It’s Not Too Late To Observe Two of the Winter Ember Days

It's not too late to observe Winter Ember Days!  

WINTER EMBER DAYS BEGAN Wednesday, December 17. They are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. But what are Ember Days? And why do they matter? The following are two great explanations:

First Explanation

The term ‘Ember Days‘ comes from the Latin, Quatuor Tempora, meaning four times. At the beginning of the four seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year, the Ember Days have been instituted by the Church to thank God for blessings obtained during the past year and to implore further graces for the new season. They fall:

1) after the First Sunday of Lent for Spring,
2) after Whitsunday for Summer,
3) after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14 for Autumn,
4)  after the Feast of St. Lucy on December 13 for Winter.

Ember Days are days of fast and abstinence. On Wednesday and Saturday, we observe partial fast and abstinence, which means two small meatless meals, and one full meal that can include meat. On Friday, we may take two small meals and one full meal, but observe total abstinence even at the main meal.

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were days of particular devotion in the early Church; Wednesday, as recalling the betrayal of Our Lord, and Friday in memory of His Passion, Saturday was later added to these days of prayer and penance as a continuation of Friday, and as far back as the second century they were set apart as Stational days, that is, as days of special religious service and fasting.

The observance of the Ember Days dates back to early Roman antiquity, they are older than Advent. Pope Leo I (c.450) has left a series of beautiful sermons for these days. Their purpose is to thank God for the fruits of the earth and other gifts of nature, to teach moderation in their use, and to assist the needy. From the time of Pope Gelasius (492-496) in the fifth century,  it has been the practice to confer the sacred steps of the priesthood on the Saturdays of Ember weeks.Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) prescribed the Ember Days as days of fast and abstinence for the whole Catholic Church.

Ember days are an ancient observation which are fixed on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in each of the four seasons of the year. Early in summer, in Pentecost week, the wheat was harvested. In order to thank God for this harvest, at the Offertory of the Mass a part (a tithe, a tenth part) was offered for the benefit of the Church, the priests, and the poor. In like manner, it was customary to offer tithes of the other harvest in their respective seasons. When the grapes were harvested in September, there was another week of thanks, and similar offerings were made in December when the olive crop was gathered. The fruits of these harvests, wheat, wine, and oil, have been put to the highest possible use in the liturgy of the Church, for she uses them sacramentally, that is, as external signs of the inner grace imparted through her sacraments.

She uses bread and wine at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and at Holy Communion; she uses oil at Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Order, Extreme Unction, and for many of her sacramentals (baptismal water, blessing of bells, churches, chalices, etc.). Later, a fourth week of thanksgiving was added in the spring, when it is but natural for man to thank God for the awakening of nature, the budding of the first flowers, and the  lengthened hours of daylight. Thus there was a portion to each season of the year a week of thanksgiving for the gifts of nature with which God has so generously enriched the world.

On Ember Days we thank God four times a year for all the gifts of nature, especially for those used by the Church in her sacraments and sacramentals. We also thank Him for the sacraments, administered to us under the external signs of these gifts of nature. Finally, on these days we pray for the priests, usually ordained at this time, who administer the sacraments to us.

“With Christ Through the Year.” Rev. Bernard Strasser, O.S.B., Bruce Publishing Company, 1947.

“The Church’s Year of Grace.” Rev. Pius Parsch, The Liturgical Press, 1953.

“Blessed Be God: A Complete Catholic Prayer Book.”  Charles J. Callan, OP, S.T.M, P. J. Kenedy & Sons.
 
Ember Day Prayers

Ant. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all He hath done for thee.

V. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge.
R. From generation to generation.

Let us Pray
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that as year by year we devoutly keep these holy observances, we may be pleasing to Thee both in body and soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Honor of Christ's Betrayal and Passion

O God, Who for the world’s Redemption wast pleased to be born, circumcised, rejected by the Jews, betrayed by the kiss of the traitor Judas, bound with chains, led like an innocent lamb to sacrifice, and shamefully presented before Annas, Caiphas, Pilate and Herod, accused by false witnesses, beaten with whips, buffeted, insulted, spat upon, crowned with thorns, smitten with a reed, blindfolded, stripped of Thy garments, fastened with nails to the cross and lifted up on high, reputed among thieves, made to drink gall and vinegar and wounded by a lance; oh, by these most sacred sufferings, which, unworthy as I am, I thus commemorate, and by Thy holy cross and death, deliver me, Lord, from the pains of hell, and deign to lead me where Thou didst lead the penitent thief, who was crucified by Thy side. Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father – 5 times.
(Ind. Of 300 days, once a day. – Pius VII. Aug. 25, 1820.)

Prayer for God's Blessing On Our Labors

O Lord, graciously look down upon Thy servants and upon the work of their hands, and do Thou, Who givest food to every creature, bless and preserve the fruits of the earth, that the needy may be filled with good things and that all may praise the glory of Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood

Ant. Why stand ye all the day idle, go ye into my vineyard.

V. Ask the Lord of the harvest.
R. That He send laborers into His vineyard.

Let us Pray
God, who willest not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live; grant, by the intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin and of all the saints, laborers for Thy Church, fellow laborers with Christ, to spend and consume themselves for souls. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Ind. Of 300 days.—Pius X. March 30, 1908.)

Second Explanation

Ember Days are traditionally days of fasting and partial abstinence (no meat except at the principal meal). Each of the four Embertides include three days of fasting and partial abstinence – Ember Wednesday, Ember Friday (fasting and full abstinence), and Ember Saturday.

Ember Days occur quarterly around the beginnings of the four natural seasons, and are meant to focus us on God through His marvelous creation. The Ember Days should also remind us of our obligation to steward the earth.

So, when are these four Embertides? The four Embertides are in:

• Spring (the week after Ash Wednesday),
• Summer (after Pentecost Sunday),
• Fall (after the Triumph of the Holy Cross),
• Winter (in Advent after the feast of St. Lucy).

The easy way to remember this is the rhyme: Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy.

By the time of the US Bishops’ 1966 Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, which removed the obligation of fasting during the whole season of Lent, Catholics were already no longer obliged to fast and abstain during ember days or vigils (the day before a feast). Nevertheless, the Bishops suggested that the devout would continue to ‘find greater Christian joy’ in the Church’s liturgical feasts if the faithful continued to embrace these practices.

Now that we are more than 50 years from the removal of these obligations, and most Catholics have grown up knowing only two obligatory fast days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday), many Catholics have found that it remains salutary to step back from the modern world’s comforts and voluntarily embrace Ember Days and other traditional days of fasting and abstinence, particularly Fridays.

Another reason for embracing Ember Days and other days of fasting is that the greats of the Catholic spiritual tradition routinely encourage fasting as a key to unlocking deeper prayer.

Saint John Vianney explained the connection this way:

"Unhappily, our hearts are not sufficiently pure and free from all earthly affections. If you take a very clean and very dry sponge, and soak it in water, it will be filled to overflowing; but if it is not dry and clean, it will take up nothing. In like manner, when the heart is not free and disengaged from the things of the earth, it is in vain that we steep it in prayer; it will absorb nothing."

• For more on Ember Days: https://www.fisheaters.com/emberdays.html

• Based upon an article first published during Lent 2022.