Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 31, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

There is a difference between collecting and verifying the facts of history and understanding their timeless meaning.  This is uniquely true when studying the life of Jesus.  You can study the historical details of his life, or you can take the next step and commit to believing that Jesus was God incarnate.  You can recognize that truth comes in two flavors - the truth of facts and the truth of faith.

African missionary-doctor Albert Schweitzer understood this when he wrote in his book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, “Jesus means something in our world because a mighty spiritual force streams forth from Him and flows through our time also.  This fact can neither be shaken nor confirmed by any historical discovery.  It is the solid foundation of Christianity” (p.397).  The facts of history can give us perspective.  But Jesus’ apostles, who had a very first-hand cultural and historical perspective, followed Jesus because they believed - not because they completely understood.

When we encounter the Scriptures today, thousands of years later, we do it through the eyes of faith.  When we do, we encounter the kind of truth that is inexhaustible.  Like a great work of art or literature, the Scriptures offer us a truth and beauty to which we can return again and again.   When done with prayer and reflection our encounter with Scripture is always new, never rote or repetitive, always open to deeper insights and inspiration.

Lectors partake in what must be a profound encounter with the Scriptures.  They help make the proclamation of the Scriptures an encounter of faith - the kind of encounter that must always be new and renewing.

As we shall see below in the following reflection on the first reading, proclaiming God’s word has nothing in common with an indifferent recitation of facts or the kind of impersonal announcing of the arrivals and departures you might hear at a train station.

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First Reading  -  Jeremiah 20:7-9
Holding Nothing Back

Can you imagine anyone at Mass vehemently declaring that God deceived him or her?  And saying it out loud so that everyone can hear? That is exactly what will happen this weekend.  And it will be the lector who says it.

“You duped me O Lord, and I let myself be duped.” 

These words from Scripture are not being said by someone who is pretending, or by someone who is just trying to make an extravagant statement - a statement that he will later suggest was only a colorful attempt to teach some completely noncontroversial or unassailable point about our relationship with God.  Jeremiah was really angry.  He was really despondent.  He was really disgusted. A few verses later in Chapter 20 he says, “Cursed by the day on which I was born!”

Today’s reading is taken from a remarkable chapter in which Jeremiah tells his boss Pashhur, the chief officer of the house of the Lord, that he and his friends will die in Babylon because he has “prophesied lies to them.”  Jeremiah then expresses his frustrations to God when he says, “You were too strong for me, and you triumphed.”

This is not the kind of Scripture passage that can be read by the lector as if he or she were announcing arrivals and departures at a train station.  There is nothing casual about any of this.  Perhaps lectors and those who hear them at Mass should be thankful that the liturgy allows for the expression of real, human emotions.

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Second Reading  -  Romans 12:1-2
Then and Now 

With this weekend’s reading from Romans, Paul begins a section full of exhortations - exhortations on how to live a life that is pleasing to God and in harmony with others in the community.  Unlike today’s preachers, Paul does not have church council documents, papal encyclicals or even a canon of New Testament books to serve as resources.  He is offering guiding principles meant to address the current and specific needs of the people who live in early Christian communities.

In today’s second reading, Paul is telling his hearers that they have an individual responsibility to live harmonious lives.  The Old Testament law and its sacrificial rituals have been superseded by a way of life modeled on the example of Christ and by the self-sacrifice of each individual believer.

Following the two verses of today’s reading is the well-known passage about mutual interdependence, “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” (v.4-5).

This reading provides lectors with an opportunity to help their hearers experience an earlier time in church history when survival as a worshiping community required a powerful commitment to sacrifice for the sake of others.  It is a message that still has an immediate and practical application today.

© George Fournier, 2014

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 24, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

There is often an emphasis in Scripture commentaries on analyzing the historical facts about people and events.  As an example, there is a natural desire to know why Shebna mentioned in today’s first reading lost his job. In a reading proclaimed earlier this year, we heard that the Lord degraded the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali.  We might naturally ask, “Why would he do that?”

Knowing the background of people and events like these might help us become more informed, but raw facts alone do not enable us internalize the deeper meaning.

Your hearers at Mass this weekend are unlikely to know much about either Shebna or Eliakim, the guy who replaced Shebna.  Instead, more importantly, they can be offered the opportunity to gain greater insight into the miracle of how God reveals himself to us.

How does an infinite God communicate with creatures who cannot comprehend infinity?  How do biblical stories illuminate the ways lowly creatures can develop a genuine relationship with a transcendent God?  And, equally important for lectors, how can we make seemingly mundane readings filled with strange names and places something profoundly important?

It starts by believing that God had a timeless purpose for everything he included in the Bible.  Perhaps some of the references to people and events may be obscure, but every passage of Scripture can offer opportunities to deepen a person’s faith.

The Scriptures do contain facts and figures.  But, to a much greater extent, they also contain examples of feelings and faith.   The job of the lector is not to shortchange the assembly by concentrating solely on who did what to whom.  As you will see in the following reflection on the first reading, there is more to reflect upon than just the identity of someone named Shebna. 

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First Reading  -  Isaiah 22:19:23
Who is Shebna?

The name Shebna, the master of the palace, appears three times in the Bible, twice in Isaiah and once in 2 Kings where he is called a scribe.  His origins and his attempts to influence public policy are debated by scholars.  There is even a possibility that there was more than one Shebna. 

How important will such scholarly speculations about Shebna be to the people who hear your proclamation at Mass this weekend?  Perhaps, more importantly, there should be a greater emphasis on understanding what God wishes and intends for us.

Just six verses earlier in Chapter 22 of Second Kings appear the words, “Eat and drink for tomorrow we die!”   Despite serious threats from hostile Assyrians, many people at the time preferred having a good time, being solely concerned with satisfying their own selfish desires.  In the same way, Shebna, who built a lavish tomb for himself, had the wrong priorities. This was not what God intended.

As proof of God’s intentions, Eliakim, who was faithful, earned God’s favor.  And, like Peter in today’s Gospel, Eliakim received the key that opened and shut doors.

It is unlikely that after Mass anyone will remember Shebna or Eliakim.  Hopefully, however, they will reflect a little more on what God wishes and intends for them.

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Second Reading  -  Romans 11:33-36

Understanding God

In today’s Reflection on Lectoring found above, we suggested that we, as God’s finite creatures, cannot fully understand his infinite goodness and majesty.  It is a truth that Paul makes clear in today’s second reading: “For who has known the mind of the Lord?”

St. Augustine agreed when he said, “We are talking about God.  What wonder is it that you do not understand?  If you do understand, then it is not God.” St. Augustine understood that God is beyond our human ability to grasp fully.

Does that mean that God has left us totally in the dark about who he is?  Not according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says, “God who ‘dwells in unapproachable light,’ wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created” (No. 52).  It is a belief that Paul himself echoes when he says “In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will” (Ephesians 1:8).

With humility, lectors must accept that no amount of Scripture study will give us all the answers.  However, with trust and confidence lectors can proclaim, “For from him and through him and for him are all things.  To him be glory forever.”

There is much that is “unsearchable” about God’s ways.  What is important, however, is that God “will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18) left abandoned without a father.   There is a lot in this short reading for lectors and their hearers to reflect on.

© George Fournier, 2014

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 17, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

Do you really believe what you are saying?

Part of our preparation for proclaiming the Scriptures involves understanding the literal meaning of the words.  Do they narrate some event in salvation history?  Do they provide instruction in matters of faith?  Do they direct us to live a moral life?

Perhaps after this first step, lectors might also reflect on the deeper, more personal meaning contained in the Scriptures.   At what level are the words true?  Do they impact the way we live, the way we think, or the way we relate to God and each other?  At what level do we, as lectors, believe what we are saying to the assembly?

In recent weeks, lectors have proclaimed the following verses: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Romans 8:18).  “And you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” (Wisdom 12:19).  “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35).

None of these verses is hard to understand.  They all can be read simply as commonly accepted statements of belief - the kind of statements to which the assembly can easily give their assent.

Or they can challenge us to think more deeply.   

What does it mean to believe that the “sufferings of this present time” are as nothing compared with what awaits us, especially when we are in pain?  What does it mean to have “good ground for hope,” especially when we have lost a friend or loved one and now hope that he or she is with God?  What does it mean to be absolutely certain that nothing can “separate us from the love of Christ” . . .   ever?

Gathering up all your life experiences, your understanding of your relationship with God and with others, and your deepest feelings about “suffering,” “forgiveness” and “separation” do you really believe what you are saying when you proclaim the Scriptures?

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First Reading  -  Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
A Common Identity

The number of ways people can find to place barriers between themselves and others is almost innumerable.  People who live on opposite sides of a border, people who speak different languages, and people who just look different from each other often create identities for themselves by concentrating on the differences of others.

Although group-specific narratives and traditions can bring people together for a common goal, today’s first reading suggests that God offers a more inclusive narrative and a more transcendent goal.    

Without abrogating his covenant with the Israelites, God finds a way to incorporate “foreigners” into the promise when he says, “them I will bring to my holy mountain.”  

Today’s first reading also tells us that all God’s children can exercise their free will to worship him as their creator.  All his children can find a common identity as members of his family.

In the normal course of human activities, groups that have no boundaries often also lack focus.  In God’s house, however, everyone is invited, and everyone can express his or her individual identity while sharing a common bond as one of God’s children.  “For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

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Second Reading  -  Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

Role Reversal

Paul begins Chapter 11 of Romans by saying unequivocally, “I ask then, has God rejected his people?  Of course not!”  In the Old Testament, the world was often divided into two groups: the Chosen People and everyone else.  Now, Paul has to warn the Gentiles against thinking of themselves as the new privileged group, while the Jews are consigned to the group abandoned by God.

In a somewhat ironic way, the roles have been reversed.  In the Old Testament, God manifested himself through his covenant with Israel.  Now, in their acceptance of the Messiah, the Gentiles have become God’s witnesses.  It is a role reversal that Paul uses to good effect when he glories “in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them.”  Paul has definitely not abandoned the people of his birth.

In the second half of today’s second reading God again reveals himself, this time by the mercy he shows to those who have disobeyed.  Nobody is without failings.  But everybody - Jews and Gentiles alike - can experience his mercy and be reconciled to the Father.

All three of today’s readings make it clear that every person (the persistent Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel for example) has a distinct role to play in witnessing to God’s presence.  They all share in the accomplishment of God’s purpose.  They all have membership in God’s family. 

© George Fournier, 2014