“I wept many tears over my miserable life.” (Saint Basil).
Recently, our family were faced with the prospect of considering our mortality through the experience of watching the very rapid and unexpected decline of my mother-in-law’s health.
And as I was watching my husband’s family respond and react to very sudden changes on an hour-by-hour basis, it occurred to me that this experience was forcing them to come together.
In the 4th century, Saint Basil and Saint Gregory, who were friends, experienced a conversion and in turning their lives around, spent their remaining years fighting against the Arian heresy.
The Arian heresy was established by a man named Arius, who claimed that Christ was created and finite and that Christ was not of equal divinity with the Father. This heresy was a serious contradiction of our faith, which says that Christ as God the Son is equally Perfect Humanity and Perfect Divinity…
And reflecting on this experience of the Saints, Basil and Gregory, I read some words of Saint Gregory the other day, which said…
“We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. We became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires, the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper. The same hope inspired us. Our rivalry consisted, not in seeking the first place for oneself but in yielding it to the other. Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in Heaven... In order to make a name for ourselves, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians: to be called Christians.”
And I have been reflecting on that over the last few days. You see, we are told, “The Pharisees asked John, ‘Then why are you baptising, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptise with water; but among you stands One whom you do not know, even He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan.” (John 1:19-28).
And I have been reflecting on the differences between Christ and Saint John the Baptist. You see, Saint John the Baptist made a path to his Beloved, and that path was his life’s work. You see, this action of John – this baptism – was a penitential rite to enable people to change their lives. But it was nothing compared with He “…whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
For the Baptism of Christ is transformational not penitential. And understanding that today, I follow the example of Saint Basil, who wrote, “like a man roused from deep sleep, I turned my eyes to the marvellous light of the truth of the Gospel, and I wept many tears over my miserable life.”
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.