Rogation and Love at Ascension - a new commandment

Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity, observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called major rogation is held on 25 April whilst minor rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. 

Rogation in History

Historically Rogation has been merged with pagan rites, The Christian major rogation replaced a pagan Roman procession known as Robigalia, at which a dog was sacrificed to propitiate Robigus, the deity of agricultural disease. A common feature of Rogation days in the middle ages was the ceremony of beating the bounds, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. (This was also a feature of the original Roman festival, when revellers would walk to a grove five miles from the city to perform their rites.) But the central theme was protection, and in the Christian faith this is derived from our relationship with God. As in any healthy relationship, love is required in both directions - God loves us conditionally, but requires that we also love one another in the same way.

The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of his anger and for protection from calamities. 

Rogation and Love

It is pertinent therefore that the days preceding Ascension Thursday are rogation days, following the Sixth Sunday of Easter when we remember Jesus' commandment that we love one another as selflessly as he loved us.