The Advent Ember Days

This year, the Ember Days fall later in Advent than usual. They always follow the feast of St. Lucy on December 13th, and so are almost always in the 3rd week of Advent. But this year, not only do we have a very short Advent, but St. Lucy falls on a Wednesday, and so the Ember Days begin a full week after her feast, on Wednesday, December 20th. They go through almost the very last day of Advent and end on Saturday, the day before Christmas Eve.

Because we don’t have a 4th week of Advent at all this year, we end the season with the Ember Days and a perfect opportunity to approach Christmas with reflection, joy, hope, and penitence.

What Are the Ember Days?

The Ember Days are made up of a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in each season: spring, summer, fall, and winter. In each season, the days follow a particular feast day. In the spring, they follow Ash Wednesday. In the summer, they’re right after Pentecost. In the fall, the Ember Days fall after the feast of the Holy Cross. The winter days follow the feast of St. Lucy. During the Ember Days, we fast and abstain from meat for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of Ember Week in thanksgiving for the blessings received during the previous season, the fruits of the earth, and especially for our priests and seminarians.

Each season’s Ember Days are designed to thank God for the fruits of the harvest, particularly those fruits that we use in liturgy – olives, grapes, and wheat. In the winter, we focus primarily on thanking God for the olive harvest that gives us the holy oils we’ll use all year to bless and anoint. I have a few blessed oils on my own home altar – oils blessed in devotion to St. Joseph, St. Elijah, St. Paraskeva, and St. Anna, as well as two particularly devoted to Our Lady. During the winter Ember Days, I like to use these oils a little more often, blessing family with them and anointing our Christmas candles. There is a particular blessing for candles that we like to use in Advent:

 Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, bless these candles at our request. By virtue of the Holy Cross, Lord, pour upon them the virtue of Your heavenly blessing. You have given them to mankind to drive away the dark. May they, at this sign of the Cross, receive such blessing that wherever they may be lit or placed, the princes of darkness may depart and be afraid and fly in fear from those houses with all their helpers. Nor may they dare again to trouble or bother those who serve You, Almighty God, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

The candles are then sprinkled with holy water and anointed with an oil. Ideally, we ask our local priest to perform the blessing, but this blessing is one that the head of the household can perform as well.

Where Does the Term “Ember” Come From?

The term “Ember” comes primarily from a familial and casual use of the phrase quatuor tempora. As Latin gradually mingled with the vernaculars in various locations throughout Europe, many Latin words blended and changed to become new parts of new languages. Quatuor tempora slowly changed to Quatember and eventually just “Ember.” Since these days have been a part of the Church’s calendar since the fifth century at least, they’ve had a long time to fall into the lives and casual language of Catholics everywhere.

But during the changes of Vatican II, Ember Days were neglected. These days, though they’ve never been fully abandoned, Ember Days are unknown and unfortunately neglected by many Catholics.

The Advent Ember Days

The Advent Ember Days are a special time to refocus our devotions in this season of anticipation. This is the new year of the Church, the first season of the liturgical calendar, and we are all as busy as can be getting our homes and souls fresh and ready for the birth of Christ. During the Advent Ember Days, we can breathe a little amid all the bustle of the season and spend those days gathering silence and stillness.

This year, the Ember Days precede Christmas directly. Ember Saturday is actually the day before Christmas Eve! And this close proximity gives us an opportunity to focus deeply on anticipating Christ during these days. In the four days right before Christmas Eve, we have the opportunity to spend three of them fasting and praying for a good end to the year, for priests, who are often so busy during Advent and Christmas, and for the Church as a whole. With so much dissension in the Church these days, it’s a wonderful chance to reach out to God for our priests and bishops.

In the winter, I like to make warming stews as fast-breaking meals at the end of the day. This year, I’m planning a simple squash, white bean, and kale stew to serve with an apricot-pepper sourdough loaf (inspired by my parish priest, who is a genius with sourdoughs) for Ember Wednesday. Friday and Saturday meals are still in the planning stage – especially as I’ll also be cooking for Vilia (or Christmas Eve’s dinner), which is also a meatless meal for us.

A Prayer for Vocations in the Ember Days of Winter

Throughout the Ember fast, it’s a good idea to pray both for current priests and for future vocations. It is such a good time to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life within our own families. I like to skip schooling on Ember Wednesday and Friday, and instead spend a little time telling stories of the saints, especially priests, monks, nuns, and hermits. There are a host of holy men and women to choose from.

In Advent, I like to focus on the saints whose feasts are in December. The hermits Sts. Grwst and Macarius. The monks St. John of the Cross and St. Eigil of Fulda. Nuns like St. Basilissa and St. Irmina the Abbess. Priests like St. Eustace White the Martyr and St. Ambrose the Bishop. I think it’s important for our children to see the world of religious life as at least as rich and varied as that of married life. Full of mystery, danger, joy, and love. In the dark, Ember Days of Advent I sit before the embers of my own little fire and pray:

Eternal Father, rouse our hearts out of the sleep of sin, so that we may clear the path of Your Son into our souls.

 Make a gentle road to You in the hearts of my Children, call them to the life that will let them love You most fully. Fill them with joy and peace. Let them abound in hope and rest confident in the power of the Holy Spirit through the darkness of this quiet anticipation.

O Lord preserve us, give us life, and make us blessed upon the earth. Be to us, O Lord, a tower of strength as we face the hidden pathways of life. Let us live them in imitation of Your beloved saints, with quiet duty and unshakeable joy. Amen.