Thursday, January 2, 2025

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28)

Parents may teach their children that they are not the most important people in the world.  But this lesson pales in value compared to the one that children are not even the most important person in their own lives.  With good intentions parents sometimes tell children the equivalent of airline stewards and stewardesses’ telling passengers to adjust their own oxygen mask before helping their child.  No doubt, that is good advice in an airline emergency, but it should not be used to justify everyone considering first one’s self-interest.

Both readings today advise that Christians should not consider themselves first.  They must always make God their priority.  The reading from John’s First Letter tells the reader to remain in Christ.  That is, he or she should realize that Christ overshadows the self.  Like the whole person is greater than a leg or arm, Christ is greater than the individual Christian.  The gospel shows John the Baptist testifying that he is not the long-expected Messiah.  Rather, he is no more than a bell or siren announcing Christ’s coming.

Today’s saints demonstrated the virtue of “Christ first.”  They were friends who developed such a great love for one another that each sought the other’s welfare more than his own.  Of course, as saints both sought Christ’s glory as the greatest value of life. 

Monday, January 2, 2023

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-280

The Church celebrates the Incarnation -- Christ becoming human – on Christmas.  It is, despite Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman, a holy and glorious day.  But there is little time to reflect on how the Incarnation might happen during Christmas week.  On January 2, the day following the Christmas octave, such reflection is indicated with the Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.

The two bishops and theologians lived during the fourth century when people literally fought over different interpretations of the Incarnation.  They were best of friends when they studied together in Athens.  Basil defended the Church’s Nicene teaching against Arianism, a widespread and deeply rooted heresy claiming that Jesus was not God.  Gregory engaged in the controversy against the more sophisticated heresy of Apollinarianism.  Apollinaris, the bishop who formulated the heresy, taught that Jesus was a divine spirit inhabiting a human body.  Gregory claimed the contrary when he taught that “what is not assumed is not redeemed.”  In other words, if the Son did not have a human soul, the human soul cannot be redeemed.

We believe that Jesus is our redeemer because of the testimony of writers like John in today’s first reading.  He tells us of how people experienced Jesus’ saving power.  We also accept the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation because it follows quite logically from the teachings of thinkers like Basil and Gregory.

Monday, January 2, 2022

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-280

The Church celebrates the Incarnation -- Christ becoming human – on Christmas.  It is, despite Santa Claus and snowmen, a holy and glorious day.  But there is little time to reflect on how the Incarnation might happen during Christmas week.  On January 2, the day following the Christmas octave, such reflection is indicated with the Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.

The two bishops and theologians were best of friends when they studied together in Athens.  They lived during the fourth century when people literally fought over different interpretations of the Incarnation.  Basil defended the Church’s Nicene teaching against Arianism, a widespread and deeply rooted heresy.  To protect divine majesty, Arianism claimed that Jesus was not fully God.  Gregory engaged in the controversy against the more sophisticated heresy of Apollinarianism.  Apollinaris, the bishop who formulated the heresy, taught that Jesus was a divine spirit inhabiting a foreign body.  Gregory claimed the contrary when he taught that “what is not assumed is not redeemed.”  In other words, if the Son did not have a human body, no human body can be redeemed.

We believe that Jesus is our redeemer because of the testimony of writers like John in today’s first reading.  He tells us of how people experienced Jesus’ saving power.  We also accept the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation because it follows quite logically from the teachings of thinkers like Basil and Gregory.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Memorial of Saint Basil and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28)

The First Letter of John hinges on the belief that Christ came in the flesh.  This explains its use during the Christmas season.  In the first century doubters argued that Christ was an angel-like being who saved through revealing the divine will.  Of course, if he were only spiritual, he would not have been like us. Nor could he have sacrificed himself to redeem us from our sins. And we would not have gained an eternal destiny. 

Today’s passage references the anointing the faithful receive after Baptism and at Confirmation.  This sign assures that the Holy Spirit has penetrated our being.  The Spirit inculcates in us the sense of being joined to Christ so that we share in his crucifixion and resurrection.  Now as members of the Christian community, the Body of Christ, we receive all the support necessary to live a life of justice.

The lesson on the Holy Spirit fits the feast of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.  These two Fathers of the Eastern Church commented extensively on the work of the Holy Spirit.  Also, their self-effacing friendship epitomizes the communal assistance necessary for the Christian quest of eternal life.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1: 19-28)

Today the Church recognizes two theologians, Basil (called “the Great”) and Gregory Nazianzen.  It honors them together not just because they were contemporaries but, more importantly, because they were close friends.  It seems as if the Church wants us to begin the New Year with a reflection on friendship.

Gregory Nazianzen once preached about his friendship with Basil.  He said that both came to Athens as students where they competed with one another to learn as much as possible.  But, he went on, their rivalry never resulted in envy over each other’s achievements; rather, out of love, each gladly yielded highest honors to the other.

Aristotle sees various levels of friendship.  We like some people because they are useful for business purposes.  We enjoy others for their good humor or interesting viewpoints.  But we reserve our deepest love for virtuous people in whom we see reflections of ourselves.  They possess the goodness that we wish to attain.  More than that, they help us achieve virtue by their honesty and care.

At the end of the Gospel According to John, Jesus tells his disciples that they are his friends.  He loves them deeply and wants them to share in the unity which he enjoys with God.  One worthwhile resolution for the New Year is to strive to better friends to our acquaintances and to seek a closer friendship with Jesus.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Memorial of Saints Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28)

The saints celebrated today, Basil and Gregory, worked in a time of great theological controversy.  Although the Council of Nicea proclaimed Christ as Son of God and coeternal with the Father, many Christians believed that the proposition contradicted monotheism.  Even some of those who accepted the Nicene Creed had distorted ideas about how Jesus was both God and human.  There was also the question of how the Holy Spirit related to the Father and the Son.  These questions were similar to the ones asked in today’s readings.

It is not certain what John, the presbyter, has in mind when he condemns those who deny the Son.  But it likely has something to do with Jesus’ divinity.  Likewise, the gospel reading seems to be directed toward a Christological question: was John the Baptist or Jesus the Messiah of Israel?  The answers given to these inquiries, implied in each reading, are formative as we begin another year, another milestone in history.

Many look to Jesus as only a great teacher whose wisdom deserves consideration.  We, however, profess him to be the final word of a loving God.  Through his death and resurrection his Father imparts to us his Spirit.  This gift leads us outside the narrow confines of self-interest into the wonders of God’s love.  Here we find the fullness of life that overcomes even death.  Each day of this new year we look forward to delving more deeply into this mystery.