Visiting Maronite Catholic church

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Caesar

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Hello,

Just out of curiousity I plan to attend the Divine Liturgy at a church in my city that has both Novus Ordo Masses and the Maronite Divine Liturgy. I want to see how the Divine Liturgy compares to the NO Mass and (more importantly for me) how it compares to the Traditional Mass.

What should I expect?
 
Caesar said:
Hello,

Just out of curiousity I plan to attend the Divine Liturgy at a church in my city that has both Novus Ordo Masses and the Maronite Divine Liturgy. I want to see how the Divine Liturgy compares to the NO Mass and (more importantly for me) how it compares to the Traditional Mass.

What should I expect?
Click to expand...
EWTN was just broadcasting what looked to be the Maronite Liturgy yesterday … shame you didn’t ask a little earlier!!! I would’ve told ya to watch n see what you were getting yourself in for. I only caught a bit of it myself, but it looked and sounded beautiful.

Before you go, make enquiries about what language the Liturgy is in. All Maronites use Aramaic for some parts, but the others can either be in Arabic or English (which you would probably prefer).
 
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Caesar said:
Hello,

Just out of curiousity I plan to attend the Divine Liturgy at a church in my city that has both Novus Ordo Masses and the Maronite Divine Liturgy. I want to see how the Divine Liturgy compares to the NO Mass and (more importantly for me) how it compares to the Traditional Mass.

What should I expect?
Click to expand...
Caesar,

It is wonderful that you are going to be attending Divine Liturgy, I hope you enjoy yourself. What to expect, though, is hard to tell. There are some orthodox (lowercase) churches and many latinizied churches. Considering that the church you will attend celebrates both the Divine Liturgy and Roman Mass expect things to be similar, the mere fact that they are celebrated in the same church can say a lot.

A while back in an old thread I wrote about some considerations for Romans going to a Maronitic Divine Liturgy. The italicized are those comments that should be unique to your experience.
  • No genuflecting, bow This probably won’t apply
  • The entire liturgy is chanting, between the priest and congregation. Hymns are not supposed to be separate from the service, some parishes do so If it is the same priest for both NO and Liturgy, there will probably be a substantially less amount of chanting
  • Language goes back and forth from English to Aramaic, some days all Arabic and Aramaic, NEVER fully in English. If the service is English and you proceed to chant in English parts that are being chanted in Aramaic, you will get more than a glare. It will probably be mostly in English except for the “important parts”
  • The Lord’s Prayer is chanted handless. Probably will be said instead of chanted and you will be holding hands, again, due to that you are at a NO parish
  • Divine Liturgy, not Mass
  • I know this sounds tedious but please stand when others are standing, sit when others are sitting. Medical issues are of course exempt, but this is a communal worship service, not a performance. Many Romans do come to “watch” our Liturgy, be exposed to the richness that is the Eastern tradition, but please “go with the flow.” The least amount of participation is required.
  • The exchange of of peace is present in our services. This is done by not simply shaking hands to the next person, and those unfamiliar get thrown off quickly. The priest kisses the alter, recites “Peace to you, O holy altar of God.
    Peace to the holy mysteries placed upon you. Peace to you, O minister of the Holy Spirit.” and proceeds over to the deacon and/or alter boys. The deacon and/or alter boy places his hands over the priests in a traditional prayer like fashion and pulls back with his hands, and proceeds down the nave (making the appropriate bows of course) to the person in front of each pew. Each person then turns and gives the exchange of peace (prayer hands clasping one another, pulls back) to the person next to them and so forth. I do not know the origins of this tradition, it might be Latin for all I know, but it is a tradition nonetheless and should be treated so. Kissing the cheeks is very popular at this point, including to strangers.
  • In the Maronite Church the Host is dipped in the Blood and placed upon the receiver’s tongue (intinction). Despite the obviousness, do not place your hand out to receive it. I don’t need to explain the theological reasons for this, but I can tell you horror stories about the lazy people who comes and refuse to use our traditions until they approach to receive the Eucharist.
  • After receiving the Eucharist it is customary to stand rather than kneel. This tends to be stickler with the more orthodox parishioners. Most people will probably kneel, which is wrong, but I leave this up to you
    *Leaving after Communion, and I am sure all of my Eastern brothers and sisters can relate, is entirely inappropriate. I understand it is wrong in the Roman Church as well, yet this, at least at my parish, is extremely inappropriate. My observations at the many Roman Churches have shown that this is not as reverent, but I do not want to generalize.
  • Venerate the icons, they are there for you Probably won’t have icons due to the shared church issue
  • Finally, my personal note if you find yourself in a Maronite Church, asks questions! Abouna will be more than happy to answer them and of course the parishioners will talk your ear off if you allow them, a by side of effect of being Lebanese.
In all, you will see elements of both NO and the Tridentine Mass. Please share your observations after, I would love to hear about your experience. I pray that it will be traditional, but judging by current circumstances, I doubt it.

I suggest you branch into other EC liturgies or EO liturgies as they will be more traditional and representative of a Divine Liturgy, in a general sense, than the Maronites’.

Peace and God Bless
 
As a “Latin”, I attend a Maronite church sometimes. Including as late as yesterday.
There are books provided with most of the prayers in all the languages being used, so it isn’t difficult to follow. Although there are no kneelers, I notice that most of the people kneel at points of the liturgy where one would in a Tridentine Mass.
The thing most obvious to me was that everyone was there for a reverent honoring of Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Yes, afterward, during a coffee and sweets social, everyone talks, with many going out of their way to greet me. But being Lebanese doesn’t give one the edge on gregariousness, we Irish/Italian types are right up there too.😃
 
Caesar said:
Just out of curiousity I plan to attend the Divine Liturgy at a church in my city that has both Novus Ordo Masses and the Maronite Divine Liturgy … What should I expect?
Click to expand...
JMJ + OBT​

Here is a link to the first segment of an audio recording of a Maronite liturgy celebrated in Aramaic:

youtube.com/watch?v=JOfFm888Zfg

The other six segments can be accessed by clicking on the “More from this user” tab of the box to the right of the video-display widget. This is not a video recording, but the audio is overlayed by a montage of images which are related to the Maronite tradition.

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

IC XC NIKA
 
Some nice kids.

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PaxCarmeL said:
I’m the only woman at my Maronite parish who does, but if we were in Lebanon, it’d be the other way around.
Click to expand...
Do you happen to know Fr. Claude Franklin? I believe he was from Fayetteville. He served in Roanoke for a while and was a good friend of mine.

In Christ,
Andrew
 
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