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Post by Admin on Sept 19, 2018 11:55:12 GMT
The Ember days are true Catholic tradition dating actually dating back to the Apostles, (Pope Leo The Great claims it was instituted by the Apostles). Pope Callistus (217-222) in the “Liber Pontificalis” has laws ordering all to observe a fast three times a year to counteract the hedonistic and pagan Roman rites praying for: a good harvest (June), a good vintage (September), a good seeding in December. By the time of Pope Gelasius, (492-496), he already writes about there being four times a years, including Spring. He also permitted the conferring of priesthood and deaconship on the Saturdays of Ember week. This practice was mostly celebrated around Rome, from Pope Gelasius’ time, they began to spread throughout the Church. St. Augustin brought them to England and the Carolingians into Gaul and Germany. In the eleventh century, Spain adopted them. It was not until Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085), that these Ember days were prescribed for the whole Catholic Church as days of fast and abstinence. He placed these “four mini Lents” consisting of three days; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: after St. Lucy’s Feast Dec. 13, After Ash Wednesday, following Whitsunday, (Pentecost), and after Sept. 14, the Exaltation of the Cross. The purpose of these “mini Lents” were to pray, fast and to thank God for the gifts He gives us through nature. They follow the four seasons of the year with the beauty and uniqueness of each particular season. They are here for us to teach us to use, with moderation, what God gives us through nature, and to also share these gifts with the poor.
In the Roman Missal, the Ember days, the Latin Mass has more readings called lessons that are from Scripture, in addition to the ordinary two readings: Ember Wednesday has three, Saturday, six, with seven on the Saturday in December. Included in some of these readings are the promises of a bountiful harvest for those who are faithful to God and serve Him. In the New Missal, these Ember days have been completely removed by Bugnini, the Concilium and Pope Paul VI. I say that this is a sin of modernist, because no member of the Church, even as high as the pope, has the right to abrogate what was instituted by the Apostles.
But, for us traditional Catholics, let us take full advantage of these few days to pray, fast and abstain for the conversion of sinners, beginning with the pope, cardinals, bishops, religious, priests and laity. We participate in these days because we are asking God to do great things. We need great faith that He will work mightily. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday it is 2 small meals and 1 regular. Wednesday and Saturday, only meat at the regular meal. Friday no meat at all like all Fridays. Oh yes, let us not forget, we are also praying for the forgiveness of our own sins and for our own conversions as well. We are so blessed to be traditional Catholics and to have these powerful leverages like Ember Days. Don’t forget there will be long readings on these days. Source
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The Ember Days of September: From The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Gueranger.
For the third time this year, Holy Church comes claiming from her children the tribute of Penance, which, from the earliest ages of Christianity, was looked upon as a solemn consecration of the Seasons. The historical details relative to the institution of the Ember Days will be found on the Wednesdays of the third week of Advent and of the first week of Lent; and on those same two days, we have spoken of the intentions which Christians should have in the fulfilment of the demand made upon their yearly service. The beginnings of the Winter, Spring, and Autumn quarters were sanctified by abstinence and fasting, and each of them, in turn, has witnessed heaven’s blessing falling upon their respective three months; and now, Autumn is harvesting the fruits, which divine mercy, appeased by the satisfactions made by sinful man, has vouchsafed to bring forth from the bosom of the earth, notwithstanding the curse that still hangs over her. The precious seed of wheat, on which man’s life mainly depends, was confided to the soil in the season of the yearly frosts, and with the first fine days, peeped above the ground; at the approach of glorious Easter, it carpeted our fields with its velvet of green, making them ready to share in the universal joy of Jesus’ resurrection; then, turning into a lovely image of what our souls ought to have been in the season of Pentecost, its stem grew up under the action of the hot sun; the golden ear promised a hundred-fold to its master; the harvest made the reapers glad; and now that September has come, it calls on man to fix his heart on that good God, who gave him all this store. Let him not think of saying, as that rich man of the Gospel did, after a plentiful harvest of fruits: My soul! thou hast much goods laid up for many years! take thy rest! eat! drink! make good cheer! And God said to that man: Thou fool! this night, do they require thy soul of thee! and whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Surely, there is too much of the Christian among us to allow us to be senseless in that way. If we would be truly rich with God, if we would draw down his blessing on the preservation, as well as on the production, of the fruits of the earth, let us, at the beginning of this last quarter of the year, have recourse to those penitential exercises, whose beneficial effects we have always experienced in the past. The Church gives us the commandment to do so, by obliging us, under penalty of grievous sin, to abstain and fast on these three days, unless we be lawfully dispensed. We have already spoken on the necessity of private penance, for the Christian who is at all desirous to make progress in the path of salvation. But, in this, as in all spiritual exercises, a private work of devotion has neither the merit nor the efficacy of one that is done in company with the Church, and in communion with her public act; for the Church, as Bride of Christ, has an exceptional worth and power in all she does; and these qualities are communicated by her, to works of penance done, in her name, in the unity of the social body. St. Leo the Great is very strong on this fundamental principle of Christian virtue; and we find him insisting on it, in the sermons he preached to the Faithful of Rome, on occasion of this Fast, of what was then called, the Feast of the seventh month. "Although," says he, "it be lawful for each one of us to chastise his body, by self-imposed punishments, and restrain, with more or less severity, the concupiscences of the flesh, which war against the spirit,—yet, need is, that, on certain days, there be celebrated a general fast by all. Devotion is all the more efficacious and holy, when, in works of piety, the whole Church is engaged in them, with one spirit and one soul. Everything, in fact, that is of a public character, is, to be preferred to what is private; and it is plain, that so much the greater is the interest at stake, when the earnestness of all is engaged upon it. As for individual efforts, let each one keep up his fervor in them; let each one, imploring the aid of divine protection, take to his own self the heavenly armor, wherewith to resist the snares laid by the spirits of wickedness;—but, the soldier of the Church,—(the soldier that has the spirit of the Church,—ecclesiasticus miles), though he may act bravely in his own private combats (specialibus præliis), yet will he fight, more safely, and more successively, when he shall confront the enemy in a public engagement; for in that public engagement, he has not only his own valor to trust to, but, under the leadership of a King who can never be conquered, he is in the battle fought by all his fellow-soldiers, and, by being in their company and ranks, he has a fellowship of mutual aid." Another year, when preaching for the same occasion, this eloquent Pontiff, and Doctor of the Church, was even more energetic and lengthy, in putting these great truths before the people; would to God the words of such a Pope, as Leo the Great, could make themselves heard by our present generation, and induce us Christians to mistrust the individualistic tendencies of what is called the piety suited to the age we live in. Fortunately, the words of the Saint exist, and in all their "pontifical eloquence;" we invite our readers to peruse his "Sermons;" all we have space for, is a short selection from his third Sermon on the Fast of the seventh month (our September Ember Days). "God has sanctioned this privilege,—that, what is celebrated in virtue of a public law, is more sacred than that which depends on a private regulation. The exercise of a self-restraint which an individual Christian practices by his own will, is for the advantage of that single member; but, a fast, undertaken by the Church at large, includes every one in the general purification. God’s people never is so powerful, as when the hearts of all the Faithful join together in the unity of holy obedience, and when, in the Christian camp, there is one and the same preparation made by all, and one and the same bulwark covering us all. … See, most dearly beloved, here is the solemn Fast of the seventh month urging us to profit by the potency of the unity (of which we were speaking), and which is invincible. … Let us raise up our hearts, withdraw from worldly occupations, and steal some time for furthering our eternal goods. … The most plenary remission of sin is obtained, when there is the whole Church in the like prayer, and the like confession; for, if the Lord promises, that when two or three shall, with a holy and pious unanimity, agree to ask Him anything whatsoever, it shall be granted to them,—what is there, that can be refused to a people of many thousands, who are all alike engaged in observing one and the same practice of religion, and are, with one common accord, praying with one and the same spirit? In the eyes of God, my dearly beloved, it is a great and precious sight, when all Christ’s people are earnest at the same offices; and that, without any distinction, men and women of every grade and order, are all working together with one heart. To depart from evil and do good, that is the one and same determination of all. They all give glory to God for the works he achieves in his servants. They all unite in returning hearty thanks to the loving Giver of all blessings. The hungry are fed; the naked are clad; the sick are visited; and no one seeketh his own profit, but that of others. … By this grace of God, who worketh all in all, the fruit is common, and the merit is common; for the affection of all may be the same, although all are not equally rich; and they who are receivers of the liberality of others, may not be able to make a like return, but they can entertain a like affection. There is nothing out of joint in such a people as that; there are no variances; for all the members of the whole body are alike in the energy of the same piety. … The beauty of the whole becomes the excellence of each member. … Let us, then, embrace this blessed solidity of holy unity, and with one agreement of the same good will, let us enter upon this solemn Fast." Let us not, in our prayers and fasts, forget the new Priests and other Ministers of the Church who, on Saturday next, are to receive the imposition of hands. The September ordination is not usually the most numerous of those given by the Bishop during the year. The sublime function to which the Faithful owe their Fathers and Guides in the spiritual life has, however, a special interest at this period of the year, which, more than any other, is in keeping with the present state of the world, which is one of rapid decline towards ruin. Our Year, too, is on the fall, as we say. The sun, which beheld rising at Christmas, as a giant who would burst the bonds of frost asunder and restrain the tyranny of darkness—now, as though he had grown wearied, is drooping towards the horizon; each day we see him gradually leaving that glorious zenith, where we admired his dazzling splendor, on the day of our Emmanuel’s Ascension; his fire has lost its might; and though he still holds half the day as his, his disc is growing pale, which tells us of the coming on of those long nights when Nature, stripped of all her loveliness by angry storms, seems as though she would bury herself forever in the frozen shroud which is to bind her. So it is with our world. Illumined as it was by the light of Christ and glowing with the fire of the Holy Ghost, it sees in these our days that charity is growing cold, and that the light and glow it had from the Sun of Justice are on the wane. Each revolution takes from the Church some jewel or other, which does not come back to her when the storm is over; tempests are so frequent that tumult is becoming the natural state of the times. Error predominates and lays down the law. Iniquity abounds. It is our Lord himself who said: When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find, think ye, Faith on earth? Lift up, then, your heads, ye children of God! for your redemption is at hand. But from now until that time shall come, when heaven and earth are to be made new for the reign that is to be eternal, and shall bloom in the light of the Lamb, the Conqueror, days far worse than these must dawn upon this world of ours, when the elect themselves would be deceived, if that were possible! How important is it not, in these miserable times, that the Pastors of the flock of Christ be equal to their perilous and sublime vocation; let us then fast and pray; and how numerous soever may be the losses sustained in the Christian ranks of those who once were faithful in the practices of penance, let us not lose courage. Few as we may be, let us group ourselves closely round the Church, and implore of that Jesus, who is her Spouse, that he vouchsafe to multiply his gifts in those whom he is calling to the—now more than ever—dread honor of the Priesthood; that he infuse into them his divine prudence, whereby they may be able to disconcert the plans of the impious; his untiring zeal for the conversion of ungrateful souls; his perseverance even unto death in maintaining, without reticence or compromise, the plenitude of that truth which he has destined for the world, and the unviolated custody of which is to be, on the last Day, the solemn testimony of the Bride’s fidelity.
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Post by Admin on Sept 19, 2018 11:57:49 GMT
WEDNESDAY FOLLOWING THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. [Emberday.]
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880
LESSON. (ii Esdras lxxx. i — 10.) In those days, All the people were gathered together as one man to the street, which is before the water-gate: and they spoke to Esdras the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. Then Esdras the priest brought the law before the multitude of men and women, and all those that could understand, in the first day of the seventh month. And he read it plainly in the street that was before the water-gate, from the morning until mid-day, before the men, and the women, and all those that could understand: and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book. And Esdras the scribe stood upon a step of wood, which he had made to speak upon: and he opened the book before all the people: for he was above all the people: and when he had opened it, all the people stood. And Esdras blessed the Lord the great God: and all the people answered: Amen, amen: lifting up their hands; and they bowed down, and adored God with their faces to the ground. Now the Levites made silence among the people to hear the law: and the people stood in their place. And they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and plainly to be understood: and they understood when it was read. And Nehemias, and Esdras the priest and scribe, and the Levites who interpreted to all the people, said: This is a holy day to the Lord our God, do not mourn, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. And he said to them: Go, eat fat meats, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to them that have not prepared for themselves; because it is the holy day of the Lord, and be not sad: for the joy of the Lord is our strength. PRAYER. O Lord! send zealous priests, like Esdras, into Thy vineyard, the Church, and grant that we, like this people, may ardently listen to the word of God, which Thy ministers, the priests, preach to us, that we may sincerely bewail our sins and thus seek in Thee, our Lord, our only happiness and strength. GOSPEL. (Mark ix. 16 — 28.) At that time, One of the multitude speaking to Jesus, said: Master, I have brought my son to thee having a dumb spirit: who, wheresoever he taketh him , dasheth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with the teeth, and pineth away: and I spoke to thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. Who answering them, said: incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him into me. And they brought him. And when he had seen him, immediately the spirit troubled him: and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about foaming. And he asked his father: How long time is it since this hath happened unto him? But he said: From his infancy: and oftentimes hath he cast him into the fire and into waters, to destroy him ; but if thou canst do anything , help us , having compassion on us. And Jesus saith to him: If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And immediately the father of the boy crying out. with tears said: I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw the multitude running together, he threatened the unclean spirit , saying to him : Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him; and enter not any more into him. And crying out, and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as dead, so that many said: He is dead. But Jesus taking him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples secretly asked him: Why could not we cast him out? And he said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. We beseech Thee, Lord, support by means of Thy mercy our weak nature that, prone to evil, it may be amended by Thy goodness. Thro'.
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Post by Elizabeth on Sept 19, 2018 18:15:23 GMT
"Ember days are days of penance. The Church uses them to implore Almighty God to grant the Church good priests (ordinations frequently take place on the Ember Saturdays), and to thank God for the benefits received in the past quarter of the year." -Our Quest for Happiness Book I
Code of Canon Law 1917:
1096. Abstinence only is enjoined on the Fridays throughout the year. Fast and abstinence are prescribed on the following days: Ash Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays in Lent, Ember days, the Vigils of Pentecost, of the Assumption, of All Saints Day, and of Christmas Day. Fast only is ordained for all the other days of Lent. On Sundays and holidays of obligation, except on a holiday in Lent, there is neither fast nor abstinence, and if a vigil that is a fast day falls on a Sunday the fast is not to be anticipated on Saturday but is dropped altogether that year. The Lenten fast and abstinence cease at twelve o clock noon on Holy Saturday. (Canon 1252.)
In Tradition Ember Days are full abstinence. Someone asked a priest of the SSPX back in 1997 whether to do full abstinence on Ember Days or partial abstinence, he said that you get more graces from doing full abstinence on the Ember Days.
I believe that the partial abstinence is mordenising the Ember Days. The Catholics and saints of the past would do full abstinence and fast on the Ember Days.
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2018 10:48:31 GMT
FRIDAY FOLLOWING THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. [Ember day.]
LESSON. (Osee xiv. 2 — 10.) Thus saith the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods; for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive-tree; and his smell as that of Libanus. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow; they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir-tree: from me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressor shall fall in them. EXPLANATION. The Prophet Osee by command of God exhorts the people of Israel to penance, and endeavors to persuade them by describing the happiness, derived therefrom. O what blessing and what joy does sincere penance give during life, and particularly in death! GOSPEL. [For the gospel see the feast of St. Mary Magdalen in the second part of this book.] (Luke 7:36-50)And one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; And standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet, with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors, the one who owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most? [43] Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And he said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee. [49] And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace.
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2018 10:57:10 GMT
Archbishop Lefebvre: On Fasting and Abstinence
Pray and do penance. Do penance in order to pray better, in order to draw closer to Almighty God. In his Lenten message of February 1982, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre addresses the important subject of fasting and abstinence, especially in light of the newer, relaxed regulations instituted by Pope Paul VI in his apostolic constitution, Paenitemini. The archbishop exhorts the faithful for their personal sanctification to voluntarily practice the traditional rules, even though they are not strictly binding. My dear brethren, According to an ancient and salutary tradition in the Church, on the occasion of the beginning of Lent, I address these words to you in order to encourage you to enter into this penitential season wholeheartedly, with the dispositions willed by the Church and to accomplish the purpose for which the Church prescribes it. If I look in books from the early part of this century, I find that they indicate three purposes for which the Church has prescribed this penitential time: First - in order to curb the concupiscence of the flesh; Then - to facilitate the elevation of our souls toward divine realities; Finally - to make satisfaction for our sins. Our Lord gave us the example during His life, here on earth: pray and do penance. However, Our Lord, being free from concupiscence and sin, did penance and made satisfaction for our sins, thus showing us that our penance may be beneficial not only for ourselves but also for others. Pray and do penance. Do penance in order to pray better, in order to draw closer to Almighty God. This is what all the saints have done, and this is that of which all the messages of the Blessed Virgin remind us. Would we dare to say that this necessity is less important in our day and age than in former times? On the contrary, we can and we must affirm that today, more than ever before, prayer and penance are necessary because everything possible has been done to diminish and denigrate these two fundamental elements of Christian life. Never before has the world sought to satisfy - without any limit, the disordered instincts of the flesh, even to the point of the murder of millions of innocent, unborn children. One would come to believe that society has no other reason for existence except to give the greatest material standard of living to all men in order that they should not be deprived of material goods. Thus we can see that such a society would be opposed to what the Church prescribes. In these times, when even Churchmen align themselves with the spirit of this world, we witness the disappearance of prayer and penance - particularly in their character of reparation for sins and obtaining pardon for faults. Few there are today who love to recite Psalm 50, the Miserere, and who say with the psalmist, Peccatum meum contra me est simper - "My sin is always before me." How can a Christian remove the thought of sin if the image of the crucifix is always before his eyes? At the Council the bishops requested such a diminution of fast and abstinence that the prescriptions have practically disappeared. We must recognize the fact that this disappearance is a consequence of the ecumenical and Protestant spirit which denies the necessity of our participation for the application of the merits of Our Lord to each one of us for the remission of our sins and the restoration of our divine affiliation [i.e., our character as adoptive sons of God]. In the past the commandments of the Church provided for: + An obligatory fast on all days of Lent with the exception of Sundays, for the three Ember Days and for many Vigils; + Abstinence was for all Fridays of the year, the Saturdays of Lent and, in numerous dioceses, all the Saturdays of the year. What remains of these prescriptions - the fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstinence for Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. One wonders at the motives for such a drastic diminution. Who are obliged to observe the fast? - adults from age 21 to 60 [In the USA, the minimum age is 18 years old - Ed.]. And who are obliged to observe abstinence? - all the faithful from the age of 7 years. What does fasting mean? To fast means to take only one (full) meal a day to which one may add two collations (or small meals), one in the morning, one in the evening which, when combined, do not equal a full meal. [The archbishop is referring to the European order of meals; in the United States though, dinner is usually the evening meal - Ed.] What is meant by abstinence? By abstinence is meant that one abstains from meat. The faithful who have a true spirit of faith and who profoundly understand the motives of the Church which have been mentioned above, will wholeheartedly accomplish not only the light prescriptions of today but, entering into the spirit of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will endeavor to make reparation for the sins which they have committed and for the sins of their family, their neighbors, friends and fellow citizens. It is for this reason that they will add to the actual prescriptions. These additional penances might be to fast for all Fridays of Lent, abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, abstinence from television, or other similar sacrifices. They will make an effort to pray more, to assist more frequently at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to recite the rosary, and not to miss evening prayers with the family. They will detach themselves from their superfluous material goods in order to aid the seminaries, help establish schools, help their priests adequately furnish the chapels and to help establish novitiates for nuns and brothers. The prescriptions of the Church do not concern fast and abstinence alone but also of the obligation of the Paschal Communion (Easter Duty). Here is what the Vicar of the Diocese of Sion, in Switzerland, recommended to the faithful of that diocese on February 20, 1919: + During Lent, the pastors will have the Stations of the Cross twice a week; one day for the children of the schools and another day for the other parishioners. After the Stations of the Cross, they will recite the Litany of the Sacred Heart. + During Passion Week, which is to say, the week before Palm Sunday, there will be a Triduum in all parish churches, Instruction, Litany of the Sacred Heart in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction. In these instructions the pastors will simply and clearly remind their parishioners of the principal conditions to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily. + The time during which one may fulfill the Easter Duty has been set for all parishes from Passion Sunday to the first Sunday after Easter. Why should these directives no longer be useful today? Let us profit from this salutary time during the course of which Our Lord is accustomed to dispense grace abundantly. Let us not imitate the foolish virgins who having no oil in their lamps found the door of the bridegroom's house closed and this terrible response: Nescio vos - "I know you not." Blessed are they who have the spirit of poverty for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The spirit of poverty means the spirit of detachment from things of this world. Blessed are they who weep for they shall be consoled. Let us think of Jesus in the Garden of Olives who wept for our sins. It is henceforth for us to weep for our sins and for those of our brethren. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for holiness for they shall be satisfied. Holiness - sanctity is attained by means of the Cross, penance and sacrifice. If we truly seek perfection then we must follow the Way of the Cross. May we, during this Lenten Season, hear the call of Jesus and Mary and engage ourselves to follow them in this crusade of prayer and penance. May our prayers, our supplications, and our sacrifices obtain from heaven the grace that those in places of responsibility in the Church return to her true and holy traditions, which is the only solution to revive and reflourish the institutions of the Church again. Let us love to recite the conclusion of the Te Deum: In te Doming, speravi; non confundar in aeternum "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped. I will not be confounded in eternity." + Marcel Lefebvre Sexagesima Sunday February 14, 1982 Rickenbach, Switzerland
Guidelines for Traditional Penitential Practices
Traditional rules of fast and abstinence as observed per the 1962 liturgical calendar and outlined in Canons 1250-1254 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Who was bound to observe these laws? + The law of abstinence bound all Catholics, beginning on the day after their 7th birthday. + The law of fasting bound all Catholics, beginning on the day after their 21st birthday and ending at the midnight which completed their 59th birthday. [Note: The USA's particular law has lowered the obligatory fasting age to 18.] What was forbidden and allowed to be eaten? + The law of abstinence forbade the eating of flesh meat and of broth made of meat, but did not exclude the use of eggs, dairy products, or seasonings made from the fat of animals. + The law of fasting prescribed that only one full meal a day was taken with two smaller meals that did not equal the main one. In the Universal Church Abstinence was obligatory on all Fridays, except on Holy Days of Obligation outside of Lent. Fasting and complete abstinence were obligatory on the following days: Ash Wednesday Fridays and Saturdays in Lent Good Friday Holy Saturday Ember Days Vigil of Pentecost Vigil of Christmas Partial Abstinence Fasting and partial abstinence were obligatory on all other weekdays of Lent . ( i.e ., Monday through Thursday - Friday was always complete abstinence) This meant that meat could be eaten at the principal meal on these days.
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Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2018 12:11:37 GMT
SATURDAY FOLLOWING THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. [Ember day.]
EPISTLE. (Hebrews ix. 2 — 12.) Brethren, There was a tabernacle made the first, wherein were the candlesticks, and the table, and the setting forth of loaves, which is called the Holy. And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the Holy of Holies: having a golden censer, and the ark of the testament covered about on every part with gold, in which was a golden pot that had manna, and the rod of Aaron that had blossomed, and the tables of the testament, and over it were cherubims of glory overshadowing the propitiatory: of which it is not needful to speak now particularly. Now these things being thus ordered: into the first tabernacle the priests indeed always entered, accomplishing the offices of sacrifices. But into the second, the high-priest alone, once a year, not without blood, which he offereth for his own, and the people's ignorance: the Holy Ghost signifying this, that the way into the Holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the former tabernacle was yet standing; which is a parable of the time present: according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot, as to the conscience, make him perfect that serveth, only in meats and in drinks, and divers washings, and justices of the flesh, laid on them until the time of correction. But Christ being come an high-priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation: neither by the blood of goats, nor of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption. GOSPEL. (Luke. 6 — 17.) At that time, Jesus spoke to the multitude this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none: cut it down therefore: why cumbereth it the ground? But he answering said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it: and if happily it bear fruit; but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. And he was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all. Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity. And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath) answering said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come, and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you on the Sabbath-day loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water? And ought not this daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him. PRAYER. O Lord, do not permit that we, when Thou comest and askest fruits of true penance, be found without them and be rejected by Thee; grant m us rather time for penance and the grace, that faithfully following Thy footsteps, we may abound in all good works and thus be made partakers of eternal happiness. Send also holy priests into Thy Church, who have only Thy honor and the salvation of souls at heart, and by word and example lead the faithful to heaven. Amen.
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