Opening Prayer
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
✠ Amen
As we read the Gospel of John, his Letters, and the Book of Revelation help us to discover his character, so we might know the treasure of the Beloved Disciple.
Most Holy Trinity, we praise you that we may look upon you with unveiled eyes being transformed from glory to glory by the Lord who is the Spirit. In your grace you lavish your blessings upon each of us as beloved disciples, so that we may be equipped to face the challenges of this hour. [Adapted from 2 Corinthians 3:18]
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
✠ Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
✠ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now, and at the hour of our death.
Glory Be (Gloria Patri)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
✠ Amen.
Selections from the Gospel of John, the Beloved Disciple
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” John 15:1-4
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
John 15:9
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:10
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“I do not call you servant any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” John 15:15
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” John 15:16-17
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” John 15:21
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” John 16:7-11
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:13-15
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:20-22
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” John 16:23-24
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” John 16:27
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.” John 16:32
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
Selections from the Letters of John, the Beloved Disciple
“So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.” 1 John 4:21
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” 1 John 5:2
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
Selections from Revelations, by John, the Beloved Disciple
‘Then the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”’ Revelation 10:8-11
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but thy wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” Revelation 11:15-19
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:1-6
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:7-12
✠ Blessed are they that keep these words
“And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.” Revelation 12:13-17
✠ You are my beloved disciple on whom my favor rests
Closing Prayers
Most Holy Trinity, we have read selections from the Gospel of John, the Letters of John, and the Book of Revelation to help us see you like John sees you, to love you like John loves you, to take on the character of John… so that we may abide in you and you in us and become beloved disciples, transformed from glory to glory, by the Lord who is the Spirit.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit .
✠ Amen