Editor’s Note: The Feast of the Three Kings is January 6th. This year however, since it falls on a Friday, it is being celebrated Sunday the 8th.

I was the kid who knew Santa was real but I never had pictures with him. This was not because my parents were against the jolly man, but it was because I had pictures with other Christmas characters instead.

Instead of pictures of me crying on Santa’s Lap, I sat sobbing on one of three overdressed guys’ laps. Sound awkward? It was. You know exactly what I’m talking about though if you celebrate ‘El Día de los Tres Reyes’ (Three Kings Day). Those guys were dressed as the Magi. (My childhood anxiety – whose lap do I sit on?)

In some cultures Christmas is reserved for prayer, and Three Kings Day is when gifts are received and exchanged. The tradition was that since they brought gifts to Jesus, we would get three gifts from them on the morning of January 6th (under our beds and only if we left grass and water for the camels outside . . . of course.)

I didn’t understand why they simply didn’t place my gifts in a box and ship it. It would have saved them time and the hassle of having to ride camels through my neighborhood. (Keep in mind, I believed reindeer could fly at this point.)

But frankly, the question I should have asked myself was what made them hand deliver their presents, not to me, but to the baby Jesus.

The Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ Child and they made themselves present to the infant Jesus. Anyone could have delivered the gifts on behalf of the kings, but they chose to travel for months just to see a “child with Mary his mother” (Matthew 2:11); now that’s a commitment.

What astounds me is that they traveled thousands of miles and they left empty handed. All we remember is that they brought three gifts and we never think about the fact that there was nothing that they took back with them. The only thing they came to do was worship the newborn Christ and give Him gifts.

They had nothing to gain out of their visit to Bethlehem. How often do we go to Mass with the only purpose of worshipping God and not expect anything in return?

If we’re focused on what we can get out of God and not what we can give to Him, then our worship is selfish. Christ is faithful, but when we expect something in return we put Him in a box. Shifting our focus on what we can give Him frees us to receive His love the way He wants to give it.

The Magi did exactly that, and to Christ the true present was their presence.

Ultimately, the best gift we can give to God is our hearts, and in return He gives us His. He doesn’t want just our time, our talents, or our money – but more importantly – to make ourselves present to Him. Jesus talks about this and says, “Father, they are a gift to me.” (John 17:24)

The Magi came and knelt before the child Jesus, because He alone was worth their worship. He wants us to give Him our entire being. That is what He desires the most and He is worth our worship and adoration.

Make yourself present to Him and give Him the present He never stops asking for: your heart.

Day 12

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Twelve drummers drumming.

A few years ago I got to attend a drum line competition for one of my teens. I’d say it was pretty much like twelve drummers drumming. Actually, I had no idea that a percussion only band could sound like that. It was pretty cool. Today we come to the end of the song and the end of the Christmas season.

The twelve drummers can represent the 12 articles of faith found in the Apostles Creed. The Catechism actually takes these twelve points and explains them in depth. One of those twelve articles is that we believe “in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord.”

That is really what these days of Christmas are about. The song always comes back to that; every verse of this song ends with the one Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Our faith as Catholics rests on the Incarnation, God become flesh. Forget hens, swans, drums, and dancers, the best gift of all is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Every time we go to Mass, we get to enter in to this celebration.

Happy Epiphany!

Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Eleven pipers piping.

Have you ever heard bagpipes? They have a distinct and loud sound. When in I was in high school, a family friend was visiting. She was an accomplished musician who played many instruments, including the bagpipe. For whatever reason that afternoon, she actually played the bagpipe in the house. It was so loud. It became my and my brother’s instant opinion that bagpipes are made for outside spaces or very, very large indoor spaces—never inside the house!

Nevertheless, the celebration continues here. We have good food, great dancing, and now, we have music. Living our faith should be a celebration. As the Bible Geek recently wrote, a Christian who lacks joy is a contradiction. Remember, we experience that joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Lord, working in our life.

The eleven pipers piping can help us to remember the eleven faithful apostles. We know the story of the Judas’ betrayal. And yet by the end of the night, Peter had also denied Christ. We should strive to be faithful in following the Lord, but even when we are not, God is. (2 Timothy 2:13). When we stray, God is always ready to receive us back; do you need to turn around and come back home? (Thank you, Matt Maher.) The Lord is always ready to welcome you back and offer forgiveness.

Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Ten Lords-a-leaping.

The dancing continues today with the lords getting involved. For a better context of lord, think Lord and Lady, Duke and Duchess, Prince and Princess, etc. The United Kingdom has a “House of Lords,” which is part of the Parliament. Of course, I doubt they are physically leaping . . . or playing leap frog, for that matter.

So, let’s just jump (or leap) right in to what the ten leaping lords can represent.

For Catholics, we have one Lord. When we profess the Nicene Creed, we declare, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” The word ‘lord’ designates honor. Do we give God the honor He deserves? We should; our Lord gives us life.

And, God doesn’t stop there. He wants us to live well. So, he gave us commandments to live by. We have 10 leaping lords, we also have 10 Commandments. Our creator knows us best, so doesn’t it make sense that we should look to Him for the instruction manual on how to live? It all starts with putting God first; “You shall have no other gods before me.” You can find the rest of the commandments in Exodus 20.

Day 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Nine ladies dancing.

Adding to the good food from yesterday, we now have dancing. Don’t these dancers evoke images of the great Christmas ballet, the Nutcracker? Not only are there at least nine ballerinas dancing, there are mice and nutcrackers and swords and more dancing. Can’t you hear Tchaikovsky’s music of the Sugar Plum fairies?

Whether you like ballet or any kind of dancing, you will like what these nine dancers can represent. We talked earlier about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (seven swans). Today, we recall the Fruits of the Spirit.

Although we immediately think of things like apples, bananas, and pears – this sort of fruit is different. It’s the result of something. What’s the fruit of studying for a test? The fruit should be a good grade. As the Holy Spirit works in our life, we see fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 states, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” The Catechism actually lists three more. To find out what they are, check out paragraph 1832.

Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Eight maids-a-milking.

Today we begin the celebration phase of the song; we have had the perfect number of birds. Now, we have a festive gathering. Let the celebration begin!

We start with food. Have you ever milked a cow? The closest I ever came was visiting a dairy farm as a child. I remember looking at cows and the distinct, unpleasant smell. Moreover, I remember the end of these trips which always resulted in great ice cream. From milk comes a lot of great party food, including nacho cheese.

The eight things that this verse can help us to recall as Catholics are the Beatitudes. Jesus gives his famous Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew (one of four colly birds), chapter 5. He begins each Beatitude with “Blessed are…” These statements are both comforting and challenging. We are reminded not only how to live, but that living for Christ will reap its own benefits—not all of this world. You can find another version of the Beatitudes in Luke 6; here Jesus gives us the Sermon on the Plain.

Grab a glass of milk, read through the eight beatitudes, and seeing where the Spirit is particularly challenging you.

Whereas there are geese (day six) in my neighborhood, there are not swans. Never fear, though, there is a nearby lake whose owners brought in swans.

Or at least, there were swans. They were picked off and eaten one by one by a river otter who would hunt them from under the water. The swans had no chance of escape because their wings were clipped. The otter was eating a rather expensive supper because swans are not cheap.

I mentioned before that seven was a pretty popular number; it represents completion or fullness. With the seven swans, we’ve also reached seven types of birds.

For us Catholics, we can remember the seven sacraments and/or the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Both the Gifts and the sacraments are gifts from God to us. God, our true love, gave us Himself, but continues to keep giving to us. The sacraments are ways in which we can experience the Lord in a real way through the outpouring of grace. The gifts of the Holy Spirit help us to actually live the Christian life.

As you write thank you notes to people for Christmas gifts (don’t try to get away with a thank-you text or thank-you Facebook message), first thank the Lord for the abundant gifts He gives.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Six geese-a-laying.

Today we have reached our half-way point of our 12 Days of Christmas. Are you still celebrating the birth of the Messiah or have you moved back in to your normal routines? Do you still have your nativity scene up, inching the magi closer to the stable each day as we get closer to Epiphany? Are you moving closer to Christ or away from Him?

The six geese-a-laying can represent the six days of creation. The creation story is typically a seven day epic, but the actual creating happens in six days. The seventh day is one of rest. “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

This is where it all begins. “Creation is the foundation of “all God’s saving plans,” the “beginning of the history of salvation” that culminates in Christ.” (CCC 280) We probably wouldn’t connect the dots from the creation story to Christmas, but God always knew the big picture. The same God that created the world, the Word whom through everything was created, also became the Word made Flesh.

Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Five golden rings.

When we get to day five in the song, the music slows down, and we take a break from birds to focus on something that most everyone finds valuable – gold. It would only make sense for a true love to give golden rings to his beloved. Actually, the five rings is where we see another variation on the lyrics. Sometimes it is golden rings and other times gold rings. Believe it or not, the gold rings actually stand for pheasants.

The four colly birds stood for the first four books of the New Testament. Today’s five pheasants can stand for the first five books of the Old Testament. These books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are called the Pentateuch.

What stands out to me is that three of the five days have been focused on scripture. That should be a reminder to us about how important the Word of God is. If you haven’t yet read through the Christmas story, read Luke 2:1-20. If you have already, look at Matthew’s version, Matthew 1:18-25.

Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
Four calling birds

Actually, the lyric is colly birds. Yeah, four colly birds. Apparently there was something lost in translation from Europe to the United States, where we sing calling birds instead of colly birds.

What is a colly bird? I was hoping you’d ask.

A colly bird is a European blackbird which is not like a North American black bird but a thrush bird. Do you remember that I’m not very interested in birds? Right. So let’s move on to what these four birds can help us remember when it comes to our faith.

The New Testament (one of two doves), begins with the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Although all of scripture is important, it is in these four books that we read about the life of Jesus Christ.

The gospels tell us his life story—from his birth, which we celebrate now, to his passion and resurrection. In between, we read how he called disciples, taught with parables, and performed miracles. If you want to get to know Christ better, take some time to read about his life.