Lammas

As everyone knows there are four quarters day each year, two solstices and two equinoces, marking the beginning of the four seasons.  Less well-known are the cross-quarter days which fall exactly in between.  They include:  Candlemas (feast of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the ritual purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on the second of February; May Day(when children dance round a maypole and sing praises to Our Lady) on the first of May; Halloween (the eve of All Saint's Day) on the last day of October; and the feast called Lammas observed on 1 August.

Like other cross-quarter days, Lammas has been observed by many names in different cultures.  For example, for pre-Christian nordic types, it was the feast of the goddess Freya, for whom Friday is named.   But for Anglo-Saxons it was hlaf maesse or "loaf mass," because on this day the first wheat brought in at harvest was baked into a loaf of unleavened bread and brought to the priest, who then consecrated it for Communion at the Mass of the day.  The very first loaf became the Bread of Life.

The day also opened hunting season, harvest of fruits of the sea like oysters, presentation of animals for slaughter, even assessment of taxes!  So Lammas was quite a turning point and provided a lot of fresh possibilities in preaching.  Here are four for us to reflect on at this time of year.

First, regrets.  The point:  let them go, they accomplish nothing and impoverish the future.

Second, farewells.  What is passing from your life?  To what do you need to say goodbye?

Third, harvest.   What have you accomplished by this time?  What do you want to do next?

Four, preserves.   What gifts of God's bounty, material and spiritual, do you really need to hold on to?  What beautiful moments will you keep dear, what sweet memories will you treasure?