Reminder: Ember Days

This Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are traditional (according to the 1962 calendar) Ember Days. Although the practice is not required by the US bishops, it is with generosity we can offer these small sacrifices (fasting and partial abstinence) in reparation for the many outrages going on in the world today.

link to post by Family in Feast and Ferial

Some notes on the Ember Days:

The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy.

There are four sets of Ember Days each calendar year; three days each – Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Ember Days fall at the start of a new season and they were ordered as days of fast and abstinence. The significance of the days of the week are that Wednesday was the day Christ was betrayed, Friday was the day He was crucified, and Saturday was the day He was entombed.

Ember Days were marked by fasting and partial abstinence from meat. Fasting allows one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening. The normal rule of thumb is that the two smaller meals should not equal one full meal. Eating between meals is not allowed, but liquids are allowed. Partial abstinence allows meat to be eaten at the principal meal.

More info here

St. Bernard

Today is the feast day of St. Bernard. I hesitate to say "one of my favorites" or "most loved" as I find it hard to become too attached to just one saint. Often times the saint I seem most attached to depends on my happenings in life at that time. But it is safe to say that St. Bernard of Clairvaux always comforts me in all situations. If you have not read much on this saint or you are looking for a GREAT book to read aloud to your children, you must pick up The Family That Overtook Christ (see link below). Also, a great introduction for adults is St. Bernard of Clairvaux from Amazon (below) or Tan.

St. Bernard's writings are awesome. In his treatise On Loving God, he describes four degrees of love. We see clearly here why we learn and teach our children to know, love, and serve God. You must know before you can love and serve!

• First, man loves himself for his own sake due to his earthly nature
• Next, man sees that he is dependent on something and faith leads him to seek God and love Him because of his dependence on Him - a selfish love.
• Through the practice of our faith and worship of God, we learn of God's Goodness, and love Him not only for what He had done for us, but because He is God.
• The perfect love being a totally unselfish love, where man loves himself only for God's sake - a total abandonment to oneself and a total giving of oneself to God.As expressed in the Psalms: "I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God: and will make mention of Thy righteousness only" (Ps. 71:16)