August 11, 2013
Reflection on Lectoring
We begin this week’s Reflection on Lectoring with words
spoken by conductor Leonard Bernstein when commenting on Beethoven and his
Ninth Symphony:
This music remains
endlessly satisfying, interesting and moving to all kinds of people. . . . No
composer has ever lived who speaks so directly to so many people: to young and
old, to educated and ignorant, amateur and professional, sophisticated and
naïve. To all these people of all classes, nationalities and racial
backgrounds. . . It has a purity and directness
of communication which never becomes banal.
It is accessible without becoming ordinary.
Alle
Menschen werden Brüder. All
men shall be brothers.
In the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven put the words of
Friedrich Schiller’s poem, Ode to Joy
to music. If Schiller’s poem and
Beethoven’s music can be understood by people around the world, how much more
can the words of Scripture speak to all humanity. The Ninth Symphony is less than 200 years
old. The words of the New Testament are
nearly 2,000 years old. The words of the
Old Testament are even older.
Ihr
stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den
Schöpher, Welt? Do
you fall in worship, ye millions? Do you
know your creator, World?
The words lectors speak at every Mass have the power to
change, enrich, and encourage those who hear them. They have the power to enthrall, to stir the
emotions, to give meaning and purpose.
Perhaps lectors can take a cue from Beethoven and recognize the
potential words have to change hearts every time they are proclaimed.
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First Reading - Wisdom 18:6-9
A Reason for Joy
There was little joy to be found in last week’s first
reading from Ecclesiastes. You may
recall reading, “All his days sorrow and
grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest” (ch.1,
v.23). Happily, today’s first two readings offer us a different perspective.
Humanity has always been beset with the question of why
there are wars, natural disasters, sickness and death. The problem of suffering
is compounded by the question of why some really bad people seem to get whatever
they want.
Today’s first reading suggests that faith may have helped
the Hebrews endure their more that 400 years of suffering in Egyptian captivity. The reading also makes clear that, at a
critical time in their history, the Hebrews had faith in Moses’ announcement of
the coming Passover. At the same critical
time, the Pharaoh did not.
The Passover and the Exodus combine both joy and
sadness. Freedom for one group. Death for another. It is a pattern that would be repeated many
times in the course of Jewish history.
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Second Reading - Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
A Better Homeland
“Faith
is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”
Depending on how old you are, faith can take on different
appearances. For young children, loving
parents are the foundation of their faith in the goodness of creation. For young adults, their youth gives them
confidence that they can figure out almost anything. For older people, a lifetime of experience gives
them confidence in knowing what works and what does not.
In today’s second reading, Abraham was no wide-eyed
teenager when he was told to leave home and seek his fortune in a foreign
country. He was “past the normal age” when he was told he would be a father. And even though the Promised Land was centuries
in the future, Abraham along with many generations of his descendants “died in faith.”
© George Fournier, 2012
