Abbess Macrina: Let us show much love for Saint John the Theologian


Let us strive to cultivate love. If we read the Gospel of Saint John the Theologian every day, we will benefit a lot. Let us show much love for Saint John the Theologian and hold his sleeve. Where is Saint John going? Where he is going, let us go with him, let us be close to him, let us hold his hand. Let us show him piety and, in our prayer, let us fervently ask him to give us innocence and help us to reach divine impassionedness. And then, even if someone shouts near us, reproaches us, speaks ill of us, we will not give him any importance, but we will say: “May he be blessed! Let him tell me!” Compared to the good that he delights in, what are these? He will not give them any importance. Saint John’s mind was entirely light. Just as there is light that nothing can approach, so was his mind. So, let us love him very much and pray to him earnestly, because he only spoke of love. “My children, let us not love with the word…”[1]. How beautiful! When there is love, man endures everything, everything. And sorrows and sorrows and temptations and thoughts, even some tragic events, such as wars, earthquakes, catastrophes, etc. Grace helps so much.

Love is the greatest virtue. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment will help us a lot if we meditate on it well every day, because it is the first and most important commandment. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your mind,” has depth and height. We will have to delve into this commandment to do a “chemical analysis” of it.

We must study the Gospel of John and his Epistles every day. There we will find much about love. “Love one another”[2] and “God is love”[3]. Saint John the Theologian taught us that through love we draw closer to God. As we know, he had great love and faith in Christ, which is why Christ loved him and entrusted his Mother to him. How beautifully he says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”! What a great mystery this is! Let us have reverence for him and ask him to give us love. If we love Christ much, everything will be easy. There will be light in our thoughts, and our souls will have much joy. When we love God with all our soul, with all our mind, with all that is within us, we will also give our lives out of love for God, and this love will bring us Grace and divine enlightenment. And you will see then how the mind will take flight, how it will rise, where it will take you. It will lead you to the mercy of God. Then you will fully understand love for your neighbor.

[1] I John 3:18.
[2] John 15:17.
[3] I John 4:8.

Abbess Macrina Vassopoulos

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