Today the Church celebrates Saint Nicholas remembered through the ages for his generosity to the poor. We recall these words of the martyred archbishop Saint Oscar Romero, which we always imagine the holy bishop Saint Nicholas would have appreciated.
No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God — for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, and those who need someone to come on their behalf will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God with us. Without poverty of spirit, there can be no abundance of God.
Artwork by Elisabeth Jvanovsky.