Memorial of St.s Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen

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

Biographical Information about St. Basil

Biographical Information abut St Gregory

Readings for the 2nd Tuesday in the Octave of Christmas

Commentary:

Reading 1 1 Jn 2:22-28

In this selection from the First Letter of St. John we find a warning about false teaching and a definition of the antichrist as one who denies the Father and the Son. This would seem to indicate that the Johannine community was being assailed by teachers of false doctrines. St. John goes on to encourage them to remember that Jesus is the Son of God, the Anointed One and that they in turn have been anointed in His name. There is the implication although not explicit definition of the Holy Spirit as well; “his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false”.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

We are still in the Octave of Christmas and the New Song is still being sung in Psalm 98. This is a great example of how we, heirs to the Judeo-Christian truth can see clearly in these ancient texts the references to the Christ; “The Lord has made his salvation known”. It is this event about which we; “Sing joyfully to the Lord.”

Gospel Jn 1:19-28

In a kind of scriptural flash-back, we hear John the Baptist being quizzed about his mission by members of the central ruling sect of the Hebrews (“Jews from Jerusalem”). As we heard during our Advent season from the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they ask John first if he is the Messiah; then if he is Elijah, returned from God; and finally if he is “the Prophet” probably like Moses.

This profession by John the Baptist actually serves as an introduction to the Gospel of St. John and communicates through his Cousin, the Lord who is to come after him about whom they are unaware.

Reflection:

For most of us, today is the day when we return to work or school. We go back to the routine interrupted by our anticipation, preparation, and celebration of the events of a week ago. The Church continues to celebrate the Nativity event for several more days yet, holding on to the joy that is the birth of our Lord until we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.

While the Church continues its celebration we face our work, home or school with, hopefully renewed vigor and some resolutions for the New Year. With any luck our Advent exercise let us know we needed to include some spiritual element with the weight loss, spend less, or save more resolutions so popular and so difficult to follow through on.

It is rather appropriate that we are given, on this first day back, what seems to be a Gospel story about the very beginning. John’s mission leads us, almost immediately, to the Baptism of the Lord (we will celebrate that event the day after Epiphany, a week from yesterday). With the Baptism of the Lord we are launched into Jesus’ formal ministry as an adult and all that we promised during Advent must be ready to begin the short assault on secular humanism over the winter months until we reach our Lenten celebrate where the snow will melt and new crops will be planted. We are in training, like athletes before the big game. Let us take pages from the books of the Saints like Gregory and Basil, the two friends whose feast day we celebrate today.

Pax