Laudetur Iesus Christus! This Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are the seasonal Ember Days – when the traditional Church sets aside 3 days each season for prayer, fasting and partial abstinence (the later now voluntary) to thank God for his gifts of creation and to use them in moderation. It’s a good time to also pray for sanctity for the upcoming season. We may also consider offering our penances this week for our priests as they prepare to offer the Masses during Christmas, as well as the Pope, and an end to the evil which plagues our world and the Church. Dom Prosper Gueranger offers a reflection for the Wednesday Ember Day:

Today the Church begins the fast of Quatuor Tempora, or, as we call it, of Ember days: it includes also the Friday and Saturday of this same week. This observance is not peculiar to the Advent liturgy; it is one which has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the ecclesiastical year… The intentions, which the Church has in the fast of the Ember days, are the same as those of the Synagogue; namely, to consecrate to God by penance the four seasons of the year. The Ember days of Advent are known, in ecclesiastical antiquity, as the fast of the tenth month; and St Leo, in one of his sermons on this fast, of which the Church has inserted a passage in the second nocturn of the third Sunday of Advent, tells us that a special fast was fixed for this time of the year, because the fruits of the earth had then all been gathered in, and that it behoved Christians to testify their gratitude to God by a sacrifice of abstinence, thus rendering themselves more worthy to approach God, the more they were detached from the love of created things.

Dom Prosper Gueranger, OSB, The Liturgical Year: https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/advent/wednesday-in-ember-week/

Fisheaters has more commentary here: https://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent11.html  

Ember Week Masses:

• Today Wednesday December 15: St. Ann, 6pm (Low)
• Friday December 17: St. Ann 7am (Low) & St. Mark, 12:30pm (Low)
• Saturday December 18: None scheduled diocesan parishes in/near Charlotte, sadly

St. Ann Annual Blessing of Religious Objects – Sunday December 19 (updated info)

After the 12:30pm St. Ann parish Latin Mass on Sunday December 19, Father will bless religious objects in the Traditional Rite. These items can be, statues, holy water, salt, oil, medals, Rosaries. Three tables will be placed in the north cry room – please place your items on table prior to the 12:30pm Mass. Immediately after Mass, Father will begin blessing – so no new objects can be placed on the table after that point. Table should be up by 12 noon – 12:15pm.

Defending Conscience Rights Against Vaccine Mandates – Monday December 20 at 7pm (St. Thomas Aquinas) Lastly, to support Catholic workers and families and their conscience rights, the Carolina Family Coalition (CFC) is organizing a special Defend Your Conscience Rights event on Monday December 20 at 7pm at St. Thomas Aquinas parish – Aquinas Hall (1400 Suther Road, Charlotte). The event will feature talks by an attorney, impacted workers, and a reflection by a priest on how to suffer for Christ and His teachings.  The event is free. CFC is an organization founded in 2018 by Catholic pro-life leaders in Charlotte to defend the family against the secular culture.