Second Sunday of Lent
March 16, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

In last week’s Reflection on Lectoring we suggested that lectors should invite their hearers to join with them in an active reflection on the Scriptures in a way similar to their joining together in prayer and worship during other parts of the Mass.

How does the lector make this invitation?

The Gospel from a few weekends ago offers part of the answer.  Pope Francis offers another part.

In the fifth chapter of Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the beatitudes, immediately followed by the description of those who demonstrate those beatitudes in their lives.  They are described as “salt of the earth,” “light of the world” and a “city on a mountain.”  They are people worth listening to because their concern is for others.

In the same way, lectors must approach their ministry with a sincere concern for others.  A very real and personal concern for the people with whom they worship.

However, being “city on a mountain” does not mean standing above everyone else.  Pope Francis certainly qualifies as a “light to the world,” but he does not stand apart from the world.  He is comfortable talking with refugees, sinners and sick people.  He is the kind of person who would happily wave to a stranger on the street.

People are naturally drawn to people who genuinely care about them and treat them as friends.

Effective lectoring requires effectively connecting with others.   Effective connecting requires genuine caring for others. The next time you serve as a lector remember you are talking to your friends.   Your friends will accept your invitation to meditate with you on the Scriptures.

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First Reading  -  Genesis 12:1-4a
Cast Adrift

There are times in life when you can feel completely cast adrift.  When you lose a loved one.  When you lose a job.  When you can’t find a sense of direction.  When you feel alone.

In today’s first reading it is easy to see only a simple story of obedience.  Abram is getting up in age, living comfortably, and looking forward to retirement.  Then God comes along and tells him to pack up his belongings and go to a foreign land where his new neighbors might not be as friendly.

There certainly was reason to be apprehensive.  Very quickly a famine hits, and Abram becomes concerned for his life when the Egyptian Pharaoh has designs on his wife.  You can read for yourself how this part of the story turns out.

However, despite all the turmoil and the uncertainty about the path ahead, Abram had something extremely valuable going for him.  He did not have to feel cast adrift.  He did not have to feel alone. God made it very clear to Abram about what he should do, and what would happen if he did it.

For people who feel uncertain about the proper direction their life should take, a simple reading of Abram’s story may not be very satisfying.  It does not often happen that things are so clearly spelled out.  This is a reading that must be read with an empathetic understanding of the variety of feelings experienced by those who hear it.

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Second Reading  -  2 Timothy 1:8b-10
From Abraham, to Paul, to Timothy to You 

Today’s second reading is also about following the path laid out by God.  However, it is a description of that path offered by someone who has come to the end of the line.

In this second letter to Timothy, Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race” (4:7).  In this letter he also complains of loneliness and abandonment, “You know that everyone in Asia deserted me” (1:15). Unlike in the first reading, Paul’s description of the path is mixed with personal sadness and a recognition that his time on earth is short.

In this letter Paul also acknowledges that it is Timothy’s turn to guide the church in Ephesus.  It has not been easy for Paul, and it will not be easy for Timothy, “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel.”  But, as with Abram, Timothy can be confident that God has “his own design” for how it should be done.

It is a challenge for every Christian to acknowledge his or her real feelings while also believing that God also understands those feelings.  They are, in fact, part of his plan.  As with the first reading, a proclamation of this reading should avoid the suggestion that God’s plan is always easy to discern.  Perhaps proclaiming the last part of today’s second reading with real conviction might offer some reassurance, “. . .  our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

© George Fournier, 2014