No Room for St. Joseph and Mary in the Inn

Ember Week in Advent: A Time of Penance

“Rouse up Thy power, Lord, and come!
We trust in Thy goodness: be quick to deliver us from all evil.”[1]

History and Origins of Ember Days

The quarterly Ember Days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday occurring within the same week, which occur at or near the beginning of each season (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), and have been established by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. Arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-1085), they immediately follow December 13 (Feast of St. Lucia), Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, and September 14 (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross).[2]

Dom Guéranger, author of the classic multi-volume work The Liturgical Year, explains the origins and history of Ember Days, particularly those within Advent:

“This observance of fasting has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year, a practice which the Church took from the Synagogue, dating back to Apostolic times.

“The intentions which the Church has in the fast and abstinence of the Ember Days are to consecrate to God by penance the four Seasons of the year, and (in view of the ordinations which will take place on the Saturday of these weeks) to obtain worthy ministers of the Church who will be true pastors of the people.

“By this fast of the Ember Days, let us keep up within ourselves the zeal of our forefathers for this holy season of Advent. We must never forget that although the interior preparation is what is absolutely essential for our profiting by the Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, yet this preparation could scarcely be real unless it manifested itself by the exterior practices of religion and penance.”[3]

The history and tradition of Ember Days and the Advent fast are further explored in “Other Fasts in the Medieval Church: 5th – 13th Centuries” (part of a series on the history and norms for fasting)[4] and in “The True Advent Fast”.

Advent: A Time for Repentance, Prayer, and Sacrifice

“Unless you do penance, you shall likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5)

We are called to do penance throughout the year, but especially during the liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent. We can also participate in other traditional times of penance[5] which have nearly all been forgotten, such as Ember Days. This year, the Ember Days of Advent (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week) fall on December 20, 22 and 23, respectively.

Advent is a time of anticipation for the celebration of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord. But the four weeks of Advent also remind us of the four millennia of the Old Testament when mankind awaited the Savior. Thus, it should be a time of penance, a time to also reflect upon the reality that we should always be prepared for the Second Coming of Christ and the Final Judgment.[6]

And so, the penitential nature of Ember Days can serve as an excellent means of appeasing the wrath of God and praying for blessings. The wrath of God? Yes, we need to do real penance for the outrageous crimes of our civil and Church leaders, for those of our families, and for our own sins as well. Sin itself is the most deadly and contagious of all ‘viruses.’[7] For each and every one of us, conversion and penance must be our first order of business. And the continuing COVID-19 crisis (along with the subsequent variants, vaccine issues, government restrictions and potentially more church closures) should be a good motivation for us all to properly observe the upcoming Ember days of Advent.

In addition, current events make it impossible for even the willfully blind to continue ignoring the Message of Fatima. Our Lady’s dire warnings are materializing now with frightening speed.

As the world and Church continue to descend into chaos, the daily news echoes the elements of the Fatima warnings which we have been allowed to know: war, famine, and persecutions against the Church. How soon will we see the outbreak of World War III, or our extermination by the godless forces assembling against us?

Unless we quickly bring about the fulfillment of Our Lady’s requests, we must expect to experience the full force of the “If not” portion of Her prophecies: the complete succumbing of the world to Russia’s errors; unimaginably destructive wars; widespread starvation; a ruthless and bloody persecution of the Church; and finally, the wrath of God wiping clean such evils from the earth by the annihilation of entire nations.

Some years ago, in a speech given at a conference, Father Gruner spoke the following timeless words, very much applicable to this coronavirus pandemic (or plandemic):

“The first thing we should do in this time of crisis is to pray and sacrifice. The second thing is to get others to pray and sacrifice.”[8]

Church history and common sense both tell us the only proper and efficacious response to such a calamity as the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the sins of society at large are being punished: We must apply ourselves to prayer and penance, as well as to personal conversion to living a more holy life.

Rather than doing less penance, as has unfortunately been the case since the Second Vatican Council, due to the related post-conciliar reforms,[9] we should be doing more penance – as taught by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, and even by Sister Lucia years later! Here are a few examples:

  • “[A]t the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames[10] that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’.” (Third Secret vision, apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917)
  • Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.” (Our Lady of Fatima, Aug. 19, 1917)
  • “Father, my mission is not to indicate to the world the material punishments which are certain to come if the world does not pray and do penance beforehand. No! My mission is to indicate to everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain obstinate in sin.” (Sister Lucia, in an interview with Father Fuentes, Dec. 26, 1957)[11]

The ‘Spirit of Vatican II’ decreased our penances, precisely at a time when it is obvious, just from looking around at the world, that we need more. Who cannot see the proliferation of tremendous evils in our day? Who cannot see that there is no peace in the world – both domestically and internationally?

Conclusion

Thus, let us do more penance – and fervently – as requested by Our Lady at Fatima. Only She can help us. We must obey Her Fatima Message! It is the only solution to the crises of our times!

Let us also do our part in recovering and restoring our Catholic Tradition by observing the traditional days of fasting and abstinence during the remainder of Advent – to show our love for God and properly prepare for the celebration of Our Lord’s Nativity!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!


[1] Collect prayer, Ember Friday of Advent, The Roman Breviary in English and Latin, Vol. I [London: Baronius Press, 2013], p. 1124.

[2] https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05399b.htm

[3] Guéranger, O.S.B, Abbot, The Liturgical Year: Advent (Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire: Loreto Publications, 2013).

[4] For the complete 8-part series – as well as Church law regarding fast and abstinence – visit https://fatima.org/history-and-norms-of-fasting/.

[5] One of the unique features of The Fatima Center’s 2024 Calendar is that it lists many traditional days of fasting. This is meant to encourage us to do more penance and offer these fasts as reparation to console Our Heavenly Mother. Order your calendar today!

[6] Cf. “How to Live a Liturgical Life, Part III: Details of the Catholic Liturgical Year

[7] Fr. Michael Rodríguez gave a sermon on this, titled “The Deadliest Virus.” Contact the St. Vincent Ferrer foundation for a copy (svfonline.org).

[8] Father Nicholas Gruner, “The Fatima Prayers Teach Us: Mary Is OUR Mother,” The Fatima Crusader, Issue 114, p. 45.

[9] See “Church Law Regarding Fast and Abstinence,” wherein is presented the applicable canons from the 1917 Code of Canon Law and the 1983 Code. Catholics will recognize the most significant changes to the Church’s laws of fasting and abstinence by reading Canon 1252 (1917 Code).

[10] Perhaps one of those sparks of flame given off by the angel’s sword was this COVID-19 lockdown?

[11] This was the last public interview given by Sister Lucia in which she was able to speak freely. We do well to read it and read it again and again. She was formally silenced by the Pope a year later after she requested permission to provide a radio address to the world. Fr. Fuentes was likewise chastised some seven months after publishing this interview, which at first had received full support from ecclesiastical authorities. Yet it was first published under Pius XII’s pontificate, and his censure came after John XXIII took office.

It is nearly certain that Sister Lucia knew Russia would not be consecrated nor the Third Secret revealed by 1960. It is quite likely she even knew she would be silenced. This interview might very likely represent Sister Lucia’s efforts to reveal all she could without actually disclosing the direct contents of the Third Secret, for she would never have disobeyed Our Lady’s request.

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