Octaves: Keep the Party Going!
The significance of seven and eight in liturgical living
In the Beginning - Seven
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created the sun, moon, and stars. He created the plants, animals, rocks, and minerals. Then, He created man and woman in His image and likeness. After creating all that is seen and unseen, He saw that it was good, very good. To give us a model to follow, after the sixth day, He rested on the seventh.
Seven plays an important role in the relationship of festivals in Judaism and can be seen all through the yearly cycle of the Jewish calendar. The seventh day is always the Sabbath. The seventh month is sacred. Even the seventh year is called the sabbatical year. Jubilee years were not measured in 10s, but instead they are measured in 49 years (seven times seven). The feast of Pentecost, for example, is seven times seven days following the Passover. The feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days. You get the point.
Octave - The Party Continues
Under Jewish custom and tradition, there was also a role for eight. Many of the seven day feasts were followed by an eighth day of solemnity - a precursor to the octave. In the Christian tradition, octaves began as a way to celebrate with greater solemnity certain feasts. In the fourth century, Easter and Pentecost each had feasts of eight days. Some time later, Christmas was given its own octave as well. As early as the eighth century, certain saints were celebrated with devotional celebrations and gradually grew into their own octaves. Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Ascension, Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, Ss. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, All Saints, St. Stephen, St. John, the Holy Innocents, St. Lawrence, and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary all had octaves in the early 1900s. That is 144/365 days that are celebrated with solemnity. That’s a lot. Perhaps too many.
Following the liturgical reforms of 1969, there was a significant reduction in the number of memorials, feasts, and solemnities. The desire for this was to focus the year more on the mysteries of Christ and a liturgical cycle punctuated with feasts. As it regards octaves, we went from 144 days per year to 16 days per year. These days are meant to be celebrated with all of the festive solemnity of Sunday and high holy days. So, it is more reasonable to facilitate this solemnity by only having two sets of octaves. Today, these are the octaves of Easter and Christmas which begin those particular liturgical seasons.
Easter Octave
I am posting this short reflection on the Thursday after Easter to remind us that we have four more days after today of the Easter Octave! So, let’s keep the party going! Do not fast or abstain from meat tomorrow - eat an extra piece of bacon. Do not do extra penance, instead do a charitable action animated by the joy of the Risen Christ! Every day in the octave of Easter (and Christmas) should be celebrated with the same vigor as Easter Sunday! Perhaps at home, you can do a renewal of your baptismal promises each day and sign yourself with holy water. If you cannot make it to Holy Mass each of these days, then at least read the readings at home:
Easter Monday - Mary and the Other Mary find the Tomb Empty (Mt 28:8-15)
Easter Tuesday - Mary Magdalene Returns to the Tomb, Weeps, Sees the Resurrected Lord (Jn 20:11-18)
Easter Wednesday - Jesus Appears to Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35)
Easter Thursday - Jesus Appears to the Hidden Apostles (Lk 24:35-48)
Easter Friday - Jesus Helps the Apostles Fish (Jn 21:1-14)
Easter Saturday - Jesus Instructs the Apostles to See, Believe, and Preach the Gospel (Mk 16:9-15)
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - Jesus appears to the Apostles in the Upper Room and later interacts with St. Thomas the Apostle (Jn 20:19-31)
Happy Easter! He is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!