Benedictus Deus

As you probably know this was the Lenten Embertide which reminded me that we have not reviewed the Ember day weather predictions in a while.  From the Advent Embertide I had these notes:

Wed (January) Clear, a little colder than seasonable, breezy

Friday (February) Cold (more so than seasonable) and cloudy

Saturday (March) Cold and heavy snow and high winds

I don’t specifically remember the weather from January, but I remember thinking at one point the Ember prediction was pretty much on target except for a brief warmup in there somewhere.  February has definitely been much colder than average.  There have only been a couple days this month that reached the average high.  Most have been well below.  It has also been very cloudy but we have also had a lot of precipitation which was not predicted.  Overall, I think the Ember predictions were pretty solid this time.  That one for march was on a day when we had a near record snow fall here in South Jersey so I kind of doubt that one will prove accurate.

The Lenten Embertide predicts the weather for April-June.  Here is what I have:

Wednesday (April) Cloudy, mild, seasonable temperature, precipitation late.

Friday (May) A little cooler than average, windy early with precipitation, clearing late.

Saturday (June) Mostly sunny, seasonable temperatures.

Also in February there are two other weather predictors.  Candlemas (which morphed into groundhogs day in America).  Basically if the weather is good on Candlemas, that means more harsh winter weather.  If the weather is bad, then spring will come early.  This year the weather was nice (and the groundhog saw his shadow) which means more winter, which we have been getting in abundance around here.

The other, I just learned about, is a St. Matthias prediction.  There is a slavic saying that goes something like this: “When St. Matthias comes if he finds ice he must break it, if not he must make it.”  So, basically the same idea as Candlemas.  Around here our snow was almost all melted on St. Matthias’ day, but the next day (and the day after) we got plenty more.  So I guess that one was instantly fulfilled.

Today is the Feast of St. Matthias, the apostle who replaced Judas among the twelve.  His selection as the first “apostolic successor” is recorded in Acts 1:15-26.  According to St. Clement of Alexandria (as well as Jerome and Eusebius) tell us that he was one of the seventy two disciples sent out by our Lord (Luke 10:1).

There is little know for certain about his life, but several sources indicate that he spread the Gospel around Cappadocia and in areas around the Caspian Sea, ultimately being martyred in Ethiopia after preaching to barbarians and cannibals there.  Some sources say he was crucified, others that he was stoned to death, and then beheaded with an axe, which why he is often depicted with an axe.

He was well known for his emphasis on mortification of the flesh, which makes this a very appropriate feast day for Lent.  St. Clement quotes a saying attributed to Matthias: “It behooves us to combat the flesh, and make use of it, without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by faith and knowledge.”  (Stromata 3.4)  So he would be a good saint to pray to for help during Lent.  Another saying recorded by Clement is: “if the neighbor of an elect man sin, the elect man has sinned. For had he conducted himself as the Word prescribes, his neighbor also would have been filled with such reverence for the life he led as not to sin.”  (Stromata 7.13)  There is a Gospel of St. Matthias, but Eusebius attributes it to heretics.

He is a popular saint in Eastern Europe, especially around Budapest.  But he doesn’t seem to be very well known elsewhere as far as I know.

Catholic Encyclopedia
Patron Saint Index
EWTN (excerpt from Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

My good friend John R. has taken the initiative to establish a Divine Office association called the Confraternity of Saint Benedict.  In a nut shell this is an association for both lay and clerical members with the aim of fostering use of the traditional Office both at home in and in public services (especially Vespers and Compline).  This is an endeavor very much in the spirit of Dom Gueranger who sought to get the laity involved in the full liturgy of the Church, not Holy Mass alone.

If you are interested in praying the Breviary I highly recommend that you check out the charter of the Confraternity and see if perhaps a chapter can be established in your area.  Even if not, there will be a lot of helpful information available at that site on rubrics for the offices and other related topics.

I have been prioritizing some other hobbies above blogging, so it has been tough to get a post up lately. Aside from that, I am distracted with a lot of other things, and keep finding myself surprised by the onset of various feasts and seasons. So, I was going to have a new Septuagesima post, but I’ll content myself with just one interesting note.

In the Golden Legend entry for Septuagesima it says that in the very early days, before the celebration of saint’s feasts, Thursday was regarded as a sacred day on account of the Ascension. Thursday was treated almost like a second Sunday in the week. In fact, there was saying that “Thursday is Sunday’s cousin.” I suppose that is why we do not fast on Thursdays during ember weeks. (That’s just my own conjecture.) Anyway, when the celebration of saints became common, the observance of a holy Thursday fell into disuse. According to the Golden Legend, this is one reason why Septuagesima was instituted, to make reparation for not honoring Thursdays. Fascinating stuff.

Anyway, it is now the brief (and unofficial) time of Shrovetide. I don’t have anything to add to my last post on it, except to offer more encouragement to make reparations for the abuses of Mardi Gras.  Not that I think there is anything wrong with a bit of merriment, especially on Shrove Teusday, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.  We are having a little pancake party tonight ourselves.

And as always, for Lent I encourage everyone to try to get back to the old Lenten rules (i.e. fasting every day) as best they can.

I thought I would offer a few of my Christmas plans here.  First, a few general notes.  I will be off work from the 24th until January 11th.  Throughout the holy season I am going to try to get to daily mass as often as I can, and pray as much of the office I can.  We try to visit some of our local friends from church throughout the Christmas season.  I think it is good for the kids to see other families celebrate the real Christmas season.  They are becoming increasingly aware that most of their extended family considers Christmas to be over after the last present is unwrapped.

Christmas Eve:  For practical reasons the Christmas decorations will probably all be up by Christmas Eve.  But any finishing touches required will be finished on that day.  We’ll try to get the house tidied up.  I’ll keep the Christmas lights off until after first Vespers of Christmas.  Then we will have a nice tree lighting including some prayers.  Then we will put on the Christmas Carols and have our Christmas Eve dinner.  I plan to observe the traditional vigil fast until midnight, but honestly the Christmas Eve dinner will probably fill me up for the night anyway.  I will read some Christmas stories to the kids, and we might watch a Christmas movie.

Christmas Morning:  We get each child three modest presents, a stocking with small items and toys (like stickers, crayons, little green army men, etc) and I like to fill the tree with candies and treats, especially candy canes (I do this after the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve).  Sometimes I put a special hidden object in the tree and the one who finds it first wins an extra treat.  After presents are done we have a nice Christmas breakfast.  Then we enjoy the rest of the morning together before heading off to 11am High Mass.

Remainder of Christmas day:  After we get back from mass we start getting the Christmas feast ready, and just try to enjoy the rest of the day.  We might briefly stop over at nearby friends’ houses and share some Christmas desserts and fine drink.

Remainder of the Octave: We are normally visiting family during most, if not all, of the Octave of Christmas so we don’t really have the chance to develop many customs.  It’s always a bit distressing because the children hear most of their family make comments like, “well now it’s all over,” or “all that preparation and it’s over just like that.”  Especially sad is when we have to witness trees being unceremoniously taken down even before the Octave day.  Fortunately this year, we will be back from visiting by the 29th, so that sort of thing should be minimal.  In any case, I want to get a bottle of wine blessed for St. john’s day.  There is special blessing for it in the Roman Ritual (or so I am told).  If we were home, we might do some special decoration on the baby’s crib for the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  Also on St. Stephan’s Day I like to tell the children the story of Good King Wenceslaus.  We also set the Wise Men up away from the our Nativity scene and move them a little closer each day until they arrive on Epiphany.

Octave day of Christmas: We go to Mass of course, being a holy day of obligation.  We basically have a repeat of our Christmas dinner.  To make it easier we freeze some of the leftovers from Christmas Day.  I also restock the tree with treats for the kids to find in the morning.

Twelfth Day of Christmas:  On 12th night we have a little party with a “Kings Cake.”  There is a little trinket in the cake and whoever finds it gets to be the Epiphany King (or Queen).  The king gets to pick what the kids have for snacks, if we watch a movie he picks which one, and things like that.  I think last year we even let them pick dinner for the Octave of Epiphany.

Epiphany:  On Epiphany the children wake up to find one more present.  This present is always a religious item of some sort.  Again, we go to high mass, and try to have a nice meal.

Octave of Epiphany: This is the last day we light the tree.  The next (practical) day it will be undecorated, and cut up for firewood for next year.  Maybe I will read Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree.”

There is an excellent article I stumbled on about the relationship between culture, how we mark time, and the liturgy.  It was written back 1992.  The author, Thomas Storck, does a great job of saying what I am always trying to say here.  I highly recommend the whole article, but there are couple parts I would like to highlight.

Regarding state holidays:

By saying that this day is the Fourth of July or Veterans’ Day they assert that the community of Americans is the most important community to which we belong, the one that is primary in our lives. We receive holidays from work and take part in public celebrations (as our Thanksgiving turkey or our fireworks) only according to this schedule. Any other is at best supplementary and private and at worst a competitor to be driven underground. (In fact, one could argue that the secular American calendar has banished the notion of the Church year with its progression of holy days from the consciousness of Catholics much more effectively than the French or Russian revolutionaries and their reformulations of the calendar ever did.)

Now, I don’t have a problem with there being such a thing as state holidays.  But Mr. Storck makes a good point, that when your holiday schedule and participation in celebrations revolves around the state holiday schedule, that sends the message that those holidays are the most important ones.  Obviously I believe the Church festivals should take precedence.  We can have a day of appreciation for our veterans (11/11), but we do it on Martinmas, who would be a good patron for veterans.  In fact that would be a good way to frame it.  Show appreciation for our veterans on the feast day of their patron saint.  Or something to that effect.

Mr. Storck goes on to discuss how the Christmas Holiday we celebrate as a nation is really a fundamentally different Christmas than the one on the Church calendar.  Now, almost twenty years later, in the time of “Happy Holidays” we can seen plainly that he was right.  He continues with this (emphasis added):

Our secular world does not blink an eye for the feast of our Lord’s Ascension or of our Blessed Lady’s Assumption or Immaculate Conception, let alone the patron feast of our parish or town. But if we are to be faithful Catholics, then it is right for us, as much as we conveniently can, to observe these feasts. Within families, apostolic groups, a neighborhood here and there, things can be done. For starters, have a real Christmas party, i.e., a party sometime between the evening of December 24 and the Epiphany. Invite people, shock some of them. And, of course, refuse, as much as is consistent with keeping your job, to attend Christmas parties that desecrate Advent. Be militant. Do not conform. Make the true Faith and its expression the most important thing.

This is why I decided to allocate my vacation time for the observance the Church’s holidays.  I’m tired of letting the secular world dictate the days that receive reverence.  Of course we can go to mass on Holy days around our work schedule.  But in practical terms, it hard to get in the spirit of a certain festival if there in no actual festivity to accompany it.  I admit that I am usually more excited about the 4th of July than about The Ascension.  Why?  Because I get a long weekend on the 4th of July.  Well this year I am going to take a long weekend for Ascension.

Finally, what I think is a very interesting point to end the article (emphasis added):

Some might think that because the Church is in such a mess we should concentrate just on getting people to believe the Creeds and observe the basics of God’s law. But I do not think this is so. Certainly the Creeds and the Commandments are primary, but if the full practice of the Faith is to spread, then it must be practiced in its fullness. We cannot wait for the problems in the Church to be solved (they will never be entirely solved anyway) to begin our own small efforts at restoration. We must do whatever we can to make our lives and our families integrally Catholic.

I used to be among those who think we should focus on the creeds and basics of morality.  I was into apologetics then, and I was pretty sure you should be able to convert anybody with a sound, rational, argument.  But the fact is, almost nobody converts for intellectual reasons.  Most people simply don’t have the inclination to think things through thoroughly enough.  It’s really the example people see that has the most impact.  For the most part, argumentation is futile.  But living out our Catholic faith in our daily lives?  That might catch some people’s attention.

The November prediction was not so accurate.  Here is my note on the last Ember Friday:

November prediction -  Cloudy early, mostly sunny by late morning, warm but seasonable.

The actual weather around here was mostly rainy and unseasonably warm, especially at night.  Most nights the temperature did not drop below the mid forties.  The average low around here in November is the low thirties.  So, I’ll have to chalk that up in the L column.

For December, the last Ember Saturday was: Cloudy, seasonable but on the cool side, rainy late in the evening.

So if “rain late in the evening” means precipitation late in the moth, maybe we will have a white Christmas around here!  But I won’t hold my breath.  It’s been close to twenty years since I have seen snow on Christmas around here.

Back in 07 I started a series of posts on Advent based on the Advent volume of The Liturgical Year.  I don’t remember what happened to that but there is another passage I want to highlight, also from the chapter on Practice During Advent.  (You can click the Advent category to see all my past Advent posts).

Referring to those Christians who have been somewhat lax in treasuring the Lord’s presence in themselves and molding their life to his (which I suspect is most of us):

You, who have had Him within you without knowing Him, and have possessed Him without relishing the sweetness of His presence, open your hearts to welcome Him, this time, with more care and love,  He Repeats His visit of this year with an untiring tenderness; He has forgotten your past slights; He would ‘that all things be new.’  Make room for the divine Infant, for He desires to grow within your soul.  The time of His coming is close at hand: let your hear, then, be on the watch; and lest you should slumber when He arrives, watch and pray, yea, sing.  The words of the liturgy are intended for also for your use: they speak of darkness, which only God can enlighten; of wounds, which only His mercy can heal; of a faintness, which can be braced only by His divine energy.

I found that very touching.  It also reminded me of an aspect of the Liturgy that I think is generally under appreciated.  The Liturgical observances are more than just a commemoration of historical events.  They are an actual participation in those events.  When we celebrate Christmas with our hearts and minds united to the intentions of the Church, we participate in that great mystery no less than the Shepherds who were there at the manager with the Incarnate Lord.  It is the same idea as being at the foot of the cross at Mass.  God opens a window through space and time for us.  The Liturgy is that window.

During each phase of the year the Church presents us with various sentiments as She progresses through the Liturgical year.  We should try to make these sentiments our own.  It is in the Liturgy that we will see what these are, and where we are provided with the words to express them.  During Advent we can join our prayers with the prayers of the ancient patriarchs which are frequently presented to us in the Liturgy, and stir up in ourselves a sentiment of longing for our Lord.

Yesterday was the start of “Quadragesima Sancti Martini” or St. Matin’s Lent (or the forty days of Saint Martin). In former times the Advent fast would begin today (at least in some places), and this year I decided to do the same. It’s name comes from the fact that St Martin’s day was yesterday and his feast used to be huge all around Europe. Almost as popular as the Nativity of John the Baptist as I have noted in previous posts on St. Martin.

The early history of Advent is very cloudy and there was nothing like a uniform observance of Advent until around the late sixth or early seventh century.  The forty day fast was probably only common from about the sixth century to, maybe the 10th.  However Pope Innocent III mentions it being observed in Rome in a letter he wrote in the early 13th century.  So even then it does not seem there much consistency with Advent from place to place.  But by the 14th century, the custom of fasting for Advent seems to have fallen into general disuse, though various holy bishops did try to bring it back from time to time (like St. Charles Borromeo, and Pope Benedict XIV when he was still archbishop of Bologna).  Nevertheless at times such as these with so much profanation of the season I think a penitential Advent is needed now more than ever before.  (Most of the info above comes from The History of Advent section of the Liturgical Year, vol 1, and the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for Advent.)

So before starting this fast, we had some friends over for a Martinmas feast the other day. Rainy weather precluded a bonfire, but since we had to do it after work we probably wouldn’t have had time anyway. Goose is the traditional main course, but since the local butcher didn’t have any geese we got a couple of ducks instead. I had never had duck before but I became an instant fan. My wife simply roasted them in the oven with an apple and maybe an onion stuffed in them (we needed two to feed the five adults and ten children present). She also made sweet potato casserole, stuffing (just a box mix), and spinach artichoke dip. Our guests brought a spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette, drinks, including some kind of really good Trappist ale and chocolate bacon toffee for dessert. I also made a pumpkin pie. Best dinner I have in some time, and a great way to lead into a fast. Of course the dinner also featured a toast to good St. Martin.

I completely forgot about making paper lanterns for Martinmas, but again the weather would not have been suitable for a lantern walk, we didn’t really have time, and I’m not sure where we would have walked to anyway! Maybe next year we can figure something out for that.  But we did hear stories about St. Martin from the Golden Legend.

So now it is on to fasting and preparing for Christmas. This fast, although close in length to Lent will not be nearly as rigourous. First off there more days that will preempt my fast. In particular Thanksgiving, St. Andrew, St Nicholas (Sunday anyway), St. Ambrose, Immaculate Conception, St. Lucy (Sunday), and our Lady of Guadalupe. The Advent fast is also a good time to make reparation for the abuses of the season.

Otherwise I expect my Advent plans to be pretty much the same as last year. Which is good because my plans have been in flux for much of the last few years and it is high time to start settling into some customs that will hopefully be carried on by my children.

As you may know the weather on Ember days is said to predict the weather of the coming months. So just for fun I noted the weather during the last (Michaelmas) Embertide. Wednesday predicts October, Friday predicts November and Saturday predicts December.

For Wednesday (October) I had: Cloudy, some rain, warm. Partly cloudy in the afternoon, hot and humid.

This past October was in fact rather rainy, and except for a four day cold snap I think temps were above average. It did also seem to be rather humid for the Fall owing to all Southern winds we got (which is also why temps were warm). So I would say this Ember forecast was fairly accurate.

For November I have: Cloudy early, mostly sunny by late morning, seasonable but slightly on the warm side. Let’s see how it turns out!