Daily Gospel for Friday, 2 January 2015

Daily Gospel for Friday, 2 January 2015
"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'"(John 6:68-69)
The 9th Day in the Octave of Christmas - Friday before Epiphany
Feast of the Day:
Saint of the Day:
SAINT BASIL THE GREAT
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(† 379)
St. Basil was born in Asia Minor. Two of his brothers became bishops, and, together with his mother and sister, are honored as Saints.
He studied with great success at Athens, where he formed with St. Gregory Nazianzen the most tender friendship. He then taught oratory; but dreading the honors of the world, he gave up all, and became the father of the monastic life in the East.
The Arian heretics, supported by the court, were then persecuting the Church; and Basil was summoned from his retirement by his bishop to give aid against them. His energy and zeal soon mitigated the disorders of the Church, and his solid and eloquent words silenced the heretics.
On the death of Eusebius, he was chosen Bishop of Cæsarea. His commanding character, his firmness and energy, his learning and eloquence, and not less his humility and the exceeding austerity of his life, made him a model for bishops.
When St. Basil was required to admit the Arians to Communion, the prefect, finding that soft words had no effect, said to him, "Are you mad, that you resist the will before which the whole world bows? Do you not dread the wrath of the emperor, nor exile, nor death?" "No," said Basil calmly; "he who has nothing to lose need not dread loss of goods; you cannot exile me, for the whole earth is my home; as for death, it would be the greatest kindness you could bestow upon me; torments cannot harm me: one blow would end my frail life and my sufferings together." "Never," said the prefect, "has any one dared to address me thus." "Perhaps," suggested Basil, "you never before measured your strength with a Christian bishop." The emperor desisted from his commands.
St. Basil's whole life was one of suffering. He lived amid jealousies and misunderstandings and seeming disappointments. But he sowed the seed which bore goodly fruit in the next generation, and was God's instrument in beating back the Arian and other heretics in the East, and restoring the spirit of discipline and fervor in the Church.
He died in 379, and is venerated as a Doctor of the Church. 
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(c. 303 - c. 390)
St. Gregory was born near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, and about 330 AD. He followed the monastic way of life for some years.  Saint Gregory and Saint Basil were life-long friends.
He was ordained priest, and became Bishop of Constantinople in 379, when the Arian controversy was at itsheight. He was forced to retire to Nazianzus, where he died on 25 January 389, or 390.
His learning and his powers of oratory were remarkable, and he was called The Theologian.
The Weekday Missal 

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.

SAINT MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
Anchorite
(† 394)
Macarius when a youth left his fruit-stall at Alexandria to join the great St. Antony. The patriarch, warned by a miracle of his disciple's sanctity, named him the heir of his virtues.
His life was one long conflict with self. "I am tormenting my tormentor," replied he to one who met him bent double with a basket of sand in the heat of the day. "Whenever I am slothful and idle, I am pestered by desires for distant travel."
When he was quite worn out he returned to his cell. Since sleep at times overpowered him, he kept watch for twenty days and nights; being about to faint, he entered his cell and slept, but henceforth slept only at will. A gnat stung him; he killed it. In revenge for this softness he remained naked in a marsh till his body was covered with noxious bites and he was recognized only by his voice. Once when thirsty he received a present of grapes, but passed them untouched to a hermit who was toiling in the heat. This one gave them to a third, who handed them to a fourth; thus the grapes went the round of the desert and returned to Macarius, who thanked God for his brethren's abstinence.
Macarius saw demons assailing the hermits at prayer. They put their fingers into the mouths of some, and made them yawn. They closed the eyes of others, and walked upon them when asleep. They placed vain and sensual images before many of the brethren, and then mocked those who were captivated by them. None vanquished the devils effectually save those who by constant vigilance repelled them at once. Macarius visited one hermit daily for four months, but never could speak to him, as he was always in prayer; so he called him an " angel on earth."
After being many years Superior, Macarius fled in disguise to St. Pachomius, to begin again as his novice; but St. Pachomius, instructed by a vision, bad, rim return to his brethren, who loved him as their father. In his old age, thinking nature tamed, he determined to spend five days alone in prayer. On the third day the cell seemed on fire, and Macarius came forth. God permitted this delusion, he said, lest he be ensnared by pride.
At the age of seventy-three he was driven into exile and brutally outraged by the Arian heretics. He died A. D. 394.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
The 9th Day in the Octave of Christmas - Friday before Epiphany
First Letter of John 2:22-23 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.
24-25 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!
26-27 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.
Live Deeply in Christ
28 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.
Psalms 98:1 Sing to God a brand-new song.
He’s made a world of wonders!
He rolled up his sleeves,
He set things right.
2 God made history with salvation,
He showed the world what he could do.
3 He remembered to love us, a bonus
To his dear family, Israel—indefatigable love.
The whole earth comes to attention.
Look—God’s work of salvation!
4 Shout your praises to God, everybody!
Let loose and sing! Strike up the band!
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1:Thunder in the Desert
19-20 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.”
21 They pressed him, “Who, then? Elijah?”
“I am not.”
“The Prophet?”
“No.”
22 Exasperated, they said, “Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something—anything!—about yourself.”
23 “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.”
24-25 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?”
26-27 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.”
28 These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.
The 9th Day in the Octave of Christmas - Friday before Epiphany
Commentary of the Day:
A homily attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome (?-c.235), priest and martyr 
Fourth century homily for the Epiphany, the Holy Theophany ; PG 10, 852
"I am not the Messiah"
Let us reverently honor the compassion of a God who came to save the world, not to judge it. John’s the Lord’s forerunner, who had been ignorant of this mystery until then, when he learned that Jesus was indeed the Lord, cried out to those who were coming to be baptized: “’Brood of vipers’ (Mt 3,6), why look at me so earnestly? I am not the Christ. I am a servant, not the Master. I am a mere subject, not the king. I am a sheep, not the shepherd. I am a man, not a god. I healed my mother’s barrenness when I came into the world, I did not make her virginity fruitful; I have been taken from below, I did not come down from above. I bound my father’s tongue (Lk 1,20), I have not exercise divine grace… I am insignificant and small but after me comes one who was before me (Jn 1,30).
« In time he comes afterwards, but beforehand he was in the inaccessible and unutterable light of divinity. ‘The one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to take off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire’ (Mt 3,11). I am subject, he is free. I am subject to sin, he destroys it. I teach the Law, he brings the light of grace. I preach as a slave, he legislates as a master. My bed is the earth, his is the heaven. I baptize with a baptism of repentance, he gives the grace of adoption. ‘He will baptize you in Spirit and fire.’ Why honor me? I am not the Christ.”
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