Four Times a Year, the Church Sets Aside Three Days of the Week to Focus on God Through His Marvelous Creation

Much information take from FishEaters.com Four times a year, the Church sets aside three days of the week to focus on God through His marvelous creation. These quarterly periods take place around the beginnings of the four natural seasons that "like some virgins dancing in a circle, succeed one another with the happiest harmony" (St. John Chrysostom) These four times are each kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and are known as "Ember Days," orQuatuor Tempora, in Latin. The first of these four times comes in Winter, after theFeast of St. Lucy; the second comes in Spring, the week afterAsh Wednesday; the third comes in Summer, after Pentecost Sunday; and the last comes in Autumn, afterHoly Cross Day. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic: “Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,are when the quarter holidays follow.” It might be easier to just remember "Lucy, Ashes, Dove, and Cross." These times are spent fasting and partially abstaining (voluntary since the new Code of Canon Law) in penance and with the intentions of thanking God for the gifts He gives us in nature and beseeching Him for the discipline to use them in moderation. The fasts, known as "Jejunia quatuor temporum," or "the fast of the four seasons," are rooted in Old Testament practices of fasting four times a year. From the time of the Apostles, the Christian people would fast and abstain from meat all on Fridays throughout the year. After Vatican II, permission was given in the USA and many other countries to substitute this Friday penance with some other act of penance outside of LentNhowever, every Friday is still a mandatory day of penance for all 14 years of age and older, and abstaining from meat is still the universal and encouraged practice. During the Ember weeks, in addition to fasting and abstaining on Fridays, the ancient practice of Christians is to fast and abstain also on Wednesday and Saturday. All three days are connected to our Lord’s Passion: On Wednesday, Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver; on Friday, our Lord suffered and died; and on Saturday, Jesus remained dead and buried in the tomb. In remembrance of all our Lord did for us, and especially of his great love, we keep every Friday as a day of penance, and Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of Ember weeks as days of special penance; this is also why every day of Lent is likewise a day of penance. The Ember Days also call to mind the changing of the seasons and ask for God’s blessings upon the earth in each of the four seasons of the year. These are wonderful weeks for families to reflect together on the natural beauty of the world, and on how that beauty changes throughout the year! Because of the days' focus on nature, they are also traditional times for women to pray for children and safe deliveries. Ember Days are days favored for priestly ordinations, prayer for priests, first Communions, almsgiving and other penitential and charitable acts, and prayer for the souls in Purgatory. Note that medieval lore says that during Embertides, the souls in Purgatory are allowed to appear visibly to those on earth who pray for them. Because of the ancient connection with priestly ordinations, the Ember Days (and Ember Saturdays in particular) are a special time to pray for our priests and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood! Advent Embertide N Winter Season N Third Week of Advent Winter is a time of reflection, when human activity is stilled and snow blankets the world with silence. For the Christian, Winter symbolizes Hope: though the world now appears lifeless and makes us think of our own mortality, we hope in our resurrection because of the Resurrection of the One Whose Nativity we await now. How providential that the Christ Child will be born at the beginning of this icy season, bringing with Him all the hope of Spring! Also among our Winter feasts are theEpiphanyandCandlemas, two of the loveliest days of the year, the first evoked by water, incense, and gold; the latter by fire... Yes, despite the typical, unimaginative view of Winter as a long bout with misery, the season is among the most beautiful and filled with charms. The ephemeral beauty of a single snowflake... the pale blue tint of sky reflected in snow that glitters, and gives way with a satisfying crunch under foot... skeletal trees entombed in crystal, white as bones, cold as death, creaking under the weight of their icy shrouds... the wonderful feeling of being inside, next to a fire, while the winds whirl outside... the smell of burning wood mingled with evergreen... warm hands embracing your windbitten ones... the brilliant colors of certain winter birds, so shocking against the ocean of white... the wonderfully long nights which lend themselves to a sense of intimacy and quiet! Go outside and look at the clear Winter skies ... Such beauty! Winter is characterized by "wet and cold," and is associated with the golden years of old age, the humour of phlegm, the phlegmatic temperament,and the element of water. Lent Embertide N Spring Season N First Week of Lent Spring is the fulfillment of Winter's hope, beginning in rain and ending in a riot of birth and rebirth. How perfect, then, that we begin it all with the Lenten fast and the commemoration of Christ's Passion, and end withEaster, when Christ vanquishes His tomb, and catechumens are born again by water and Spirit! Sensually, Spring is a season of trees done up in green with pastel trim... the breathtaking blue of a robin's egg... the cool, waxy pleasure of tulip petals against the skin... butterflies fickle to flowers they mimic with their delicate wings... newborn animals struggle to open their eyes see the world they help make beautiful. This season is also seen as a time for love young love, passionate love but the love that lasts must take root in the will, and there is no love truer or greater than that which Christ, Who is God and Whose will is one with the Father's, has for His Church. How blessed we are that the season of love and life brings with it theFeast of the Annunciation, when Our Lady conceives not just mere life, buttheLife, and the Way and the Truth. And how beautiful that we dedicate May, the month of flowers, to Our Queen bycrowning her at its beginning, andcelebrating her Queenshipat its end. Spring is characterized by "wet and hot," and is associated with childhood, the humour of blood, the sanguine temperament, and the element of air. Pentecost Embertide N Summer Season N During the Octave of Pentecost Summer is the time of growth and work, of preparation for the harvest that comes before Winter. For the Catholic, it is a time of preparation for harvest on the spiritual level, too, as is reflected in the liturgical season of Time After Pentecost. Providential it is, then, that June has a special focus on the Sacred Heart, to Whom we offer our labours and sufferings through theMorning Offering. And providential it is that there come in these months the Feasts of many great Saints like St Martha who show us how to do our work well. And in the midst of that work, God gives us great comforts; this season, like all of the earth's seasons, fills the senses: the symphony of frogs and crickets against a background of rustling leaves, fireflies twinkling like stars in the forests, warm winds blowing through fields of wheat and tall grasses, water lilies floating on their large, round leaves, skies clear and blue, or cushioned with great wads of rolling white clouds, shining pale gold on their edges, water that feels like cool silk against hot skin, the sharp, green smell of newmown grass and hay. And the colors, the smells, the textures of firstfruits: corn, tomatoes, and eggplant, strawberries, blueberries, and plums, wheat, and hazelnuts. All of these things have being because God, Who is Being itself, loves. Let us love Him with gratitude and by loving what He loves! Let us "offer the firstfruits" by offering ourselves to Him and doing what He told us to do: to be good stewards, to care for the poor, to pray for the dead, and, most of all, to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole soul, all our mind, and all our strength; and our neighbour as ourselves. Summer is characterized by "dry and hot," and is associated with youth, the humour of yellow bile, the choleric temperament, and the element of fire. September Embertide N Fall Season N Third Week of September The September Ember Days come after the September 14th Feast of the Holy Cross and are sometimes called the Michaelmas Embertide due to the Feast of St Michael on September 29th. Oh, delicious Autumn! Trees lavish with spice colors... the earthy smell of their leaves burning in hypnotic flames... the rich colors of grapes, apples, pumpkin, and squash, of gold and scarlet flowers... the invigorating air inviting warm sweaters... The season is marked by a bounty that lends itself well to some wonderful holidays, especiallyMartinmas(the Feast of St Martin on November 11th) and the secular American and Canadian Thanksgivings (the fourth Thursday in November and October 2, respectively). In the midst of this beautiful time, things wizen and seem to begin to die. The air grows cooler, the earth stiffens, the trees tire of holding their leaves.

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