June 2, 2013
Reflection on Lectoring
Lectors are faced with an almost impossible task.
In less than two or three minutes at Mass, lectors must
present some of the deepest and most profound messages people will ever
hear. These are not messages that are empirically verifiable, or whose truth is
found in provable propositions. Rather,
they are messages about our
relationship with a transcendent and supernatural God. They are messages of
faith, made accessible by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
In a recent monthly lector meeting at my parish, lectors
talked about some ways in which Christians witness to their faith. They ranged from making heroic sacrifices to
respectfully responding to questions from everyday people struggling with their
faith. The common denominator in all of
these ways of witnessing is humility and an openness to serve.
In many of his homilies, our pastor has reminded us that
faith is not just a matter of the head, or a purely intellectual exercise. Faith, to be genuine, must also be from the
heart. It is a total, head and heart response
to God’s love that is an equally important part of effective witnessing to
others.
In his autobiographical book, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Cardinal John Henry Newman passionately wrote
about the need to satisfy the heart while also acknowledging the importance of
the head: “I am far from denying the
real force of the arguments in proof of a God . . . but these do not warm me or enlighten me;
they do not take away the winter of my desolation, or make the buds unfold and
the leaves grow within me, and my moral being rejoice.”
Lectors have two to three minutes to proclaim the
Scriptures in a way that has meaning for the faith of hundreds of different
people at Mass. It is an almost
impossible task.
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First Reading - Genesis 14: 18-20
Melchizedik, Who?
t is not unusual for lectors to wonder what they are to
make out of the sometimes short and obscure readings assigned to them. Equally important, what are their hearers at
Mass going to make out of them?
Today’s first reading is a good example of this kind of
reading.
The story line, as we have it reported in three verses
from Genesis, involves Melchizedek, the king of Salem coming to Abram out of
the blue, bringing along with him some bread and wine. For some reason, this king decides to bless
Abraham, telling him that it was God who enabled him to defeat his foes. Then Abram gives this king a tenth of everything
his owns.
Even with more background information such as whom Abram
defeated (kings Chedorlaomer, Tidal, Amraphel and Arioch) or where he met
Melchizedek (the Valley of Shaveh), the relevance of this passage seems hard to
grasp.
That’s why there are lectors.
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Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Words for Everyone
St. Paul knew how to write.
His words to the Corinthians got right to the heart of
the matter that was afflicting the early church there. His words have also stood the test of time,
becoming the liturgical formula repeated thousands of time each day at the
Consecration.
In Corinth, the Lord’s Supper had become a bit of a sham,
with the wealthy enjoying a full meal, while the poor got turned away or left the
meal hungry. The division between rich
and poor within the church threatened the very life of the church.
That is not what Jesus intended when he said, “This is my body that is for you.” The sacrifice of his Body and Blood was for
everyone. In Corinth, and everywhere to
the ends of the earth, everyone was to be considered equal in value because
everyone was created by God as a child of God.
© George Fournier 2013
