2 January 2020
Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
In the 1st reading today John again insists that the anti-Christs are liars, but that does not seem to be his main point.
It is rather, a trinitarian aside: The Holy Spirit anoints us, teaches us that the fullness of Christ is in the Father, and that the three persons are within us, giving us assurance of the day of our final judgment, when those sometime pervasive arguments of liars will be forever silent.
But isn’t it a fact that, with all the assurance of our faith and with the Holy Trinity dwelling in us, we sometimes fail to recognize Christ within us, guiding through the crowd of anti-Christs to that day of judgment?
So, the Christmas event is not limited to looking at what took place at Bethlehem, feeling a bit nostalgic while listening to Christmas music, and to watching little kids fight over newly unwrapped toys. As John the Baptist reminds us in today’s Gospel, it is recognizing Christ in the midst of us now, guiding us through the crowd of all of those anti-Christs.
So, with Sts. Basis and Gregory at our side, reminding us what those anti-Christs have done to their Eastern Rite people, our prayers today should be in thanksgiving for Christ’s presence with us and a plea that he remain there in the future.
Then, with Basil and Gregory we should pray for unity soon between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.