Our text begins with the exclamation “Behold.” This word “Behold” is a word of wonder. John had lived among wonders. John’s life, from the time of his conversion, was a life of wonders, not only in what he saw with his natural eye, but in all the sights that the Lord gave him to see with his spiritual eye when he appeared to him in “the isle which is called Patmos.” His life was crowned with wonders in his memorable escape from martyrdom, when, according to tradition, he was cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but came out unharmed, his Master having determined that he was not by martyrdom to glorify his name. If ever there was a seer among men to whom wonders became common things, it was John. Yet as he wrote this heavenly epistle, he could not help bursting out in exclamations of amazement such as do not generally come from writers so much as from speakers: “Behold,” saith he, “Behold, what manner of love!”
–from a sermon of December 19,1886, and quoted by yours truly in yesterday’s sermon
Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
The LORD is God from of old, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. — Isaiah 40:28
Image: Detail, "St. John" by Peter Paul Rubens, circa 1611 pic.twitter.com/SUtCP0ldKE
— Catholic Digest (@CatholicDigest) December 27, 2019