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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Little Christmas

Fr. David Friel · January 7, 2013

S A STUDENT in grade school & high school, I always “brown-bagged” my lunch. Every day of first through twelfth grades, I ate a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and some type of granola bar. In grade school, I would have a Capri Sun to drink, and in high school I switched to bottled water. So the contents of my brown bag were usually exactly the same. On a few select days, though, my mom would sneak something extra into my lunch. One of those days was always my birthday, and another one was January 6th, the Epiphany—what she would always call “Little Christmas.” Each year, I would discover a little wrapped present in my lunch bag on January 6th. That was my mom’s way of celebrating the Epiphany with us.

Why do people give gifts? What is the point of gift-giving? It’s certainly about more than just transferring items from one person to another. Most people give gifts to people they care about, which tells us something about the meaning of gift giving. We give gifts to recognize the value—the intrinsic worth—of the person to whom we’re giving the gift. So, when we give someone a gift, we are saying that we value that person.

The feast of the Epiphany recalls the day on which the three kings brought gifts to the newborn Baby Jesus. They brought gifts because they valued, respected, & appreciated this Baby. Each of their gifts represents something about Whom they believed this Child to be.

The first king brought gold. Gold was a precious metal, reserved only for use in the palace and jewelry of a king. So, by bringing Jesus gold, the first wise man professed his faith that Jesus was his true King.

The second king brought frankincense. There was only one use for frankincense in the culture of the Jews. It was burned around-the-clock in the Temple at the “Altar of Incense.” So, just as we still use incense today, even then it was something reserved for the worship of God. By bringing Jesus frankincense, the second wise man professed his faith that Jesus was his God.

The third king brought myrrh. What is myrrh? Myrrh is a sort of perfume, and it had one major purpose in ancient cultures. It was the perfume used to anoint the body of someone who died. By bringing Jesus myrrh, the third wise man professed his faith that Jesus was his Savior. As Bishop Sheen put it, most people come into this world to live, whereas Jesus was born to die.

The three wise men brought gold, frankincense, & myrrh because they knew that He was a King, that He was God, and that He would one day die to set all men free. What gift are we bringing to Jesus right now? Perhaps we value the mercy God has shown us, so we’ll give Him the gift this week of being merciful to someone who bothers us. Maybe we value God’s peace, so we’ll give Him the gift of working toward peace in our family. When we assist at Mass, we offer to God bread and wine, which become His Sacred Body & Precious Blood.

It’s easy to give someone socks or a video game or a gift card. But, can we go so far as to give God our very hearts, entrusting everything to Him? It is hard, but it is necessary. After all, at Christmas, Jesus gave us the gift of Himself. Can we return the favor?

Giving a gift to someone is a sign that we care about the other person—that we value them. Those little wrapped gifts my mom would throw in my lunch bag might have been little, but they meant an awful lot. How pleased God would be with even the small gift of our entire lives!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Gregorian chant is the sacred chant, proper and principal of the Roman Church. Therefore, not only can it be used in all liturgical actions, but unless there are mitigating circumstances, it is preferable to use it instead of other kinds of sacred music.”

— §16, De Musica Sacra (1958)

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