Our Holy Father Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
Nativity Fast. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
Read
Hebrews 13:17-21; Luke 6:17-23
The prescribed reading for a Bishop is the Beatitudes. Here we get a glimpse of what life looks like when the Gospel is internalized in our hearts. When we are properly poor in spirit, hungry, thirst, persecuted for the sake of righteousness, we are blessed.
The state of blessedness is cultivated in us through the repetitive action of the beatitudes. We are given this opportunity in St. Philip’s Fast to enter deep into these practices. We pray more, raising our mind and heart to God to better know his heart. The Lord himself tells us that he is meek and humble of heart. In this prayer conversation, we can learn humility.
Fasting teaches us how to be hungry. Not hungry for hunger’s sake. That’s a diet. Fasting is a hunger for the sake of Christ. Denying the physical to lean into the spiritual strikes at the heart of what fasting can do.
Almsgiving allows us to be near to the poor and recognize that we aren’t owners, but stewards of our gifts. In Christianity, there is no such thing as a private bank account.
St. Nicholas, the patron of sub-Carpathian Greek Catholics, is someone who instantiates all these beatitudes. He renounced riches for the humility of Christian life. He gave to the poor. He knew who his God was and promoted the true faith incessantly.
He, as a father and bishop, instantiates the Beatitudes and offers an example of what life looks like when lived according to the summary of the Gospel.