As a former educator and a current author and editor, I always like the idea of sharing bits of myself and my experiences with others. In no way do I claim to be an expert at being a Catholic lector. Nor do I have any illusion that I am even close to perfect in this regard. But I was a high school and collegiate debater and a pretty good public speaker for many years. I have studied, as have other lectors, the many writings on becoming better lectors and I want to share some insights into this ministry that has a long history in the Catholic Church.
To that end, this blog will not be a place to complain or present/discuss controversy. Instead, it will be a place to muse on the beauty that is the Roman Catholic liturgy and our place in that liturgy as lectors, lay people called by God to proclaim His Word to the people in the pews.
Please come and join me in my new role as lector coordinator in my parish, with all the missteps I am sure I will make along this new path. My journey as both a Catholic and a Catholic lector continues down this road we call my life. Travel with me.
I will be presenting reflections on liturgical documents about lectors, the Lectionary, and the Liturgy of the Word. I will discuss the lectors who became and are saints in the Catholic Church. I will comment on writings by others (on the web) about being a lector.
Lectors are part of a 2000 year tradition that started with Jesus, Our Lord, reading in the synagogue from the Book of Isaiah. I only wish to add my two cents worth to the two millennia of dialog on this subject.
I never thought to look for a patron saint of lectors. Can I nominate St. Paul as the patron antagonist of lectors? ;)
ReplyDeleteI hear you there, Adauctus! Paul is hard to read, but my nemesis is whoever wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. No matter what translation is used, the phrasing is just hard for me to follow.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually more saints who were lectors. You can find them listed at http://home.roadrunner.com/~raulv/patron.htm.