Septuagesima Sunday

Why do we call this Sunday, Septuagesima Sunday? Because in the very early days of the Church (as recorded in the First Council at Orleans, 511 AD), some pious Christian congregations began fasting 70 days before Easter.
In the Extraordinary Rite, the vestments have gone back to purple, like in Advent and Lent, because these are days of penance. Unlike the obligatory Lenten penance, during Septuagesima (as well as Sexagesima and Quinquagesima and Quadragesima) this is a period of devotional penance. Extra penance is not required, but is recommended. As such, these penances help get one "into the spirit" of Lent - which begins on Ash Wednesday.

The traditional readings for today are 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 - The prize of salvation is compared to running in a race - and we are taught to run as to win that race. And the Gospel is from Matthew 20:1-16 with the parable of the workers being sent into the vineyard to do work for the price of a denarius (or penny). Some of the workers, the owner found at the beginning of the day, but he kept going out and finding more workers. Finally, during the last hour he found still more - and told them to go into the field and they would be given a fair wage. When the day was ended the owner said to his foreman to bring in the workers and pay them from the last ones in to the first - and each one was given the same reward for their work. Those who had been there all day resented the fact that those who came in at the end of the day received the same payment as they did. The owner simply told them that they were not cheated, he paid them what they agreed upon and who are they to question the generosity of the owner?  If he chooses to be charitable to those who only worked an hour, sobeit, they had no right to complain. The analogy here can be that even those who convert to Christ on their deathbed will receive the same reward as those who have been living a faithful life their whole life - eternal life is eternal life!

Under the new lectionary this Sunday is called "The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time." For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you know how I feel about calling this period of time "Ordinary," when it is anything BUT "ordinary." The term "ordinary" comes from the same root as "ordinal" which means "counting." Traditionally speaking then, this would be the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany - because we are "counting" the weeks after the great Feast of Epiphany. Later in the year then we "count" the weeks after Pentecost, which takes us to the end of the liturgical year - and the new year begins with Advent. In the new lectionary the remembrance of Pentecost is all but forgotten and the "ordinary" days continue their "counting" from where we left off prior to Lent. 

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