This saint was scourged, thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil and emerged more youthful than before

                May 6  -------------  St. John of the Gate

One day Mary, the mother of James and John, approached Jesus and asked Him grant her sons a place in Paradise.  To this, Jesus answered that He would soon drink a bitter cup and that his disciples would have to follow in this path.

This same Mary joined her son, St. John the Beloved at the foot of the Cross along with Our Lady and Mary Magdalen.  

In the year 95, John was brought before a Roman tribunal and sentenced to death, being accused of rebellion and and the worship of a "Jew".  He was immediately scourged and then throw into a cauldron of boiling oil. 

But, to the executioner's amazement, the boiling liquid lost all its heat and St. John emerged more youthful and full of vigor than ever.  St. John, a martyr in desire, was then banished to the Isle of Patmos to live a few more years during which he received the visions of the Apocalypse.

St. John of the Gate is also called St. John the Evangelist.  One would not be mistaken to say that he was one of the greatest devotees of Our Lady. After all, Our Lord gave him to His mother and gave His mother to him because John was the faithful one who remained with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross. 

What does it mean to be "at the foot of the Cross" today?  To be a slave of Our Lady according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort and to be totally faithful to the Holy, Apostolic, Roman Catholic Church, in a world which shuns suffering, fidelity and purity, is to be "at the foot of the Cross". 

Each one of us must ponder this seriously to know where he wants to be.