Mass of Rogation
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
The Western Church marks out the three days before Ascension Day as days of penitence and prayer on which the Litany of the Saints is said. The practice goes back to Mamertus, a fifth century bishop in Gaul, who set aside these days for prayer and abstinence in a time of disaster. The observance of the Rogation Days was gradually adopted in the rest of the Western Church. For example, in England the custom evolved of “beating the bounds”, in which parishioners joined their clergy in processing round the parish boundary, and the Litany of the Saints was said. The practice even survived the Reformation in England in a reduced form, giving thanks for the fruits of the earth and marking the parish boundary.
Today’s Gospel from St. Luke records that Jesus said to his disciples: “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him; and he from within should answer and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.” He would not respond on grounds of friendship but due to his importunity he will rise and give him what he needed. In the same way they should ask and it shall be given to him, seek and they shall find, knock and the door shall be open to them. If they asked their father for bread, they would not be given a stone. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
The parable is drawn from a realistic scene in first century Palestine. There were no shops and it was therefore the role of the housewife to bake bread for the family. If one household had an unexpected visitor they might know that a neighbour had a surplus of bread and seek out his help. This would cause a considerable inconvenience in a one roomed house in which all the family slept together and it would be impossible to respond to the request without disturbing the whole household. The man would eventually be given what he needed not on grounds of friendship, but due to his importunity. If this was the case with ordinary everyday requests, how much more the case in regard to prayer. It may seem strange to compare answers to prayer to such a scenario, but the whole point of the message of Jesus is that faith is not separate from ordinary everyday concerns, but rather is what invests them with deeper significance. Nothing is too small or trivial to fall outside God’s concern, for even the very hairs on their heads were numbered. The faithful could therefore rest assured that their prayers would be heard, even if the answer was not the one they were expecting, for what they wanted was not necessarily the same as what they needed.
The epistle of St. James (which we heard today) encourages the faithful to confess their sins to one another and pray for one another, for the continual prayer of the just man availeth much. The prophet Elijah prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, and it did not rain for three years and six months. He then prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. The one who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his ways shall save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
The epistle of St. James has been rightly said to breathe the spirit of an almost pre-crucifixion discipleship. It is saturated with the teachings of Jesus, and places particular emphasis on the life of faith being meaningless without good works. The faithful are exhorted to persevere in adversity, to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Above all they are to be persistent in prayer, knowing that the continual prayer of the just man availeth much.
The Rogation Days were instituted in a time of disaster. The Roman Empire had fallen to the incursions of pagan tribes and it seemed that the civilised world had come to an end. The Church was engaged in the long process of evangelising the tribes who had replaced the Roman Empire, and was the only means of continuity between the collapsed older civilisation and the new world it would create under its own auspices. Indeed, much of the liturgy that we use and the practices that we observe derives from this period, such as the observance of these Rogation Days.
It is therefore especially important to observe these Rogation Days today, in which we now again find ourselves in a time of disaster. Much of what had previously been taken for granted seems to be coming to an end. It often takes a crisis situation like the present to reveal which house is built upon the rock, and which house is built upon the sand. Governments in the Western world have prided themselves on being free and open societies in contrast to totalitarian states such as China. However, the situation that has developed in recent years has considerably narrowed these contrasts and shown that totalitarianism is often never far from the surface, even in countries that pride themselves on being free and open. It has also produced a major social and economic crisis.
We cannot therefore put our trust in princes, or in any government in this world. Ultimately they are all imperfect because human beings are imperfect. The only difference is that in so called civilised societies this imperfection usually manifests itself in more subtle ways than in an openly totalitarian state. It is therefore vital for the Church to watch and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this present time of confusion. In the sixth century, St. Benedict withdrew from a world that seemed to be collapsing around him in order to seek the life of holiness. Yet, it was above all through the influence of the monks, not least the Benedictine rule, that learning and agriculture were preserved through the so called Dark Ages. The leaders of the pagan tribes saw the life of the monks, and sought conversion to what they saw as a higher form of life than their own (though inevitably their conversion was only partial and imperfect).
Some speak of the need to adopt a so called Benedict option in our own day. The Church must withdraw from being compromised by worldly standards and attitudes and follow the example of the saints and monks of the so called Dark Ages. In this way we too can transform the society of our own time. After all, as G. K. Chesterton once said, “it is not the Church that will drag us back to the Dark Ages. The Church is the only thing that got us out of them”.
Let us pray over these Rogation Days that this may again be true in our own time and place.
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we who in our affliction confide in thy mercy, may be ever defended in thy protection against all adversity.
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