“Did he not by his own power stop the sun, so that one day became two.” (Sirach 46:4)
We will celebrate Leap Day this week. 29 February occurs every four years so that the calendar can catch up with the earth’s rotation around the sun. God is too quick for us, at least by six hours a year, so every four years we need to make one day become two.
The Scripture quote from the Book of Sirach refers to the Battle at Gibeon from the Book of Joshua. The Gibeonites entered a covenant with the Israelites for protection against its enemies who had also entered alliances to fight against the Israelites. Israel’s enemies were met with the destructive force of severe hailstorms that rained upon them. Joshua feared that if the day were to come to an end his enemies would have the chance to reorganize to fight another day. Therefore, Joshua prayed that the day would not come to an end until the battle was complete.
“Joshua prayed to the Lord, and said in the presence of the Lord, and said in the presence of Israel: Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon! And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, while the nation took vengeance on its foes.” (Joshua 10:12-13)
On Wednesday, 28 February the sun will not stand still, nor will the moon stay. Yet, as Sirach stated, one day will become two. This tradition of one day becoming two was established in ancient Rome when an extra twenty-fourth day of February was added to the calendar every four years. This continued for sixteen centuries until Pope Gregory 13th realized that we were slightly overdoing things.
The date of the celebration of Easter is dependent upon the first full moon of the season of Spring. If for centuries the calculation of the length of a year is incorrect then the timing of Easter would be incorrect as well. Pope Gregory, by subtracting ten days from the calendar, brought the celebration of Easter back to its proper placement.
To keep this from happening in the future, Pope Gregory announced that centurial years that are not evenly divisible by 400 would not be leap years. Thus, the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.
Pope Gregory maintained the quaint notion of Sirach and the ancient Romans – one day becoming two – by keeping 24 February as Leap Day. It was in the eighteenth century that the British established 29 February as a quadrennial Leap Day.
Imagine that you were Joshua. For what purpose would you want one day to become two? What would you do with that second day? Would you repeat the activities of the first day or would you make the second day extraordinarily different? What would you do, or where would you travel, if you were able to do anything you wished on the second day?
29 February is called Leap Day. Where in your life are you hesitant to make a leap? When Jesus called his first followers, they made a leap of faith. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all left their occupation as fishermen to follow the Messiah. St. Francis of Assisi left behind his riches to embrace poverty. St. Katherine Drexel used her inheritance to serve the underprivileged of America. St. Therese of Lisieux asked to be admitted to the religious life at an early age. St. Bernadette continually visited the Blessed Mother and advance the legacy of the healing waters of Lourdes. St. John Neumann accepted the challenges of the Episcopacy. Moses placed his foot upon the waters of the Red Sea and began walking. All these individuals, and many others, made leaps of faith, leaps of trust.
As we prepare for Leap Day pray for the courage to follow your convictions. Pray for the strength to understand yourself and others better, to see things through various perspectives. Pray for the determination to bring your ideas to fruition. Pray for the grace to make one day two.