02 JANUARY SANTI BASILIO MAGNO and GREGORIO NAZIANZENO
PRAYER TO SAN BASILIO
Mystical column of the Holy Church, glorious St. Basil, animated by living faith and ardent zeal, you not only left the world to sanctify yourself, but you were inspired by God to trace the rules of evangelical perfection, to lead men to holiness.
With your wisdom you defended the dogmas of faith, with your charity you endeavored to raise every fate of neighbor's misery. Science made you famous to the pagans themselves, contemplation elevated you to familiarity with God, and piety made you a living rule of all ascetics, an admirable specimen of the sacred pontiffs, and an inviting model of fortress to all the champions of Christ.
O great Saint, impetrate my living faith to work according to the Gospel: detachment from the world to aim for heavenly things, perfect charity to love God above all things in my neighbor and especially obtain a ray of your wisdom to direct all actions to God, our ultimate goal, and thus reach one day eternal bliss in Heaven.
COLLECTION
O God, who illuminated your Church with the teaching and example of Saints Basilio and Gregorio Nazianzeno, give us a humble and ardent spirit, to know your truth and implement it with a courageous life program. For our Lord ...
O God, who to defend the Catholic faith and unify everything in Christ animated the Saints Basilio Magno and Gregorio Nazianzeno with your Spirit of wisdom and fortitude, let us reach the prize in the light of their teachings and their example of eternal life. For Christ, our Lord.
THOUGHTS OF SAN BASILIO
"Man is a creature who has received the order from God to become God by grace."
This God, says Basilio, must always be before the eyes of the just man. The life of the righteous will in fact be a thinking of God and at the same time a praise continues to Him. St. Basil: “The thought of God once imprinted as a seal in the noblest part of the soul, can be called praise of God, who in every time lives in the soul ... The righteous man manages to do everything to the glory of God, so that every action, every word, every thought has the value of praise ". Two quotes from this saint who immediately give us the idea of his positive vision of man (anthropology) tied firmly to the thought of God (theology).
PRAYER OF SAN GREGORIO NAZIANZENO
All beings pay homage to you, O God,
those who speak and those who do not speak,
those who think and those who do not think.
The desire of the universe, the groan of all things,
they go up to you.
Everything that exists prays to you and every being to you
who can see inside your creation,
a silent hymn brings you up
THOUGHTS OF SAN GREGORIO NAZIANZENO
"Nothing seems more wonderful to me than to be able to silence all the senses, and, kidnapped away from them, from the flesh and the world, to re-enter myself and remain in conversation with God far beyond visible things".
"I was created to ascend to God with my actions" (Speech 14,6 on love for the poor).
«For us there is a God, the Father, from whom everything is; a Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything is; and a Holy Spirit, in whom everything is "(Discourse 39,12).
"" We are all one in the Lord "(cf. Rom 12,5: 14,8), rich and poor, slaves and free, healthy and sick; and unique is the head from which everything derives: Jesus Christ. And as the limbs of one body do, each one takes care of each one, and all of all ». (Speech XNUMX)
«If you are healthy and rich, relieve the need of those who are sick and poor; if you have not fallen, help those who have fallen and live in suffering; if you are happy, console those who are sad; if you are lucky, help those who are bitten by misfortune. Give God a proof of gratitude, because you are one of those who can benefit, and not of those who need to be benefited ... Be rich not only in goods, but also in pity; not only of gold, but of virtue, or rather, of this alone. Overcome your neighbor's fame by showing yourself the best of all; make yourself God for the unfortunate, imitating the mercy of God "(Discourse, 14,26:XNUMX).
"It is necessary to remember God more often than you breathe" (Speech 27,4)