I feel especially close to St. John the Apostle. I just got Stephen Ray's St. John's Gospel, A Bible Study Guide and Commentary. In the introduction, he talks about the Apostle John. I am just going to put down the instances in which John was a witness according to how Stephen Ray lists them.
(1) While John was mending nets with his brother James and their father Zebedee in a boat, Jesus called the two brothers and they immediately left their boat and their father and followed him (Mt 4:21-22).
(2) He (John) was at the table when Jesus instituted the Eucharist and in fact, was the one who reclined upon the Lord's chest during the meal (Jn 13:23-25).
(3) He received the Holy Spirit as Jesus breathed on him (Jn 20:21-23).
(4) His feet were washed by the Lord himself (Jn 13:5).
(5) As one of Jesus' favorite disciples, he was referred to as "the one Jesus loved" (Jn 13:23; 20:2; 21:20).
(6) Jesus nicknamed him and his brother, James, Boanerges ~ sons of thunder (Mk 3:17).
(7) He fell asleep as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42).
(8) He was there when Judas betrayed the Lord, and then followed Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest (Jn 18:15).
(9) He's the only disciple who stayed at the foot of the Cross, while the others had fled earlier (Mk 14:50; Jn 19:26).
(10) Jesus entrusted his Mother to John's care and John to his Mother's care (Jn 19:26-27).
(11) He was a witness to the Resurrection (Jn 20:1-10).
(12) For 40 days he saw the proofs of the Lord's Resurrection and received further instructions on waiting for the Holy Spirit to come, etc. (Mt 28:16-20; Acts 1:1-10)
(13) While fishing at dawn, he was the first to recognize the Lord standing on the shore of the sea of Tiberias (Jn 21:7).
(14) He saw the Lord being taken up into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
(15) He also saw the Blessed Virgin crowned in glory in a heavenly vision (Rev 12).
John testified to the truth of all that he had written down (Jn 21:24).
Jesus was already real to me, now after reading St. John's personal witnessing, he is more real to me than ever!
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