My first Maronite Mass!

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NorthTexan88

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I just wanted to post an update of my first Maronite Mass from Sunday…It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for:thumbsup:

The liturgy was beautiful, I did accidentally go to the bilingual English/Lebanese Mass, with some Aramaic in there. It was a little bit confusing for the first time, luckally they had missle’s in the pew to help you follow along. The amount of reverence that there was before/during/after Mass was truly welcoming and for me, very much needed. The tabernacle was in the sanctuary so the deacon made sure to tell everyone to show respect and reverence because our Lord was in there. There was a blend of English and Lebanese songs so it was a nice mix.

It was the Sunday of the Priests, I believe? So the priest spent time talking about the priesthood and how we needed to pray for all Catholic priests bc there are some out there that are not so great and who needed our prayers. I’ve only been once but I truly love this priest, there was no watering down anything, or trying to be politically correct, he just told it how it was, but in a very caring and nice way.

All in all, I fully plan on making this my new home parish. I felt for one of the first times since becoming Catholic that I was truly “Catholic”. Not that there is anything wrong with the Roman Rite, but the parishes around my area are not what I need, I need something more in depth for my faith.

So if you live in the DFW area, Our Lady of Lebanon, with Fr. Assad, is a great place:)
 
Glad to hear you have found your parish and you’re happy!

🙂
 
I’ve been to a Maronite Mass at a parish in my diocese. It was absolutely beautiful. I had never been able to expierence a Mass in another Rite before and plus I was able to try Lebanese Food too. 🙂
 
The Lord reaches out to each of us in unique ways. It is very nice to hear that you were moved by the Maronite expression, as it is truly beautiful and deeply spiritual.

May you continue to be blessed in your journey of faith!
 
So glad you found such peace and love for the Maronite church. I am a Byzantine Catholic and our Divine Liturgy is very similar to the Maronite Liturgy and I can understand why you find such comfort in the rite. I attend a Roman rite Liturgy occasionally when out of town or due to weather, and when I do I really miss the Byzantine rite.
 
I share your fondness of Abouna Assad. 🙂

We can trade arak for vodka at Easter if you come visit us now! 😃 Or if you’re underage, we’ll trade paska for baklava. :rotfl:
 
CDB1718 said:
I share your fondness of Abouna Assad. 🙂

We can trade arak for vodka at Easter if you come visit us now! 😃 Or if you’re underage, we’ll trade paska for baklava. :rotfl:
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Thanks ha, St. Sophia is on my list of places to visit so I’ll take you up on that. I’m about 2 years over legal age, but I’ll take the paska too 🙂
 
Thanks everyone!

I do feel truly blessed that God led me here!
 
NorthTexan88 said:
Thanks ha, St. Sophia is on my list of places to visit so I’ll take you up on that. I’m about 2 years over legal age, but I’ll take the paska too 🙂
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We’ll make them the week before Easter. The ladies create all sorts of amazing things. Hand stiched pascha basket covers, beaded jewelry, paska and pierogies… Lots of amazing talent!

Our Lady of Lebanon showcases their culinary talent in October. You’re in for a treat!
 
NorthTexan88 said:
All in all, I fully plan on making this my new home parish. I felt for one of the first times since becoming Catholic that I was truly “Catholic”. Not that there is anything wrong with the Roman Rite, but the parishes around my area are not what I need, I need something more in depth for my faith.
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Congrats! Welcome home! :extrahappy:
 
Wow! It seems alot of Roman Rite Catholics are becoming attracted to the Holy Qorbono! I hope you enjoy your stay at this Parish God Bless You!
 
LittleHannah said:
I’ve been to a Maronite Mass at a parish in my diocese. It was absolutely beautiful. I had never been able to expierence a Mass in another Rite before and plus I was able to try Lebanese Food too. 🙂
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I was the sole KofC honor guard for the consecration of the local Maronite church.

They were tickled pink to have me there, and the bishop and many priests told me how long they’d been members and what degree they were.

Anyway, the head of their parish council and a couple of others happily gather our family and I up to feed us (they had a Lebanese festtival thT day, too). many wonderful foods, and amazing hospitality.

( A couple of months later, they hosted a second and third degree, and put on the banquet afterwards. They put on an amazing spread while keeping both spirit and letter of a full eastern Lenten fast . . .)

hawk
 
NorthTexan88 said:
I just wanted to post an update of my first Maronite Mass from Sunday…It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for:thumbsup:

The liturgy was beautiful, I did accidentally go to the bilingual English/Lebanese Mass, with some Aramaic in there. It was a little bit confusing for the first time, luckally they had missle’s in the pew to help you follow along. The amount of reverence that there was before/during/after Mass was truly welcoming and for me, very much needed. The tabernacle was in the sanctuary so the deacon made sure to tell everyone to show respect and reverence because our Lord was in there. There was a blend of English and Lebanese songs so it was a nice mix.

It was the Sunday of the Priests, I believe? So the priest spent time talking about the priesthood and how we needed to pray for all Catholic priests bc there are some out there that are not so great and who needed our prayers. I’ve only been once but I truly love this priest, there was no watering down anything, or trying to be politically correct, he just told it how it was, but in a very caring and nice way.

All in all, I fully plan on making this my new home parish. I felt for one of the first times since becoming Catholic that I was truly “Catholic”. Not that there is anything wrong with the Roman Rite, but the parishes around my area are not what I need, I need something more in depth for my faith.

So if you live in the DFW area, Our Lady of Lebanon, with Fr. Assad, is a great place:)
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Hi, we’ve chatted before. I try to attend both when I do attend. Thurs is candlemas so I suspect you will be very pleased to attend the mass at both OLoL and a RC church.

The sunday you went, was also a day of prayer for the priesthood in the RC. So there homilies tend to tie together well, but in each nation there are some holy days in the RC which are passed to Sundays, and some EC’s use the julian calendar, etc. So you sometimes have to line up the feast days and holy days so to speak

To me, I love the view. To see the expression. To hear the homily from both sides of the river (so to speak). Eventually I recommend attending a service at Mater Dei in Irving for the EF mass (Tridentine Mass).

As in many if not all EC’s the bread is unlevened, and they do not mix warm water in the chalice, and I believe the bread and blood is mixed. Take some time to see and talk to them about how the eucharist is obtained and made, and then look at it’s imprints and ask them how it’s cut and prayed over, each piece is individually prayed for. To really appreciate the blessing of attending EC it is best to try to attend RC during the same period. This allows you to better compare and contrast the two forms. If you learn about the eucharist at the maronite church take time to learn about the eucharist from the RC church. Write a journal and keep it with you with your what you learn and notice if you need to.

Maronites and Italo-Albanians are unique EC’s as there is no Orthodox version of either rite.

Maronites use a syriac liturgy of the Antochian Tradition.

Also if you think the Jews felt pressure in the middle east, you’ll need to hear the stories about the war the maronites fought to keep their faith and themselves alive in a muslim nation. In DFW there are two more Antochian traditional churches, the Malankara in Mesquite (St Mary’s), and the Malabara in Garland (St Thomas). These are Indian Churches. There’s also the unique Knanaya Catholic Church in Mesquite (Christ the King). The other rites which are not local are Syriac, and Chaldean.
 
I’m in Fayetteville, NC

For about a year now, I’ve felt a “wanting” for the traditions of my first communion years, prior to V II. Ad orientem; kneelers; icons; and the whole aura of sanctity when the Blessed Sacrament is in the center of the altar.

St. Michaels Maronite Catholic church is in our area. And I’ve been meaning to attend for a long…long time.

There have been little hints here and there from my life of prayer and life of the spirit - reading the posts on this thread is just another signpost on the road.

Ora pro me, ad Dominum Deum nostrum.
 
Wonderful, I’m happy for you. And the praise goes to God.
 
I went back home to Alabama this weekend and went to Mass at St. Elias in Birmingham. Guess who was the presiding priest?? Fr. Mitch Pacwa! I have to say he does really well with the Aramaic, he also seems like a really nice guy.
 
I felt for one of the first times since becoming Catholic that I was truly “Catholic”. Not that there is anything wrong with the Roman Rite, but the parishes around my area are not what I need, I need something more in depth for my faith.
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That’s the classic feeling that many people who’ve only experienced “average” latin rite parish, and even only experienced many average “mainstream” liturgical protestant churches feel, upon their exposure to eastern catholic, eastern orthodox, anglo-catholic, traditional latin mass catholic parishes.

It is a universal life changing feeling for many. The consummation of their faith realized in a way they could vaguely imagine, but never explicitly describe or imagine the beauty and profundity of it in a more historically informed, artistically moving, richer poetic language type of liturgy.

More catholic than what we thought was catholic. Indeed. Congratulations! Laudetur Jesu Christe. That particular texas church is a particular beautiful maronite church, above average for the USA. The maronite Church in Washington, DC for example has the standard iconoclastic factory building appearance, inside and out. Maronites are full of variety.
 
Father Pacwa celebrate Mass on EWTN today using the Maronite rite for the Feast of Saint Maron. The replay will be on at 7pm EST
 
As you all know I am a Byzantine Catholic so our rite is much like the Maronite Liturgy. Recently our priest had to retire due to health issues and our new priest is from the Ukraine. He is to be in America for 5 years. He is great, his English is perfect and he is just so pleasant. The best part is watching him perform the Consecration. I can feel the presence of Jesus and tears stream down my face, and Im not the only one. Several others have told me the same happens to them. He is a true priest. Some of our hymns are in his Slovak language which we are used to. His voice is just beautiful. It is a real treasure to attend his Divine Liturgy. He has already brought more people to our congregation and hes only been here for a few months. God bless him and I pray we have him for at least a few years before he goes back to the Ukraine.

:gopray2::byzsoc:
 
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