Our Novena to St. Nicholas has received some national attention via NCR.  I am very happy about this.  I want to take this opportunity to point out two things.

First and foremost, St. Nicholas may have been the inspiration of Santa Clause, but it was only in the way that, say, filet mignon is the inspiration for a quarter pounder with chesse.  Culture, of course, transforms the original into something that is not quite like it but we pretend it is.  Originally, back before capitalism, Santa Clause may have been a symbol for true Christianity and love.  Today, he is a tool for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  St. Nicholas, however, stands for and with the poor.

Second, we have to recall at this time that St. Nicholas is not about giving handouts to those who are undeserving.  We must model our selves after Nicholas — doing what we can in the situation at hand.  We are well to remember this in light of Bishop Lynch’s decision to kill health care for his thousands of employees rather than risk allowing someone to practice contraception which may in some small case lead to an abortion.  What would St. Nicholas do in this situation: he would find someone to subvert the system and make sure that everyone receives health coverage while not funding possible abortafacients.  How many people seek an abortion out of fear that they cannot afford the health care for themselves while pregnant or their children once born.  We have to make sure a no-win situation becomes a win-win situation by undermining the culture that seems to allow us no choice.

If nothing else, we as Catholics must resist the reification of the status quo — that is the true meaning of saintliness, the subversion of the status quo, from St. Nicholas and St. Augustine, to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assissi, to Dorothy Day and Oscar Romero.  It requires sacrifice — but notice that saints always sacrifice themselves and never the other.