The Twelve Days of Christmas - The Eleven Apostles

The 11th Day of Christmas

Matthew 11:16-19But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.

  

If we see the faithful Apostles in the eleven pipers piping, we can begin to enter into the true rhythm of life that is our faith; a faith for which the height and breadth and depth has no limits, being 'in Christ'. G. K. Chesterton once observed that if you see something condemned loudly for being too tall and too short, too black and too white, too round and too square, too fat and too thin, you may be sure that it is very good.

The Catholic faith comes in for a great deal of this sort of criticism, and it always has and will continue to do so until the King returns. 

Beginning with the Pharisees who complained that Jesus was too gluttonous and John the Baptist too ascetic, the Church has been attacked for every contradictory reason imaginable. It's too liberal/conservative, too masculine/feminine, too spiritual/earthbound, too flexible/inflexible. It refuses to change and it's constantly changing; it idolizes/despises Scripture; etc. etc. etc.

What these critics fail to grasp is that the eleven Apostles who saw the Resurrection were piping a tune that answered exactly to the rhythm of life, not laying out a neat diagram that fits the theories of ideologues. The Church, as a result, is always at cross-purposes with the best laid plans of men. Yet her wisdom eventually and certainly prevails, for it is the wisdom of the Spirit who indwells her!

You may also enjoy:

The 12 Days of Christmas - Day 1 Through Day 8

The 9th Day of Christmas - 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit 

 The 12 Days of Christmas - The Ten Commandments

Note: I am blessed to be receiving one of these reflections, from a deacon friend, each day. He tells me he doesn't know their source but makes simple edits as he deems necessary. Do you know the original source? Please share if you do.