Tag: Belief

You Can’t Get Off the Train Until It Stops!

When it comes to religion, we tend to try to blend the mentality of long, long ago with modern times; we pray with the words of long, long ago about modern things; and we even use the geography of long ago and far away when we think about and pray about the world of today and where and how we live in it.
   I guess you could say we’re behaving like “old-timers,” reluctant to shed all the customs, values, and attitudes of long ago and far away—even though they were mostly not places and events of our personal experience.
   We still read and meditate about old narrations and customs, and we try to adapt the worldview, values, and behavior of favorite characters in old stories and books.
   When we read and study the New Testament, in effect we’re learning about the life, faiths, customs, and politics of the Middle East and the Mediterranean world of about two thousand years ago!
   When we study the Old Testament, we’re dealing with local traditions and events older by far!
   Those long-ago years have come and gone, for better or for worse. We may be inspired by some aspects of this long ago past, perhaps many—but it’s not our time and place. We have to deal with our contemporary traditions and events. We have to live, love, and serve God in our days and in contemporary ways even though we treasure, esteem, and try to follow some ancient and long practiced ways of life.
   We may value every word saved and passed on to us about the people and practices of ancient times—but don’t forget that they were ancient times, not ours.
   Some things, some details, some challenges from ancient times are still with us—but many are not, and we barely understand some of them anymore even though we study hard.

   If we aspire to talk, behave, and generally act just like admirable people of ancient days did, we’re almost masquerading!
   One could say that our contemporary challenge is to distill the essence, the best of past belief and practices, and accommodate them to our contemporary culture, language, and way of thinking.
   For example, it’s wonderful to visit the Holy Land and to actually travel to some of the places we had long imagined—but the places aren’t like thousands of years ago. Out treasured historical memories are one thing, and present-day realities are another.
   Sometimes we’re bothered by too much change but living things (like you and I) live in a constant process of change, reassessment, and development.
   We have to use a lot of imagination for times past, since what was passed on to us from long ago days was only a small part and a particular remembrance of a world just as busy, and fumbling and bumbling, as ours!
   A good museum can be fascinating, interesting, stimulating, and helpful to our lives—but we shouldn’t necessarily live with or venerate every value and perspective of ancient times and peoples.
   Don’t be distracted and knocked off course by yearning for all of the past, for living means constantly changing to accommodate the past to the present. Today is different from yesterday, and today you’re no longer the person you were yesterday.
   What a good museum does is replicate some aspects of the past for present day students and learners—but it’s not about living today.
   It isn’t easy, always changing and growing, but that’s what life is about!


13 August 2023

Getting a Little Personal . . .

A dictionary definition of Person is:
   [from Middle English persone, from Old French, from Latin persona, literally an actor’s face mask, hence a character, person, probably from Etruscan phersu, a mask]
   1. A human being, especially as distinguished from a thing or lower animal; individual man, woman, or child.
   2. [Chiefly British] an individual regarded slightingly, as one of a lower status.
   3. a) a living human body.    b) bodily form or appearance [to be neat about one’s person].
   4. personality; self; being.
   5. Grammar: a) division into three sets of pronouns and, in most languages, corresponding verb forms. the use of which indicates and is determined by the identity of the subject.   b) any of these sets.
   6. [Archaic] a role in a play; character
   7. Law: any individual or incorporate group having certain legal rights and responsibilities
   8. Theology: any of the three modes of being (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) in the Trinity

A dictionary definition of (Latin) Persona is:
   [a mask, especially as worn by actors in Greek and Roman drama]
   1. role, part, character, person represented by an actor
   2. in general: the part which anyone plays
   3. a personality, individuality, character

   In Greek and Roman drama, the same actor could play more than one role (provided that the roles did not require being on the stage at the same time) using different facial masks and clothing—and, of course, speaking with a different voice.
   There was an old custom of placing at the beginning of the text of a play a “Dramatis Personae,” a descriptive list of the characters in the play, not of the players themselves.

   All this has something to do with how we understand the blessed Trinity, often described, as “one God in three divine persons.”
   The way this sounds in contemporary language is very different from how it would have sounded many long centuries ago.
   Should Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be more understood in the relatively modern sense of the word as distinct and separate individual persons?
   Or, should they be more understood, from the long ago meaning of “person,” as referring to three different masks, aspects, roles of the same player?
   Actually, it’s not an either-or situation; it’s more like a blend of both these and other understandings as they have evolved over the centuries.
   Sometimes we refer to things like this as a “mystery”—not in the sense of a modern “Who-done-it?” but more as something that we somewhat, but not fully, understand.
   In that, we’re a lot like the description that Shakespeare put into the mouth of Macbeth: “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more.”
   In the great drama of creation and existence, you could say that we are somewhat old-fashioned in that we are clearer about the Dramatis Personae, the descriptive list of all the characters in the play of life, then we are about the players themselves.
   Anyway, we don’t have to know everything —and that exceeds our abilities in any case. But we do know for sure about the love of God for each of us and the work of God for our salvation!


6 August 2023

Wishful Thinking

“Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs based on what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than on evidence, rationality, or reality. It is a product of resolving conflicts between belief and desire.” [cf. Wikipedia]
   It’s not an either-or thing, all one way or another. As a child we have may have believed in a lot of imagined things, but, as we grew older, we tended gradually to seek evidence and rationality for our beliefs.
   Sometimes that can even be disappointing as we realize that somethings just weren’t the way we always had fondly imagined them!
   This isn’t just about fairy tales and fictions, but even about family members and friends.
   Part of growing up and maturing involves sorting out facts from fictions and accepting that our fondest memories and dreams may never have been or are not entirely true!
   It’s not that we were lied to as children, just that we were once being entertained and, as we began to grow up, now being challenged to differentiate and sort out our beliefs from naive wishes and desires.
   All this applies to everything and everyone. Our challenge is not to overreact as we seek facts, evidence, rationality, or reality—nor to fear or deny it.
   You could say that part of growing up, of maturing is using a more scientific method of thinking. We may have been using an inadequate, uncritical, or unproven way of thinking—and we shouldn’t be afraid of reexamining and revising some of our fondest assumptions or beliefs.
   And, if it turns out that at first we got it wrong, then we “try, try again!”
   This applies to everything! Nothing is so sacred that we can’t think critically about it. Growing and maturing is not just about physical and common-place things; it’s about everything, everyone, everywhere.
  This is the way God made us and the way we need to be living our lives—and it applies to everyone, everywhere, always!

   There is nothing so important, so special, so sacrosanct that we should not examine the evidence for it, think critically about it, and even test it out as best we can.
   Does this apply to school? Sure! Does this apply to politics and law? Of course! Does this include religion and faith? Definitely!
   But we don’t know and can’t know everything, know every place, know every person!
   So, even if we think as critically as we can, examine new ideas in depth and with courage, and trust no one or nothing blindly and without careful examination, we reach our limitations.
   The solution?
   We need to trust others, we need assistance, we need to be constantly rethinking about and reexamining our thoughts, decisions, and choices.
   And, in the process, we need to share what we know, ask others to share their gifts with us, and not get tired of critical thinking, planning, testing, and deciding.
   Beware of wishful thinking, but never stop thinking, especially critically. (That doesn’t mean that you should be criticizing other people’s thoughts, words, or deeds—it mostly means that you should be very careful about yours!)
   A long, long time ago when I was a child, I knew all about Micky and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and all the familiar Disney characters. I could hardly wait for each issue of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories.
   Naturally I knew enough to know that they were make-believe. But, true confessions, I still enjoy visiting Disney World as often as I can—and continuing to think critically, too!


23 July 2023

Dayzziness

The number of days in a week has not always been the same. The Roman Empire, for example, used to have an eight-day week which gradually became a seven-day week during the first, second, and third Christian centuries. (As the empire gradually became more Christian, it adopted a seven-day week like the Hebrew calendar.)
   The names we use for the weekdays are derived from a variety of traditions.
   For example, the first day of the week has been known for centuries in English as the day of the Sun (following the ancient Roman tradition), although now, in contemporary Romance languages, it’s known as the day of the Lord (e.g. in Spanish, Domingo).
   (Also, in English we often refer to Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a familiar religious custom since Biblical times).
   The second day of the week is known in English as the day of the Moon. (It’s similar in other languages, too. The Latin word for moon is Luna, from which we derive, e.g., Lunes in Spanish.)
   The Roman Empire continued following this Greco-Roman tradition of naming the days of the week after planetary spheres (which were named after pagan gods). The third day of the week was named after Mars, the fourth, after Mercury (Hermes), the fifth, after Jove (Jupiter), the sixth after Venus (Aphrodite), and the seventh after Saturn (Kronos).
   Romance languages generally follow the Roman way of naming the days. Further north in Europe the Norse or Germanic tribes had different divinities and used different names for the days.
   English follows the Germanic usage for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth weekdays which were named after Tiw (Tuesday), Woden (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Frige (Friday).
   Our names for the days of the week have complicated roots!

   I guess a practical question today about all this is, “So, what?” If you like studying about where words came from and what they originally meant, it may be interesting—otherwise, probably not!
   In Abrahamic religions, the seventh day (Sabbath) is when God rested after six days of creation. It’s also the day of the week commanded by God to be observed as a holy day, a day of rest. Religious Jews strictly observe this.
   Christians, on the other hand, began to celebrate the first day of the week as their holy day, the day of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
   Curiously our modern “Weekend” celebrates the seventh and first days of the week together as days of rest and recreation, regardless of whether or not one day or the other or both are considered holy!
   Of course, way back when each day of the week was associated with a different divinity, a different god, (which varied from country to country and region from region) you might say that every day was in some way a holy day!
   In fact, something like the ancient custom of assigning the days of the week to a remembrance of a particular divinity still exists in that we designate the days of the year for the remembrance of special deeds of God or of the lives of certain holy people (saints).
   This is a huge difference in our religious beliefs and practices in that we believe in only one God whom we celebrate in different ways on different days in addition to celebrating the huge number of outstanding and faithful servants he has had over the centuries.


16 July 2023

Friends in High Places

To have friends in high places means that you know people in senior positions that are able and willing to use their influence on your behalf, that you know important people who can help you get what you want.
   Another way of describing it is to have a “patron” (which is related to the Latin word for father, “pater”).
   A dictionary definition of “patron” is 1. a person empowered with the granting of an English church benefice. 2. a patron saint. 3. a person corresponding in some respects to a father; protector; benefactor. 4. a person, usually a wealthy and influential one, who sponsors and supports some person, activity, institution, etc. 5. a regular customer, as of a store. 6. In ancient Rome, a person who had freed his slave but still retained a certain paternal control over him.
  In the days when people believed in many gods, most had a sort of “patron god” (somewhat like our notion of the later concept of patron saint).
   You can see this in the earlier books of the Bible with their dozens of references to personal and family gods (e.g., the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, the god of Jacob) and later to tribal and national gods (e.g., the god of the Hebrews, the god of Israel).
   We still have a vestige of this way of thinking when we speak of different religions today as though each are worshiping their own, and a different, god.
   It’s okay to espouse different customs, religious traditions, forms of governance, and language, but we must not forget that we’re fundamentally referencing the one and the same (and the only) God!
   For example, Muslim or not, any believer can praise God in Arabic, saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is great)—and it’s the same God. And Catholic or not, any believer can thank God in Latin, saying “Deo gratias” (Thanks be to God)—the same God.

   In the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s beautiful sonnet, all believers should be able to say to God, “How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
   If you aspire to have a friend in high places, remember it’s not something exclusive, just for you. There will be a great crowd of others like you. Surprised you may be, but don’t begrudge them the reward they are receiving. Nothing of their gain has any impact on or diminishes yours.
   The metaphor Jesus used for all this was that of the shepherd and his sheep:

   . . . I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
   I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
   This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
   This command I have received from my Father. (John 10:14-18)

   Thanks be to God that, notwithstanding all our fumbling and bumbling, our failings and fallings, the love and mercy of God overrides them all.
   In spite of all of our limitations and imperfections and misunderstandings, we’re all still fortunate to have a friend in high places, in the highest of places, in the realm of God.




18 June 2023

Ieri, Oggi, Domani

“Ieri, Oggi, Domani” (“Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”) is the title of a popular 1963 Italian movie starring Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.
   The title also could be used to name three different attitudes about life and the people attracted to one or another of them.
   Most people tend to favor the life style, customs, and religiosity of either yesterday, today or tomorrow.
   – “Yesterday” people often have fond memories of bygone times, places, and people. Maybe because their past had mostly pleasant and happy experiences or maybe because they forgot or ignored or repressed the negative memories. (Be careful about your childhood memories, for a child doesn’t have the breadth of experience that an adult has.)
   – “Today” people can be a little naïve or narrow in what they celebrate or criticize. Maybe because they have not paid sufficient attention to their past or, to the contrary, not given enough thought to the consequences of their present choices and planned actions in the future.
   – “Tomorrow” people can range from optimistic dreamers to sad complainers as they look ahead to the next stages of their life. Their imaginations for tomorrow may be plausible and realistic, based on their lived experience to date, or hopelessly simplistic, impractical, and implausible.
   There’s a yesterday, today or tomorrow to almost every aspect of our lives, values, traditions, morality, beliefs, trusts, and faith.
   Why? Why because we are alive, because we are constantly advancing, falling back, learning, forgetting, progressing, and developing in our lives. That’s the way God made us. We’re ever-changing.
   Perhaps we should imagine our life as consisting of Before, Now, and Then, or, you could say, of what happened, is happening, and could happen.

   “Yesterday” is fixed. The paint has dried, the deed is done. And, we tend to either celebrate it or bewail it.
   “Tomorrow” is not yet. It’s the possible, probable, or unlikely. It’s the could-be, not necessarily the should-be nor the will-be.
   “Today” is what’s in process right now, a dynamic boundary between “Yesterday” and “Tomorrow”, between “before” and “after”.
   Your life is always “in motion”. You’re either braking and trying to return to what was, or you’re moving full speed ahead along a familiar route or following what you consider a trustworthy map.
   You can become distracted, have accidents, or lose your way when you’re driving or riding with another. Conversely you can progress, slow or fast, and safely arrive at your destination.
   (And, obviously, if you have no destination in mind, you never arrive at one—a destination, that is; you always arrive someplace!)
   The bottom line: You exist, you’re alive—i.e., you’re a “Today” person. But, what do you yearn for? Where are your memories, plans, hopes, and fears focused? Are you also a “Yesterday” or a “Tomorrow” person?
   You may and can be either, whichever you choose. But, be careful and beware. “Yesterday” may involve going backwards, and “Tomorrow” implies going forwards.
   “Yesterday” may seem more secure, but it really isn’t; it’s just a more familiar ground in your life journey.
   “Tomorrow” may seem problematic and riskier, but it’s the main way to progress, which includes both successes and failures.
   “Today” is Now. “Today” is what is happening. “Today” is what really counts!


5 March 2023

Ready, Set, Go!

During my five years in the major seminary, we did a lot of prayerful singing—especially Gregorian chant in Latin.
   For three of my seminary summer vacations I worked in the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s camp where five times each summer busloads of inner-city kids came for a twelve-day vacation.
   They would hear some religious songs, not chant and easy to understand. One that still sticks in my memory was a spiritual; it has different versions, but here’s some of what I remember:
   Did the good book say that Cain killed Abel? Yes, good Lord!
   Hit him on the head with a leg of the table! Yes, good Lord!
   Daniel in the lion’s den said unto those colored men,
   Get your long white robe and starry crown and be ready when the great day comes.
   Oh, Lord, I’m ready, indeed I’m ready.
   Oh, good Lord, I’ll be ready when the great day comes!
   Forget the leg of the table, but don’t forget to be ready when the great day comes!
   And, don’t overlook the part about being dressed in a long white robe and starry crown. It means to be spiritually clean and spotless with your mind and heart fixed on the promised great and beautiful things yet beyond our present experience.
   It’s sort of like Latin chant: beautiful thoughts in a foreign (symbolic) language that need translation to be fully understood!
   The great day is the great paradox of our faith. The great day is when we definitively totally surrender our mind and heart and life to the loving God who made us and guided us all our life long.
   Like the team ready to run onto the field responding to their coach’s last-minute charge, I’m ready, indeed I’m ready.

   A whole lifetime may seem to be a bit much for preparation and practice for the great day, but compared to eternity it’s but a drop in the bucket.
   The ultimate purpose of our lives isn’t to endlessly drill and practice until we have no strength left to continue. Our ultimate purpose is to get ready and set to go on to that fullness of life and love that we were taught about, yearned for, and sacrificed for.
   When the moment comes, without hesitation, we charge onto the field of eternity, fired up in faith and responding in our hearts as we often did in our lives: Oh, Lord, I’m ready, indeed I’m ready.
   Don’t let any of this scare you! It may be that you’re so involved and occupied by your daily duties, tasks, and demands that all this may seem imaginative and remote.
   It’s a certitude that this present stage of the life of each one of us has an ending, but it’s also a certitude in faith that another, better stage of life awaits us.
   We’ve heard tales about it, predictions and promises and imaginative descriptions about it, but we haven’t played in the great game yet; we’ve only been practicing as we were coached and taught.
   We were coached and taught well, maybe not perfectly, but well enough. No need to fear the field if you’re ready and set to go.
   And, of course, the God who made you, loved you, and guided you all life-long is the one and the same God who calls each of us to a fullness of life beyond our imaging and experience.
   So, don’t forget or fear to get your long white robe and starry crown and be ready when the great day comes.



19 February 2023

I’m No Angel

What are angels? Some might turn the question around and ask, are there angels? And, should we aspire to be angels or at least angelic? Or, is that as strange, and as impossible, as a fish aspiring to be a bird?
   The word “angel” is rooted in the Greek word angelos, meaning a messenger.
   In the Jewish Scriptures, in several places—e.g., Genesis 18—a mysterious, apparently human visitor turns out to be not only a messenger from God but a manifestation, an appearance of God. In some other places—e.g., Daniel 10—an angel messenger from God is also described as distinct, powerful, functioning person.
   When talking about angels, we also speak of “fallen angels”—that is, about angels who fail to remain the servants of God that they were meant to be. In fact, we often make this our definition of devils: fallen, in the sense of failed, angels.
   Is “angel” a superior being of God’s creation, yet a superior being that is capable of sin, disobedience, and inordinate pride? Some of our religious traditions describe them this way.
   In common speech, we tend to think of angels as perfect beings. We even call a very good child or person an “angel”. But, who is without sin, perfect in every way and always? Only by the special grace of God is it possible.
   Anyway, even though we may say to a child that “you’re a little angel” or that “you’re a little devil”, we mean no more than “you’re very good” or “you’re very bad”.
   The best of angels, according to scripture and tradition, are the ones who serve as the direct messengers of God and the protectors of his chosen people.
   This is a pretty good description of what we often aspire to be: bespeaking God by our words and deeds and seeking to aid and protect others.

   I’m no angel. I mean in the sense that I unfailingly let all my words and deeds reflect and communicate the love and mercy of God.
   I do try, though, to be an angel in this sense—and probably you do, too! Do we succeed always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never?
   The best that is attainable, short of a special intervention of God, is usually—and that probably needs a lot of support from God, too!
   I’m no devil, either. I mean in the sense that I unfailingly refuse to let my words and deeds reflect and communicate the love and mercy of God.
   Whether we’re devilishly clever or not, the whole trajectory of our lives is a constant struggle to be less devilish and more angelic.
   But, have no delusions! You are not, and never will be, perfect.
   Even so, the fundamental measure of your life, and mine, is how hard and how often we do successfully succeed in obeying the will of God and witnessing to it, letting God speak through our lives to others.
   I don’t want to be devilishly clever, but it’s awkward to say I want to be angelically clever. I just want to be good—that is, ever to strive to be what God intends me to be and to do what God wants, as best as I can understand it.
   I don’t aspire to be an angel—or a devil.
   I’m just one more imperfect, human being struggling always to discern who I am, what God asks of me, and how best to achieve it and to have the grace and courage to let my life, for better or for worse, bespeak the love and mercy of God.  

  


22 January 2023

DDP

It’s the one daily exercise that we hardly ever miss. In fact, it’s the one daily routine that’s hard to skip, even if we want to.
   Sooner or later, every day of our lives we tire and need rest. We usually try to find a secure and reasonably comfortable place and then surrender our consciousness, but no matter what we intend, it usually happens anywhere, anyhow, no matter what our intentions, sooner or later!
   Of course, it’s falling asleep—but, in a way, falling asleep is DDP, a kind of Daily Dying Practice. Of course, we don’t call it that, but, in effect, it really is something like that.
   Mysteriously, daily we somehow surrender our consciousness, some healing processes takes place in our bodies, and then we return to consciousness, we wake up.
   It’s curious, why in the world would we consider “resurrection” as something strange and mysterious, when, in a way, it’s so similar to our daily routine?
   Dying and sleeping, reviving and awaking—they’re similar and easy to confuse.
   Not everyone would agree to this. Some, trusting only in medical science and scientific observation, would deny that any revival from death is possible; others, trusting additionally in divine revelation and religious belief, would disagree.
   In any case, we all engage in the same daily, somewhat deathlike, process, willy-nilly, which we identify as sleeping.
   And, as a matter not merely of science but also of faith, religious believers see dying as a kind of sleeping from which there is an ultimate future awakening or resurrection.
   Unique historical data supporting this confidence and belief is associated primarily with what we have come to call the “resurrection” and “ascension” of Jesus.
   In any case, health and exercise conscious folks that we are, we need to be sure that we’re following a good DDP routine.

   First, before putting out the light and falling asleep, remember that this could be your last day! Presuming that it is, give thanks to God for the day (and all the past days) and all the good things, graces, and blessing that you receive.
   Then, give thanks for all the people, near and far, who have loved, guided, and strengthened you recently and all through your life—and commend to God all those who are now part of your life and who may be relying on your help and support.
   And, examining your conscience, don’t forget to ask God to forgive your impatience, exaggerated self-concern, and other failings and beg his favor and grace for those you know to be in need.
   Don’t be afraid to close your eyes and drift away. You can be fearless: you’re not going to fall off a cliff, you’re not in any ultimate danger, and there will be a tomorrow—though it may not be like all the thousands of tomorrows that you have experienced to date. Remember, God is love and loves you!
   Grateful—concerned for others—without fear of what comes next: these all parts of “dying practice.”
   Waking up, the first reaction should be more gratitude—gratitude for the new day or for the startling, never previously experienced, new stage of life, whichever the case may be.
   This is Daily Dying Practice: awareness, gratitude, contrition, trust. Like all exercises, if you practice them each day, they become like second-nature, and the stronger and more developed you become.
   And, beware of the deadly opposites that can make you sleepless—fear, absorption in self and self-regret, and clinging to the past.




8 January 2023

Believing in Santa Claus

Do you or don’t you?
   Presumably, your answer reflects whether you still have a naïve, sentimental attachment to a childish belief or whether you are a mature, educated adult.
   What are we talking about?
   First, there’s no dispute that historically there was a Nicholas who was bishop of Myra in Asia Minor in the days of the Eastern Roman Empire.
   Secondly, he was known for his holiness and generosity, so much so that many stories were told about his good deeds and miracles. He was known as Nicholas the Wonderworker and popular all over Eastern and Western Europe.
   Curiously, many of our popular modern notions about St. Nicholas (abbreviated as Saint or Santa Claus) are associated with the history of the Dutch colony, later taken over by the English, that became New York.
   Early books there about Santa Claus had him arriving from the North in a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer to reward good children and punish the bad.
   But, the definitive popular description of Santa Claus came with the publication of a long poem, known now as “The Night Before Christmas.” That helped paint our contemporary image of “A right jolly old elf . . . dressed all in fur . . . a bundle of toys . . . flung on his back.”
   The elf with the toys for the good children has become endeared by stores selling Christmas gifts—and many a make-believe Santa Claus is ensconced in a department store or mall as a promotion for purchases.
   As happens with so many customs with religious roots, we tend to elaborate and exaggerate the details to the point that we almost forget the origin of the custom.
   Bishop Nicholas was famous for helping the poor and needy, but the imaginative legends about him have focused on him as bringing gifts for good children.

   How did all the customs associated with St. Nicholas get entangled with Christmas, the nativity of Jesus?
   What may have contributed to the situation was the adoption of the newer Gregorian calendar by the Western Church, while the Eastern Churches generally continued to follow the older, Julian calendar.
   St. Nicholas’s feast day was traditionally December 6th. Since most of churches of the homeland of St. Nicholas did not adopt the updated, Gregorian calendar, it would seem to the Western churches that did that the day was on the 19th of December.
   Perhaps it was close enough to the Western date of the celebration of the Nativity to seem that the Orthodox churches were merely starting a little early to celebrate Christmas, while actually they were celebrating St. Nicholas day.
   In any case, clearly the two feasts have been somewhat entangled in popular observance with most of the St. Nicholas day traditions being associated with Christmas!
   Anyway, there’s no jolly old elf or St. Nicholas living near the North Pole, nor does he have an army of assistants, nor does he use a flying reindeer-drawn sled, nor does he come down chimneys.
   However, we do celebrate the generosity and love of St. Nicholas, inspired by the love of the child that was born in Bethlehem so long ago.
   Above all, we celebrate the almost incredible love, mercy, and sacrifice of the grown man that child later became that has saved us all and inspires and guides us still!
   We believe in him, every day, Christmas and always!


25 December 2022