Ember Days
December 14, 2021
WEDNESDAY, Friday and Saturday in the third week of Advent are known as “Ember Days” in the Catholic Church and are traditionally days of fast and abstinence from meat.
Please consider participating, starting tomorrow, in this beautiful tradition. It’s a perfect way to prepare for Christmas.
Four periods of three-day Embertide observances occur every year, since ancient times, at the change of seasons, drawing us to reflection and wonder. Fisheaters considers the winter Ember Days and their connection, not just with Christmas, but with nature:
Winter is a time of reflection, when human activity is stilled and snow blankets the world with silence. For the Christian, Winter symbolizes Hope: though the world now appears lifeless and makes us think of our own mortality, we hope in our resurrection because of the Resurrection of the One Whose Nativity we await now. How providential that the Christ Child will be born at the beginning of this icy season, bringing with Him all the hope of Spring! Also among our Winter feasts are the Epiphany and Candlemas, two of the loveliest days of the year, the first evoked by water, incense, and gold; the latter by fire…
Yes, despite the typical, unimaginative view of Winter as a long bout with misery, the season is among the most beautiful and filled with charms. The ephemeral beauty of a single snowflake… the pale blue tint of sky reflected in snow that glitters, and gives way with a satisfying crunch under foot… skeletal trees entombed in crystal, white as bones, cold as death, creaking under the weight of their icy shrouds… the wonderful feeling of being inside, next to a fire, while the winds whirl outside… the smell of burning wood mingled with evergreen… warm hands embracing your wind-bitten ones… the brilliant colors of certain winter birds, so shocking against the ocean of white… the wonderfully long nights which lend themselves to a sense of intimacy and quiet! Go outside and look at the clear Winter skies ruled by Taurus, with the Pleiades on its shoulder and Orion nearby… Such beauty!
The words “Ember Days” evoke smoldering hope and love — charred, almost extinguished fuel in our hearts and minds. It needs to be stirred up. We are too busy, too rushed to keep the fire alive. We need to detach ourselves from the whirlwind. One way we can do that is by eating less — in a spirit of penance and recollection of our sins.
God denied himself to come to us. Let us deny ourselves to come to him.
