In other words, the change was intended to make the ceremonies more meaningful and better celebrated the reality, like so many other changes, had the exact opposite effect, so that the rogation days disappeared into oblivion for the most part. Several suitable Mass formularies can be found in the Roman Missal of 1970. Isidore the Farmer is also an appropriate occasion. This made sense since were a community located in a hemisphere where it was not seed-time, it would be better to transfer the ceremonies to the proper season for that locale. Thus episcopal conferences and diocesan bishops were encouraged to foster local observances connected to the same theme, namely, prayers for divine favor on the seed-planting and eventual harvest. With the reform of the general calendar in 1969, these days were not eliminated so much as transferred to other realities. As the Church “baptized” these rituals, they also became days of penitence, the idea being that one needed to do penance in order to gain a favorable response to one’s prayers to the Almighty. Actually, these days had their origin in the Robigalia of Pagan Rome as days of prayer (with processions) set aside to implore various gods for good weather and an abundant harvest. The liturgical rites surrounding the days consisted of the Litany of the Saints and an outdoor procession encompassing the parish boundaries and blessing the fields therein. Their purpose was to beg God ( rogare, to ask or beg) for His blessings on the harvest, thus prayers offered at the time of the sowing of the seed. Pope Benedict XVI is the author of Jesus of Nazareth, Vol II, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol I, Caritas in Veritate: Charity in Truth, Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi, God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est, The End of Time?: The Provocation of Talking about God, Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions, Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, Salt of the Earth: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church at the End of the Millennium, God and the World: Believing and Living in Our Time, In the Beginning: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, The Spirit of the Liturgy, The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church, Introduction to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Introduction to Christianity, Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, Behold the Pierced One, and God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life.The three days prior to Ascension Thursday have been traditionally known as “Rogation Days” or the “Minor Litanies,” with the “Major Rogation” being observed on April 25. "The Meaning of the Ascension." from Dogma and Preaching (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2011). God has a place for man!… In God there is a place for us!…"Be consoled, flesh and blood, for in Christ you have taken possession of heaven and of God's kingdom!" (Tertullian). It meant rather his new, definitive, and irrevocable presence by participation in God's royal power. In this sense, "ascension into heaven" can be something that takes place in our everyday lives…įor the disciples, the "ascension" was not what we usually misinterpret it as being: the temporary absence of Christ from the world. And we go to heaven and enter into heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him. Thus Jesus himself is what we call "heaven" heaven is not a place but a person, the person of him in whom God and man are forever and inseparably one. Christ, the man who is in God and eternally one with God, is at the same time God's abiding openness to all human beings. The basis for this assertion is the interpenetration of humanity and divinity in the crucified and exalted man Jesus. Heaven is not a place beyond the stars, but something much greater, something that requires far more audacity to assert: Heaven means that man now has a place in God. It means that man has found an everlasting place in God. It expresses our belief that in Christ human nature, the humanity in which we all share, has entered into the inner life of God in a new and hitherto unheard of way.
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