A Shepherd In The Field

I keep looking at my phone, waiting for it to ring.   Last week I was late and traveling on one of the busy streets on the Main Line. Now, if you are not from Philadelphia, the Main Line is the geographic designation for a series of Philadelphia suburbs. Google the term Philadelphia Main Line, and you will get a good history. Many do not believe that poverty exists in the Main Line, or at least it is not visible.   It was about 4:00 pm, and I decided to take a shortcut behind a Wawa (Non-Philadelphians - google that also) adjacent to a strip mall.  Navigating through the packed alley, I noticed a woman jumping out of a trash bin. In her hands were two loaves of bread, and standing next to the container were two young children. Perhaps 4 and 6. A boy and a girl.   The mother had a smile on her face as she landed on the ground. The children looked at her with a sense of awe. At that moment, all these thoughts were running through my head. Why was she...

St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in 330. He was one of ten children of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. His brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and his sister, Macrina, are also saints—as was his learned grandmother, St. Macrina The Elder. His best friend in his youth was St. Gregory of Nazianzen. These form a couple of other groupings of “Holy-Among-Holies”: the four great Eastern Fathers: St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, and, of course, Basil. Basil was on his way to becoming a famous teacher when he decided to begin a religious life of gospel poverty. After studying various modes of religious life, he founded what was probably the first monastery in Asia Minor. He wrote a famous monastic rule which has proved the most lasting of those in the East. He is to monks of the East what Saint Benedict is to the West, and Basil’s principles influence Eastern monasticism today.  He was ordained a priest, assisted the archbishop of ...