On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

We are almost there! We’ve been working our way through the Twelve Days of Christmas taking a deeper dive into what each if the Days are a symbol of. The song was originally meant to be a tool for teaching people the truths of the faith. As we’ve done each day, let’s review.

Day One – Partridge in a Pear Tree; Jesus Christ
Day Two – Turtledoves; the Old and New Testaments
Day Three – French Hens; Faith, Hope, and Charity
Day Four – Calling Birds; The Four Gospels
Day Five- Golden Rings; the first five books of the Bible
Day Six- Geese Alaying; days of creation
Day Seven – Swans Swimming; the seven Sacraments or gifts of the Holy Spirit
Day Eight – Maids Milking: the Beattitudes
Day Nine – Ladies Dancing; Fruits of the Spirit
Day Ten- Lords Leaping; the Ten Commandments

Now we are ready for Day Eleven: Pipers Pipping.

Eleven Pipers Pipping

What does this stand for, you ask? The Eleven Pippers are the eleven faithful apostles.

In my opinion, the most beautiful thing about the Apostles was that they were all so different. There are different personalities, different occupations, different political stances and involvement, and different overall backgrounds. They even had some personality quirks that should have put them at odds with each other.

Simon Peter. Known as the leader of the group, he was a fishermen who was introduced to Jesus by his brother.
James. A Son of Thunder known for his occupation as a fishermen. He’s the brother of John.
John. The other Son of Thunder, he wrote the Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation. According to Church tradition he is the only apostle to die of old age.
Andrew. Simon Peter’s brother, and the person who brought Petwr to Christ. He was one of the disciples of John the Baptist.
Philip. Also brought to Jesus by Andrew. A numbers guy who calculated how much they would need to feed the 5000.
Nathaneal. An Israelite in whom there is no guile. He knew the prophecies of the Savior and at first was resistant to Jesus because Jesus was raised in Nazareth – he didn’t realize Jesus had been born in Bethlehem.
Matthew. A tax collector. Candidly speaking, Matthew (or Levi) would have been the scum of Jewish society at the time. Take collector who were Jewish were considered to have sold out to the Roman Empire, and more often than not, they were charging more to line their pockets. Matthewbbrought Jesua to his fellow tax collectors once he discovered who Jesus was.
Simon the Zealot. The opposite of Matthew. He took so much pride in his Jewish culture that he was considered to be a rebel by the Roman Government. Under normal circumstances he and Matthew would never have been in the same room together.
Thomas. Known as Doubting Thomas because of his refusal to believe that Jesua rose from the dead u tol he could see and touch him. Thomas is credited from Church tradition as having taken the Gospel to India.
James, Son of Alpheus. Not to be confused with James the some of Zebedee.
Judas (Son of James aka Thaddeus). He mustn’t be confused with Judas Ischariot. Thaddeus, like many of the other apostles is credited with taking the Gospel I to areas outside of the Middle East.

As you can see, these men who served as apostles were all so different from each other. The beauty here, is that the Gospel changes everything. Several of these men would under normal circumstances would have never interacted with each other. Instead, they have all come together, helped to establish the Cburch in Jerusalem, and were able to be used to spread the Gospel to places they would never have dreamed.

Road Trippin With Rachael