This week will see Catholics around the globe, including many close to home, embrace the Church’s Winter Ember Days. That’s three days of fasting including partial abstinence from meat upon Ember Wednesday and Ember Saturday and full abstinence from meat on Ember Friday. So, what exactly are Ember Days? Sister Esther Mary Nickel RSM, Director of Sacred Worship for the Archdiocese of Detroit, now explains:
What are Ember days and why have they been so significant in our Catholic tradition? They are ancient days of prayer and fasting. Since at least the time of Saint Leo the Great, who died in AD 461, Catholics practiced this time of fasting four times a year: Lent, Pentecost, September and December. The days of fasting and prayer are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
First, Ember does not have anything to do with burning coals. How is it that we have the word “Ember”? Because there are three fast days, four times each year. Thus there are 12 Ember days of prayer and fasting each year. The days became known in Latin as Quatuor Tempora (four times). A German corruption of the Latin became Quatember. In English there was a further corruption to “Ember”.
These days were instituted to:
1. Consecrate by penance each of the four seasons of the year;
2. Pray to God for the preservation of the fruits of the earth, and to give Him thanks for those already received;
3. Beg of God worthy pastors for the Church, and to implore His blessing on those who are promoted to Holy Orders.
The Ember Days were also preparation for Ordination to the Priesthood. Those priests who are now in their late 80’s or 90’s were most likely ordained on Ember Saturday. The faithful would fast and fervently pray for those who were to be ordained to serve Christ and His Church.
The December, or Advent Ember Days are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the Memorial of Saint Lucy on December 13. This year December 13 is Tuesday and so these days may be celebrated on Wednesday, December 14; Friday, December 16; and Saturday, December 17. A time set aside for prayer and reading of Sacred Scripture is fitting to accompany the days of fasting and prayer.
On Wednesday, the readings would be taken from Isaiah 2:2-5 with a Gospel meditation from Luke 1:26-38. On Friday, the reading is taken from Isaiah 11:1-5 and the Gospel from Luke 1:39-47. On Saturday the reading is from Isaiah 35:1-7 and the Gospel from Luke 3:1-6. After the readings of Sacred Scripture, the Ember Day Prayer concludes the time of prayer.
Ember Day Prayer:
We beseech you, O Lord, mercifully to regard the devotion of your people, that mortifying their bodies by fasting, their minds may be refreshed by good works. Through Christ our Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he has done for you.
Receive, O Lord, we beseech you, the offerings of our homage, and mercifully sanctify your own gifts.
Bless and preserve, O Lord, the fruits of the earth. Enable us by your grace, so to enjoy these and all other temporal blessings, that we may not lose those which are eternal.
Lord, Jesus Christ, who did institute in your Church a sacred hierarchy, to be perpetuated without interruption to the end of the world, by the sacrament of Holy Orders, hear the prayers which we humbly. offer up to you, for those who are to be ordained [at this time], that strengthened by your grace and directed by your Spirit, they may please you to whom they engage themselves, and by word and example, contribute to the salvation of souls redeemed by your blood. Who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.
The reform of the Universal Liturgical Calendar in 1969 did not retain Ember Days for the Church. Because of the expansion of the Church, it was left to the Conference of Bishops in the various parts of the world to determine the celebration of Ember Days. However, Pope Saint Paul VI asked specifically that Ember days would always include prayers for the vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
In recent years, there is an increase in interest and desire to celebrate the Ember Days with prayer and fasting. A suggestion for ways to celebrate these days will be included in the new edition of the Catholic Rural Life Prayer Book* that is nearly ready for publication marking the 100th anniversary of this organization serving rural communities in the United States.
It seems that the Holy Spirit is guiding us to return to our roots and once again take up the practice of fasting as fitting and prayer to help us focus on the gifts that God gives us in creation and nature. He also gives us supernatural gifts through our baptism, the ministerial priesthood and Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist.
As we celebrate the National Eucharistic Revival National Eucharistic Revival: A Grassroots Response to God’s Invitation and are preparing for the “Parish Year” and the National Eucharist Congress in July 2024, the Ember Days may help us discover once again the gift of Jesus giving us “His flesh for the Life of the World.”
The Advent Ember Days are a perfect way to pray in preparation for the celebration of Christmas: The Nativity of the Lord. May we deepen our desire for union with “The Word made Flesh” and to invite others to encounter Jesus through the celebration of Holy Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Sister Esther Mary Nickel, RSM, Director of Sacred Worship, Archdiocese of Detroit
• For more on Catholic Rural Life: https://catholicrurallife.org/
