2 January 2026 (Friday) / Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Doctors Obligatory Memorial / Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church

2 January 2026 (Friday)

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Doctors Obligatory Memorial.

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First John 2: 22-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 98: 1-4
Alleluia: Hebrews 1: 1-2
Gospel: John 1: 19-28

First Reading: First John 2: 22-28

22 Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father, and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also.
24 As for you, let that which you have heard from the beginning, abide in you. If that abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning, you also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise which he hath promised us, life everlasting.
26 These things have I written to you, concerning them that seduce you.
27 And as for you, let the unction, which you have received from him, abide in you. And you have no need that any man teach you; but as his unction teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie. And as it hath taught you, abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be confounded by him at his coming.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 98: 1-4

R. (3) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
1 Sing ye to the Lord anew canticle: because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm is holy.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
3 He hath remembered his mercy his truth toward the house of Israel.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
3 All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and sing.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Alleluia: Hebrews 1: 1-2
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
1-2 In times, past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets: in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: John 1: 19-28

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou?
20 And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.
21 And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No.
22 They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?
23 He said: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.
24 And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?
26 John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.
27 The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.
28 These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

For our reflection today:

The Gospel speaks to us about John the Baptist and it describes him to us as “the voice of one crying in the desert” (cf. v. 3). The desert, an empty place where one does not communicate, and the voice, a means for speaking, seem like two contradictory images. But they are joined in the Baptist. The desert. John preaches there, near the Jordan River, near the place where his people had entered the promised land many centuries earlier (cf. Joshua 3:1-17). In so doing, it is as if he were saying: to listen to God, we must return to the place where, for 40 years, he accompanied, protected and educated his people, in the desert. That is the place of silence and essentials, where one cannot afford to dwell on useless things, but needs to concentrate on what is indispensable in order to live. And this is an ever relevant reminder: to proceed on the journey of life, we need to be stripped of the “extra”, because living well does not mean filling oneself with useless things, but being freed from the superfluous, to dig deeply within ourselves so as to hold on to what is truly important before God. Only if, through silence and prayer, we make space for Jesus, who is the Word of the Father, will we know how to free ourselves from the pollution of vain words and gossip. Silence and sobriety — in words, in the use of things, in the media and social media — these are not just fioretti [translator’s note: a common practice in Italian devotional life in which someone offers a small sacrifice, a resolution, or the proposal to do a good deed to Our Lord or Our Lady] or virtues; they are essential elements of the Christian life. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 10 December 2023)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)