2 January 2020 - Christmas weekday - Memorial of St Basil the Great and St Gregory Nazianzen - Bishops and Doctors of the Church - 1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4

     We hear a very strong opening in our first reading today, as the writer asks:  Who is the liar?  We hear the word “liar” being hurled at people a lot in politics and in social media, don’t we?  I strikes me as to how uncivil our public discourse has become. But, I think this question in our reading today is there to get our attention, to show what a travesty it is to deny our faith. A couple of times, it states in the reading the importance of remaining in Christ.  For if we remain in his, his truth with remain in us.  

     We honor two men from the Early Church today, two Bishops that have had such a profound affect on our faith that they were named Doctors of the Church.  St Basil the Great, the Bishop of Caesarea, and Gregory Nazianzen, the Archbishop of Constantinople, lived back in the 4th century.  Basil and Gregory are two very interesting figures from the Early Church.  They met when Gregory joined a monastic group that Basil had started.  Until Basil’s rule of life, the monks operated hospitals and guest houses and worked outside in the community.  Both of them left the monastic life and became Bishops.  As Bishop of Caesarea, Basil stood strong against the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. His writings on the Trinity are also quite famous. He also promoted the independence of the Church from the secular Roman government.  Basil also was well-know for his works of charity and mercy with the poor.  Gregory was a defender of these same doctrines.  He became the Archbishop of Constantinople when that important Church seat needed to be re-established after it had be overly influenced by these heretical teachings.  

     In the Second Vatican Council, many people forget that not only did our Church leaders want us to read the signs of the times and dialogue with the modern world, but they also challenged us to look back to the Church Mothers and Fathers and to the faith that the apostles passed down to us.  As we celebrate St Basil the Great and St Gregory Nazianzen today, let us united our prayers with theirs, for the courage to live out our faith in the modern world.