November 3, 2013
Reflection on Lectoring
Why do Scripture readings at Mass sometimes seem to
vanish like smoke before the wind soon after they are proclaimed? You have heard it frequently said: “If more people
truly believed in their hearts that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, our
churches would be filled to overflowing.”
No one would want to miss an opportunity to be close to the God who
loves us so much. And yet, many people do.
What about the words?
Do the words of Scripture heard at Mass fall to the ground like the leaves
in Fall, to be covered by snow in the Winter?
Or do people truly believe that the Lord can be alive and present in his
word?
It does little good to indict secular society,
consumerism or the mass media as obstacles that make belief difficult. We can only look to ourselves and decide how
to encounter our current culture and environment without diminishing our faith.
Sorting through conflicting ways of thinking and
believing takes time and patience, along with a long-term commitment. For lectors, it is also involves acknowledging
their mission to serve and their important role in sustaining genuine belief.
Lectors know they cannot share what they do not
have. They know they have a responsibility
to proclaim the words of Scripture as living and effective. They know they have a role to play in making
the Mass an opportunity to feel closer to God. All this is true because they know that God’s
presence can be found in his word.
______________________________
First Reading - Wisdom 11:22, 12:2
The Power of Love
Several Sundays ago, the first reading gave us these
words from God spoken to Moses, “Let me
alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them”
(Exodus 32:10). A really angry God seemed ready to inflict severe punishment on
his chosen people because they had declared allegiance to a molten calf.
Today’s first reading (thankfully!) gives us another
image of God.
“But
you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls. . .” This reading from the Book of Wisdom reveals
an infinite God who has an unconditional love for all his creation.
This passage does not suggest that God’s justice no
longer applies when we sin. Instead what
is seen is God’s approach: “For you love
all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made.” In God’s relationship with his creatures, love
comes first.
Perhaps Moses understood that also when he asks God, “Why, O Lord, should your wrath blaze up
against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great
power and with so strong a hand?” (Exodus 32: 11)
______________________________________
Second Reading - 2 Thessalonians 1:11 - 2:2
A Reading in Two Parts
These four verses from 2 Thessalonians may offer the
lector one of the greatest challenges found in all three cycles of Sunday Mass
readings.
The first half of the reading is a wonderful prayer by
Paul for the members of the church in Thessalonica who serve as powerful
witnesses to God’s love. Supported by
the “grace of our God and Lord Jesus
Christ,” Paul prays that the name of the Lord “may be glorified in you.” People will see Christ when each
believer acts in a manner “worthy of his
calling.”
Then everything changes.
The second half warns of forged letters and bogus
pronouncements made in the assembly. The
people responsible for these falsehoods create alarm and shake people out of
their minds. The danger cannot be stated
any more clearly. There are false
witnesses who undermine the good work performed by the true witnesses for whom
Paul prayed.
© George Fournier 2013
