Second Sunday of Lent
February 24, 2013

Reflection on Lectoring

Somehow they know.  Somehow the people at Mass know how important the Scriptures are to the lector who proclaims them.

Commenting on what the people in the assembly intuitively sense, Father Joseph Champlin in his book, Messengers of God’s Word says, “The interior qualities of the reader become apparent to listeners almost without a single word being proclaimed.”

Father Champlin is talking about how much the lector loves the Scriptures, and how much he or she prays and prepares before proclaiming the Scriptures.  These are essential ingredients for all effective proclamation.

Last week, we continued our consideration of Lectio Divina as a method for lector preparation.  It is a way to start a personal conversation with God with the help of the Scriptures.  It is the kind of conversation that lectors can then extend to include the assembly at Mass.

Fr. James Martin, who wrote the book My Life with the Saints, describes Lectio Divina as a way to pray and reflect on the Scriptures that involves answering four questions:  1) What does the text say?  2) What does the text say to me?  3) What do you want to say to God about the text?  4) What difference will this text make in my life?   

In a few weeks, we shall continue the discussion of lector preparation with the question of whether that preparation is a chore or something to look forward to.  Perhaps Lection Divina offers one way to answer that question.

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First Reading  -  Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
A Moment in Time

This reading about the far distant past describes a truly momentous and historic event.  Abram looks up at the limitless night sky.  He sees a creation filled with stars that seem to stretch to infinity.  He sees a reflection of the infinite God who is speaking directly and personally to him.

But even more remarkably, he hears from God that his descendants will fill the earth.  A promise this grand and limitless is impossible to comprehend.  Reason and logic scream out against its vastness.  Only faith can take it in.  And then only with help.

And Abram does ask for help.   How is it possible that this wanderer will possess the land from the “Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates?”   He asks, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

God answers Abram with a profound and mystical experience.  And he seals his promise with a solemn rite.  He makes a covenant whose terms can never be altered - a covenant that will continue for all time.

Will your hearers at Mass hear only the strange details of a strange ritual, or will they recognize in your reading how radically history was altered when Abram asked for help with his unbelief?

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Second Reading  -  Philippians 3:17 - 4:1
Enemies and Citizens

There is a lot of emotion in this passage from Philippians.  Philippi is a church community founded by Paul that was being influenced by people with an agenda different from his.  Instead of strengthening the bond among believers, the “enemies of the cross of Christ.” were causing dissension.

This is very painful news for Paul who is confined in prison some distance away.   The choice he presents to his readers is between people whose minds “are occupied with earthly things,” and those who recognize that their true “citizenship is in heaven.”

People did not always agree with each other in Paul’s time; they don’t always agree now.  Although he was willing to accept and promote radical change, Paul was not the kind a person to compromise on the things that really mattered.  At the same time, he also longed for a mutually supportive community in which all people’s faith could thrive.

Knowing the right thing to do or say when divergent opinions are present is never easy, never open to simple solutions.  This is a reading that should cause lectors and their hearers to think about ways in which both “enemies and citizens” might receive God’s grace and have their faith strengthened.

© 2013 George Fournier