While most of us know that the Santa Claus story is based on the life of Saint Nicholas, many of us have never had the pleasure of learning about the life of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. There is a wonderful web site, www.stnicholascenter.org where you can read more about this man. I visited the site to retrieve the details of the most famous story about Nicholas. Here it is:
One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.
Following the Protestant Reformation, Protestant leaders worked hard to eradicate all semblance of the veneration of saints. Somehow, St. Nicholas escaped this fate (although merchandizing and marketing have been able to co-opt Santa Claus in our time). I like to believe that it was because this central "miracle" of his was one that any and all of us can and should emulate. The gifts he gave were gifts that mattered; gifts that made a differnce. I hope that you have put the same energy into your gift giving this Christmas. More than that, I hope that you continue after Christmas to look for chances to give gifts that make an important difference in the lives of others who have great needs.
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