Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. (Is 35:1-10)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120621.cfm
Advent has a message for those who are frightened: Don’t be afraid, because God comes to save. Today is the feast of Saint Nicholas, who was a bishop of the early church and certainly not the “right jolly old elf,” of Clement Clarke Moore’s A Visit from Saint Nicholas (’Twas the Night before Christmas), https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43171/a-visit-from-st-nicholas. Saint Nicholas attended the First Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicea in the year AD 325, and of course, is the patron saint of children.
