Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through this blessed time and season of Advent, we are all lovingly reminded through the Scriptures of God’s ever generous love and providence, and of everything that He has prepared and given to us all, and how beloved all of us are to Him. In this time and season of Advent, we are all preparing ourselves spiritually and mentally so that we may truly be able to celebrate the upcoming joyous season of Christmas with proper disposition and understanding. Instead of all the excesses of the worldly and secular Christmas that we all may be accustomed to, we are all called to remember that ultimately, Christmas is about Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and all the joy that He has brought us by His coming into this world, fulfilling all that He has promised to us.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the prophet spoke of the moment when the Lord will bring all of His people together and bless them forever with everlasting joy and happiness. The Lord promised all of His people that He would gather them to a place of eternal bliss, where suffering, pain and sorrow will no longer exist, and where everything will be perfect just as He has always intended it to be. Sufferings and pain, difficulties, trials and challenges that we faced, all these are the consequences and effects of our sins. Thus, as God will bring us all completely out of the dominion of sin, and as He has revealed it through His Son, Whom He sent into this world to save us by His crucifixion and death on the Cross, this is why all of us are reminded that we all should continue to uphold our faith in the Lord despite the many trials and challenges we face.
Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the Lord showing His love, care and concern to all of His beloved people, as we listened to the examples and what He had done in healing the sick, making the blind to see again, the deaf and the mute to be able to hear and talk again, among other things, and finally, then, also of how the Lord miraculously fed the multitudes of thousands of people who were gathered there to listen to His teachings. Through all these miracles and wonders, and by the feeding miracle of the thousands, all of us have been reminded of God’s ever generous and enduring love, as He showed each and every one of us the wonders of His grace and love, by caring for us and our needs. This is a really wonderful and important reminder for us, what we are all truly rejoice about in the upcoming season of Christmas.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Nicholas, also known as St. Nicholas of Myra. This saint and great man of God is also perhaps better known as Santa Claus by much of the world, as the corruption of the word Sinterklaas, which is the Dutch name and pronunciation of St. Nicholas’ name. Santa Claus is often associated with Christmas celebrations and season, and is ubiquitous and present everywhere there are Christmas celebrations and festivities. However, do we truly know who St. Nicholas of Myra actually was? Santa Claus is often depicted as an elderly man who is wearing a thick and fluffy red coat and overalls, hats and having a long and thick white beard, bringing lots of gifts in a large bag or sack, to be given to children. This is likely from the tradition and beliefs that St. Nicholas of Myra did so during his time and ministry as Bishop of Myra, in showing kindness to the children in his diocese.
However, St. Nicholas of Myra did more than just all that, and he should be remembered much more than merely just in the popular memory and celebration of being a generous old man who brought forth gifts to children. St. Nicholas of Myra was a great and holy man of God, who was a devotee shepherd to the flock that God had entrusted to him. He was known for his great care for the people, both in their spiritual needs as well as their worldly and physical matters, which is why the legend of Santa Claus began in the first place, as St. Nicholas was also known for his great generosity. St. Nicholas of Myra also lived and ministered to the people of God through the time of great division in the Church, as there were many heresies and false teachings running rampant at that time, and he worked hard to keep his people from being misled and misguided.
St. Nicholas of Myra was also a participant at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, where he was one of the bishops and Church fathers involved in the proceedings in formalising the expressions and tenets of the Christian faith. At that Ecumenical Council, the great and harmful heresy of Arianism was outlawed and condemned by the Church. Arianism was a heresy based on the teachings of the popular priest named Arius who rejected the consubstantial and co-eternal nature of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and instead teaching falsely that the Son was the first among those whom God had created. The truth as we uphold it, is that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Most Holy Trinity and Triune God, are co-equal and co-eternal, having existed from before time, and that the Son was begotten from the Father, not created. St. Nicholas was one of the bishops who fervently championed the true faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from the Scripture passages and from the life and works of St. Nicholas of Myra, we should indeed be reminded to put our right focus and attention in our Advent commemoration, as well as our Christmas preparations, and also our way of living our lives so that we may always remain focused firmly in the Lord, our God and Saviour. Many of us have lost our focus and attention on the Lord because of the many worldly temptations, distractions all around us. And with regard to Christmas, we are all accustomed to the way how the world celebrates it, with lots of festivities and celebrations, merrymaking and rejoicing. Yet, the one most important thing about Christmas is often missing from many of our Christmas celebrations, and that is the One Whom we ought to celebrate in Christmas, Christ, Our Lord.
Let us all therefore strive to refocus our attention and path in life from now on, and let us all renew our faith in the Lord. Let us remind ourselves and one another of all the love and the kind generosity which God has always shown us, in patiently loving us and caring for our every needs. Let us all truly be worthy and ready to celebrate Christmas with the right disposition, proper focus and understanding of the true significance and meaning of Christmas. And like St. Nicholas of Myra, let us all be generous in giving and sharing our many blessings in life, and our Christmas joy, that all of us may rejoice together in the same Lord, our Saviour. May our Advent season be truly blessed and fruitful, and may St. Nicholas of Myra, our holy role model and example in faith, intercede for us to the Lord. Amen.