#St Basil the Great

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

St Basil the Great

Doctor of the Church

330-379

Feast Day: January 2

Patronage: hospital administrators, monks, reformers, Cappadocia, Russia

Saint Basil was born in Caesarea, one of 10 children of a saintly family. He was a brilliant student, orator, and lawyer before becoming a monk and writing the rule for Eastern monasticism. He also was a companion of St. Gregory Nazianzen. Basil is responsible for the victory of the Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism, which was denounced at the Council of Constantinople. His zeal for justice and orthodoxy was shown by his fight against simony, clerical abuse, and evil where he saw it. He was an accomplished statesman with great personal holiness. He’s represented carrying a book referring to his influential writings.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[anastpaul]

One Minute Reflection – 14 June – ‘… This is the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price …’

One Minute Reflection – 14 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” and the Octave Day of the Sacred Heart – Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19, John 19:31-37 – – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/ “… One of the soldiers opened His side with a lance and immediately there came forth blood and water. ” – John 19:34 REFLECTION – “Let us draw near to the Heart of our most sweet Lord Jesus and…

[catholic-saint-tournament]

About St Basil the Great

About St Anthony of Padua

Losers' Bracket Round 1

[dramoor]

"This is how you pray continually: not by offering prayer in words, but by joining yourself to God through your whole way of life, so your life becomes a continued and uninterrupted prayer."

~St. Basil The Great

(Icon via etsy)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Καὶ ποῖον, λέγει, ἀδικῶ, μὲ τὸ νὰ κρατῶ γιὰ τoν ἐαυτόν μου αὐτὰ ποῦ μου ἀνήκουν; Ποία, εἰπέ μου, εἶναι αὐτὰ ποῦ σου ἀνήκουν; Ἀπὸ ποῦ τὰ ἔλαβες, καὶ τὰ ἔφερες στὴν ζωὴν αὐτήν; Ὅπως ἀκριβῶς κάποιος ποὺ εὑρίσκει στὸ θέατρο θέση μὲ καλὴν θέαν, ἐμποδίζει ἔπειτα τοὺς εἰσερχομένους, θεωρώντας ὡς ἰδικὸ τοῦ αὐτὸ ποὺ προορίζεται γιὰ χρῆσιν κοινήν, ἔτσι εἶναι καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι. Ἀφοῦ ἐκυρίευσαν ἐκ τῶν προτέρων τα κοινὰ ἀγαθά, τὰ ἰδιοποιοῦνται ἁπλῶς ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἐπρόλαβαν. Ἐὰν ὁ καθένας ἐκρατοῦσε ἐκεῖνο ποὺ ἀρκεῖ γιὰ τὴν ἱκανοποίηση τῶν ἀναγκῶν του, καὶ ἄφηνε τὸ περίσσευμα σ’ αὐτὸν ποὺ τὸ χρειάζεται, κανεὶς δὲν θὰ ἦταν πλούσιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ κανεὶς πτωχός.

'But whom do I treat unjustly,' you say, 'by keeping what is my own?' Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theater, then bar everyone else from attending, so that one person alone enjoys what is offered for the benefit of all in common — this is what the rich do. They seize common goods before others have the opportunity, then claim them as their own by right of preemption. For if we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need.

—St Basil the Great (Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας), καθελῶ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας (350 CE). Below: Five Fathers of the Church (in the center, St Basil the Great (Crete, c 1600))

[Robert Scott Horton]

[orthodoxicons]

It is not he who begins well who is perfect.  It is he who ends well who is approved in God's sight.

St. Basil the Great.

[orthodoxadventure]

[momentsbeforemass]

Daily

“Take up your cross daily and follow me.”

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear that? Good Friday. With a bloodied, beaten Jesus carrying His cross to His impending death.

It sounds like a call to be like Jesus in a moment of great crisis – when martyrdom stands clearly before us. Where the choice is to deny Christ or to be killed, like St. Andrew Kim Taegon and his companions (today’s saints).

The first clue that I’ve got it wrong? The word, “daily.” Why?

Good Friday is a one-time thing. The martyrdom of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and his companions? It’s not something that I can do again tomorrow.

But “taking up the cross” is something Jesus wants you and I to do daily, so that we can be free to follow Him. So that we can be free to become who God made us to be.

So, what is Jesus is talking about? What is this “cross?”

It varies from person to person and from day to day. Because the things that try to get between us and God are different. And they change.

What makes this hard is that the things that come between us and God? It’s not just the obvious stuff, like the 10 Commandments or denying Christ to avoid being killed. Because you and I are vulnerable to just about anything getting between us and God.

From things we like, to things we don’t like, to things that don’t really matter, and even the general busyness of life. Our cross, our struggle?

As St. Basil puts it, our struggle is with “the obstacles springing from the habits of life.”

The things that are rushing at us as we start a random Wednesday is September. That’s the level that we’re working on here.

So here’s the plan, and it comes from C.S. Lewis,

It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.

And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

If we want the freedom that comes from following Jesus. If we want the joy that comes with being who God made us to be. If we want to be ready for the more obvious stuff.

Then this is what we need to do, and it’s why Jesus is telling us to do it daily.

Today’s Readings

[cogentranting]

"Blessed are the ears that have not heard you and the hearts that have been protected against your arguments."

Gonna start replying this to bad takes online and stupid additions to my posts.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (January 2)

St. Basil, one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church and Bishop of Caesarea, was likely born in 329 and died on 1 January 379.

He ranks after Athanasius as a defender of the Oriental Church against the heresies of the fourth century, especially Arianism, which denied the divine nature of Jesus Christ. 

He was a strong supporter of the Nicene Creed.

With his friend, Gregory of Nazianzus and his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, he is part of the trio known as "The Three Cappadocians," of which he was the most important in practical genius and theological writings.

Basil resisted the pressure from Emperor Valens, an Arian himself, who wanted to keep him in silence and admit the heretics to communion. 

No wonder, when the great St. Athanasius died, the responsibility of being the defender of the faith against Aryanism fell upon Basil.

Seventy-two years after his death, the Council of Chalcedon described him as “the great Basil, minister of grace who has expounded the truth to the whole earth.”

[catholicsaintquotes33ad]

[portraitsofsaints]

St Basil the Great Doctor of the Church 330-379 Feast Day: January 2 Patronage: hospital administrators, monks, reformers, Cappadocia, Russia

Saint Basil was born in Caesarea, one of 10 children of a saintly family. He was a brilliant student, orator, and lawyer before becoming a monk and writing the rule for Eastern monasticism. He also was a companion of St. Gregory Nazianzen. Basil is responsible for the victory of the Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism, which was denounced at the Council of Constantinople. His zeal for justice and orthodoxy was shown by his fight against simony, clerical abuse, and evil where he saw it. He was an accomplished statesman with great personal holiness. He’s represented carrying a book referring to his influential writings.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[anastpaul]

Quote/s of the Day – 14 June – St Basil the Great

Quote/s of the Day – 14 June – St Basil the Great (329-379) Bishop of Caesarea, Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church. “Let listening to worldly newsbe BITTER FOOD for youand let the words ofSaintly menbe as combsfilled with honey.” “He seems to demand of usthe most entire renunciation …So, if we keep back for ourselves,any earthly goods or any perishable supplies,our minds will remain…

[catholic-saint-tournament]

About St Mary of Egypt

About St Basil

PRE-SCHISM SAINTS ROUND 1 WINNERS/ROUND 2 BRACKET

[dramoor]

“As the sun surpasses all the stars in lustre, so the sorrows of Mary surpass all the tortures of the martyrs.”

– St. Basil the Great

(Art: The Virgin in Prayer, by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, ca. 1650)

[thecatholiccrusade]

Steer the Ship of Life of My Life, Lord

Prayer by St. Basil the Great Steer the Ship of My Life, Lord Steer the ship of my life, Lord, to your quiet harbor,where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.Show me the course I should take.Renew in me the gift of discernment,so that I can see the right direction in which I should go.And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,even when the sea is rough…