The Feast of Saint John

See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.~ 1 John 3:1-3
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint John. However, there's a lack of clarity as to which John we celebrate. Some sources say John the Apostle; others say John the Evangelist; still others say they're one and the same. 1900 years later, it's hard to know if the "John" that wrote the gospel is the same "John" that wrote Epistles, or the same one who hailed from Patmos and had some Revelations. Is it the same John that's listed as one of the Twelve? Or was this author part of the Community of the Beloved Disciple?

Or .... does it even matter? We celebrate today the individual(s) who gave us both a Gospel and three letters where the bottom-line message is love.

And really, isn't that what it's all about?

Plus, as an added bonus, on the Feast of Saint John, we get wine with dinner here at the monastery. I'm not quite sure what the origin of that tradition is, but hey, it's wine, so who's gonna complain? :-)

Today also, therefore, happens to be the feast of a good friend of mine, who is currently visiting family and thusly isn't here to celebrate [HA! I get wine and you don't! :-Þ] -- a good friend who, for some reason, everyone at the monastery (and elsewhere) gets mixed up with me (just cuz we're both about the same height, same color shortish hair, glasses, musical -- I just don't get it). So, since I'm sure I'll be receiving plenty of feastday greetings on your behalf (and trying to figure out if I should correct them or not!) I figured I'd take this opportunity to publicly pass them along to you.

So, Happy Feast Day, ummmm .... Steph? Jeana? Itch&Twitch?

And for the rest of you out there ..... well, play nice and love each other!

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
~ 1 John 4:7-12