ARTICLES
March 2000 ARTICLESLETTERS
Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Season of Repentance
A Los Angeles Ethnic Lenten Guide
By Charles A. Coulombe
One of the great pleasures of living in the Los Angeles area is the opportunity, during the course of the liturgical year, to sample the customs of a variety of Catholic cultures; and Lent is certainly no exception.
At the mother church of the archdiocese, Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, the Plaza Church (founded on the order and at the expense of King Charles III of Spain in 1784) ashes will be distributed continuously throughout Ash Wednesday, from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. On the Fridays of Lent, the Way of the Cross will be conducted in Spanish before the 11 a.m. Mass. All week the faithful will recite a rosary before the 5:30 p.m. Mass, and at 3 a.m. they will say special prayers in honor of El Senor de la Misericordia -- Our Lord of Mercy. Confessions will be held a half hour before each of the five daily Masses.
According to parish lay organizer, Jose Diaz, "for Spanish people Lent is very important. They make sacrifices, fast and abstain more than is required by the Church, and very often spend all day in church praying. It is especially important for them to visit the sick in hospitals, shut-ins at their homes, and prisoners in jail. It is a very spiritual time."
Our Lady, Queen of Angels is located at 535 N. Main Street, Los Angeles, 90012; phone, (213) 629-3101.
East of Barstow in the Mojave Desert of the San Bernardino diocese, there is a stronghold of ancient ways at Holy Resurrection monastery in Newberry Springs. The monastery follows the Byzantine rite as practiced by the Ruthenians, a Slavic people from an area owned by Czechoslovakia between the Wars, but now part of Ukraine. For the Ruthenians, as for all Byzantines, Catholic or Orthodox, Lent is observed in stricter fashion than among the Latins.
The Sunday before Lent begins is called Meatfare Sunday, and is the last day until Easter when meat is eaten. What in the West is the First Sunday of Lent is here Cheesefare Sunday, when dairy products are given up. On the afternoon of the Sunday are offered the Forgiveness Vespers. This is a service during which the season of Great Lent begins. At the chanting of the psalm verses (prokeimenon), the priest changes his vestments from bright to somber colors (red or purple) and the musical tones shift to a minor key. Concluding the service is the rite of mutual forgiveness, in which believers ask for and grant forgiveness to one another for any sins committed during the previous year.
At Holy Resurrection Monastery the Lenten fast is kept at its strictest -- during the week, the monks consume no meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, wine or olive oil, although on the weekend they use the latter two; on the Feast of the Annunciation, wine and oil are joined by fish. Layfolk in the parishes do not keep this monastic ideal so strictly, although they keep as much of it as their piety and circumstances will allow. For the monks, hourly liturgical prayers become longer, taking up as much as six hours a day altogether, and being accompanied with many prostrations. The fast is extended to include "fasting from liturgy." This means that there are no Eucharistic offerings on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. On Wednesday and Friday, the "Liturgy of the Presanctified" is celebrated. This last features the distribution of already-consecrated communion. On Saturdays and Sundays alone is the customary Eucharistic rite offered.
How does the spirit of the Byzantine Lent differ from our Latin observance? According to Abbot Nicholas, "for us, Lent is a time of conversion of life and penance. We are preparing to celebrate Pascha (Easter), which is for us the apex of the liturgical year; Lent is not an end in itself. Fundamentally we have the same attitudes toward Lent as the West, but the differences are also deep. In the West, laws and prescriptions are most important, and people determine what the lowest amount of penance they can do by the law is, and then they follow that strictly -- it is a very minimalist approach. But with us, the mystical aspect is most important. We are maximalists in this area. A strict ideal is offered, and people live up to it as well as they can."
Holy Resurrection Monastery is located at 45704 Valley Center Road, Newberry Springs, 92365; phone, (760) 257-4008.
Our Lady of Mount Lebanon in West Los Angeles uses the Maronite Rite. Centered today in Lebanon, the Maronites use Syriac -- the language spoken by Jesus -- in their liturgy. For them, the Monday before our First Sunday in Lent (this year, March 6) is Ash Monday, when ashes are distributed to the faithful; this will be done at 7:30 p.m. The faithful will have only water between midnight and noon on Ash Wednesday. Every Friday there will be Stations of the Cross and the solemn blessing with the Holy Cross at 7:30 p.m. According to the pastor, Father Abdallah Zaidan, "Lent is a time of repentance, asceticism, and caring for others."
Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon-St. Peter Cathedral is located at 333 S. San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90048; phone, (310) 275-6634.
In Boyle Heights, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs perpetuates the Armenian Rite, shared as well by the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pastor Father Raphael Minhassian points out that "for us, Lent begins on Ash Monday [as with the Maronites]. On that day we distribute ashes. In our rite, as in the Latin rite historically, we have no meat, dairy products, or eggs, except on Sundays. On the Wednesdays of Lent, at 7 a.m., we have special Lenten Matins, which last about a half hour, and on Fridays, Lenten Vespers at 7:30 p.m., for 45 minutes. With the Armenians, Lent is very strict, very penitential; it's a renewal of the Christian life."
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is located at 1327 Pleasant Avenue, Los Angeles, 90033; phone, (213) 261-9898.
At a Polish parish, Our Lady of the Bright Mount in West Los Angeles, Lent is kept with all rites in Polish. According to the pastor, Father Edward Mroczynski, ashes will be distributed on Ash Wednesday at the 8 a.m., 10 a.m., and 7:30 p.m.. Masses. Every Friday at 7 p.m. are Stations of the Cross and Mass. The Sundays of Lent, at 5 p.m., will host the particularly Polish devotion of Gorskaie Zale -- "Bitter Sorrows." Begun at Holy Cross Church in Cracow in the 16th century, this devotion includes three long hymns about the Passion of Our Lord, meditation, homily, and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, followed by Mass. During the fourth week of Lent the parish will hold a mission, given by a priest from Poland.
Our Lady of the Bright Mount is located at 3424 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, 90018; phone, (323) 734-5249.
Back to downtown, St. Anthony's Croatian Parish will distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and noon in English, and at 7:30 p.m. in Croatian. On the Fridays during Lent, stations in Croation will precede the latter Mass. According to Father Bizaga, the pastor, "in Croatia, the keynote of Lent is the penitential procession. During the communist time, many were unable to receive the sacraments, but demonstrated their faith by joining in the processions, which were approved as exercises in folklore."
St. Anthony's is located at 712 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012; phone, (213) 628-2938.
At St. Casimir's Lithuanian parish in Silverlake, ashes will be distributed in English at 7, 8, and 9 a.m. Stations of the Cross in Lithuanian, however, will be offered on Fridays and Sundays after the 10:30 a.m. Mass.
St. Casimir's is located at 2718 St. George Street, Los Angeles, CA 90027; phone, (323) 664-4660.
Among the 15 communities of Vietnamese Catholics in the archdiocese, the rosary, the stations, and days of recollection are key devotions at this time. For details of when and where these will be offered in Vietnamese, one may contact Father Albert Sang Tran, at (818) 894-1176. Although the Vietnamese do not mark his feast-day (March 19) especially, they are very devoted to St. Joseph. Father Alexander de Rhodes, S.J., founded the first mission in Vietnam in his honor, on his feast day in 1615.
At St. Stephen's Hungarian Catholic Church, which cares for Catholics of Hungarian, German, Spanish, and English backgrounds, ashes will be given at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Ash Wednesday in Spanish. On Mondays at 6 p.m. the stations will be conducted in Spanish; on Sundays at 1:30 p.m., in Hungarian; and on April 4,, in German.
St. Stephen's is located at 3705 Woodlawn Avenue, Los Angeles, 90011; (213) 234-9246.