WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.

Ember Days Preserved In The Ordinariate

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- from the Catholic Herald
The Ember Days recall an age when the rhythms of human life were still bound to the changing of the seasons. A corruption of the Latin Quatuor Tempora (“Four Times”), the Ember Days were an attempt by the ancient Church to preserve and sanctify the pagans’ observation of equinoxes and solstices. Our predecessors in the faith marked the cycles of Creation with fasting, prayer and acts of charity – giving thanks to “the Lord of the Harvest”, as Jesus called his Father.

The Ember Days are seldom marked by Catholics today, when every fruit and vegetable is available in the supermarket all year round. Harvest festivals can mean little to the New Yorker who buys fresh pineapples in the middle of December to garnish his Christmas ham.

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We in/of the Personal Ordinariate have retained the Ember Days. An article at this blog may help to bring other Catholics to a deeper appreciation of the celebration of the Ember (and Rogation) Days:

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2 TIMOTHY 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas

Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good” (paragraph 211).