STS. BASIL THE GREAT AND GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Doctors
Introduction
Today’s liturgy unites in one celebration two close friends, called the Cappadocians (as both came from the region of Cappadocia in Turkey), both monks before becoming bishops. Basil reorganized monastic life. As bishop of Caesarea, he asserted the Church’s independence from civil power, vigorously fought the Arian heresy, and did much to aid the poor; a great theologian, he wrote on the Holy Spirit and also reformed the liturgy; he gave the Oriental Church one of its two greatest eucharistic prayers.
Gregory became bishop first of Nazianzen, later of Constantinople. He could not face the troubles of his times and resigned his office to dedicate himself to theological writing. Notwithstanding his momentary lack of courage, he too became a saint.
1 Jn 2:22-28
So who is lying here? It’s the person who denies that Jesus is the Divine Christ, that’s who. This is what makes an antichrist: denying the Father, denying the Son. No one who denies the Son has any part with the Father, but affirming the Son is an embrace of the Father as well.
Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father. This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!
I’ve written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you. But they’re no match for what is embedded deeply within you—Christ’s anointing, no less! You don’t need any of their so-called teaching. Christ’s anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.
And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.
Jn 1:19-28
When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn’t evade the question. He told the plain truth: “I am not the Messiah.”
They pressed him, “Who, then? Elijah?”
“I am not.”
“The Prophet?”
“No.”
Exasperated, they said, “Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something—anything!—about yourself.”
“I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.” Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. Now they had a question of their own: “If you’re neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”John answered, “I only baptize using water. A person you don’t recognize has taken his stand in your midst. He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I’m not even worthy to hold his coat for him.” These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.
Prayer
Lord God,
Saint Gregory wrote
that the Holy Spirit was his intimate friend
who prompted him to dedicate his life
to make people worship the Blessed Trinity.
We pray that he and his great friend Basil
may inspire all leaders of your Church
and be examples for all of us
by their dedication to the service of the gospel
and to the people entrusted to them.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Reflection:
1 John 2:22-28
Knowing the scriptures is not enough
Today’s first reading from the first Letter of John continues with the warnings about the antichrist and false teachers in the community. St. John defines “antichrist” as someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. The antichrist is a “liar”; he is totally opposed to Jesus, who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
To deny the identity of Jesus as the Son of God is also to deny God the Father. John was confronting the group of heretics who taught that the Son of God entered the man Jesus only at his baptism and left the body of Jesus before the Passion.
At the time when he wrote the Letter, the Gnostic teachers insisted that the apostles’ teaching needed to be supplemented with the “higher knowledge” that the Gnostics claimed to possess. But John warns them to be careful not to be deceived, and the teaching they have received from the apostles is the only reliable source of the true message. He appeals to his readers to remain faithful to the teaching they heard from the beginning and not to be led astray.
This could be the most important message for our reflection today – knowing the content of the scriptures is not enough to walk in the light of Christ (The Gnostics claimed knowledge was everything). This is a challenge for us preachers of the Gospel today. We may have the most in-depth understanding of the scriptures, but if we fail to assimilate it and make the Word of God part of our whole life, our words, actions, and relationships, we will still be walking in darkness, and we will have no life in us.
Through this assimilation of the Word, we become “new” persons. John repeats the promise that he heard from the mouth of Jesus: “You…will remain in the Son and in the Father.” When united with the Father and the Son, we will also be “anointed” by the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand all we need to know to live the life that Jesus proposes. Let us pay attention to the vital warning of John the Evangelist: Beware of false teachers and false doctrines! Anything opposite to the commandment of Love is a false doctrine.
Video available on youtube: Knowing the scriptures is not enough