February 23, 2014
Reflection on Lectoring
“O Magnum Mysterium.” O great mystery. In the Liturgy of the Hours for Christmas
there is a hymn that celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation. Originally composed over 450 years ago by a
Spanish priest, this hymn has inspired centuries of composers ever since.
It is a testament to the transcendent glory of sacred mystery
- the aspects of God’s creation that go beyond scientific or rational
explanation, but are no less real.
Life and death, good and evil, joy and freedom are all big
questions that cannot be solved by an equation or achieved by a strategy. They cannot be quantified. They are not a problem to be solved. They can only be experienced to be
understood.
The Scriptures are like that too.
Poorly proclaimed Scriptures can sound pedestrian - a
collection of historical names and facts.
However, when proclaimed as words that touch the human heart they can be
sublime, they can move our spirits.
In a most powerful way, the Scriptures proclaim creation’s
most profound mystery: God made each of us
with a purpose and in his image.
Lectors are people who share that mystery with their
hearers at Mass in a sublime act of worship.
For one composer’s moving expression of the mystery of
the Incarnation, the link below will take you to Morten Lauridsen’s choral
masterpiece “O Magnum Mysterium.”
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First Reading - Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
United In Goodness
“Be
holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” These words appear four times in the Book of
Leviticus almost like a refrain, making this third book of the Pentateuch a
guidebook on how to be holy.
“The
Lord said to Moses.” This
introductory phrase appears at the beginning of almost all of the book’s 27
chapters, thereby making it clear that God is the author of the book’s advice
on staying holy.
In spite of all the injunctions against bad behavior and
directives to follow the rules, today’s reading offers a reason to feel
positive and reassured. Unlike many of
the pagan gods whose integrity and good intentions were questionable, the
Jewish God was the source of unassailable good.
If you followed his advice, you could be good too.
There is another reason to be hopeful that is found in
the Book of Genesis: “God created mankind in his image; in the
image of God he created them” (1:27). God who is good created men and women to be
good. He is a model whom people can
follow with ultimate confidence because there are no surprises and no
compromises to be found in a truly good God.
It is our nature to be united with him in goodness since we are created
in his image.
Today’s first reading concludes with four simple words
that can make the whole world seem right:
“I am the Lord.”
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Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
The Mystery of You
Sometimes people may be tempted to read a familiar
passage of Scripture and think, “I have heard that before,” and move on to
something else. It can be like that in
parts of today’s second reading. People have
heard about being temples of God so many times that the phrase may rush by
without being noticed.
Perhaps Paul recognized this danger and Immediately
followed up with some strikingly harsh words: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.” That’s it, you’re done.
Paul also has some harsh things to say about people who
think there is no mystery that is beyond their ability to figure out: “God
catches the wise in their own ruses.”
Then, to get their attention, he quotes Psalm 94 and says, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are vain.”
It is one of life’s mysteries that God would choose to dwell
in us. You can’t scientifically measure
his presence. You can’t weigh it. Yet the Scriptures say it is so. It is a remarkable mystery that people like
us who are flesh and blood can be God’s temple.
© George Fournier 2014
