I often wonder about how the perfect inspirations for the Gospels, books that we know were “co-authored” by the Holy Ghost, came about. The Gospel authors were certainly constant participants of divine intimacy. The Holy Ghost would have easily inspired them, given them infused knowledge, or even communicated with them directly. This is certainly, if not most true, about John.

John was very young, and seemed to have loved Our Lord with the innocence of a child. It seems also that John maintained that innocence throughout his entire life. Indeed, we know that John experienced raptures and visions while he was banished to Patmos by Emperor Domitian. In fact, according to Tertullian, the only reason John was banished to Patmos was because Domitian could not manage to kill the man! He definitely tried … he had him thrown into boiling oil. It did not work. See De praescript., xxxvi (“