June 15, 2014
Reflection on Lectoring
Lectoring is more than reading.
A lector is more than someone who reads.
Every Christian ministry, including lectoring, involves
more than just performing a specific function or service. Much more.
People who volunteer in food banks do more than hand out food. People who visit the sick do more than talk. People
who serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion do more than distribute Communion. They are all living witnesses to the living presence
of God.
Think of the young child receiving Holy Communion for the
first time. For all the years that
follow, his or her belief in the Real Presence is aided by the grace of the
Holy Spirit. In addition, the Extraordinary
Minister of Holy Communion also performs an essential role. When spoken with conviction by the
Eucharistic Minister, the words “the Body of Christ” and “the Blood of Christ” encourage
a lifelong belief in the presence of God.
People desperately need ministry. Not just because they need food, or shelter,
or comfort, or clothes to wear. People need
to feel God’s presence. They need to
experience God at work in their lives.
They need to see the face of God shining upon them.
“The
Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord
let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you
peace!” (Numbers 6:24-26).
When God instructed Moses to use these words as a blessing for the
Israelites, he understood what they needed most. They needed to see his face.
When people hear the words of Scripture proclaimed with
conviction at Mass, they also see God’s face.
When that happens the Holy Spirit is at work. When that happens we can be certain that the
Holy Spirit is also at work guiding the lector.
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First Reading - Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9
What Moses Did Not Know
In some ways, Moses’ prayer at the end of today’s first
reading is a strange prayer. Speaking
for all the Israelites, he asks God to, “receive
us as your own.”
Did Moses not know that God had already chosen the
Israelites as his people? Had he
forgotten that God brought them out of slavery in Egypt? Was he not reassured when God gave them manna
in the morning and water from the rock?
Did God not speak directly to Moses saying he is, “the Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and
rich in kindness and fidelity”?
Perhaps Moses was overcome with a sense of guilt when he
witnessed the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf. Perhaps God’s words still rang in his ears
when he heard God say, “Let me alone,
then, that my anger may burn against them to consume them” (Exodus 32:10).
Perhaps it would have been easier for Moses to recognize
God as a compassionate God if he had known about the Incarnation and the
sacrifice of the cross. Perhaps he would
have been reassured if he had heard Jesus’ words at the conclusion of Matthew’s
Gospel: “And behold, I am with you
always, until the end of the age.”
Perhaps today’s first reading may help all of us
understand the important balance between trusting in God and recognizing our
need for forgiveness.
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Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Real Presence
“. .
. and the God of love and peace will be
with you.” Today’s second
reading says very directly that the God of love and peace will be with us if we
do certain things. But what exactly does
that mean?
Will God love us more if we “agree with one another”?
Will God compound our peace if we first “live in peace”? Will we experience more of God’s presence if we “greet one another with a holy kiss.”?
It is very easy to read that the God of love and peace
will be with us without giving much thought as to what that really means, or what
that might look like in our lives.
Perhaps this week’s Reflection on Lectoring might offer
one small way to think about this.
Whenever we minister to others in love, we make God’s presence more real,
more visible.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul
passionately defends his preaching and seeks a reconciliation among all
believers. But he also knows it is hard
to see God’s face when there are divisions and animosities. Perhaps that is why he ends his letter by
praying that, “The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of
you.”
Perhaps Paul’s words can
also tell us that in our own simple actions of caring for others we can catch a
small glimpse of the infinite grace, love and fellowship of God.
© George Fournier, 2014
