📜Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia (modern-day Turkey), lived in the 4th century and became one of the most venerated saints in Christendom, both in the East and the West, distinguishing himself by inexhaustible charity and an iron defense of Catholic orthodoxy. Famous for his participation in the Council of Nicaea in 325, where he vigorously opposed the Arian heresy defending the consubstantiality of the Word, Nicholas also became known as a wonderworker and protector of the innocent, his life marked by numerous miracles and acts of generosity, such as the dowry provided to three poor maidens to save them from infamy. He died in the mid-4th century, around the year 350, leaving a spiritual legacy that unites doctrinal zeal with pastoral compassion, his relics later being translated to Bari, Italy, where they are venerated to this day.
✉️Epistle (Heb 13, 7-17)
Brethren: Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; considering well the end of their conversation, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange doctrines. For it is best that the heart be established with grace, not with meats; which have not profited those that walk in them. We have an altar, whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holies by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people by His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name. And do not forget to do good, and to impart; for by such sacrifices God’s favor is obtained. Obey your prelates, and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls.
✠Gospel (Mt 25, 14-23)
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that had received the two talents came and said: Lord, thou didst deliver to me two talents: behold I have gained other two. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
🕯️Fidelity in the stewardship of divine gifts and holy pastorship
🕊️Today's liturgy invites us to contemplate the exalted figure of Saint Nicholas as the living incarnation of the faithful servant described in the Gospel and the zealous shepherd exhorted in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Upon receiving the talents of episcopal grace, Nicholas did not bury them in omission but multiplied them through heroic charity and the uncompromising defense of Christ's divinity against Arianism, illustrating Saint Gregory the Great's teaching that the talent is the gift of interior grace, which must be traded for the profit of the salvation of souls (Homily on the Gospels). The Epistle reminds us that "Jesus Christ is the same," an immutable dogmatic truth that the Holy Bishop of Myra upheld at Nicaea, ensuring that the flock would not be seduced by "strange doctrines" but strengthened by the grace flowing from the Eucharistic Altar, from which those who reject the truth of the Incarnation and the Sacrifice have no right to eat. Thus, the life of this confessor becomes a practical exegesis of Christian fidelity: he went "outside the camp" of worldly conveniences to bear Christ's reproach, offering the "fruit of lips that confess His Name" through fearless preaching, and through his ceaseless vigilance over the spiritual and material needs of his sheep, he merited to hear the supreme invitation reserved for those who love God: "enter into the joy of your Lord."
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here.
f1descatholica.blogspot.com