Advent: St. Nicholas a.k.a. Santa Claus

In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Saturday, December 7, 2013

 

"If you were in the streets yesterday and today you certainly met him frequently - him being Saint Nicholas, dressed more or less correctly as a bishop, and surely never without the flowing white beard typical of his pictures since the eight century.

 

"More or less bishop like is what these figures of St. Nicholas say and do; often they act in boogeymen rather than representing the saint's love told in legends in many variations. Precisely who was he in historical fact?

 

"Tradition has always identified Saint Nicholas with the bishop Nicholas who was a participant at the council of Nicaea and who, together with that first great assembly of bishops, formulated the profession of faith in the true divinity of Christ.

 

"From a different angle the most ancient source about Nicholas leads us into the same direction. Nicholas is one of the first of those venerated as saints without being martyrs.

 

"During the time when Christians were persecuted, those who resisted the power of the pagan state and in defense of their faith pledged their very lives were spontaneously looked upon as the guiding lights of the Faith.

 

"One of the sacred legends aptly states that all kinds of miracles could also be repeated by sorcerers and demons, and so they would remain ambiguous. One thing only would be totally unambiguous and not open to any deception; to practice goodness a whole life long; to live the Faith and hold fast to love in the common affairs of every day.

 

"The people of the fourth century experience this miracle in Nicholas, and all the other miracle stories, invented by later legends...

 

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Excerpts from a homily:

"The Trinity is gazing down on humanity. They decide that the Son will become a man. If we gaze upon humanity what do we see.... Last week we saw the celebration of a vast sea of consumerism and a stampede, fighting over the purchase of special sales.... God looks down upon us with mercy and compassion looking  beyond materialism... That was the first Sunday of Advent ... Jesus in among the vast ocean of humanity...

"Advent is about embracing the darkness and looking for the light of Jesus... If we have the eyes to see... You have to be able to recognize that life on this earth is meaningless. However, there is something in life. It is Jesus Christ that gives us meaning in life... Jesus entered the world and gives purpose, embracing the darkness at the same time... It is the finding the light of Jesus in the darkness...

"The mystery of God stepping into the darkness and Jesus Christ entering this world bringing life and the ultimate is God himself...

"Advent is about embracing the darkness our humanity is at the same time finding the light of Jesus... Advent is the season to celebrate the Incarnation... Our whole life is one long Advent... Let us live out that reality." Excerpts from Co-Workers of the Truth, Cardinal Ratzinger, Med., Dec. 6/13

 

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George Washington concluded his first Inaugural Address:

"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency... We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained"

 

George H. Kubeck: OUR NATION TODAY DISREGARDS THE ETERNAL RULES OF ORDER AND RIGHT.