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Great Lent & Passion Week

Great Lent & Passion Week

Great Lent is a time for personal change and conversion. The Maronite Church begins Great Lent with Cana Sunday, a commemoration of the transformation of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana at Galilee. This change prepares us for the evening when we change wine into his blood and bread into his body. The Season lasts for seven weeks, which is then followed by Passion Week. The seven Sundays of this season focus on the miracles that the Lord performed, as signs of the faith of the ones that were healed. We too are called to respond to JEsus as they did by deepening our faith in the Lord. In the Maronite Church, the Season of Great Lent is marked by fasting, almsgiving, and prayer and is a transformative period, preparing us for the Resurrection of the Lord. (excerpt from the Maronite Synaxarion)

Theme

Focus events on a specific Sunday in Lent (one of the miracles) and relate it to the youth.

Event Idea

Coinciding with the Healing of the Paralytic, focus an event on the fears or doubts that have the youth feeling paralyzed, and what we desire the Lord heal us from.

Insight From Catechism 

The miracles that Jesus worked were signs that the kingdom of God was beginning. They expressed his love for mankind and reaffirmed his mission. (YOUCAT, 91)

Penance is often misunderstood. It has nothing to do with low self-esteem or scrupulosity. Penance is not brooding over what a bad person I am. Penance frees and encourages us to make a new start. (YOUCAT, 230)

Wisdom From Scripture

“On the third day there was a wedding* in Cana* in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”* So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs* in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.” (Jn. 2:1-11)

Reference from the Divine Liturgy

“Like a treasure, this great fast makes justice abound and holiness thrive. Let us not just fast from food but fast from all sin and keep our hearts pure.” (Qurbono, 186)

“...stretch forth your hand and have compassion on us, for you have said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”” (Qurbono, 200)

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