St John the Evangelist helps deepen our appreciation of Jesus Christ

“We thank God for giving us, in this Christmas Season, a great saint, a writer, an Apostle and an Evangelist. Because of him, we are privileged to discover the greatness of God and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Msgr Leonard said this on December 27, 2017, in celebrating the feast of St John, Apostle and Evangelist, the patron saint of the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.

The evening Mass was celebrated by Msgr Leonard, concelebrated with Msgr Mario Cadano, the Vatican Charge’ d’affaires for Timor Leste and the 2nd Counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature to Malaysia. Close to 300 faithful were present.

In his homily, Msgr Leonard said someone asked him a question: “Why, during the Octave of Christmas, does the Gospel speak about the empty tomb? What has that got to do with Christmas? What do you think?” he asked. He said the Readings of the day had everything about Christmas. From the womb came forth the Child. The tomb reminds us of the death of Jesus. He grew and became the Saviour of us all. His passion, death and Resurrection is like the saying: from the womb to the tomb; life is short.

“Today, we celebrate our parish feastday,” added Msgr Leonard. “Is it about the Birth, about the little Child? St John the Evangelist helps us to deepen our appreciation of Jesus Christ.”

Msgr Leonard said, “Thanks to this saint, we are reminded about Christmas, about our Saviour.

“The womb refers to the first coming; the tomb means ‘I will return.’ The empty tomb does not signify emptiness but that He came out of the tomb and went back to His Father’s glory.”

Msgr Leonard thanked the Lord for the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.

The procession in honour of St John the Evangelist was held after the Mass. The Litany of the Saints was sung.

Upon reaching the Community Centre hall, the icon of St John the Evangelist was placed there and incensed by Msgr Mario. A prayer to the Evangelist was recited, followed by a short video clip of the saint.

Msgr Leonard said St John is a great writer. “Use your gifts, exercise it, not for yourself, but for the glory of God.” He called on the assembly to use their talents to bring themselves into his service.

He also thanked Msgr Mario for joining us to celebrate the parish feast.

After that, everyone adjourned for a sumptuous dinner, arranged by the BECCOT.

There were also performances by several BECs and the choir. The celebration ended at 10.00pm

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online