St. John: The Prince of Virgins
Why was St. John so beloved by Christ?
*Most of this was extracted and re-phrased from The Liturgical Year and my Breviary.
St. John is a Relative of Jesus. He is an Apostle, a Friend of the Divine Spouse. He is the Eagle, the Theologian. He is an Evangelist, by the history he wrote of the Life of Christ. He is a Sacred Writer, by the three Epistles he wrote, He is a Prophet, by his Apocalypse. Yes, yes: we all know that he was the only Disciple who didn’t run away at the Crucifixion but remained steadfast at the foot of the Cross, and we all know that, after the Resurrection, he ran faster than Peter to the tomb.
And yet, there is something about St. John that is more profound, something that is often overlooked or even unknown: St. John was the Virgin-Disciple, and this was what elevated him above the rest.
In art, St. John is often depicted as a young man, even to the point of looking like a child sometimes. This is not only because tradition holds that St. John was the youngest of the apostles, but his youthful appearance in art also symbolizes his purity.
I think I tend to latch onto and dwell on this aspect of John because purity is treated with such disdain in our culture today. It does us well to remember how very dear, how beloved, the virtues of chastity and purity are to Our Lord.
John is called the Prince of Virgins. It is believed that he was engaged when he met Jesus but left all to follow Him. He followed Jesus and never looked back. He was, and remained, a virgin, and this is why he was so beloved, because chastity is so dear to God.
Immediately after the feast of St. Stephen, the type of Martyrs, we have St. John, the Prince of Virgins, because the noblest and the bravest sacrifice next to the sacrifice of blood, and that which most wins the heart of Jesus, is the sacrifice of Virginity.
St Peter, it is true, was chosen by our Lord to be the head of the Apostles and the Rock upon which the Church was built: he was honored the most. But St John was loved the most. John was more loved by Jesus because his Virginity deserved this special mark of love.
When hanging on the cross, Jesus looked down to see the Virgin-Disciple standing at the foot of the Cross with His Mother, Mary. We know the rest. In Matins this morning, we read this responsory:
V. Now Jesus loved him, for his special gift of chastity made him worthy of greater love: unwedded when chosen by the Lord, he remained unwedded forever.
V. At the end Jesus, about to die on the cross, committed his Virgin Mother to this virgin disciple.
R. Unwedded when chosen by the Lord, he remained un-wedded forever.
Mary is to be John's Mother: it was chastity which won such an inheritance.
“Peter,” says St. Peter Damian, “shall have left to him the Church, the Mother of men; but John shall receive Mary, the Mother of God, whom he will love as his own dearest Treasure, and to whom he will stand in Jesus' stead; whilst Mary will tenderly love John, her Jesus' Friend, as her Son.”
Yesterday we saw the martyr’s Palm in Stephen's hand, which animated us to offer a stronger faith to Jesus. Today, we see the Beloved Disciple breathing upon the Church the heavenly fragrance of Virginity.
Our resolution should be a more intense love of Purity.
“Have we attained knowledge of God? The test is whether we keep His commandments. The man who claims knowledge of God without keeping His commandments is a liar; truth does not dwell in such a man as that. No, if a man keeps true to God’s word, then it is certain that the love of God has reached its full stature in him. That is what tells us that we are dwelling in God.” - St. John the Evangelist (I John 2)