someone beyond myself.”
If prayer teaches us to face reality,
St. John teaches us to face the deeper reality—
the reality of Christ who entered our world
and made God’s love visible.
John tells us:
We heard Him.
We saw Him.
We touched Him.
Our faith is not fantasy.
It is rooted in the Word made flesh.
But John also teaches us this:
To love Christ now
is to love the One we cannot see with our eyes
but can know with our hearts—
to love the invisible,
and to grow in wholeness through that love.
And prayer is where that happens.
Prayer is where we bring our real lives
to the real God
who became real flesh,
so that we might have real fellowship with Him.
John writes,
“We proclaim this so that our joy may be complete.”
Joy becomes complete
when we stop pretending we can do everything alone.
Joy becomes complete
when we let God into the truth of our lives.
Joy becomes complete
when prayer becomes honest, simple, and real.
So today, with St. John beside us,
we pray not to escape the world,
but to walk through it with Christ’s light.
And in that fellowship,
our joy becomes complete.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
You are the Word made flesh,
the One John saw, heard, and touched.
Make my prayer honest and real.
Help me face my life with courage,
and meet You in its deepest truth.
Let Your light guide my steps,
Your love steady my heart,
and Your joy be made complete in me.
Amen.
St. John, pray for us.
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