The Impeccable Timing of the Rogation Days

Though we walk in plastic corridors and find ourselves in ever-further-detached expressions of what we dubiously label civilization, modern people depend in the same ways they always have upon God’s ordering of the good earth on which we live.

Our ancestors understood this implicitly. Whether they were pagan or Christian, they continually implored heaven to ensure their survival amid wars, rumors of wars, and the wrath of a natural world far larger and more powerful than they (and we) could ever hope to grasp.

This is still true after the advent of the apparently-miraculous technological innovations we have been handed, advances which push back the brutality of a natural world bent with deep determination to enforce the Lord’s pronouncement that “the man must toil for his bread.” We have come far, yet we know with a staggering certainty that it is a fool’s hope to pretend we have grown stronger in our growing ease.

Rumors of impending food shortages following the continual supply chain disruptions left in the wake of the pandemic’s socio-economic warpath continue to grow louder.  As always, there are those who seek to profit from insecurity, and the peddlers of fear stand to fill deeper pockets through the insecurities of men and women of good will.

Despite all the fear, much good has already come out of the muddied, dark bloviating.

Return to Common Sense

For example, there has been a slow but steady, small-yet-mighty return to traditional common sense by ordinary people across the ideological and religious spectrum. Neighborhoods across the United States have relaxed draconian restrictions on keeping backyard chickens. Because of a dizzying rush on seed companies in 2020, the supply is only just reaching the demand once more.

Some people have traded the urban metropolis with its neon sleeplessness and pomp for a new sort of back-to-the-land movement. There are many different reasons people have made their way to the country. Some have gone in protest of an industrial machine which has devoured the soul of family and social life. Others have gone in a quest to find the dropped thread of their ancestors’ wisdom and rhythm of life. Others still have gone for little more than rest and peace.

Regardless of the philosophical reason (or reasons, as is more likely the case) people from within and without the Christian faith have embraced a path toward a more historically normal life.  This return to traditional order has not been perfect in execution nor is it fully embraced by Christians across the board.

Rather than focusing on the anxieties of our time, however, I would much prefer to highlight a grand opportunity for Catholics to reclaim our innate knowledge of the world around us and the ways that this has been incorporated into common life together.

Liturgical Rhythm and Rogation

One of the great highlights of traditional Christian faith has always been the realistic and natural rhythm it provides amid the changes of time and season.  The liturgical calendar is filled with feasts, fasts, and special days which give an expression of the faith lived out in the real world and which highlight the incarnational element of our faith. One of my absolute favorite of these now sadly all-too-obscure-remembrances is the tradition of the Rogation Days.

Based on the Latin verb rogare which means simply, “to ask,” the Rogation Days were traditionally public processions of the faithful where they walked together praying a litany and seeking God’s blessing of good harvest, protection from natural disasters, and the peace of a quiet life free from the assaults of enemies.

Cracking open the pages of the Bible, one is confronted with story after story of God’s deep involvement in the created order, and the interest He takes in the fate of human beings. Time and again, God does not leave His people trapped in the consequences of their sin, but upon hearing their cries turns to them and provides a way of safety and peace.

Our sacred history abounds with these kinds of stories – countless tales of miraculous provision, storms driving off enemy armies, rain coming to end the choke of drought.  We know, as we confess each time we pray the Our Father, that God provides for His children like the loving Father we believe He is.

Reclaiming Common Sense

Though we are indeed in a time obsessed with the farce that somehow through modern science we will overcome the basic rhythms of life baked into the fabric of creation, we do well to remember that the supply of food in our volatile shipping lines comes from the same old earth which God made to be our home.  The same miraculous rebirth happens when a seed falls to the ground, and the very same God who has ever-willed us into continual being guides the rains and trade winds for our common good.

For this reason, it is a good and beautiful thing to go out as a parish and walk the earth which surrounds us, to publicly profess our hope in God’s loving care, and to actively ask (for ourselves and for those who from either unbelief or apathy will not) for His protection and favor.

It is an uphill battle to reclaim the common sense of our ancestors after so much effort has been spent trying to convince ourselves that they were far dumber and shortsighted than we are; yet, it is a worthy endeavor.  Time has shown that despite our many improvements, we have neither corporately overcome our concupiscence nor have we found in ourselves a cure for our eternal and temporal needs.

Corporate reminders that we walk as fragile pilgrims in a world made hostile by our own brokenness are good for us. That is what the Rogation Days provide us – a chance to enter into the public witness of processions is to give voice to our common identity with the Church across space and time, and to show our connection to the earth whose bounty sustains us.

Major and Minor Days

Traditionally, the “major” rogation day falls on April 25, and the “minor” days on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before the feast of the Ascension (which occurs on a Thursday but is often transferred to the following Sunday).  Most American Catholics have never been in a rogation procession to say nothing of the sad decline of public processions in general in the United States.

I will assume that this year you did not get the chance to “beat the bounds” and walk the perimeter of your parish with your church family on either the major or minor days.  There is of course always next year!

If your parish does not currently observe these or other days it may be difficult at first to convince anyone to join you in a simply procession around the Church grounds, chanting the litany and praying for God’s favor over all those who the parish is called to serve – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing! If you live in a place where it’s hard to get traction for traditional Christian practices, do not despair but simply gather a handful of family friends and walk together, praying as a body on behalf of those who are not with you.

Turn to Prayer

If more of us Catholics turned to prayer than to our keyboards in times of need, there would be a transformation of our corporate life.  Most of us can do very little to affect global or national politics, but everyone can join themselves to the prayers of the Church and trust that the God we worship is able to make good rise up from the ashes of sorrow just as He can bring the early rains to soften the earth.

Common prayers – those prayers which belong to the whole of the Church – are tested and well-tried tools for us to draw close to God in a shared, resonant beauty. These prayers and practices are not tied to a particular rite or liturgical observance; in other words, you don’t have to go to a traditional Mass to remember the practices of our ancestors. There is a wealth of beauty waiting for us to embrace and bring back to our common life together, if only we have the eyes to see it.

As we continue to walk in this our pilgrim home, I pray we will all find solace in the God of all comfort and joy who indeed gives rest to the weary, food to the hungry, and hope to the hopeless. Then we, as the Psalmist says, can truly put our trust in the Lord and dwell in quiet hope that He will give us the good desires of our hearts.