1st Week of Advent, Friday, Dec 6: St Nicholas (Santa Claus)
Isaiah 29:17-24 / Matthew 9:27-31
Bob Evans had been blind since birth. When he was 50 years old, an operation gave him eyesight for the first time in his life. Suddenly his world changed beyond belief. He said in a Chicago Sun-Times interview: “'It's the most amazing thing in the world. ... I can't wait to get up each day to see what I can see. ... “And at night I look at the stars. Everything is a constant high. You could never know how wonderful everything is.”
This story gives us an insight into Isaiah's prophecy in today's reading, about how life will be changed for people when the Messiah comes.
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Do we see the next life as a life beyond anything we ever dreamed of? “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
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In this season of hope, Advent, the word of God gives us a vision of hope. The mighty who rely on their own political power and alliances will be crushed, but the poor, the deaf, the blind, that is, those who still believe in God’s presence and action in the world, will see salvation. This is the promise of Isaiah in the name of God.
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Great things can be accomplished when there are two factors involved: conviction and commitment. In other words, when we believe in something and we put our energy and even our lives on it, then great things can be accomplished. On the other hand, we can have all the resources and all the tried-and-tested methods, but if we lack the conviction and the commitment, then all the guarantees that something will work will not happen, or that the result will only be mediocre.
In the 1st reading, when the prophet Isaiah wrote those words that began with "The Lord says this: ... ", in effect he was writing an oracle from the Lord God, which is a divine edict. What was his conviction that what he was writing was from the Lord God? Could it be that God appeared to him in a vision and told him to write those words down?
Or could it be that in his reflection and meditation and prayer, he came to a conviction that this is what the Lord God wants him to write down and he committed himself to it? And what he wrote is a prophecy, and as it is with prophecies, it may happen soon or it may happen in another age.
Nonetheless, the prophet Isaiah wrote it down, and he could only put his trust in the Lord that the Word of the Lord will be fulfilled in time to come. Such was the conviction and the commitment of the prophet Isaiah to the Lord and what the Lord had called him to do.
In the gospel, the two blind men followed Jesus along the way and were shouting, "Take pity on us, Son of David." They even had to follow Jesus all the way to the house, considering the fact that they were blind and hence it was not that easy for them to move along. But they did. And when Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I can do this?" their answer showed their conviction about who Jesus is - "Sir, we do." The reply of Jesus is most comforting and consoling as He says this to them, "Your faith deserves it, so let this be done for you."
As we come before Jesus in this First Friday Mass and Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and as we offer up our needs and petitions, Jesus is looking at the conviction of our faith in Him. Like the two blind men, we must call out to Jesus to take pity on us as we offer up our needs and petitions and believe that He will answer our prayers. Let us put our faith conviction in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and let us also renew our commitment to Him in the mission of the salvation of souls.
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When we celebrate the Eucharist, we profess our faith that God, in fact, begins the fulfilment of this promise in Jesus. He restores the eyesight of the blind because they believe. God has committed himself to the world through Jesus Christ.
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Prayer
Lord, our God, you are our light and our help; notwithstanding our limitations and all our ambiguities, we place all our hope in you. We know that we are weak, yet our weaknesses can be constructive. We realize that sin is not dead in us, but still, we sinners can serve you. We are mortal, yet we can live with death as a dimension of life, but not as a final obstacle. God, help us to live with these realities in faith and hope, in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
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Saint Nicholas
Feast Day December 6
Children all over the world know him and love him.
In Germany, he’s Kriss Kringle. In France, he’s Pere Noel.
British children call him Father Christmas. Of course, you know him as Santa
Claus.
He’s got another name, you know. It’s an ancient one that
goes back hundreds of years. It's one of the very first names people called
him: St. Nicholas.
Children tell lots of fun stories about Santa Claus, Pere
Noel, or Kriss Kringle. All of these stories remind us of how much we’re loved
and of how happy we are when we give. The earliest stories we know were told
about St. Nicholas, the bishop of Myra.
Hundreds of years ago, Nicholas lived in a seaside town
named Myra, which is in the country we now call Turkey. Ever since he was a
small child, Nicholas loved God more than anything. He studied hard, prayed
often, and followed Jesus by helping the poor.
The people of Myra loved Nicholas so much that when their
old bishop died, they immediately elected Nicholas to replace him. He served
them well for a long time.
Nicholas was loved for one reason. He loved. He loved God
and God’s people so much that he would do anything for them.
Here is a story about Nicholas that has been passed down
through many generations.
There was a man living in Myra who was very poor. This man
had no wife, but he had three grown daughters who lived with him
In those days, when a young woman got married, she had to
bring money or property with her into the marriage. This is called a dowry. If
a woman didn’t have a dowry, she would never marry.
This man was so poor that he had no money for his daughters’
dowries. And he didn’t have enough money to support them either. He had, he
believed, only one choice: to sell his daughters into slavery. Nicholas heard
about this terrible situation. Late one night, Nicholas crept to the man’s home
and threw something through the window. It was a bag of gold—enough to pay the
dowry for his oldest daughter.
The man was overjoyed, and his daughter was too. She
married, but her father was still left with a problem. Two, to be exact. What
about the two younger daughters? Sadly, he prepared to send them away.
Nicholas returned one night and again threw a bag of gold
through the window. The father rejoiced. But he wondered who was helping him
and why.
Of course, Nicholas didn’t want the man to know. He knew
that it’s best to help others without letting them know we’re helping them. If
we help others in this way, we help because we truly want to and not because
people will praise us for it.
But the father was determined. He had one daughter left and
no money for a dowry. He certainly hoped he would be helped again, especially
because he wanted to find out who was doing it. So he locked the windows and
watched out the door.
Nicholas still wanted to help, but he didn’t want to be
seen. So, in the back of the house, far from the father's sight, he dropped the
bag of gold for the third daughter right down the chimney
Other stories are told about Nicholas. It’s said that God
worked through Nicholas's prayers to raise children from the dead—some who had
been killed in a fire and another child who had drowned. All of these stories
tell us the same thing about St. Nicholas. He lived for God, which means that
he lived for love. If people were in need and he was able to help, St. Nicholas
gave them hope and strength. St. Nicholas never paused for a minute to wonder
what he should receive in return for his help. He only thought about what he
could give to those who needed him.
Stories about St. Nicholas spread from his home in Turkey up
to Russia, where he is still a very popular saint. Through the centuries,
people passed on stories of him across the most northern parts of Europe, then
to Germany, France, and England, and finally to the United States. The children
in every country gave St. Nicholas a name in their own language, and ours is
Santa Claus.
Christmas is a fun, exciting time, isn’t it? It’s fun
because of all the time we get to spend with our families. It's fun because we
do a lot of celebrating. It’s fun because we get to think, sing, and pray about
Jesus, who was born into the world to save us.
Christmas is also fun because we get to give. We can show
our family and friends how much we love them by giving them special gifts that
we make or buy.
We give because we’re thankful. We’re thankful for
friendship and love and for all the people who take care of us. We’re thankful
to God for giving us life.
St. Nicholas was thankful too, and that’s why at
Christmastime we try to be just like him. He was so grateful for the life God
had given him that he just couldn’t stop giving joy and hope to others—no
matter how far he had to travel or how many roofs he had to climb!
St. Nicholas showed his gratitude for God’s gifts by giving to others. What gifts can your family share with those in need?
