One of the great tragedies of our time is that when people hear the name “St. Nick,” they immediately picture an obese man in a red suit stuffing his face with milk and cookies — instead of the truly bad**s Catholic bishop who so fiercely defended the divinity of Jesus Christ that he punched a heretic square in the mouth.
The real St. Nicholas, whose legacy would later inspire the mythological figure of Santa Claus, served as a bishop in Myra, located in present-day Turkey. St. Nicholas took part in the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, where the heretic Arius argued that Jesus was not truly God. Enraged by this blasphemy, Nicholas marched up to the man and landed a solid punch right in his kisser.
We can learn a great deal from the bishop’s example. I know that statement ruffles feathers for many Catholics today — especially when so many pews are filled with spineless jellyfish—but those are precisely the people who need to sit at the feet of St. Nicholas the most.
What I love about St. Nicholas is simple: He had a steel backbone and ironclad resolve, and he knew exactly when to take the gloves off. He stood firmly on principle and willingly fought to preserve and protect the truth. At one point in his life, Roman authorities arrested him under Emperor Diocletian’s reign. They brutally tortured him and threatened him with death unless he renounced his faith. St. Nicholas refused. Fidelity to Jesus Christ mattered more to him than preserving his own life.
That kind of intestinal fortitude is something the modern-day Catholic Church too often lacks — though not entirely. By the grace of God, the Church still has genuinely godly men who live with masculinity and strong character, who love Jesus Christ above all else, and who refuse to compromise ancient, sacred truths no matter how aggressively modernity tries to shame them.
Unfortunately, the Church also has plenty of squishy folk. In recent years, news stories have repeatedly exposed leaders within the Catholic Church who willingly abandon Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as “outdated,” all to appear more “diverse” and “inclusive” to a world that despises them anyway. A hunger for status and power often blinds people who are easy to shape and manipulate.
Jesus warned us from the very beginning that if we truly follow Him, the world will hate us — not maybe, not possibly, but outright loathe us. The world only loves those who belong to it. If you find yourself constantly praised and embraced by the world, buddy, you’d better examine your heart. You might be serving a very different “Master.”
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What the Church desperately needs right now, as it fights to retain the faith and traditions handed down by Christ and His apostles, is more men like St. Nicholas — men willing to pay any price to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Men who will confront liberalized Catholicism head-on and boldly proclaim the teachings of Scripture and Sacred Tradition, even if doing so costs them their status among their peers.
We must especially pray for our bishops, asking for the intercession of St. Nicholas to strengthen them in sound doctrine and give them the courage to refuse the pressures of modernity and a godless culture.
St. Nicholas, pray for us.
