WELCOME 2018
ADVENT 2018
LENT 2019

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As Ash Wednesday quickly approaches, Roman Catholics everywhere expect to go to church to have the priest make the sign of the cross on their foreheads with ashes, and then prepare to give up chocolate and ice cream and abstain from meat on Fridays. Many Catholics, however, would be terribly confused if they were to encounter a person with an ashen cross on their forehead a full two days early. Chances are that such a person would be foreign and would claim to be a "Maronite." Are they Orthodox? No, they are Catholic, though not Roman Catholic.

In my experience, this statement has typically prompted a cross-examination about whether I am actually a Catholic, and if so, and what my traditional lenten fasting practices are. While I have become accustomed to the funny looks and suspicious questions from a lifetime of being a Maronite Catholic in a society full of Roman Catholics, I relish the opportunity to explain the diversity of the richness of the global Catholic Church. The Maronite Catholic Church of which I am a part is one of twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches. Some of these Churches are self-governing, some are directly accountable to the Pope, and some of them answer to the local Roman Catholic diocese, but all of them are in communion with Rome and recognize the authority of the Pope. Although all of the Eastern Catholic Churches are Catholic insofar as they are in communion with Rome, they are unlike the Roman Catholic Church in many distinct ways, most notably in regard to their calendar, liturgy, and fasting.

Most of the Eastern Churches use what is called the Julian calendar, which is an older relative of the Gregorian calendar that is used in the Roman Catholic Church. This results in the Eastern Catholics having a slightly different liturgical year, even to the point of having different dates for Christmas and Easter than the Roman Catholics. In marking the beginning of Lent, they begin from their Easter date and calculate the Monday seven weeks before that date. On that day, they traditionally have liturgies to signify their entrance into the Lenten season, but those liturgies do not include the signing with ashes in any tradition except for the Maronite tradition.
The Maronite Church technically begins the Season of Lent on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, officially known as Cana Sunday. Because we do not fast on Sundays, however, we begin our fasting on the next day. Originally known as the "Monday of Oil," the priest signs the faithful with oil according to the historical practice of with the Syriac tradition which forms a large part of the basis of Maronite patrimony. The oil signifies purification and is referred to frequently by many Syriac theologians. St. Ephrem the Syrian writes, for example, that "stained bodies are anointed with the sanctifying oil with a view to expiation. They are purified but not destroyed. They descend marked by sin and arise pure as a child." While the signing with oil at the beginning of the Season of Lent is not a sacrament in itself, it is still a physical and spiritual reminder to purify our hearts during this season of preparation.

Throughout the course of its development, the Maronite Church has picked up a number of influences from the Roman Rite. On such influence is the use of ashes during the signing with oil. The ashes are mixed in with the oil, and the faithful are signed with this mixture by the priest while he prays, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is part of the reason why that day has largely become known as "Ash Monday" instead of "the Monday of Oil" as it was originally known.

Another Roman influence is the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Accordingly, the Maronite Church celebrates Christmas and Easter on the same days as the Roman Catholic Church, even though it retains a unique liturgical year. It would seem strange, however, that the Maronite Church would celebrate Easter on the same day as the Roman Church while still beginning Lent two days early. How would that add up to forty days? The Maronite Church actually does not include Passion Week in its count for the forty-day fast; it treats it as its own liturgical season. The fast has its basis in Jesus' forty days of fasting in the desert and his subsequent temptation, which the Maronite Church commemorates on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Thus the number of days from Cana Sunday to the Temptation of Jesus is exactly forty days, and this is followed by Lazarus Saturday, which marks the beginning of Passion Week.

The fasting practices of the Maronite Rite are also unique from those of the Roman Rite. The spirituality of the Maronite Church is monastic, following in the tradition of St. Maron who was a monk and hermit in 4th-century Syria. As a result, some of the ascetic practices associated with St. Maron's spirituality have been retained by the Maronite Church. Historically, these have included abstinence from meat, dairy, and sweets every day (including Sundays), and fasting from all food and drink from midnight until noon every day except Sundays. This historically has culminated in a complete fast from food and drink from Holy Thursday after the liturgy until Christ is raised on Easter Sunday. While the Maronite Church has relaxed some of the fasting requirements so as to accommodate the irregular situations that the faithful may experience, many Maronites still choose to fast according to the original guidelines. 

This is just a small glimpse of the many, many differences between the Eastern and Western Catholic Churches but a powerful testimony to the wonderful beauty found in the varied expressions of the same faith. May God bless you as we enter into this season of preparation and purification.