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The September Ember Days by Abel Grimmer (1607).
Anyone seeking to live more fully from the traditions of the Catholic Church will want to know that today is Ember Wednesday in the traditional calendar.
The Ember days of September are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. In 2016, that means today and this coming Friday and Saturday.Â
Marking the onset of autumn, these days were originally established to invoke God's blessing on the harvest through the prayers and fasting of the faithful. They recall the feast of Tabernacles established by Moses in the 7th month of the Jewish year, which corresponds with September.
Although these fasts are no longer binding on the faithful, it is a good and pious practice to uphold them. The fasts traditionally applied only to healthy adults between the ages of 21 - 59 who were not engaged in labour intensive work. They restricted food to 2 small meals and 1 regular meal on these days. In other words: no outsize meals and no snacking! Fridays, as ever, were meatless. If meat is taken on the Wednesday or Saturday, this is consumed as part of the regular meal only.
Our copy of the Traditional Missal explains that some men were traditionally ordained to the sacred priesthood on the Ember Saturdays. On Ember Wednesday, the names of those due to be ordained were read aloud to the people, so that they might make deposition against any that they knew to be unworthy to receive Holy Orders.
The Missal relates that the Church still requires the assistance of the people - as it is in their interest - to preserve the sanctuary from unworthy ministers. Hence the importance of fasting and prayers on this day.
As the problem of dissenting, heretical and otherwise unworthy ministers is such a large-scale phenomenon today, the continuance of the practices of fasting and prayer on these Ember Days is highly recommended.
Perhaps Mr. Kevin Jones said it best at the LMS Wrexham blog yesterday: ''Unless one does a small amount of penance, Ember Days are meaningless! Our Lord wants us to follow His example as He fasted in the Desert before beginning His public life of 3 years. Christ said that fasting was required to expel some demons. In our own time to combat evil, always inspired by the devil, prayer and fasting seems like a good strategy!''
We pray for many graces and blessings for the Church and for our readers during these Ember Days.
