Homily: December 6 - St. Nicholas, bishop - Defender of Christ's Divinity

Children of all ages can readily identify the saint we honor today.  The man with the twinkling eyes, the smiling face, the ample body and the pillowed red suit.  Historically, we know that Nicholas was a bishop of Myra a city in what is now Turkey in the fourth century.

Perhaps one of the best-known stories about Nicholas concerns his generosity towards a poor man whose daughters were about to be forced into lives of prostitution.  Bishop Nicholas threw bags of gold through the poor man’s windows so he could pay for his daughter’s dowries enabling them to be married.

There’s another story about  the food shortage in Myra, and the local butcher abducted and killed three young men, and put them in brine to cure them before making them into a ham.  Bishop Nicholas became aware of this through the Holy Spirit, found the boys, restored them to life, and converted the butcher.

My favorite story is when Bishop Nicholas was gathered with the other bishops at the Council of Nicaea.  One of the issues the bishops gathered to discuss at Nicaea was the true nature of the incarnation. 

The heretic priest Arius was claiming that Jesus was not really God because he claimed there was a time when the second person of the Trinity did not exist, and that the Father created the Son.  Since, he claimed, the Son was created by the Father, the Son was not fully God, and therefore Jesus, the Incarnate Son, was not fully God.

In the heat of the debate, when Arius was claiming that Jesus was not of the same substance as the father, Bishop Nicholas heard Arius’ heresy, and slapped Arius in front of all the other bishops.  Definitely a violation of protocol, but Nicholas reminds us exactly what we are preparing for during this Advent season.

We prepare, during Advent, to celebrate the birth, not just of a very holy man named Jesus, but God coming in the flesh to save us of our sins.  If Jesus is not really God, then Christmas is a waste of time.  Our culture has lost the sense of Christmas because it has lost the sense that Jesus is really God.  It has become vastly Arian again. 

St. Nicholas, the defender of Christ’s divinity, has been replaced by, the cult of Santa, who unfortunately can distract us from the treat meaning of Christmas.

Parents do well to tell their children about the real Saint Nicholas, for he can be a powerful reminder that God truly became man to free us from our sins, and calls us to a life of charity towards others.  For here was a man who dedicated his life to teaching and preaching the true faith,

In the Opening Prayer we prayed, “Lord, protect us in all dangers through the prayers of the Bishop Saint Nicholas, that the way of salvation may lie open before us.”  May we be inspired by his example and helped by his prayers, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.