Our Lord Jesus Christ,
King of the Universe
November 23, 2014

Dear Readers

This is the final Reflection on Lectoring

For the past three years, God has given me the privilege of writing weekly reflections on the Scriptures and on the ministry of those who proclaim them.  For that I am deeply grateful. I am also grateful to all of you who have allowed me to share these reflections with you.

Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned along the way involves two important aspects of effective lectoring:

First, we can’t do it alone. The Holy Spirit is our most important guide.  He is our advocate, our supporter, the one who makes each proclamation of the Scriptures genuine.

The second is like the first:  we can’t do it alone.  A connection in love with our fellow worshipers at Mass is the one thing that makes real sharing possible.  When the people in the assembly sense you love them, they know that the words you speak are genuine.

For effective lectoring there is no need for extraordinary public speaking skills.  There is only the need for extraordinary love.

Thank you for the past three years.

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First Reading  -  Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
A King Who Cares

Today’s first reading is a ringing rejection of the idea that God is a hands-off God, an impersonal God who set the world in motion, but now remains aloof as history and events unfold. 

Chapter 34 of Ezekiel portrays God at his most forceful.  It starts with God vehemently condemning the venal rulers of Judah.  He is furious that his chosen people - the people whom he loves - have been abandoned, victimized and scattered by their evil rulers.  If the rulers of Judah can’t or won’t serve as responsible shepherds, he will. 

God refers to himself with the word “I” eleven times in our reading and thirty-two times throughout the chapter.  He both punishes evil and is deeply moved by the needs of his flock.  He is not at all indifferent to what his people are experiencing.  Neither is he a passive God, but a personally involved God.

Today’s Gospel reinforces the image of a God who is directly involved in the everyday concerns of people’s lives.  He is concerned for those who are hungry and thirsty, for those who are naked, and for those who are lonely.

In Old Testament times, pagan Gods were capricious, self-absorbed, and had to be placated.  Our God and King is different.  As he says in our first reading, “As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.”

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First Reading  -  1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28

A King Who Cares, Part Two

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Today’s second reading takes God’s caring for us to the highest level.  Not only does he care about what we shall eat or drink, or where we shall live, or who will attend to us when we are sick.  Most importantly, he cares about our eternal life.

St. Augustine once wrote, “Our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”  Food and clothing and a place to sleep are important.  But only in the presence of God will we find true fulfillment and joy. 

Our God cares about the full spectrum of our needs.  He also understands what we need most.  He understands, better than anyone, the purpose for which he made us.

There is great comfort in knowing that God knows us even better than we know ourselves.  He loves us even more than we love ourselves.  He is with us every step of the way.  He is waiting to welcome us home.

© George Fournier, 2014

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 16, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

As we near the end of the present liturgical calendar, it might be useful to consider a few of the many comforting and inspiring words we as lectors have shared with the people in the assembly over the past year.

We have told them that they can have hope:

 “For in hope we were saved.” (Romans 8:24)

We have told them that they can feel loved:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor live . . .  nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

We have told them that their lives have a purpose:

“To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefi.t” (1 Corinthians 12: 7)

We have told them that they have individual dignity and worth:

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Next Sunday we shall tell them that God will never abandon them:

“The lost I will seek out.” (Ezekiel 34:16)

This is just a small sample of the vitally important things we have been privileged to share with others at Mass - the kinds of things that everyone very much needs to hear.

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First Reading  -  Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

The Measure of a Person

What is the measure of a person’s true worth?  Perhaps, at first glance, today’s reading from Proverbs might suggest that an industrious woman, who can obtain wool and flax, put her hands to the distaff, or ply the spindle, can also qualify through her productivity and diligence as an “unfailing prize” for her very fortunate husband.

What is the proper way to understand the worth of a wife or husband?  Should we feel blessed because our spouse performs domestic tasks or adds to our wealth?  Or should we love someone simply because he or she is a person, a human being, someone with whom we share our life? 

Today’s Gospel makes it clear that the person with fewer talents is no less worthy of love and respect than the person with more talents.  Someone’s output is not a measure the his or her goodness.  Perhaps, a better measure might be a person’s degree of commitment to the mission God has given him or her (burying talents in the ground is never a good thing).  Perhaps also, a more humanly important measure would be a person’s reciprocal love for his or her spouse.

When proclaiming this Scripture, lectors are called upon to consider the source of a person’s true worth.  What does it mean to have a value that is “far beyond pearls.”

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Second Reading  -  1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

Scary Words

The thought of the end-time or the “day of the Lord” can be pretty alarming, especially when envisioning an abrupt end to everything that we know.  An apocalypse.  A cataclysm.  Today’s second reading uses words like “sudden disaster,” “not escape” and “thief in the night.”

Is that what will be when God bursts onto the scene?

Perhaps, it is important to recognize that there will be an individual end-time for each of us when we die.  Time will come to an end.  The familiar material things that anchored our lives will be taken away.  We will face God.

However, being face-to-face with God is not a disaster.  Being reunited with the people we knew and loved on earth will be a reason for joy.  Finding out that our lives really meant something will be a reassuring confirmation that God walked with us every step of the way throughout our lives.

As you proclaim today’s passage from 1 Thessalonians, you will be speaking many scary words.  It will be a challenge to make the end-time sound like a joyful homecoming and not an occasion for terror.  Perhaps, you and your hearers may find some comfort when you proclaim, “For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.”

© George Fournier, 2014

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
November 11, 2014

Reflection on Lectoring

Community occurs whenever people come together - whenever people need other people to achieve a common goal or purpose.  Lectoring is like that.

Sharing the Scriptures at Mass is done for a purpose.  While it is possible to read the Scriptures at home by yourself, it is not possible to lector by yourself.  Sharing the Scriptures is a community activity that is experienced mutually by the lector and the people in the pews.

At Mass during the Liturgy of the Word, worshipers hear God speaking to them both as individuals and as a community.  Each person hears the words spoken to him or her.  But each person also knows that he or she is not alone in encountering and worshiping God. 

Lectors recognize that sharing the Scriptures is a group activity.  Lectors must also be sensitive to the need everyone in a community has to feel welcomed and valued.  In genuine communities, no one is anonymous.

Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar in his book, Engagement with God wrote, “The most significant thing in life that can happen to our neighbor is his being laid claim to and taken seriously as a person.”  It is that understanding that motivated the Good Samaritan.  He recognized the man lying in the street as a person.  Even before there were Christians, the Good Samaritan understood that his encounter with God required his encountering his neighbor.

Lectors have the job of encountering each individual person with whom they worship.  They know that only from individual encounters can genuine community be created.   Lectors also know that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the proclamation of the Scriptures can inspire all in the assembly to share that sense of community with each other.

One loving encounter can lead to many loving encounters.  It is through this kind of encounter that lectors and their hearers create genuine community together.

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First Reading  -  Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
God's Enduring Presence

In 324 AD the Basilica of St. John Lateran was dedicated, making it the oldest church in the West.  It also has the distinction of being the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.  For the Jewish people, the temple in Jerusalem described in today’s first reading also holds a place of singular importance.  It was God’s residence on earth and served as an essential component of Jewish identity.

Ezekiel was already in exile in Babylon when the temple was destroyed in 587 BC.  Today’s first reading concludes a five-chapter-long section describing in great detail the design and rituals of the new, hoped for temple that would be built after the Babylonian exile.  The chapters are written by Ezekiel with great confidence that there would be a new temple.

Today’s reading also describes the power of God to bring life to a ruined land.  The water flowing from the temple starts as a trickle of water and becomes a powerful river that provides food and healing to a restored people.

The Lateran Basilica also experienced total destruction. It was plundered by tribes invading Rome.  It was destroyed by an earthquake and later by two fires.  It was even torn down to make way for a new structure.  But it survived the centuries as a symbol of God’s continued presence.  Its 1,700-year history reflects great confidence that God’s Church will endure.

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Second Reading  -  1 Corinthians 3:9c-11,  16-17

Temple Builders

Construction imagery is an important part of the third chapter of 1 Corinthians.  Paul says, “According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation.” Jesus Christ is the foundation and the members of the Corinthian Christian community are the builders, each according to his or her talents.

However, this new temple is not a physical structure confining God to one location.  Rather, God lives in the communities where individual people come together in harmony for the two-fold purpose of worshiping God and building each other up.

Unfortunately the community in Corinth was marked by factions, “I mean that each of you is saying, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ’” (1:12).  The Corinthians’ inability to recognize the essential purpose of the community ultimately threatened the very life of their community.

In the Lector Reflection above, we said that lectors help to build up the community by loving and respecting the individuals with whom they worship.  By the nature of their calling, lectors recognize the gravity of Paul’s words when he says, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

© George Fournier, 2014