![]() Autumn Ember Days On September 21, 2016 begin the three Michaelmas Ember Days (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday). They are observed by fasting and partial abstinence (Full abstinence on Friday). As always, such fasting and abstinence has a greater purpose. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, through these activities, and through prayer, we use the Ember Days to "thank God for the gifts of nature, . . . teach men to make use of them in moderation, and . . . assist the needy." The Liturgy of the Ember Day fasts possessed originally a distinctly festive quality, and was partly a festival of thanksgiving for the ingathering of the fruits of the season. These rustic feasts originated at Rome. The observance of the Ember Day fasts was only introduced into Milan in the days of St. Charles Borromeo. The liturgy of this week has kept to a great extent unchanged its early festive character, which recalls so vividly the rural feasts of ancient Rome at the close of the vintage. The idea of a special preparation for the solemn Ordinations represents a later addition, which, however, dates from the time of Gelasius I. The station on Ember Wednesday is, as a rule, at St. Mary Major, and the three Lessons in the Mass are a survival of the ancient Roman liturgical use, which recalls those very early times when to the two Lessons from the Law and Prophets, customary in the synagogues of the Dispersion, the Apostles added a third lesson taken from the Gospels. The passage from the Gospel of St. Mark (Mark 9:16-28) teaches that humble prayer, on the other hand, and fasting, spiritualize our nature, which is thus raised to a supernatural state, and render it invulnerable to the fatal blows of Satan. The Church today insistently invites us to rejoice, and tells us that this holy joy in the Lord is that which nourishes our spiritual strength. _________________________________________ Quatre-Temps d'Automne Les Quatre-Temps de Septembre sont les plus anciens avec ceux de décembre. Ils ont toujours lieu dans la semaine qui suit le 3ème dimanche de septembre. Par commodité, le Missel Romain les place après le 17ème dimanche après la Pentecôte. Dès les premiers siècles, les Quatre-Temps ont été fixés, dans l’Église Romaine, aux époques où on les garde encore présentement ; et si l’on trouve plusieurs témoignages des temps anciens dans lesquels il est parlé de Trois Temps et non de Quatre, c’est parce que les Quatre-Temps du printemps, arrivant toujours dans le cours de la première Semaine de Carême, n’ajoutent rien aux observances de la sainte Quarantaine déjà consacrée à une abstinence et à un jeûne plus rigoureux que ceux qui se pratiquent dans tout autre temps de l’année. Les intentions du jeûne des Quatre-Temps sont les mêmes dans l’Église que dans la Synagogue : c’est-à-dire de consacrer par la pénitence chacune des saisons de l’année.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
BlogOur blog offers information on our monthly liturgical services, special events, news, and donation requests for our church and missions. It will also contain homilies for reading or printing. Archives
March 2018
Categories
All
|