Today we celebrate "the disciple Jesus loved"

The high-soaring eagle is the symbol of Saint John LAURA ERICKSON IMAGE

"In the beginning was the Word," begins the powerful Gospel of St. John. "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. . . . " -- The Gospel. St. John i. I -- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, page 97

The Gospel of John is distinct from those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, called the Synoptic Gospels because they recount events in similar wording and chronological order. Described as "the disciple Jesus loved," John traveled with Christ throughout his adult life, even to the foot of the Cross. He is said to have known Jesus the man better than any of his other disciples, and it is of the man that he writes. As our Lord suffered on the Cross, he entrusted John with the care of his mother.

“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” - – John 19: 27- 28, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, page 160

The Collect

MERCIFUL Lord, we beseech thee to cast they bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being illumined by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to life everlastng; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. -- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, page 101