Ember Days are days set aside for fasting and prayer at the change of each season. Apparently, a good confession wasn't enough back in the day. A person was mandated by the Church to actively forgive their enemies and persecutors by performing acts of charity and offering fasting and prayer for their enemy's well-being and conversion of heart. It served the dual purpose of cleansing the penitent's heart of anger and shaming the enemy into leading a better life.
There are those in my life who require my Ember Day services. These people have hurt me or my family so much that forgiving them is the only way I can move on from the sorrow they have caused. I can fast and pray and fix me, while I am imploring the Lord to fix them. Worth it!
Then Peter came up to Him and asked, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy times seven." Matt 18: 21-22
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