From the bottom of my heart, wish you a nice St. Nicholas Day and a contemplative Advent season.
Everyone knows him and yet so little of his life and work has been handed down… and what has been handed down is known to so few people today. He is one of the most popular saints in the Latin Church and the Eastern Church.
Nicholas of Myra, who was canonized, was born around 270 in the ancient city of Patara on the Mediterranean coast of Lycia, in what is now Turkey. He probably died on December 6th at 330.
It is also December 6th that is now celebrated in his honor throughout Christianity.
In the fourth century he served as Bishop of Mira in the Lycian region.
When you try to translate his name from Greek, you get “Victorious of the People,” or “Victory of the People.”
This is where his isolated deeds and miracles are reported.
I would like to leave one of them to your senses today.
This is probably how the following incident occurred, during a great famine. During this famine, Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, heard that a large ship was anchored full of grain. It was supposed to bring all the grain to the capital to the emperor in Byzantium. So, the bishop personally asked the crew of the ship to unload some of the loaded grain to help the population in their need. At first the sailors did not want to comply with the bishop’s request because the grain had been weighed very precisely and was supposed to reach the emperor in its entirety. But the bishop, our holy St. Nicholas, did not give up and promised them that they would not come to harm from the emperor if they agreed to his request to unload some of the grain. The crew of the ship believed the bishop. – What a miracle when the sailors arrived in the capital and unloaded the remaining grain for the emperor and found that the weight of the grain had not changed, even though they had taken out some. So, the emperor was satisfied and at the same time the amount of grain taken helped the suffering population through the famine and even for two years. There was also enough for sowing.
Isn’t it good to hear about such miracles every now and then, if only to remind yourself that selfless help, if you have the right perspective, can bring great blessings.
So, I wish you from the bottom of my heart a nice and perhaps also a contemplative St. Nicholas Day.
Using our senses as senses independent of thinking – who wouldn’t find it easier?!
Your Lady Susan