Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - This week too Pope Benedict XVI's Wednesday audience on 4 July was in two parts, first in St Peter's and then in the Audience Hall. In St Peter's, addressing visitors from various parts of the world, the Pope said he hoped the visit to the tombs of the Apostles would strengthen their faith and he encouraged them to strive to "understand and accept ever more fully the love of God, source and reason of our true joy. We must bear witness to this love which changes life, above all to the most vulnerable and needy persons. Never forget that by spreading divine charity each of us can help build a world of more justice and solidarity.”
In the Paul VI Hall the Pope gave his catechesis on the figure of Saint Basil, described in Byzantine liturgical texts, he said, as a "light of the Church". Basil “was a great bishop of the 4th century admired by the Church in the East and the West for his holiness of life, excellence of his doctrine and the harmonic blend of his speculative and practical gifts” the Pope said. Born in about the year 330 to a deeply Christian family, he studied with the best teachers in Athens and Constantinople. Dissatisfied with his worldly successes and attracted by Christ, he began to look to Him and listen to Him alone. With determination he dedicated himself to a monastic life in prayer, meditation of Sacred Scriptures and the writings of the Church Fathers and the practice of charity…he was ordained a priest and then in 370 Bishop of Caesarea, in present day Turkey”.
The Pope recalled that Basil “undertook intense pastoral, theological and literary activity”, achieving a balanced combination of care for souls and dedication to prayer and meditation in solitude. He fostered the foundation of many "fraternities" or communities of Christians consecrated to God which he visited frequently and encouraged to strive for a life of progressive perfection. “In actual fact Saint Basil created a special form of monasticism: not closed to the community of the local Church but open to it - Benedict XVI pointed out - . His monks were part of the local Church of which they were the driving nucleus that preceded the other faithful in discipleship of Christ not only in the faith, demonstrating fidelity to Him— love for Him — above all with works of charity. These monks, who ran schools and hospitals, were at the service of the poor and in this way they bore witness to Christian life in its completeness”.
Exercising the ministry as Bishop of a vast diocese “Basil was constantly concerned about the difficult material conditions in which his people lived; he firmly denounced evils; he worked to help the poorest and most neglected people; he intervened with governors to alleviate the sufferings of the people, especially in times of calamity; he safeguarded the freedom of the Church, standing up to the powerful to defend the right to profess the truth faith. Basil bore witness to God who is love and charity, building a number of hospices for the needy, almost a city of mercy, which was named after him Basiliade. It was the model at the origin of modern hospitals for the care and treatment of the sick”. He was also a wise “liturgical reformer”: he left us a great Eucharistic prayer which bears his name, he gave a basic order to prayers and psalms, he led the people to know and love the psalms. “And so we see that liturgy, adoration and prayer go together with charity, they condition one another ” the Pope affirmed.
With zeal and courage Basil opposed heretics and those who did not accept the divinity of the Holy Spirit and this is why he is remembered as one of the great Fathers who formulated the doctrine on the Trinity. He also worked to heal divisions within the Church. “In 379 Basil, not yet fifty, consumed by work and ascesis, returned to God ” the Pope concluded. “He was a man who truly lived contemplating Christ, a man of love for others. Filled with the hope and joy of the faith, Basil shows us how to be true Christians ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/7/2007 - righe 48, parole 698)
