Nicholas was born at San’t Angeles, Italy. Like Samson of the O.T., his birth was in answer to the prayers of his parents, who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Nicholas of Bari. Hence, the couple named their son after that saint. One day, while attending Sunday Mass, Nicholas was struck by the words of an Augustinian monk: “Do not love the world or the things of this world because this world is passing away.” After months of reflection and discernment, Nicholas became an Augustinian monk at the age of eighteen and was ordained priest in 1270. Five years later, while praying in his monastery, he seemed to hear a voice saying to him: “To Tolentino, to Tolentino. Stay there.” Shortly thereafter, his superiors assigned Nicholas to the town of Tolentino where he spent the last thirty years of his life in preaching, hearing confessions, visiting the sick, comfortingthe lonely and strengthening the prisoners. He was a miracle worker, even while he was alive. After a painful and prolonged illness, Nicholas died in 1305 and was canonized in 1888.
Reflection: St. Nicholas inspires us to pray always by placing ourselves in all truth before God and by stripping ourselves of all role-play before Him. However one who does not pray enough loses contact with our heavenly Father and sets up alternatives of various commitments presented as having the same value as prayer. Activity thus bcomes a kind of compensation – a reflection of an empty soul.
Say nothing of this, give thanks to God, not to me. I am only a vessel of clay, a poor sinner. (St. Nicholas after performing a miracle)
