Lent – an intense time of transformation

By Dr Margaret Ghosn MSHF

An intense celebration of Great Lent and Passion Week is the mark of Maronites. In commencing the Lenten Season on a Sunday, the intention of the Maronite Church, was to have a tight calendar with no 'empty' days. So unlike the Roman Catholic Rite, where Lent commences with Ash Wednesday, for the Maronites, the Season of Lent begins on the Sunday with focus on the Gospel passage of the Wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11). It is followed immediately with Ash Monday.

The seven Lenten weeks are divided into three cycles. The first cycle includes the Sundays that focus on the cure of the Leper (Mk 1:35-45), the cure of the Haemorrhaging Woman (Lk 8:40-56) and the Parable of the Lost Son (Lk 15:11-32). The second cycle, given the title of miracles, incorporates the Sunday Gospels of the cure of the Paralytic (Mk 2:1-12) and the cure of the Blind (Mk 10:46-52). The third weekday cycle is referred to as Hosanna week and includes Palm Sunday and Passion Week (Jn 12:12-22).

The deeper meaning of Lent is about striving for justice as we read in Is 58:6-8, 'Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.'

So Lent is achieved not so much by way of fasting and abstinence, but rather by a transformation in attitude, about caring for the other, building up society and becoming an ambassador of good will. In the Maronite Lectionary, the Sunday Gospel passages throughout Lent focus on the healing and forgiving powers of Jesus, a reminder that Lent is a time to transform one's life, just as the water was changed to wine in the Sunday Gospel that marks the entry into the Lenten Season. The entry Gospel of the Wedding at Cana, further reminds the faithful, of the eternal wedding feast they are called to through Christ's Resurrection, after they have undertaken the transforming power of Lent.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. Holy Week provides liturgical experiences of sublime music and ritual. In particular on Good Friday a large model of the crucified Jesus is laid to rest in what is a coffin like wooden box and congregational members are invited to lay their gathered flowers there. The coffin is then carried outside on the shoulders of four strong men and as the congregation leave the service they walk under the coffin as a sign of blessing. At the close of the service, the coffin with the crucified figure, is placed in a make shift cave (tomb). This is then closed off, symbolising the burial of Jesus.

At the Easter midnight Mass, the empty coffin is brought out and people are invited to take a flower that had been previously placed there. This represents the symbol of new life. In concluding the Maronite celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord, the faithful greet one another with the refrain, 'Christ is risen! Truly he is Risen!'

Sr Margaret is Principal of the Maronite College of the Holy Family