Ember days

But I think the Anglican ordinariate and the Anglican use is a fine option for people.

You're going to find communion on your knees at Altarail, communion on the tongue at Orientum, beautiful music, beautiful chant, the riches of the traditional English calendar, which includes Ember Days.

I used to be an Anglican priest, so I'm very familiar with it.

So I say two thumbs up if you have it in your area.

That is how it is.

And this week in chapel, we're... marking the Ember Days, which have a long history, and Mike can maybe talk about those sometime.

And Mike was up for the first two days of chapel.

Sometimes this year we've had professors or campus pastors go back to back as they're elaborating a text or a theme.

And it's often not songs you've learned from childhood and you've internalized, and thus you can participate them in a more meaningful way.

Another irony is usually we want to break away from the same old thing every Sunday.

You know what you ended up the same old thing without the variety of like, like we did on chapel today at our Ember days, Christmas, Easter, the saints days or whatever.

Like there actually is quite a bit of variety in there and like some pretty cool stuff.

Even the worst sinner can be reconciled to the church." And so there were a lot of people that consi- accused him harshly of, uh, of passivity and, and, and weakness and, uh, you know, not, not, not h- not standing firm, you know? And he's like, "No, if we c- if we can't reconcile the sinner to the church, uh, that, you know, that-- You got it wrong." And so, uh, that was Pope Callistus's place, and he, he, he had-- He was not high on everybody's list of Christmas cards, you know, because he said we should, we should forgive people no matter what.

And, uh, and last, uh, but not least, guess what he instituted 1,700 years ago? The Ember Days.

The Ember Days that were good enough for the church for 1,700 years, but, you know.

But again, we still have 'em, they're just voluntary now, okay? So you should know about those Ember Days of fasting.

Tertullian also opposed Pope Callistus, arguing that the power to bind and loose from sins was a power given only to St. Peter by Jesus, but not to his successors.

Among his other pastoral achievements, Pope Callistus reinvigorated the practice of ember days, which were days of fasting at the beginning of the four seasons, as a way of beseeching God for blessings in each of those seasons.

He is said to have been a diligent evangelist converting and baptizing many people of prominence, such as soldiers and senators, most of whom later died as martyrs.

During the reign of Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, a persecution of Christians broke out in the empire, especially in Rome.

236.

Which are the fasting days? The fasting days are the weekdays of Lent, certain vigils, and the ember days.

Footnote 1.

Lent ends at midday on Holy Saturday.

238.

Which are the days of abstinence? The days of abstinence are all Fridays except any Friday on which a holy day of obligation falls.

The Wednesdays of Lent in England, the Four Vigils unless one falls on a Sunday, and the Ember Days.

Footnote 2.

Y con tu espíritu.

Celebramos hoy la fiesta de Témporas, de acción de gracias y de petición.

Por una parte, la Iglesia, terminado el tiempo donde se han recogido las cosechas, da gracias al Señor por todos los bienes recibidos.

Pero a la vez, la Iglesia, que sabe que necesita ser reformada y convertirse cada día, porque los seres humanos que formamos parte de ella somos pecadores, pide al Señor también su misericordia y su gracia.

Saint-Simon makes the same remark.

He says that, quote, Great glutton and gourmand as she was, nothing in the world could have made her fail to observe the regulations of the church concerning the fasts of Lent and the Ember Days, and she left the king to go and recite some prayers every day.

One day the Duchess D'Uze expressed her astonishment at such religious scruples.

What, madame? replied the favorite.