St. John the Apostle - Feast Day December 27

Feast Day: December 27

Born :(around the time of Jesus) :: Died: (around 100)

St. John was born to Zebedee and Salome. 

He was a fisherman in Galilee and was called along with his brother St. James to be an apostle. Jesus gave these sons of Zebedee the nickname, "sons of thunder."

St. John was the youngest of the apostles and Jesus loved him dearly. At the Last Supper, John leaned his head on the chest of Jesus to comfort him.

John was also the only apostle who did not desert Jesus during his passion and stood at the foot of the cross. The dying Jesus asked John to care for his Blessed Mother, Mary.

Turning to Mary, he said to John, "Behold your mother." So the rest of her life on earth, the Blessed Mother lived with St. John. He alone had the great honor of assisting and caring for the all-pure Mother of God.

On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene and the other women went with spices to Jesus' tomb to

anoint his body. They came running back to the apostles with exciting news. The body of Jesus was gone from the tomb.

Peter and John went to see if this was true. John arrived first but waited for Peter to go in ahead of him. Then he went in and saw the neatly folded linen cloths.

Later that same week, the disciples were fishing on the lake of Tiberias but did not catch any fish. A man standing on the beach asked them to let down their nets on the other side of the boat. When they pulled it up again it was full of large fish.

St. John, immediately knew this was Jesus, and called to Peter, "It is the Lord." With the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the apostles were filled with new courage and St. John and St. Peter were thrown into prison for preaching the good news without fear.

After the Ascension, John performed many miracles in the name of Jesus. Hearing him preach, hundreds of people were baptized and became followers of Jesus so St. John founded churches in Asia Minor for the people.

John lived for more than 100 years. He led a life of suffering, preached the Gospel, and became bishop of Ephesus. In the last years of his life, when he could no longer preach, his disciples would carry him to the crowds of Christians. His simple message was, "My dear children, love one another."

St. John died in Ephesus (modern Turkey) around the year 100. A church was built over his tomb and was later converted to a mosque.

source: http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/1227.asp

St. Stephen - Feast Day December

Feast Day: December 26 
Born: (around the time of Jesus) :: Died: (around 33)

Stephen's name means crown. He was the first disciple who died for his faith in Jesus. As chapters 6 and 7 of the Acts of the Apostles tells us, Stephen was chosen as a deacon in the early Church. 

Peter and the apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons and Stephen is the most famous of these.

God worked many miracles through St. Stephen. He spoke with such wisdom and grace that many people who heard him, became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful St. Stephen's preaching was.

They could not answer his wise arguments, so they laid a plot and got men to lie about him. These men said that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great gathering of enemies without any fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.

Stephen spoke about Jesus, showing that he is the Savior God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. 

But Stephen looked up to heaven. He said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. His enemies closed their ears and refused to listen to another word. 

Then they dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" and he fell to his knees but begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him. 

December 5 -- St. Sabas

This Saint was Like Clay in God’s Hands   

St. Sabas (439-532) lived mainly in Palestine.  He left home at a very early age to go to a monastery.  After he had spent ten years in religion, his family attempted to persuade him to leave the monastery and to return home to pursue  a secular life.

He replied, "Do you want me to be a deserter, leaving God after placing myself in His service? If those who abandon the militia of earthly kings are severely punished, what chastisement would I not deserve if I abandoned that of the King of heaven?"

When he was thirty years of age, desiring greater solitude, he began to live an angelic life so far above nature that he seemed no longer to have a body according to St. Euthymius.  Word of his great sanctity spread and, despite his desire for solitude, he attracted many disciples.

As the numbers grew, he organized them into a "laura" which was a semi-eremitical type of monastery.  These monasteries were a great bulwark against heresy.

Being staunchly orthodox, St. Sabas persuaded vast numbers of people to return to the True Faith during times of schism.

Although he wished to remain a hermit, he accepted ordination to
provide the sacraments to those who flocked to his example.  As a result, he founded several influential monasteries which produced several distinguished monks, among whom was St. John of Damascus.

The eastern churches at this time were in great confusion. the Emperor Anastasius supported Eutychian heresy and banished many Catholic bishops.  At age seventy, St. Sabas was sent to stop this fury of persecution.  After success with the Emperor's successor, St. Sabas travelled far and wide to preach and gain back many fallen souls for the Faith.  Finally, four days before he died , he lay in silence without seeing anyone and contemplated God alone.

This story shows that St. Sabas would have been happy to spend his entire life, hidden and in silence.  But God had other plans. 

St. Sabas was generous of soul, totally flexible in God's hands.  He actually spent most of his 90 plus years founding monasteries and preaching against heresy.  We should ask St. Sabas to ask Our Lady for the grace to be like clay in her hands so that we can do what is necessary for the glory of God whether it be in our plans or not.

SOURCE: America Needs Fatima