Friday, December 27 : Saint Thomas Aquinas

John’s symbol is the eagle and this is why: the other three evangelists were preoccupied by what Christ accomplished in the flesh and are designated by living creatures who move about on the earth, namely the man, the ox and the lion. John, on the other hand, flying like an eagle above the clouds of human weakness, contemplates the light of unchanging Truth with the eyes of his heart with a gaze that is the most penetrating and unswerving possible to humankind. Attentive to the very divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which he is equal to the Father, John strives above all to make it known in his Gospel as much as, a man among men, he believed it to be necessary. Concerning this flight upwards of John, it is written in the book of Job: “The eagle flies up on high” (Jb 39:27), and again: “his eyes behold from afar” (v. 29), with his spirit’s gaze he contemplates the very Word of God in the bosom of the Father. John’s special privilege was that, among all the disciples of the Lord, it was he who was loved the most by Christ. John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 21:20), as he himself said but without naming himself. Therefore Christ revealed his secrets in a very special way to this disciple who was specially loved. It is he who, seeing the light of the Word more perfectly, makes it known to us, saying: “He was the true light enlightening everyone coming into the world” (Jn 1:9).

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team