St. Nicholas

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas.  St. Nicholas was a Catholic bishop in the fourth century.  There are so many stories about him, it is difficult to know what is and is not true. According to the stories he defended the innocent, even against the will of the emperor.  He cared for the poor in many ways.  He successfully convinced the emperor to reduce oppressively high taxes.  He destroyed the temple to Artemis.  He was a faithful, just, and compassionate defender of the faith.

Probably the best known story about St. Nicholas is one about his care for the poor.  There was a man who had three daughters, and no money.  Without money for a dowry, they could not marry.  This was a much bigger problem than it sounds to our modern ears.  The girls were likely to become prostitutes.  St. Nicholas heard of this family.  Late one night he slipped out and threw a bag of gold down through an open window.  The gold was used as dowry.  He did this twice more, years later, as each girl came old enough to marry.  His gifts were intended to be anonymous, but the father caught him the third time.

This story is the basis for stories all over the world about dear St. Nicholas.  Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra (somewhere in Turkey) became Sinterklaas (Sint Nicolaas) in the Netherlands, who became Santa Clause.  An early saint, he is revered by many all over the world.  He is considered a saint by both the Catholics and the Orthodox, and even by some protestants.

His feast day is anticipated by children.  They put out their shoes (or stockings) on the eve of his feast day, and hope that in the morning the shoes will be filled with goodies.

St. Nicholas cared for the poor in very practical ways.  During seasons of penitence in the Church we are called to increase our prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  How can we follow in his footsteps?

We talk about Christmas as a 'season of giving,' by which we generally mean 'a season when we give our loved ones things.' We spend so much time and money giving to people who do not need, and drop our extra pennies in the red buckets by the door.  I don't want to trivialize family time and sharing; it is wonderful!  It is not almsgiving.  Can we reserve a night in our over-busy holiday schedules to work in a soup kitchen?  Can we ask our friends and family to give us gifts that support charities?  Here is my recommendation!  They sell all kinds of beautiful handmade gifts!  (http://www.serrv.org/default.aspx?source=F103  Can we ask them to donate to a charity, rather than give us gifts?  What if instead of a gift exchange, we pool the money we would have spent and give it to a local charity?  Eat in, when you were going to eat out, and give the money to someone in need.  I hear that many food pantries are low this year, and the need is greater.  What would St.  Nicholas do?