These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

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.