Thursday, March 20, 2014

Spring Has Sprung

Today at 16:57 Universal Time, the sun crossed the celestial equator.  That means the point on the earth where the center of the sun was directly overhead was on the equator; the sun reached zenith at the equator; the Southern and Northern Hemispheres were equally illuminated; and the periods of daylight and nighttime today are roughly equal.  In other words: it is now Spring.  From this point forward, the hours of daylight will exceed the hours of nighttime.  When the Summer Solstice occurs on June 21st, the daylight will begin to recede, until the Autumnal Equinox; then, the nights will lengthen, until the Winter Solstice.

As I have commented many times before in this space, and will go on commenting, the changes of season are freighted with a spiritual significance that has been obscured since the iconoclasts took their scissors and blue pencils to the liturgical calendar in the wake of Vatican II.  The Annunciation, March 25th, coincides with the Vernal Equinox; Good Friday is also held to have taken place on March 25th, followed by Easter Sunday.  This was to show that the winter of satan's reign was ended, and the Kingdom of God, with its light and warmth and abundance of life, was begun.  The Summer Solstice, when daylight begins to decrease, coincides with the Nativity of John the Baptist; the Winter Solstice, when daylight begins to increase, coincides with the Nativity of Christ, to underscore the Baptist's saying that he must decrease, while Christ increased.  As far as the Autumnal Equinox is concerned, my own entirely personal opinion is that, since this falls during the time for harvest, it stands for the harvest of souls at the end of time, when the wheat is gathered into the Master's barn, and the tares are bundled up and burned.  

The modernists would have us believe that this is all just man projecting his religious yearnings onto impersonal nature and seeing what he wants to see.  The reality, however, is that not one single thing exists outside of God's plan and loving providence, in which there are no gaps or deficiencies that He needs us to supply for.  It is all meant to communicate God's love to us, and to lead us to Himself.

5 comments:

  1. Dear Minnie,

    1. I am not publishing your comment. There is no Seventh-Day Adventist proselytizing on my blog.

    2. This post has absolutely nothing to do with celebrating the Lord's Day on Sunday, which makes your comment totally inapposite.

    3. Read St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Galatians 5:6: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but faith that worketh by charity.

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  2. Excellent post! I have a question, was Good Friday always observed on March 25th in the past, if so what were the reasons the date was changed?

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  3. Thank you, NBW. The original Good Friday is held to have taken place on March 25th, the same date as the Annunciation, the feast of the Incarnation. Easter, and therefore Holy Week, is movable: Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

    I'm not an expert on the vagaries of calendars, but according to my cursory research, on the Julian calendar (in use at the time of Christ), the vernal equinox was deemed to occur on March 25th; the summer solstice was deemed to take place on June 25th; and the winter solstice was deemed to take place on December 25th. This of course was regardless of the actual dates on which these events occurred, and the disparity between them gradually increased. I believe that was part of the reason for the Gregorian calendar reform.

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  4. Nice blog post as was the one before-am behind in my computer work, but your blog is great!

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