Throughout the human history there have been many saints who have lived among us. They followed Jesus’ principles and they did God’s will. One of the earliest saints was St. John, and he lived during the times of Jesus. His childhood and his date of birth are unknown, but it is well known that he was one of the best followers and students of Jesus.
St. John was the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. James the Great with whom he was brought up to the trade of fishing. While Jesus was spreading his teachings and his miracles St. John entered public ministry. Then in his first year of public ministry our Lord called him to be an Apostle. He was called to be an Apostle with his brother, as they were mending their nets on the sea of Galilee. St. John was the youngest of all the apostles, and outlived the others.
It is hard to list in details, all the challenges that St. John faced. His challenges were truly followed by God’s will and helped many people. St. John was one of the first ones who understood and studied how a person should live, how should he behave, and how moral his life should be. He was one of the first to follow those holy principles, and show them to others. One of his greatest challenges was writing a gospel.
St. John the Evangelist is mostly known for writing a fourth Gospel. If you would ask any person to list his challenges almost everybody would tell you that he wrote a gospel. It is believed that he wrote a Gospel at the year of 96, after the death of Domitian. His object in writing it he tells us himself: “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, you may have life in His name.” In order to write a Gospel you have to be truly involved in holy life by yourself. St. John went threw Jesus’ teachings and he opened himself to Jesus. All of his life he spent by expressing love to others and by implementing Jesus principles. Thus before writing a Gospel, St. John experienced it all on himself. He also wrote three epistles. The first is called catholic, as addressed to all Christians, especially his converts. The other two are short, and directed to particular persons, to Gaius and to local church.
“It was a different place when Damien came there and made his great renunciation, and slept that first night under a tree amidst his rotting brethren: alone with pestilence; and looking forward (with what courage, with what pitiful sinkings of dread, God only knows) to a lifetime of dressing sores and stumps.” (Bunson, 250)
A saint is a virtuous person that is honored by church after death who is considered to a degree of holiness and is blessed. In most Christian denominations think all people are saints in the Catholic Church the term saint is given to a person whom which the church has officially been canonized. Furthermore, the Catholic Church explains that they do not create or make a saint; however, they recognize saints. In fact, Frances Xavier Cabrini or as many people refer to her as Mother Cabrini is the first person to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
The Gospel of John, the last of the four gospels in the Bible, is a radical departure from the simple style of the synoptic gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way of showing how Jesus taught, and is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus turning water into wine. While essentially the gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe that it was written by the apostle John sometime between the years 85 and 95 CE in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimonial of one of the Apostles and his version of Jesus' ministry. It begins by telling of the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to prove that He is the Son of God because of the miracles he performs and finally describes Jesus' death and resurrection.
John focuses on the profound meaning of the life of Jesus, whom he saw as the
St. John, at his introduction in the novel, is a clergyman with plans to become a missionary someday soon. This is not surprising for clergymen, according to Andrew F. Walls, author of The Missionary Movement in Christian History, since "a missionary was essentially a preacher, and a preacher should normally be a minister" (161). At this time, it was considered normal for a clergyman to become a missionary. But a missionary did have to be more than a clergyman. He also must have "common sense" and "competence," Walls says. St. John has all of these qualities and more, making him perfect for a life of sacrifice.
In the writing of this gospel, the reader has an opportunity to come to know the prominent Nicodemus. The history of this man is given in the first verse of chapter three. John gives more detail about this spiritual encounter with a non-spiritual
St. Francis of Assisi was born in Umbria in the year 1182. He was a child every father hoped for, he was filled with life, a determined and courageous individual. He was gifted with rather good looks, qualities that attracted friends and a gift of leadership. His father was an extremely wealthy merchant in Assisi. But this son, his favourite, was the one who broke Peter Bernardone’s heart. The boy turned on his father, and in a vicious event that eventually resulted into a public scene. St. Francis of Assisi stepped away from his father, his business and left his father in a state of immense emotional suffering.
...spread their religion and did not stop until their death. It is interesting to find out that there were people like that , that dedicated so much of their lives for a cause. I am sure other saints accomplished as much as St. Boniface, but to my knowledge, he seemed like the most active and aggressive. He not only prayed for change, he went out and made it happen. He took journey’s that lasted years, traveled aimlessly at times, from one ship to another converting pagans and spreading the word as he went along. He even went on these missions in his elder years, though dangerous for his age, he continued until his death.
The Gospel of John begins by stating that God sent John the Baptist to identify Jesus Christ as the true Light and Savior. First Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth(John 975). One day while John was baptizing in the Jordan River, Jesus approached to be baptized. Once He was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. This sign told John that Jesus is the Son of God(John 977).
Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria in the early 1180’s. His fath er was Pietro Bernadone, a very wealthy cloth merchant. His baptized name was Giovanni but it was changed to Francesco. Francis received a decent amount of schooling as a child although he did not show much interest in it. He was very spoiled and did not want to go into his father’s business. He had high status, was handsome, wore fine clothing, and was very well known with the people of Assisi.
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
Before making some discussions on the gospel we believed to be written by the disciple who loved by Jesus (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7) it is good to see the purpose of this gospel. The purpose of the gospel of John seems summarized in two verses “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, who are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31, NIV).
John was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus and therefore an eye-witness (John 19:35); John brings out the spiritual significance as well as recording the practical aspects of Jesus' works and words. John lived to be older than any of the other writers. It is therefore likely that he was familiar with their accounts and wanted to supplement theirs with additional teaching and miracles by Jesus which had a bearing on the situation towards the end of the first century AD.
The four gospels are detailed accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Each portrays a unique story and angle of Jesus, who is the savior of the Jews and the world. Apostle Matthew’s writings are to prove to the Jews that Jesus is their Messiah. Mark stressed the humanity of Jesus and also his deity. Luke wanted to show that the gentile Christian in God’s kingdom is based on the teachings of Jesus. John speaks of Jesus as one sent from God to reveal His love and grace to man. The four gospels work together to elaborate on the several key themes; salvation, spreading His word, and the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.
St Ignatius of Loyola is an inspiring person and has touched the lives of many people even now centuries after his death. Loyola has affected the lives of an uncountable number of people, either directly or indirectly. He started as an extremely brave and tough soldier and turned into the founder of a powerful religious order. He was born in 1491 in Spain and founded the Jesuits in 1540 at the age of 49.The Jesuits today are still a devoted religious order. Everything they do is in God’s name, hence their motto AD MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM this literally means “for the greater glory of God”. (Linten, Seven Things) Many Jesuits (and even non Jesuits like Pope John Paul II) sign their documents with amdg at the end to show that they do their work for God and not solely for themselves. (Linten, Seven Things) The Jesuits have survived multiple persecutions and yet have still remained a major influence in the church and in universities around the world. If it were not for an unfortunate cannonball shattering a soldier’s leg then none of this may have happened.