Lectors

"The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them..." (Isaiah 50:4)

As the prologue of John’s Gospel reminds us, “In the beginning was the Word." Christ, as the incarnate Word of God, comes to meet us and reveal the hidden realities of the inner divine Life of God. Thus the words that the Word has left us, aglow with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that they may continue to be living words to us even now, must be treated with the respect they deserve and must be communicated in a manner that allows them to enliven the Church to whom the words are proclaimed. “Lector” may literally be “reader”, but a ministerial lector must not simply read as if for their own edification, but must read so that the Voice of the Lord may be heard in the midst of His Church. This begins with being open spiritually to the gifts God offers and being aware of the great gift of the text placed on the ambo. If lectors do not pray with the text and allow Scripture to soak more deeply into their heart, they are impeding the work of the Spirit to be heard from their lips. This does not mean a lector reads with self-inspired dramatic tones, but is instead the musical instrument through which the wind of the Spirit blows to allow the intention of God to become known. A lector is not simply one who reads a passage out loud in public occasionally, but must be someone committed to deepening their knowledge and appreciation of Scripture and has a calling to allowing themselves to live out the mystery of the Gospel more completely in their lives—in a sense, to become the book they proclaim.