St. Nicholas is our Friend!

By Fr. Michael Tishel

Adapted from a Homily Given on December 5th to the children of TOA on the Eve of St. Nicholas Day

Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of one of the great Saints of our Church - St. Nicholas of Myra. He was born in the third century, only a couple hundred years after Jesus Christ lived on this earth. He was extremely generous to everyone he knew and was a great bishop of the Church. He even helped the Church through a very difficult time at a big meeting, known as the Council of Nicaea, where they were trying to decide some things about their beliefs in Jesus Christ. 

One story I would like to share with you had to do with someone who was helped by St. Nicholas long after he died. This man was from Constantinople and went to pray at St. Nicholas’ church everyday; you could say that he was a close friend of St. Nicholas, even though St. Nicholas was in heaven. One day, the man needed to go on a long journey by sea. When he was a few days into the journey, the sailors needed him to help around the ship because the winds were very strong. Suddenly, he got entangled in some of the ropes and was thrown overboard. The sailors wanted to save him but were afraid because the water was very troubled and they didn’t want to go in after him. In despair, they gave him up to drown. 

Meanwhile, the man called out in his mind, “St. Nicholas help me!” He repeated this over and over until, to his astonishment, he found himself yelling “St. Nicholas help me!” but instead of doing so underwater, he was in a bed - his own bed back in his home on land! Because of all the yelling, his neighbors rushed in to see what happened and found him soaking wet with seawater in his house. They asked him what happened and he explained the miracle. They were all shocked because they had said farewell to him days earlier and saw him sail away on the ship.

Word spread quickly and the man was eventually invited to a great council of priests and bishops to share the incredible miracle and everyone gave glory to God.

This amazing story shows the incredible power of the Saints, but I wanted to especially call our attention to one small but important detail. The man who was saved had spent a great deal of time investing in his friendship and relationship with St. Nicholas before he needed his help.

Have you ever known someone who would only treat you as their friend when they needed something? “Hey Johnny, it’s so good to see you! By the way, can I borrow your scooter?” or “Jane, I really like your hair, did you do your homework last night? Can I see it?” If the person only comes to you when they need help, what kind of friend is that? But if they ask you to play, want to spend time with you, and then once in a while ask for your help, it is a joy to help them.

In the same way, this man had spent a lot of time with St. Nicholas, enjoying his company and becoming friends with him (even though St. Nicholas had died many years before) through prayer, thanksgiving, and striving to be a good Christian. So St. Nicholas was quick to help his “friend” when he was in a very dangerous situation.

What are some ways we can become friends with Christ and His saints in our everyday lives? We can pray to Christ and His friends. We can imitate their actions. We can spend time with them, learn about their lives, and tell others about their lives. 

Jesus says in this morning’s Gospel: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). If we come close to Christ and His friends, we will have the most powerful friends possible. If we become good friends with them, they will help us when we need it, but we have to invest the time and energy into this friendship every day!