Holy Mother Church provides us so many opportunities to redirect, refresh and renew. (I have not found any evidence, but I conjecture that perhaps the wax harvest from the honeybee might have been featured during these Lenten Ember Days? It would seem to be a logical connection.) The symbol of the Lenten Ember Days is the Paschal and baptismal candles. Instead of harvest offerings on Ember Wednesday, flowers were usually presented and blessed. This was also a time of thanksgiving for the gift of light. Instead this was a time of consecrating the new spring to God and asking blessing on the upcoming growing season. The other Ember Days marked thanksgiving for different harvests, but the Lent Ember Days did not. Since the Lenten season already had fasting and abstinence, observing Ember Days in Lent only added a little extra in penance to the already formerly strict laws of Lent. The Lent Ember Days were the last ones added to the liturgical calendar, and they have a slightly different character than the other three. There are four major intentions of the Quarterly Ember Days, but each set of days has a different flavor according to the corresponding liturgical season. The Lent Ember Days fall on the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during the first week of Lent. Unique Character of the Spring or Lent Ember Days Station churches for Thursdays were a much later addition and are not included in the Ember Days. The Ember Days fall on the days that had assigned stational churches, originally Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Gradually other days were added, the development can be seen in connection with the Roman Station Churches, as I wrote about last year in Roman Pilgrimage: Station Churches. In the days of the early church, Mass was originally only on Sundays. One question that comes up repeatedly is why are the Ember Days only Wednesday, Friday and Saturday? Is there any rhyme or reason to these days? Although the Northern Hemisphere might currently be experiencing wintry conditions, there are unmistakable signs that spring is near. But the word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which means Spring. Spring seems to be a misnomer, as the Vernal Equinox is almost four weeks away. It has only been 69 days since the Winter Ember Days, and it will be 92 days until the Summer or Pentecost Ember Days. The original days were fixed upon the first week of Lent, which date changes every year. While in theory these are supposed to occur quarterly, mimicking the changing seasons of the solar year, the traditional dates for the Ember Days do not divide the year equally in fourths. On.Ember Days the Church is accustomed to entreat the Lord for the various needs of humanity, especially for the fruits of the earth and for human labor, and to give thanks to him publicly. These days are marked with prayer, fasting and abstinence and stress spiritual renewal Ember Days could be regarded as quarterly spiritual check-ups.Īnd the official definition from the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar: This is also a time set apart to thank God for the sacraments and pray for priests, particularly those who were being ordained. Today I’m adding a few more thoughts, particularly on these Lenten Ember Days.Ī quick refresher on Ember Days from my original post:įour times a year, approximately three months apart, near the beginning of each season of the solar cycle (winter, spring, summer and autumn), the Church set aside three days aside (a total of twelve days in a year) to ask for blessings upon mankind, and to pray in gratitude for the blessings of nature, particularly those used by the Church in her Liturgy, such as olives, grapes, and wheat. This past fall I wrote a lengthy piece on Contemporary Observation of the Ember Days and suggestions on how to personally observe them even in the Ordinary Form of the Liturgy. But this doesn’t restrict obtaining a deeper understanding of this very ancient tradition of the Church, nor does it prevent a personal observance within our domestic churches. With the reorganization of the Liturgical Year by Vatican II, the Ember Days were retained within the Ordinary Form, but dates and form were left to the episcopal conferences. Wednesday, March 4, 2020, within the First Week of Lent, marks the beginning of the traditional dates of the Lenten or Spring Ember Days. Free eBook: Liturgical Year 2022-2023, Vol.
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