Click on the links (above) for other pages of information.
Some OLSM parishioners recently asked questions about observance of what we used to call The Ember Days and Harvest Festival.
Well, it's true that Catholic piety has not usually involved bringing turnips and sacks of potatoes to Church, but that doesn't mean that we fail to thank God for his gifts to us ! Indeed, until the 1960's we had special days of fasting &
thanksgiving marking the turn of the seasons, and in this we followed the practice of the early Christians, who themselves continued many practices of the Jews at the time of Our Blessed Lord. As a matter of fact, Pope St. Leo the Great taught that the observance of these special Ember Days was of Apostolic origin.
It's worth remembering that lots of things we do as part of our ritual/liturgy derive from what was done by the Jews of Our Lord's time. The Jews kept feasts which involved fasting for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Sukkoth, and
Tabernacles. These ancient feasts were strictly calculated according to the lunar (moon) cycle.
The Church, however, calculates according to the solar (sun) cycle. This has meant that over a few thousand years, the observances have gone a bit awry, and are only approximate. Still ...
Until the changes made by Bl. John xxiii, the September Ember Days began in the week of the 15 September (Weds, Fri, Sat). September was originally the seventh month. Tabernacles began on 15th day of the seventh month. The Lord said to Moses "from the 15th day of the seventh month ... you shall celebrate a feast of the Lord for seven days. In the seventh month you shall celebrate this feast; and you shall dwell in bowers for seven days: everyone that is of the race of Israel shall dwell in tabernacles (tents) that your posterity may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in tabernacles when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God" (Lev.23:33).
Similarly, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was kept on the tenth day of the seventh month. The abolition of these special days in the 1960's and the introduction of days of 'special prayer' for various needs, destroyed an ancient practice, among the many which still linked us to the religious practice of our 'older brothers', the Jews. Sad really .... The new 'special days of prayer' are totally ignored, more often than not, by the Catholic parish community.
header2>DOCUMENTSSacramentum Caritatis
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html#Actuosa_participatio
Sacrosanctum Consilium
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html
Caritas in Veritate
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html
Spe Salve
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html
Deus Caritas Est
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html
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