[Salvation]

Sunday - Second Week of Advent

Advent: A Time to Reform our Lives

Why was John the Baptist so tough on the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming forward to receive his baptism of reform? The Pharisees and the Sadducees were not evil people. They worked hard to learn the law and they were dedicated to keeping the law. They were not immoral people. They were very religious. They were not rich people – at least the weren’t fleecing the people. And yet, John is very tough on them.

As today’s Gospel reading unfolds, we discover more about why this was so. We see the picture of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and some others as people who are more or less boxed in. They were rigid and they clung to the rules and ways of stating their beliefs – so much so that they were unable to catch the spirit of what they believed. Worse than that, they were unable to discover the newness because there is always newness as God continues to reveal and pour forth his Spirit. And that’s what they couldn’t do; they were boxed in, they were tied to the letter of the law and missed the whole spirit. They couldn’t go beyond – they couldn’t grow – they couldn’t feast on the great mysteries that Jesus would preach.

We are always called upon to put ourselves into the Gospel and not simply be spectators. It is an occupational hazard of religion that we get lost in the details and miss the spirit.

During Advent, I am called upon to prepare in a special way and to reform my heart. What is some evidence in my life that I really mean to reform and truly to be the kind of person that Jesus is and that He called me to be?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

[Salvation]

Monday, December 6, 2004

St. Nicholas

The feast of St. Nicholas has been celebrated on this date since about the fifth century.

Little is known of his life, except that he was bishop of Myra (in modern-day Turkey) and lived in the fourth century.

Stories suggest he was the only child of a wealthy family, was orphaned as a young boy, grew up in a monastery, and at age 17 became a priest. He was kind and generous to poor families, widows and especially children and orphans. Legends say that, wishing to aid people anonymously, he would drop bags of gold down the chimneys of the homes of people in need or throw gold coins through windows where they landed in stockings hanging by the fireplace to dry.

Legends of his generosity soon encouraged other people also to give gifts at this time of year. But in the 16th century, some Reformers felt Nicholas was too closely tied to the Catholic Church. Different countries or regions developed their own gift-giver. In France, he was known as Pere Noel; In England, Father Christmas; to the Dutch, Sinter Klass.

Early Dutch settlers in New York brought their tradition of Sinter Klass to the United States, where he later became known as Santa Claus.