Lenten Observances Include Music, Workshops, Bible Studies
The holy season of Lent, the 45-day period of preparation for Easter involving prayer, fasting and self-reflection, began this week as Southland faithful planned events ranging from special Bible studies to multicultural workshops.
In his annual Lenten message, Cardinal Roger Mahony suggested greater efforts toward reconciliation, forgiveness and spiritual renewal, goals emphasized by Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000.
As concrete ways to follow Jesus’ message of generosity in Luke’s gospel, the cardinal suggested trying to refrain from judging family members at home, condemning other drivers on the roads and, at work, aiming to respect and forgive colleagues.
“During this Lent, might I suggest that we all make greater efforts to avoid judging one another, that we pause more often and respect the motivation of one another,” Mahony said.
* All Saints Church will feature “Many Voices, One Body,” a Lenten event of 10 workshops, today from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 132 N. Euclid Ave. in Pasadena. Topics will include religion and science, multiculturalism and the life of faith, images of the sacred and multicultural literature. Christopher Duraisingh of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., will deliver the keynote address. Presentations will also be offered to children. The event will conclude with a liturgy at 2:30 p.m. The fee is $25. (626) 583-2735.
* St. Nicholas Episcopal Church will kick off the first part of a six-week Lenten series on “How to Read the Bible” today from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. The program, which will include a meal and devotion, will be held at the church, 17114 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 788-4486.
* Loyola Marymount University and the Westside Parishes Adult Education Consortium will present a Lenten lecture Thursday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 10750 Ohio Ave., Los Angeles. The topic, aimed at young adults, is “Choices: The Sky Is the Limit.” The lecture, by Sister Carol Quinlivan, will be the second in a five-week Thursday series. The donation is $5. (310) 338-7772.
* St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral will present a Lenten concert by the newly formed Los Angeles Byzantine Chorale on March 11 at 7:30 p.m. at 1324 S. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles. The program will feature readings and traditional Lenten hymns sung in Greek, Arabic, Slavonic and English, along with music from Latin America by the choir of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. (323) 737-2424.
PURIM
The Jewish festival of Purim, celebrating the triumph of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai in liberating their people from tyranny and the machinations of the villain Haman, will begin Thursday. Temple Menorah, 1101 Camino Real in Redondo Beach, will hold a Purim carnival Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. featuring pony rides, music, game booths and food. (310) 316-8444.
* Temple Ner Tamid of Downey and Temple Beth Shalom of Whittier will present a Purim play March 11 from 10 a.m. to noon at 14564 Hawes St. in Whittier. The play will be performed by Torah School children, featuring the reading of the Megillah, followed by a costume parade. The carnival, from noon to 4 p.m., will include face painting, games, prizes and food. (562) 941-8744 or (562) 861-9276.
EVENTS
The Venerable Master Hsing Yun, a Buddhist leader whose Taiwan-based Zen order founded the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights in 1988, will speak on “The Living World of Ch’an (Zen) Practitioners” Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at UCLA’s Ackerman Center. The program will begin with a 30-minute musical performance of Chinese Buddhist chanting by monastics from his Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist order. (626) 923-5187 or (626) 923-5188.
* St. James Episcopal Church will begin a series of weekly lectures on “New Insights From Ancient Spiritualities” on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at 3903 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. The Rev. Robert Two Bulls, an Episcopal priest, will speak on Native American spirituality. Subsequent speakers will focus on Buddhist, feminist, Celtic and Benedictine spiritualities. The program will begin with a prayer or Eucharist and meal. The lectures will be free, but the series cost with meals will be $45 for adults and $25 for children. Single tickets will be $10 for adults, $6 for children younger than 12. (213) 388-3417.
* Corpus Christi Catholic Church will host a five-day parish mission, “Spirituality for an Evangelizing Parish,” beginning March 11 at 7:30 p.m. at 887 Toyopa Drive, Pacific Palisades. The mission, held in collaboration with the Paulist National Catholic Evangelizing Assn., is aimed at re-energizing the parish community. Father Frank Desiderio of Paulist Productions and Mary Moriarty of the Catholic Family Life Office in New York will lead the mission. (310) 454-1981.
* A book discussion on “The Promise of God” by David Shapiro will be held Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel-Air. Rabbi Debra Orenstein of Congregation Makom Ohr Shalom in Tarzana and West Los Angeles will join Shapiro in discussing the relationship between the divine and human development, the dangers and benefits of technology and other issues. The cost is $20. (310) 440-1246.
* California Lutheran University and other institutions will present an online, interactive program today for high school and college students, entitled “Paths Unknown: Where Is God Leading Me?” Al Brisken of the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary will lead the workshop. (805) 493-3936 or leblanc@clunet.edu.
* Fred Allen Wolf, author of “The Spiritual Universe: How Quantum Physics Proves the Existence of the Soul,” will speak Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. Wolf will speak on how the latest discoveries in quantum physics shed light on the connection between body and spirit. The suggested donation is $5 for the lecture and $15 for the discussion at 1:30 p.m. (323) 663-2167.
* The Biblical Archeology Society will tour the Caesarea Philippi exhibit at Pepperdine University in Malibu today at 3 p.m. John Wilson and Vassilios Tzaferis will explain the history and significance of the exhibit, which includes 132 artifacts never before seen in public. (626) 338-7700.
