The Twelve Days of Christmas fly by quickly. It challenges us to be present. Yes, I am aware that Snopes has argued the meaning of the song, but it is areal thing faith.

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three french hens

Whether you believe the meaning or not today on the third day of Christmas you can still focus on Faith, Hope and Charity, the Three Theological Virtues. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it.

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude.

Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.