Apostleship of Prayer -- Saints
St. John the EvangelistDecember 27
Saint John was the younger son of Zebedee, and his mother was Salome [Matthew 4:21, 27:56; Mark 15:40, 16:1]. The family lived on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The elder brother of John was James. The mention of the "hired men" [Mark 1:20], and of Saint John's "home" [John 19:27], would seem to imply the family of Zebedee and Salome were not living in poverty
After hearing John the Baptist preaching repentance in the wilderness besides the Jordan, John and James became the Baptist's followers. It would seem that the two disciples who followed Jesus after John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God were Andrew and John. They followed Jesus and after Jesus had asked them "What do you want?" they sought where he lived. Jesus bade them to come and see. John and Andrew spent the rest of the day with him. What they talked about is not known but what we do know is that John became the Beloved Apostle.
John journeyed with Jesus to Capernaum, and thenceforth never left him, save when he was sent on a missionary expedition with another. On this occasion Jesus invested him with the power of healing. He, James, and Peter, became the innermost circle of Jesus' friends. We find these three were with their Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The mother of James and John knew that Jesus love her sons and so made a special request for them, that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left when he comes into his Kingdom. John and James must have been fiery individuals as they had earned the nickname of Boanerges, Sons of Thunder. We find that John was the only apostle who was on Calvary when Jesus was dying. After hearing about the Resurrection from Mary Magdalene, John and Peter hastened to the tomb to see for themselves. In the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension, John and Peter were fishing together on the Sea of Galilee. When Christ appeared on the shore John was the first to recognize him.
There are many stories in tradition about the remaining life of John. We are told that he settled at Ephesus where he died. Another story is that he was thrown into a vat of boiling oil from which he emerged unharmed. Another story about him is that when he was brought into the Christian community he would be encourage to preach. His only words were "Little children, love one another". Then he would slowly walk back to his place in the congregation, though the crowd would be urging him to say more about the Lord.
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