What with traveling and all,  I’ve not been keeping up with the Pope’s General Audience talks. He’s continuing his survey of the Church Fathers, something he began on March 7, with Clement of Rome.
On July 4 and August 1, he spoke of St. Basil.
He began with an outline of Basil’s life and his pastoral achievements:

Indeed, Basil created a very special monasticism: it was not closed to the community of the local Church but instead was open to it. His monks belonged to the particular Church; they were her life-giving nucleus and, going before the other faithful in the following of Christ and not only in faith, showed a strong attachment to him – love for him – especially through charitable acts. These monks, who ran schools and hospitals, were at the service of the poor and thus demonstrated the integrity of Christian life.

In speaking of monasticism, the Servant of God John Paul II wrote: “For this reason many people think that the essential structure of the life of the Church, monasticism, was established, for all time, mainly by St Basil; or that, at least, it was not defined in its more specific nature without his decisive contribution” (Apostolic Letter Patres Ecclesiae, n. 2, January 1980; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 25 February, p. 6).

As the Bishop and Pastor of his vast Diocese Basil was constantly concerned with the difficult material conditions in which his faithful lived; he firmly denounced the evils; he did all he could on behalf of the poorest and most marginalized people; he also intervened with rulers to alleviate the sufferings of the population, especially in times of disaster; he watched over the Church’s freedom, opposing even the powerful in order to defend the right to profess the true faith (cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 43, 48-51 in laudem Basilii: PG 36, 557c-561c).

Basil bore an effective witness to God, who is love and charity, by building for the needy various institutions (cf. Basil, Letter 94: PG 32, 488bc), virtually a “city” of mercy, called “Basiliade” after him (cf. Sozomeno, Historia Eccl. 6, 34: PG 67, 1397a). This was the origin of the modern hospital structures where the sick are admitted for treatment.

Aware that “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed”, and “also the fount from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 10), and in spite of his constant concern to do charitable acts which is the hallmark of faith, Basil was also a wise “liturgical reformer” (cf. Gregory Nazianzus, Oratio 43, 34 in laudem Basilii: PG 36, 541c).

Indeed, he has bequeathed to us a great Eucharistic Prayer [or anaphora] which takes its name from him and has given a fundamental order to prayer and psalmody: because of the impulse he gave to the Psalms, the people loved and were familiar with them and even went to pray them during the night (cf. Basil, In Psalmum 1, 1-2: PG 29, 212a-213c). And we thus see how liturgy, worship, prayer with the Church and charity go hand in hand and condition one another.

With zeal and courage Basil opposed the heretics who denied that Jesus Christ was God as Father (cf. Basil, Letter 9, 3: PG 32, 272a; Letter 52, 1-3: PG 32, 392b-396a; Adv. Eunomium 1, 20: PG 29, 556c). Likewise, against those who would not accept the divinity of the Holy Spirit, he maintained that the Spirit is also God and “must be equated and glorified with the Father and with the Son (cf. De Spiritu Sancto: SC 17ff., 348). For this reason Basil was one of the great Fathers who formulated the doctrine on the Trinity: the one God, precisely because he is love, is a God in three Persons who form the most profound unity that exists: divine unity.

In his love for Christ and for his Gospel, the great Cappadocian also strove to mend divisions within the Church (cf. Letters, 70, 243), doing his utmost to bring all to convert to Christ and to his word (cf. De Iudicio 4: PG 31, 660b-661a), a unifying force which all believers were bound to obey (cf. ibid. 1-3: PG 31, 653a-656c).

In the second, he began with a brief summary of Basil’s theological emphasis – on the the way in which the divine image is reflected in human beings, and the dignity that bestows on us:

Basil exclaims: “[Man], be mindful of your greatness, remembering the price paid for you: look at the price of your redemption and comprehend your dignity!” (In Psalmum 48, 8: PG 29, 452b).
Christians in particular, conforming their lives to the Gospel, recognize that all people are brothers and sisters; that life is a stewardship of the goods received from God, which is why each one is responsible for the other, and whoever is rich must be as it were an “executor of the orders of God the Benefactor” (Hom 6 de avaritia: PG 32, 1181-1196). We must all help one another and cooperate as members of one body (Ep 203, 3).
And on this point, he used courageous, strong words in his homilies. Indeed, anyone who desires to love his neighbour as himself, in accordance with God’s commandment, “must possess no more than his neighbour” (Hom. in divites: PG 31, 281b).
In times of famine and disaster, the holy Bishop exhorted the faithful with passionate words “not to be more cruel than beasts… by taking over what people possess in common or by grabbing what belongs to all (Hom. tempore famis: PG 31, 325a).
Basil’s profound thought stands out in this evocative sentence: “All the destitute look to our hands just as we look to those of God when we are in need”.

He continues by referring to Basil’s emphasis on the Eucharist as necessary nourishment (even daily) and his attention to the education of youth.
On August 8, he moved on to the next Cappodician Father, Gregory Nazianzus, again devoting his first treatment to the saint’s life. We pick it up after Gregory goes to Constantinople, still dominated by Arianism:

Thus, he found himself in a condition of minority, surrounded by hostility. He delivered five Theological Orations (Orationes 27-31; SC 250: 70-343) in the little Church of the Anastasis precisely in order to defend the Trinitarian faith and to make it intelligible.

These discourses became famous because of the soundness of his doctrine and his ability to reason, which truly made clear that this was the divine logic. And the splendour of their form also makes them fascinating today.

It was because of these orations that Gregory acquired the nickname: “The Theologian”.

This is what he is called in the Orthodox Church: the “Theologian”. And this is because to his way of thinking theology was not merely human reflection or even less, only a fruit of complicated speculation, but rather sprang from a life of prayer and holiness, from a persevering dialogue with God. And in this very way he causes the reality of God, the mystery of the Trinity, to appear to our reason.

In the silence of contemplation, interspersed with wonder at the marvels of the mystery revealed, his soul was engrossed in beauty and divine glory.

While Gregory was taking part in the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, he was elected Bishop of Constantinople and presided over the Council; but he was challenged straightaway by strong opposition, to the point that the situation became untenable. These hostilities must have been unbearable to such a sensitive soul.

What Gregory had previously lamented with heartfelt words was repeated: “We have divided Christ, we who so loved God and Christ! We have lied to one another because of the Truth, we have harboured sentiments of hatred because of Love, we are separated from one another” (Orationes 6: 3; SC 405: 128).

Thus, in a tense atmosphere, the time came for him to resign.

In the packed cathedral, Gregory delivered a farewell discourse of great effectiveness and dignity (cf. Orationes 42; SC 384: 48-114). He ended his heartrending speech with these words: “Farewell, great city, beloved by Christ…. My children, I beg you, jealously guard the deposit [of faith] that has been entrusted to you (cf. I Tm 6: 20), remember my suffering (cf. Col 4: 18). May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (cf. Orationes 42: 27; SC 384: 112-114).

And today, he continued with Gregory. The Vatican website doesn’t have the full translation up yet, but Teresa at PRF does:

Gregory underscores that man should imitate the goodness and love of God and therefore urges, “If you are healthy and rich, relieve the need of whoever is sick and poor; if you have not fallen, go to the aid of those who have fallen and who live in suffering; if you are happy, console those who are sad; if you are fortunate, help those who are in the grip of misfortune. Give God proof that you acknowledge him, that you are one of those who can do good to others and not one who needs to be helped…Be rich not only with material goods but also with piety – not only with gold, but with virtue, or better still, with virtue alone. Relieve the hunger of your neighbor, showing yourself the best of all. Render God to the unfortunate by imitating the mercy of God” (Oratio 14,26 de pauperum amore: PG 35,892bc).Above all, Gregory teaches us the importance and the need for prayer. He says that “it is necessary to remember God more often even than we draw breath” (Oratio 27,4: PG 250,78), because prayer is the encounter between God’s thirst and ours. “God has thirst that we have thirst of Him” (cfr Oratio 40, 27: SC 358,260).In prayer, we should address our heart to God, offering it to him to be purified and transformed. In prayer, we see everything in the light of Christ, we drop our masks, and we immerse ourselves in truth and in listening to God, feeding the fires of love.
In a poem which was also a meditation on the purpose of life and an implicit invocation of God, Gregory wrote: “You have a task, my soul/A great task, if you will./Examine yourself seriously,/Your being, and your destiny;/where you come from and where you should go;/Seek to know if that which you live is life/ or if there is something more./ You have a task, my soul:/Therefore, purify your life:/Consider God and his mysteries,/what was before this universe/ and what that means for you-/where did you come from and what is your destiny?/ That is your task, my soul:/Therefore, purify your life. (Carmina [historica] 2,1,78: PG 37,1425-1426).
Continually the holy bishop asked the help of Christ to help him arise and continue with his journey: “I have been disappointed, oh my Christ,/for having presumed too much;/ from the heights I have fallen very low./But raise me up again because I see/that I deceived myself;/If I should once again trust only in myself,/I will quickly fall, and the fall will be fatal” (Carmina [historica] 2,1,67: PG 37,1408).
Gregory therefore felt the need to come close to God in order to overcome the fatigue of his own ego. He experienced the impulse of the soul, the liveliness of a sensitive spirit and the instability of ephemeral happiness.
For him, in a life weighed on by awareness of his own weakness and misery, the experience of God’s love always had the upper hand.
“You have a task, my soul,” St. Gregory tells us, as well, “the task of finding true light, the true summit of your life. And your life is to encounter God, who has thirst of our thirst.”

Wonderful. The typical Benedict style of drawing us into the life and thought of someone who lived 1700 years ago, and revealing our shared humanity in the life struggles, the questions and the answers of these great thinkers, helping us see, then what it really means to be the Body of Christ, across time and space.

Do remember that the collection of the Pope’s talks on the Apostles, published in a nice hardbound edition by OSV is available.   It is selling very well – it’s been in the top 1000 at Amazon since its publication, and who knows, it might perhaps overtake JON sometime!  If your parish, parish staff, or just group of friends want some help in using The Apostles for adult education and discussion, check out the study/discussion guide I pulled together, available for sale in packs of 10 or for free download at the OSV site.