The Beloved Disciple(s)
Before anything
else, I want to talk about my author name: the_beloved_disciple (suggested to me by least_of_the_apostles). And of
course, we are all beloved disciples of Jesus.
During this Lent just passed, I discovered that St. John the Evangelist,
in the gospel which he authored, commonly referred to people not by name such
as “the woman by the well” and “the man born blind”. I was once confused about why St. John would
refer to himself as the beloved disciple as if he were boasting to be the
favourite disciple of Jesus. But, of
course, this just wouldn’t make sense that knowing Jesus so well and writing a gospel
known to be focused on Jesus the person, St. John would be sneaking an opportunity
to enlarge his own self.
I always
grappled with the question: “Who am I? Who am I in Christ?” What would I really
say if someone asked me? Because I really didn’t know. As I was reflecting on the gospel of John and
made this new discovery about it, I realised that the reason St. John spoke of himself
in that way is because of his humility rather than his pride, because that is
how he saw himself, who he saw himself to be in Christ Jesus: the beloved disciple. And that was the identity that he lived and
sought to live. His life’s mission was
that which Christ gave to him; his life was to be that of a disciple faithfully
focusing his life’s journey on the Master and His footsteps. But that wasn’t just it: he was the beloved
disciple. And knowing and
experiencing that love and intimacy from Jesus, he had the strength and the
zeal and the desire to follow the Master, who would become his own
beloved.
And then it
dawned on me — we all know that John 19:26-27 is recognised by Holy Mother Church
as the moment in which Jesus gave His beautiful Mother, Mary, to us to be our
Mother too (and what a tremendous gift that is!) — He gave Our Lady to “the
beloved disciple”. Not just St. John,
the beloved disciple, but the entire Church of beloved disciples! You and me
and all our other brothers and sisters united in the one holy, catholic and
apostolic Church! What a beautiful moment that was when we were given to Our
Lady to be her children, her sons and daughters, and she to us as our mother!
So my brothers
and sisters in Christ, let us strive to live out this identity, as disciples of
Jesus carrying out the mission that He has for each of us individually, walking
in His footsteps. But moreover, as beloved
disciples, knowing how truly infinitely and individually, how personally,
we all are loved by our Lord and letting this be the driving factor in all that
we do in this life that He has gifted to us as a pilgrimage to eternal life in
the Kingdom of His Father.
God bless you,
the_beloved_disciple
