Friday, January 2, 2026

 

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

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

Today’s patron saints were great theologians of the fourth century.  Both merited to be celebrated separately as they were until 1969.  However, now they are remembered together because they were the best of friends.  Moreover, their teachings on the Trinity set the new year on a sound theological basis.

St. Basil is called “the Great” because of his many accomplishments.  He wrote a rule for monastic life, reformed the liturgy, championed the poor, and demonstrated the correctness of considering the Holy Spirit “God.”  St. Gregory Nazianzen, a reluctant warrior, contended with false doctrines and their advocates when he would rather have retreated to his monastery.  Gregory showed that the Holy Spirit is not begotten of the Father like the Son but proceeds from Him.  He also laid the foundation for the Christological truth that Jesus is a single divine person with both human and divine natures.

The issues that Basil and Gregory Nazianzen dealt with are largely academic.  Yet they have critical applications in our lives. How are we to understand our redemption if not by one with both a human and a divine nature?  How are we to explain the healing effects of the sacraments if not by the working of the Holy Spirit?  These teachings, based on the Scriptures, make our faith both credible and coherent. 

Thursday, January 1, 2026

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord

(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

Today, the eighth day of Christmas, the Church venerates "Mary, the Mother of God."  The title is by no means peripheral as some others found in the litany of Mary.  Rather it encapsulates the meaning of the Incarnation: God became fully human so that He might redeem all humans from their sins.  For this reason, the Church places this feast on the octave or completion of the high feast of Christmas.

There is another important reason to celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, today.  As this day begins the new year, Mary is given as the patron for the whole year.  Here, patron” has a double meaning.  As patrons of arts support artists and art institutions, Mary supports the Church with her prayers.  Mary is also a patron in the sense that she is one to be emulated. She provides a pattern (derived from the same root as “patron”) or model for Christians to follow throughout the new year.

We should, like Mary in today’s passage, reflect on the events related in the gospel.   But we should not limit ourselves to reflection.  Rather, like Mary raising the Christ-child, we should act on what is revealed to us in ways which give glory to God.

  

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

 The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

(I John 2:18-21; John 1:1-18)

For this last day of the year the Church asks us to reflect on two readings from the world of John, the Evangelist.  Together they point to Jesus as the fulfillment of time.  He is “all in all.”

The first reading’s reference to “antichrists” should not be mistaken as a conspiracy of devils.  “Antichrists” here are fallen away members of the writer’s own community who might influence others to join them.  They have rejected the teaching of the apostles that Jesus is the Son of God who became human to redeem the world from sin. 

The gospel describes the same incarnation.  At the beginning of time, the Father by means of the Son, who is the Word, called the universe into existence.  One may call this moment the “Big Bang.”  In time “the Word became flesh” to give fellow humans life beyond physical life -- eternal life.

Now is a moment to examine our consciences about where we stand with Jesus Christ, the Word of God.  Have we drawn closer to him during this past year by putting into practice living his teaching?  Or have we loved ourselves more than him by putting our will ahead of his?  If we have followed the latter path, tomorrow we begin a new year to change our priorities.

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

 Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord

 (I John 2:12-17; Luke 2:36-40)

Luke, the gospel writer, never tires of including women in his narrative.  After a shepherd looks for a lost sheep, a housewife searches for a lost coin.  Only Luke describes the women of Galilee who accompany Jesus and his disciples.  Today’s passage manifests this same sensibility.   After Simeon holds the baby Jesus in his arms, Anna sees him and praises God.

But Luke’s purpose is more than showing inclusiveness.  By presenting the two elderly Jews, Luke emphasizes that Jesus fulfills Old Testament expectations.  He reminds us that Jesus is part of the Jewish nation which God called as a people especially His own.  Luke also has a universal purpose in mind.  Because of Jesus, God’s people will not be limited to a single nation.  Jesus’ disciples will go to all the nations on earth to expand that people.

The Christian impulse is not just to believe in Jesus but to tell others about him.  The African-American spiritual Christmas carol “Go Tell It on the Mountain” displays this urge.  Being Christian means that we are saved.  We should want everyone we care about to experience Jesus’ salvation as well.

Monday, December 29, 2025

 

Memorial of Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr

(II Timothy 2:8-13.3:10-12; Matthew 16:24-27)

The twentieth century poet T.S. Eliot wrote a play about today’s patron saint, Thomas Becket.  Titled Murder in the Cathedral, the play paints a vivid picture of the bishop-martyr’s final days.  A section called “Interlude” presents Archbishop Becket last sermon.  It is a tour de force combining a heightened spiritual consciousness with beautiful prose

Archbishop Becket is preaching his Christmas homily in his Canterbury cathedral.  He says that this Mass celebrates not only the birth of Christ but, being the Eucharist, his death as well.  For this reason, the archbishop proclaims, the occasion is one of both joy and sorrow.  There is joy, of course, because the Savior has come.  However, sorrow accompanies the joy because every Mass reenacts the death of Christ on the cross to atone for human sin.  Becket explains that the Church has placed the Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, on the day after Christmas so that Christians temper their celebration with a realization of their weakness.  Then the archbishop foretells his own martyrdom.

Most of us love Christmas.  Every year we look forward to its air of friendliness and generosity. But we must not allow the conviviality of the season to turn into debauchery.  Even more important, we should contemplate how full joy only comes from living the self-sacrificing love that Jesus Christ showed on the cross.