January 2nd in Christmastide
We continue to celebrate Christ’s birth – the miracle of God coming to live with us.
Today is the feast of Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen
On January 2, the Church honours the memory of two friends from an area of what is now Turkey that was called Cappadocia. These men began their friendship while away at school and later became bishops, and great teachers of the Christian faith. They were two of the most influential Christian teachers of all time, honoured by both East and West, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic. Gregory here shares some memories of their friendship.
To think about
“Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong. Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.” From a sermon of St Gregory
We pray
Giving thanks for human friendship and love
Those to seek to explain our faith to others
Our Father…
God our Father, you inspired the Church with the example and teaching of your saints Basil and Gregory. In humility may we come to know your truth and put it into action with faith and love. Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
I am amazed at how much these bishops accomplished in a relatively short life. St. Basil was less than 50 at his death as was St Ambrose and his successor St. Charles Borromeo. The life expectancy was much shorter, but there are a number of bishops who survived to a ripe old ageJoe Cirou