Posted on 09/10/2010 5:39:00 PM PDT by Pyro7480
Putting the 'Ember' in September
An Ancient Church Tradition Takes on New Relevance
The South Asian newswire service ANI last month carried a headline one doesn’t see every day. It began, “Hindus laud Australian Catholic Church …”
Now, before divulging the rest of the headline, it should be noted that “Hindus” is a bit of an exaggeration. The article quotes only one member of that faith, self-proclaimed “Hindu statesman” Rajan Zed of Reno, Nevada, who previously made the news for protesting the Mike Myers film The Love Guru. Even so, the full headline is worth noting: “Hindus laud Australia Catholic Church for abstinence from meat on Ember Days.”
The real news here is that the Australian bishops have restored Ember Days to the liturgical calendar – which, for many American Catholics, leads to the question: What are Ember Days?
On the Tridentine calendar, Ember Days are days of fasting and abstinence from meat that take place on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the week beginning each of the four seasons. For those who attend what is now known as the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the final Ember Days of the current liturgical year are next week – September 15, 17, and 18.
The name’s origins are disputed – the Catholic Encyclopedia says it is a corruption of the Latin Quatuor Tempora, “four times,” while others say it comes from the Old English ymbren, “time” or “season.” However, there is no question that the tradition of Ember Days, in the words of Baylor University patristics professor Michael P. Foley, “brings us to the very origins of Christianity.”
Although they bear a historic link to Jewish seasonal penitential observances, Ember Days entered the Roman tradition as a Christian alternative to pagan harvest festivals. Yet, according to Father Sean Raftis, a priest serving in the Diocese of Helena who researched the days for his STL thesis, they “differed greatly” from the Roman celebrations “because they focused on fasting instead of feasting” and directed worshipers’ attention to the Eucharist.
Ember Days disappeared from the calendar with the reforms of Vatican II, but the change was not necessarily intended to be permanent. It was left to individual countries to determine whether and how to re-incorporate Ember Days into the liturgy – hence the Australian bishops’ 2008 move to partially restore them. According to a press release, the bishops saw in them an opportunity to “focus on the environment, climate change, and the responsibility of our stewardship of the world’s resources.”
Father Raftis’s paper, written three years before the Australian bishops’ decision, also sees an opportunity for a liturgical teaching moment: Bringing Ember Days back in the United States would be, he believes, an ideal means of proclaiming the “Gospel of Life” in the spirit encouraged by Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae. His main thesis is that “the Church’s liturgy is a fitting and effective vehicle for promoting the Church’s vision of the dignity of the human person.”
(Recent liturgical developments, although not dealing directly with Ember Days, have provided Raftis with a validation of sorts. The USCCB announced last month that the new translation of the English liturgy includes Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life, which can be celebrated on January 22 – the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.)
What relevance might Ember Days have in modern America for those who attend Mass in the extraordinary form? Frater Alban Baker of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, a clerical institute that uses the 1962 liturgy, says:
In our age which is so divorced from natural rhythms, I would tend to emphasize the connection of the Ember Days with the agricultural cycle. ... [They] reinforce our complete dependence upon God as Lord of nature. Therefore if in any way the re-introduction of Ember Days can contribute a renewed sense of God’s Providence as regards our food supply, it would be a good thing.At the same time, Baker observes, “in light of America's continually more intense rejection of the natural law, the Ember Days could rightly be practiced as doing penance for the country’s sins against nature” in a broader sense, including those related to “fundamental life issues, such as the disobedience paid to the natural law in practices such as abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual unions.”
He also sees meaning in the discipline the days require of the faithful, adding:
In our age, when the Church requires only two days of fasting in the entire liturgical year, the Ember Days as days of fast are important restorations which are rooted in the very words of Christ Himself. We cannot hope to overcome the demons which tempt and attack us, nor can we hope to overcome the demons which wage war on our country, without the practice of prayer and fasting.
Such penitential practices, says Father Terrence Gordon of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (which also uses the 1962 liturgy), is accentuated by the prayers of the Ember Days liturgy, which show “how fasting and prayer go together.” For example, the First Collect for Ember Saturday says, “we humbly beseech Thy Majesty that appeased by the fervent devotion of those who fast, Thou wouldst grant us help now and in the time to come.” Likewise, a Ember Wednesday prayer asks that “while abstaining from food for our bodies we may likewise abstain from sin in our souls.”
“St. Thomas points out that one of the reasons why we fast is so that our minds may be raised up above the things of the world,” Gordon continues. “So, fasting is essential to a more elevated prayer life.”
That leads to the other purpose of fasting – atonement for past sins. Here, Gordon notes, the words of the liturgy help the faithful in a precise way:
We can ask ourselves, how can someone who attends the Extraordinary Mass honestly pray the words ‘appeased by the fervent devotion of those who fast,’ and ‘that while abstaining from food for our bodies,’ and not carry on what the words urge him to do?
Catholic ping!
I’ve been seriously thinking about starting to practice this facet of traditional Catholicism. The author’s right, too. Since V2, it’s not really discussed here. But it’s nice to read an article like this about it. Thank you for sharing this, Pyro7480.
(rolls eyes) They forgot the prayers to Al Gore.
Sadly, I have to admit that had forgotten about ember days. When I first look at the headline, I was thinking about embers in a fire.
This is a great tradition to return to for all of the reasons given.
Thanks for posting this, FRiend.
Fasting is an important aspect of making us think of God — it is very important in this consumer society of ours to have a day when consumption is ignored. That ability to resist physical stimulus WHILE PRAYING will invariably make the person stronger spiritually.
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