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124.1
First Point
The
mother of Saints James and John having asked Jesus Christ to seat her
two children one on his right and one on his left in his kingdom,
Jesus Christ asked them if they were able to drink the chalice which he
himself would drink. He then said to them that they would drink it,[i]
to show them that both of them by proclaiming his name would suffer
violent torments difficult to endure. This is indeed what happened to
Saint John on several occasions, even though he did not die as a result of
the violent tortures that he suffered. Today the Church honors these
sufferings and has established an important feast to commemorate them.
Look upon Saint John as having been an apostle by his sufferings as
well as by his words and by preaching the holy Gospel. Thank God for
sharing his chalice with him as with his beloved disciple, and in this way
treating him as a true friend.
124.2
Second Point
What
Saint John suffered to honor Jesus Christ and his religion includes the
following: not long after the descent of the Holy Spirit he was put
into prison with Saint Peter;[ii]
after getting out, he was condemned by the Jews to be cruelly scourged.[iii]
Later on, when he was preaching the Gospel at Ephesus, he was brought to
Rome by order of Emperor Domitian, who condemned him to be cruelly
scourged, as the Romans customarily did before putting criminals to death.
Then he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which he emerged,
says Tertullian, stronger and in better health than when he entered it.
Such were the sufferings of Saint John that are honored today by
the Church, especially those he endured at Rome, and the great miracle
that occurred on that occasion. The feasts of the martyrs, says Saint
Cyprian, are exhortations to martyrdom. When we celebrate Saint John's
martyrdom, it should spur us on to suffer, after his example, gladly and
for the love of God.
124.3 Third Point
When
Saint John endured this martyrdom, God preserved his life by a miracle,
because he wished to purify John by fire and thus prepare him to receive
the great revelations he needed in order to write his prophecy, the
Apocalypse. He did this on the island of Patmos,[iv]
to which the same emperor exiled him.
Do not be surprised if God often sends you occasions to suffer. The
more he sends, the more he shows that he loves you,[v]
and the happier you should be, because it is by suffering that he purifies
you so that you may be more pleasing in his eyes. These trials make it
easy for you to preserve yourselves from sin and to receive the graces of
God in abundance. Act so that you may derive this fruit from the trials
you experience.
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