May 30, 2007
Ember
These current Ember Days make me mindful of the canonical requirement that postulants and candidates for Holy Orders (sic) “communicate with the Bishop personally or by letter, four times a year, in the Ember Weeks, reflecting on the individual’s academic experience and personal and spiritual development” [Canon III.6.3(f);III.8.2(d)(1)].
When those of us now aging affirmatively were in seminary back in the mid-twentieth century, Kathleen Winsor wrote the best-selling novel “Forever Amber” and topped a craze amidst the nostril-flaring, bodice-ripper boom. The movie was, might we say, rather risqué for the time. It antedated ratings, of course, so you took your chances — usually without hesitation.
The Ember Days come four times a year and eventually entice seminarians’ imaginations to write creatively and convincingly to their bishop about things academic and spiritual which are largely mutually exclusive. So, taking a bit of a risqué myself, I wrote my canonical letter in the spirit of the times, “Dear Bishop: Did you hear about the seminarian who wrote to his Bishop and signed the letter, ‘Forever Ember’?”
His return was instant, “Dear Fading Ember: That’s exactly what you’ll be if you don’t start convincing me that accepting you for the Postulancy was not one of my graver errors in judgment.”
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