Ministers of the word

In proclaiming the word of God, readers exercise their responsibility in mediating the presence of Christ. God speaks to the assembly through them, and the impact of God’s message will depend significantly on their conviction, their preparation, and their delivery.

The reader has responsibility for not simply reading the word but assisting the assembly to hear the word. This will require the reader to be attentive to the assembly, and careful to allow for times of pause and silence as the assembly prepares to listen and, once the reading has been proclaimed, as it takes the word of God to heart. It also requires that the diction of the reader is such that he or she can be readily understood by the assembly to whom they minister.

The richness in the quantity and in the variety of readings in the Lectionary challenges those who are called upon to proclaim the Scriptures at Mass. Each of the individual sacred authors reflected on the meaning of God’s action in history from their own perspective. They employed various literary forms to convey the message of salvation, ranging, for example, from narratives and the poetry of the psalms to prophetic oracles and parables, from theological expositions to apocalyptic visions.

Those who proclaim the word of the Lord more fully and effectively if they have an awareness of both the literary form of a particular reading or psalm and its context both to assist the assembly to appreciate the genre and context of the different passages of Scripture and to involve more people in active ministry.