St. Nicholas and the Meaning of Advent

A talk given at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church on December 6, on the occasion of the Calgary Regional Meeting of the Catholic Women’s League

Many of you are aware that today is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, because this morning, your children or your grandchildren woke up and found that he had come to visit them in the night, leaving candy, money, and little toys in their shoes.

Today is also Monday of the second week of Advent, which means that we are preparing for the coming of Christ, re-presented at Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with the reciting or singing of the Christmas Proclamation at midnight, and the placing of an image of the Baby Jesus in a creche near the Altar.

The character of Santa Claus is based upon the legend of St. Nicholas, especially his generosity toward children and the poor, and of course we have all played the role of Santa Claus to make sure that the children we love and the poor in our neighbourhood are well looked after at Christmas time.

There are a great many other legends about St. Nicholas that remind us of his generosity and his special kindness toward children. Some of us may have forgotten that he was a real person - he was the Bishop of Myra, which at that time was a small town in Greece - today, it’s a small town in Turkey, and it was recently renamed - it’s called Demre - St. Nicholas was present at the First Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD.

We know whose birth we celebrate at Christmas because St. Nicholas helped to give us these words and was influential in adding them to the Nicene Creed:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father;

These words were added in response to the teachings of the heretical Bishop, Arius, who denied that Christ was God, saying He was inferior to the Father. St. Nicholas was a follower of St. Athanasius, who was The Church's champion against Arianism, and by their combined efforts, the heresy was condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325.

In AD 325 Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, the very first ecumenical council. More than 300 bishops came from all over the Christian world to debate the nature of the Holy Trinity. It was one of the early church’s most intense theological questions. Arius, from Egypt, was teaching that Jesus the Son was not equal to God the Father. Arius forcefully argued his position at length. The bishops listened respectfully.

As Arius vigorously continued, Nicholas became more and more agitated. Finally, he could no longer bear what he believed was essential being attacked. The outraged Nicholas got up, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face! The bishops were shocked. It was unbelievable that a bishop would lose control and be so hotheaded in such a solemn assembly. They brought Nicholas to Constantine. Constantine said even though it was illegal for anyone to strike another in his presence, in this case, the bishops themselves must determine the punishment.

The bishops stripped Nicholas of his bishop’s garments, chained him, and threw him into jail. That would keep Nicholas away from the meeting. When the Council ended a final decision would be made about his future.

Nicholas was ashamed and prayed for forgiveness, though he did not waver in his belief. During the night, Jesus and Mary his Mother, appeared, asking, “Why are you in jail?” “Because of my love for you,” Nicholas replied. Jesus then gave the Book of the Gospels to Nicholas. Mary gave him an omophorion, so Nicholas would again be dressed as a bishop. Now at peace, Nicholas studied the Scriptures for the rest of the night.

When the jailer came in the morning, he found the chains loose on the floor and Nicholas dressed in bishop’s robes, quietly reading the Scriptures. When Constantine was told of this, the emperor asked that Nicholas be freed. Nicholas was then fully reinstated as the Bishop of Myra.

The Council of Nicaea agreed with Nicholas’ views, deciding the question against Arius. The work of the Council produced the Nicene Creed which to this day many Christians repeat weekly when they stand to say what they believe.

During Advent, we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has three Advents - first, the Advent of His coming as a little baby in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Second, He comes to us in the Eucharist, at Mass. And third, He will come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead. When we welcome Him into our lives, He lives with us in our hearts, and guides us to fulfill His will in our everyday lives.

The Church’s season of Advent is a good time to spread good news about Jesus to our friends and family.

The good news for humanity is the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the “Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), who died and rose from the dead. In the time of King Herod and the Emperor Caesar Augustus, God fulfilled the promises that he made to Abraham and his descendants. He sent “his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

From the very beginning the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Jesus Christ in order to lead all to faith in him. Even today, from the loving knowledge of Christ there springs up in the believer the desire to evangelize and catechize, that is, to reveal in the Person of Christ the entire design of God and to put humanity in communion with him.

Given by the angel at the time of the Annunciation, the name “Jesus” means “God saves”. The name expresses his identity and his mission “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Peter proclaimed that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved” (Acts 4:12).

“Christ” in Greek, “Messiah” in Hebrew, means the “anointed one”. Jesus is the Christ because he is consecrated by God and anointed by the Holy Spirit for his redeeming mission. He is the Messiah awaited by Israel, sent into the world by the Father. Jesus accepted the title of Messiah but he made the meaning of the term clear: “come down from heaven” (John 3:13), crucified and then risen , he is the Suffering Servant “who gives his life as a ransom for the many” (Matthew 20:28). From the name Christ comes our name of Christian.

Jesus is the Son of God in a unique and perfect way. At the time of his Baptism and his Transfiguration, the voice of the Father designated Jesus as his “beloved Son”. In presenting himself as the Son who “knows the Father” (Matthew 11:27), Jesus affirmed his singular and eternal relationship with God his Father. He is “the Only Begotten Son of God” (1 John 4:9), the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the central figure of apostolic preaching. The apostles saw “his glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father” (John 1:14).

In the Bible the title “Lord” regularly designates God as Sovereign. Jesus ascribed this title to himself and revealed his divine sovereignty by his power over nature, over demons, over sin, and over death, above all by his own Resurrection. The first Christian creeds proclaimed that the power, the honour, and the glory that are due to God the Father also belong to Jesus: God “has given him the name which is above every other name” (Philippians 2:9). He is the Lord of the world and of history, the only One to whom we must completely submit our personal freedom.

The Son of God became man for us and for our salvation - He became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He did so to reconcile us sinners with God, to have us learn of God’s infinite love, to be our model of holiness and to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

The Church calls the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one divine Person of the Word the “Incarnation”. To bring about our salvation the Son of God was made “flesh” (John 1:14) and became truly man. Faith in the Incarnation is a distinctive sign of the Christian faith.

Jesus is inseparably true God and true man in the unity of his divine Person. As the Son of God, who is “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father,” he was made true man, our brother, without ceasing to be God, our Lord.

God prepared for the coming of his Son over the centuries. He awakened in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming and he prepared for it specifically through the Old Testament, culminating with John the Baptist who was the last and greatest of the prophets. We relive this long period of expectancy in the annual liturgical celebration of the season of Advent.

At Christmas the glory of heaven is shown forth in the weakness of a baby; the circumcision of Jesus is a sign of his belonging to the Hebrew people and is a prefiguration of our Baptism; the Epiphany is the manifestation of the Messiah King of Israel to all the nations; at the presentation in the temple, Simeon and Anna symbolize all the anticipation of Israel awaiting its encounter with its Saviour; the flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents proclaim that the entire life of Christ will be under the sign of persecution; the departure from Egypt recalls the exodus and presents Jesus as the new Moses and the true and definitive liberator.

All are invited by Jesus to enter the Kingdom of God. Even the worst of sinners is called to convert and to accept the boundless mercy of the Father. Already here on earth, the Kingdom belongs to those who accept it with a humble heart. To them the mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed.

As we wait in joyful anticipation of Christmas, when we will celebrate the first coming of Christ into the world, we are reminded that at the same time, we are also waiting for His final coming, and just as the ancient Israelites had no way of knowing when He would come the first time, we also wait, without knowing when He will come at last.

We prepare for His final coming by praying daily and cultivating a strong personal relationship with Him, endeavouring to do His will. We obey His commandments, and we participate actively in His Church, making good use of the Sacraments that He gave us, and helping, each in our own way, to fulfill the Church’s mission, to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded you. Jesus tells us, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)

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Bibliography

https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas/stories-legends/traditional-stories/life-of-nicholas/bishop-nicholas-loses-his-cool - accessed November 17, 6:30 pm
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church - © 2005, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops ISBN: 978-0-88997-543-9