Why are so many people depressed today? Because they see nothing other than their misfortunes; because they are indifferent to the truth, to the humiliations and suffering of others. Because there is no generosity and no sacrifice in us. So then what do we expect from today’s feast of a saint who loves to please everyone? He wants to give us all joy today.

As the Lord said, there are two joys: the joy of receiving and the joy of giving. We all know the Savior’s words: It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). The Holy Fathers call the joy of receiving a human joy, and the joy of giving, a Divine joy. One joy is linked to the other. Generally speaking, we have nothing to give until we receive earthly and Heavenly things from the Lord; but if we only receive and do not give to others, we will be deprived of Divine joy. And when our earthly life ends, instead of eternal joy we will have eternal torment. The Lord and His saints, including St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, rejoice when we share what we have with others. And this joy is transmitted to us, so even now we can feel Divine joy and the grace of Christ in our hearts. According to St. Paisios the Hagiorite, sublime joy comes from sacrifice. Only by sacrifice does a person enter into kinship with Christ, for Christ is the Sacrifice. This is the Christian labor of total self-giving, and it is manifested primarily by martyrs. It is no coincidence that today we also commemorate the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and the whole host of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. And St. Nicholas reveals it in the ever-increasing joy of mercy, so the Bethlehem manger, the Cross and the Lord’s Pascha, which the saint wants us to participate in with his love, become visible in it.

Archpriest Alexander Shargunov
Translation by Dmitry Lapa
Pravoslavie.ru