FEAST OF ST NICHOLAS, BISHOP.

FEAST OF ST NICHOLAS, BISHOP. 

THE Gospel:

"Jesus went around to all the towns" and villages,

teaching in their synagogues,

proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,

and curing every disease and illness.

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them

because they were troubled and abandoned,

like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples,

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;

so ask the master of the harvest

to send out laborers for his harvest."

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples

and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out

and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,

"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

As you go, make this proclamation:

 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Cure the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse lepers, drive out demons.

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8). 

Saturday 6th December 2025 of the 1st Week of Advent is the feast of St Nicholas (270 - 349 ).

 St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in present day Turkey. He was one of the 318 Bishops at the Council of Nicaea and signed the famous document, the Nicene Creed. 

His anonymous gift-giving around Christmas to the poor and destitute could not be secret for long.

 This custom became a tradition around the Feast of St Nicholas and today Santa Claus is a favorite feast of children in many countries of the world.

"The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God's giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves."  (St. Nicholas of Myra)

We see in our key Scripture for today the compassion of Jesus for the crowds who were troubled and appeared totally abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Jesus healed many of their illnesses and preached to them the Good News of the Kingdom of God. 

Yet Jesus was sad because the need is so great and the human resources needed for the work are paltry.

What can you do to help?

"No one takes this honor on himself; it needs a call from God, as in Aaron's case." (Hebrews 5: 4)

A vocation is a call from God, an appointment by God. God appoints those he chooses to share in a particular manner in the work of redemption with his son, Jesus.

 When we are baptized, God chooses us to be his adopted children. This is also when we receive our vocation. While some are called to the ministerial priesthood like Aaron, every baptized is called to a particular ministry.

Become an evangelist. From here, you may be led to your proper path.

"My Eucharistic Heart overflows with love for My priests. I would give to each of them the grace I gave Saint John, My beloved disciple: that of intimacy with My Heart and with the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother. I would renew the priesthood of My Church in this way. I would make My priests resplendent with holiness. I would impart to their tongues and to their hands the very graces that I poured out upon My Apostles in the beginnings of My Church." (IN SINU JESU, Friday, December 7, 2007).

For information on the Compendium of the the Church, click the link below:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2021/03/compendium-of-catholic-teachings.html?m=1

The Church honors the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary every day in December. 

Mary was conceived without original sin. This grace and privilege are fitting in view of the birth and death of her Son Jesus Christ, who is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. 

"O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son, we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain, so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You."

For the Immaculate Conception Devotions and Prayers and Prayer intentions click the link below:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2023/11/novena-of-immaculate-conception.html?m=1