Ember Wednesday

Today is Ember Wednesday. The Ember Days are four sets of days of prayer and fasting established to correspond to the start of the four seasons of the year. (In Rome this week, every day it warms up past 60° F/15° C -- clearly spring. In the American Midwest, the start of the new season is not quite so clear; snow still covers the ground. But even here the days lengthen and the squirrels and rabbits have started to come out of hiding).

The three days of Embertide are always Wednesday (the day on which our Lord was betrayed), Friday (the day on which He was crucified) and Saturday (the day on which He was entombed).

Holy Trinity parish in Boston and the Fisheaters.com websites have good explanations about the origin and purpose of Ember Days, and the Fish Eaters website has a separate page specifically for the Lenten Embertide.

From the sequence for the Mass for Pentecost:
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the wayward home once more!