Easter Sunday
March 31, 2013

Reflection on Lectoring

Do you enjoy preparing for things?

Preparing your income tax returns  -  not so much. Preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for your family  -  much better.  Preparing for Easter during Lent  -  depends on how you do it.

The same question may also be asked about how much you enjoy preparing for your next lector assignment.  Maybe that kind of preparation also depends on how you do it.

Do you look forward to finding out what your assigned reading is all about?  Do you enjoy connecting the reading with your own life experience?  Or does the work of finding a meaning to share with the congregation feel like a homework assignment that you prepare as a report for class?

No matter how you feel about it, preparing for a lector assignment requires work.   In their booklet Guide for Lectors, Virginia Meagher and Paul Turner offer a sense of why preparation requires time and commitment.  They write, “Scripture is not simply another piece of literature.  Detailed study and reflection on the reading allow us to move past the mechanics of being a lector and be truly disposed to enter into the mystery of God’s word.”

Do you as a lector enjoy entering “into the mystery of God’s word?”  Perhaps that might be the best way to move beyond preparation as a homework assignment to preparation as an activity that offers personal rewards and the possibility of benefitting others.

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First Reading  -  Acts 10:34a, 37-43
A Model of Brevity

Today’s first reading presents a truly amazing story that takes place under truly momentous circumstances.  Jewish people were not supposed to associate with unclean Gentiles.  Nevertheless, here is Peter talking to Cornelius and his whole family of unclean Gentiles.  Something brand new is about to happen.

One of the remarkable things about this story is the brevity of Peter’s speech.  It takes him only 10 verses (verses 34 to 43) to tell the entire story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, the salvation of mankind, and the apostles’ responsibility to share the good news with the entire world.

Perhaps, Peter might have gone on longer, but the Holy Spirit cuts him off by making his presence felt among both Jew and Gentile alike (verse. 44).

This is one of the most challenging readings in the entire Lectionary.  Not because of it obscure cultural references, run-on sentences, or lofty theological pronouncements.  Quite the opposite. Everything in these verses is quite clear.  There is just so much that is vitally important.  How do you say it all?

Perhaps someday a non-Christian may ask you what you believe.  You can do no better than to tell him or her the same thing Peter told Cornelius and his family.

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Second Reading  -  Colossians 3:1-4
Status Viatoris

Easter and the theological virtue of hope go hand-in-hand.

St. Thomas Aquinas, who had a way with words, describes humanity’s current condition as being in the “state of the wayfarer” (status viatoris).  We live in the current of time.  And hope gives us the strength to be confident in the future.

However, this kind of hope is more than a human emotion.  This kind of hope is a theological virtue because it is a grace from God that points us in the direction of God.  It helps us navigate between the twin vices of despair and presumption.  And, equally important, it reassures us that the Kingdom of God awaits those who love him.

Today’s first reading is in the form of an admonition from Paul to “seek what is above.”  It also offers the promise of a bright future when we “too will appear with him glory.”

Easter is a time to turn away from despair.  It is also a time to remember that wayfarers need divine guidance to stay on the right path.

© 2013 George Fournier

Palm Sunday
March 24, 2013

“Von Herzen - mögen es weider - zu Herzen gehn!”  These are the words Beethoven wrote in 1820 when dedicating his monumental Missa Solemnis to Archbishop Rudolph.

Beethoven’s words translate into English as: “From the heart - may it return to the heart!”  Many people believe it was a dedication that Beethoven made to all of humanity.

Beethoven’s Mass contains a wide range of emotions deeply felt by the composer and powerfully communicated to his hearers.  From “Gloria in excelsis Deo” to “Miserere nobis,” the words contain exultation, joy, sorrow for sins, and hope for salvation. 

It is very easy to hear these same words sung or spoken at Mass today and say, “Isn’t that nice.”  We have heard them hundreds, maybe thousands of times before.  No need to listen very carefully, and no need to expend any emotional or intellectual energy when we hear them again.

It can be like that with Scripture reading.  When Isaiah says in Chapter Six, “Woe is me, I am doomed!” or when Elijah in 1 Kings says, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life,” it is easy to dismiss these highly charged words as just the way prophets talk.

If lectors dismiss the wide variety of human emotions contained in the Scriptures, so also will their hearers.  Without emotion, a great deal of the meaning will be lost. The importance of “heart to heart” is no less significant today when we proclaim the Scriptures at Mass than when Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis was first performed.

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First Reading  -  Isaiah 50:4-7
Transformation

What a remarkable transformation.  In Chapter Six of Isaiah, the prophet begins his journey as a God’s messenger by saying, “Woe is me, I am doomed!” He is worried about his unclean lips.   Later, in Chapter 50, with a great deal of conviction, he proclaims, “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue.”

A lot is written and said about the fears and apprehensions lectors have when proclaiming the Scriptures at Mass.  Am I worthy?  Will I make a mistake?  Will the assembly pay attention?  Who am I anyway?

These questions never completely go away no matter how many times a lector stands in front of the assembly.  Perhaps, a spirit of humility is essential for being a good lector.  Perhaps a recognition of a lector’s responsibility to his or her fellow worshipers should always be present, as long as it is not accompanied by inappropriate pride.

Maybe the people in the assembly can also relate to the fears and responsibilities that result from proclaiming their Christian beliefs.  All Christians need to connect their beliefs with the living out of those beliefs.  Maybe this weekend the words: “The Lord God is my help” can be one of the high points of the Liturgy of the Word for both the lector and the assembly.

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Second Reading  -  Philippians 2:6-11
Appearances

If we ever needed proof that Jesus in his human form was like us, today’s second reading from Philippians demonstrates how completely he committed himself to walking among us.

Most scholars believe that today’s passage comes from an early Christological hymn quoted by Paul to give the Philippians a model of humility.  The implied contrast is between Adam who was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and Christ who came in “the form of God,” but “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”

When Adam sought to be equal to God, he became a slave.  By comparison, when Christ humbled himself to “the point of death,” there was a cosmic confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

This reading offers Christ as a model for all time.  Not as a suggestion that we should try to be just like God  -  Adam tried that and sinned.  But rather that we should live as “blameless and guileless children of God” (Philippians 2:25).  Perhaps it was necessary for Jesus to become “human in appearance” for us to fully understand what that means.

© 2013, George Fournier 

Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 17, 2013

Reflection on Lectoring

“The relation to a human being is the proper metaphor for the relation to God.”  With these words from his book I and Thou, Jewish theologian Martin Buber suggests that our relationships with one another offer us insights into our relationship with God.

Can a lector’s relationship to his or her hearers in the assembly give insights into his or her personal encounter with God?  Can these insights have an impact on the way the assembly hears God’s word proclaimed in the Scriptures?

In past lector reflections, we presented the idea that an effective proclamation of the Scriptures must first involve the lector listening to God’s voice in the Scriptures.  Then the lector responds back to God in prayer.  This is the first stage of a dialogue that serves as preparation for proclamation.

At Mass the dialogue comes full circle.  Not only does the lector, serving as God’s instrument, speak to the assembly, the lector also encounters God in the vital relationship with his or her fellow worshippers.

Real sharing can only happen when the people with whom we share are real people to us, not just anonymous faces sitting in the pews before us.  When we share God’s word with real people - our brothers and sisters - we then experience a dialogue and a relationship that has come full circle.

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First Reading  -  Isaiah 43: 16-21
Confounding Expectations

In last Sunday’s first reading, we left the chosen people as they entered the promised land after their long exile in Egypt.  This Sunday, the Israelites are back again in exile, this time in Babylon.  This time, it is Isaiah’s job to remind the Israelites that God helped them once, and will help them again.

This part of the Book of Isaiah is commonly called the “Book of Consolation.”   In 587 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and deported much of its population.  Then in 538 BC, King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Israelites to return, and Isaiah tells them that God will lead them again out of exile.  But he also advises against simple expectations by saying that God is “doing something new!”

There are patterns in history.  The idea of return is a pattern familiar to the Jews.   Although they retain echoes of past patterns, there are, nevertheless, exciting new things that go beyond simple repetition.

When Christ came on earth, the Jewish people were again a conquered people looking for a familiar pattern: the return of a glorious king and savior like David who would throw out the Romans.  What they got was indeed a savior, but a savior who confounded their expectations  -  as you will see in today’s Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery.

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Second Reading  -  Philippians 3:8-14
Lass, Gain and What Lies Ahead

You can always depend on Paul to say something colorful.  He is not afraid to speak his mind.  Despite being one of the most widely read authors in the history of the world and the source of a significant portion of New Testament wisdom, Paul seems to be completely in character when he uses a common word like “rubbish” to describe what he has lost.

Paul could have phrased things more nicely by saying, “I ‘misspoke’ when I persecuted the followers of Christ.”  Instead, he unabashedly repudiates his past misguided actions and focuses on “the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Loss and gain are key words in this reading.  It is important to recognize that Paul’s “loss of all things” is not just a rhetorical exaggeration.   He is writing from jail.  He has lost his freedom.  It is also important to recognize that Paul’s loss is more than fully compensated by his hope that “I may gain Christ and be found in him.”

How does Paul keep his focus in times of loss?  Today’s second reading ends with the worlds: “Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

 Good advice from a colorful and well-read author.

© 2013 George Fournier

Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 10, 2013

Reflection on Lectoring

In his book, Everyday Greatness, Stephen R. Covey includes 63 short stories about individual people who perform courageous acts or have inspiring messages.  “The Cellist of Sarajevo” is one of these stories.

On May 27, 1992 amid the destruction and death of war, a man named Vedran Smailovic came out of hiding and took his cello to the a site of a mortar-bombed bakery where 22 people had died the day before.  As a member of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, he came wearing his concert attire, and for the next 22 days he played his cello in a defiant demonstration of courage and in honor of those who had lost their lives.

We are touched by stories in which people demonstrate by their actions the dignity and worth of the human person.  Vedran Smailovic is a very real person whose actions made a very real statement.

The Bible contains hundreds of stories of human courage and commitment.  How do we respond to these stories?  How does the assembly respond when they hear the lector proclaim these stories?

Are they simply stories about ancient people from the distant past with all the human passions and emotions drained away?  Or are they stories that grab you and won’t let go?  Do we cry, or laugh, or feel deeply inspired?  Do we thank God for putting those people on the earth?

What feelings do these stories arouse in the lector?  What feelings should the lector convey to the assembly?  Something to think about as you prepare to proclaim.

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First Reading  -  Joshua 5:9a, 10-12
Year C
An Event Six Hundred Years in the Making

Six hundred years is a long time to wait.  The descendants of Abraham had to wait 600 years for God’s promise of a homeland to be fulfilled.  At Gilgal after all those 600 years, the Hebrews finally entered the promised land.  It was a really big event.

In Chapter 3 of the Book of Joshua, the author amplifies the significance of the moment by describing the Hebrews’ crossing of the Jordan River and their arrival in the promised land.  Reminiscent of the exodus from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea, the Jordan stops flowing, permitting a triumphant passage across.  The ark of the covenant leads the procession.  Soldiers numbering 40,000 march by.  Twelve memorial stones taken from the dry river bed are set up.  And as soon as everyone is across, the Jordan flows again.  The chosen people will not be going back.

One of the root meanings of Gilgal is “rolled away” or “removed.”  And it is at Gilgal that the reproach of Egypt is removed.  It is also at Gilgal that the Passover is remembered and celebrated. God’s promise of a homeland has come true. 

Today’s reading concludes with a quiet proof that the Israelites had found a home that would sustain them.  “No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.”

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Second Reading  -  2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Year C
A Story of Everyday Greatness

Today’s second reading from 2 Corinthians has connections with today’s first reading and with the Gospel.  It illuminates both.

The events at Gilgal mark a turning point in human history.  Christ, the new creation, is another turning point.  The Incarnation changed history.    As Paul writes, “The old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Paul also writes that among those new things is the possibility of reconciliation, the reconciliation of the world to God, and we to each other.

Today’s Gospel gives us one of the most touching examples of reconciliation ever told by anyone.  If Christ was God’s agent for achieving reconciliation, he was also the best person for explaining it - in the parable of the prodigal son.

When the wayward son’s father “ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” we saw in his loving act a profound story of reconciliation, one of the Bible’s most inspiring stories of “everyday greatness.”

© 2013 George Fournier