IN his commentary on the Gospel of St. John, St. Thomas Aquinas explains, with words that seem too brief for such important things, why St. John, the Beloved, is more beloved as to receive distinction compared to the other disciples. St. Thomas tells us that it is because of his youth, his chastity, and his wisdom.
Youth. St. John is more beloved because, compared to the other disciples, he is younger. The significance of this seems to be in what it means to be youthful. Perhaps this means that St. John, like many young people is passionate, enthusiastic, and tireless –not for just for anything but for God. He has been a disciple of St. John the Baptist before he became a disciple of the Lord.
Chastity. St. Thomas goes on to explain that when St. John was called, he was a virgin and he remained so. Setting aside the sexual and devalued idea the world has of virginity, virginity here means that Our Lord was the first love and the only love of St. John. He was young and could have had many opportunities and love affairs with countless women but he chose to abandon all those so as to give himself to Our Lord to the maximum.
Wisdom. It is not disputed how, compared to the other gospels, the gospel of St. John seems to be more philosophical.
In his life we see that he has been searching for truth--from being a disciple of St. John the Baptist to being a disciple of Our Lord. It seems that he is passionate about the Truth. This Truth is the Eternal Truth –our Lord Jesus Christ. He tries to contemplate our Lord; he wants to contemplate the Truth.
What does this mean to us? Perhaps it could inspire us to work tirelessly for our Lord, to be youthful, to tirelessly give ourselves for the salvation of souls. Perhaps this could lead us to love God very much, to remove from ourselves any attachments, habits, distractions that make it difficult for us to Love our Lord to the maximum.
Perhaps this could lead us to guard and watch out for mortal sin because mortal sin makes us incapable of Charity. Perhaps this can lead us to study so as to encounter the Truth.
Perhaps this could lead us to pursue the contemplative life with more vigor in whatever state of life we are in. Perhaps you, the young man or woman reading this could consider a vocation to the religious life, to give yourself to Our Lord.
But if there’s one thing I want you, dear readers, to remember and if there’s a way to summarize all this, it would be this: the Love of God.
St. John loved our Lord so much that he was always youthful. He loved our Lord so much that he loved no one else. He loved our Lord so much that he tried to encounter him in his study. May you be as youthful, as chaste, and as wise, as St. John.
True enough, these things are easier said than done –that is if we rely only on our efforts. Ask our Lord, however, to give you the grace –that you may be youthful, that you may be chaste, that you may be wise, that you may love him very much, that you may love him to the point of standing beside him and his mother as he hangs dying in the cross, that you may love our Lord like St. John.--Lance Patrick Enad y Caballero