6 December 2023 – feast of St Nicholas – homily for Wednesday of the first week of Advent - Isaiah 25:6-10A - Matthew 15:29-37

     Today we celebrate the feast of St Nicholas. He is an important figure and symbol in our Advent season. St Nicholas was the inspiration for the figure of Santa Claus in our modern celebrations of the Christmas season. But who exactly was St Nicholas?  He was born in the present-day county of Turkey to a wealthy family and was raised as a Christian, but his parents died from an epidemic when he was young. He inherited a large estate, but walking in the footsteps of the humble disciples who helped feed the hungry crowds in today’s Gospel, Nicholas used his inheritance to help the sick and the poor. He became well-known in his native land for his generosity, for his love for children, and for his outreach to sailors and those who made their livelihood from the sea. He became a bishop in the city of Myra when he was still a young man. During the time he was bishop, the Roman Emperor Diocletian ushered in the era of the worst persecution of Christians in the Early Church.  Nicholas was exiled and sent to prison with many other bishops, priests, and deacons. After his release from prison, he became an influential attendee of the Council of Nicea in the year 325. In fact, legend has it is that he was so impassioned in the discussion that took place about Jesus’ true divinity and true humanity at that council that he got into a fistfight with Arius, a priest from Alexandria Egypt, for whom the heresy Arianism is named.  Nicholas died on December 6 in 346, hence the date for his feast that we celebrate today.   

       We know that many different legends and stories have been told about St Nicholas, that he has become this iconic symbol of Christmas. However, for us Christians, he is a great example for us during the Advent season, of a Church leader who protected the poor and who helped those in need. As we hear Isaiah’s well-known vision of the banquet God has a prepared for us in our eternal life with him, may we prepare for this banquet with a life of service, justice, and mercy in the spirit of St Nicholas.