Part 114

24:48. And you are witnesses of these things.

24:49. And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high.

The promise of my Father. . .that is, the Holy Ghost, whom Christ had promised that his Father and he would send, John 14. 26, and 17. 7.

24:50. And he led them out as far as Bethania: and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

24:51. And it came to pass, whilst he blessed them, he departed from them and was carried up to heaven.

24:52. And they adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy.

24:53. And they were always in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome, brother to James the Greater. He was called the Beloved disciple of Christ and stood by at his Crucifixion. He wrote the Gospel after the other Evangelists, about sixty-three years after our Lord's Ascension. Many things that they had omitted were supplied by him. The original was written in Greek; and by the Greeks he is titled: The Divine. St. Jerome relates that, when he was earnestly requested by the brethren to write the Gospel, he answered he would do it, if by ordering a common fast, they would all put up their prayers together to the Almighty God; which being ended replenished with the clearest and fullest revelation coming from Heaven, he burst forth into that preface: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.

John Chapter 1

The divinity and incarnation of Christ. John bears witness of him. He begins to call his disciples.

1:1. In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God.

1:2. The same was in the beginning with God.

1:3. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.

1:4. In him was life: and the life was the light of men.

1:5. And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it.

1:6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

1:7. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.

1:8. He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.

1:9. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.

1:10. He was in the world: and the world was made by him: and the world knew him not.

1:11. He came unto his own: and his own received him not.

1:12. But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.

1:13. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1:14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

1:15. John beareth witness of him and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me is preferred before me: because he was before me.

1:16. And of his fulness we all have received: and grace for grace.

1:17. For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.