Florida Catholic | Reading At Mass

Rogelio Zelada spoke in Spanish at the jubilee day for lectors held Dec. 1 at St. Mary Cathedral.

MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Rogelio Zelada offers practical tips in Spanish for the readers at the jubilee day for lectors on Dec. 1 at St. Mary Cathedral.

Reading at Mass

Lectors are reminded that faith plays a key role in their ministries.

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 12.14.07

MIAMI | Being a lector at Mass requires more than the ability to read out loud.

“They ought to be able to put the reading in context, see where it comes from. It would help if they knew some of the basic theology about the book,” said Father John F. O’Grady of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., a visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

“It’s a full-time job. I have to know what I’m saying,” added Rogelio Zelada, associate director for Hispanic formation in the archdiocese’s Office of Lay Ministry and Adult Faith Formation.

Father O’Grady and Zelada, along with Father Jean Pierre, pastor of St. James Parish in North Miami, were the speakers for the Dec. 1 trilingual Jubilee Day for Lectors, which drew nearly 300 lectors to St. Mary Cathedral.

In addition to offering practical tips — such as how to hold the book and read while continuing to make eye contact with the congregation — the speakers explained the role of Scripture in the liturgy and the important role played by lectors.

“Lectors have existed since the time of the synagogues. Jesus was a lector (when he stood to read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah). The church continues that same tradition of the synagogues,” said Zelada.

He added that the ministry of lector was “recovered, not invented” by the Second Vatican Council.

“There always were lectors within the church,” said Father O’Grady. “They were called minor orders. They were just not used, only when an individual was a candidate for the priesthood.”

Vatican II recognized that “you don’t have to be an ordained priest to be a lector,” and opened up the ministry to lay men and women, Father O’Grady said.

He noted that the Mass is composed of two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. “We listen to the word of God in the Scriptures and then we celebrate the presence of God in the sacred meal.”

The homily is the “bridge between the Scripture reading, the Eucharist and daily life. You really cannot have the celebration of the Eucharist unless there’s a reading of the word of God,” Father O’Grady said.

“The lector is the one who makes the assembly aware of the presence of God in their midst, of God himself working among them, then and there,” Zelada said. “The lector transforms the Scriptures into the word of God.”

That is why lectors should always be growing in their own faith and understanding of sacred Scripture.

“The ministry becomes a source of spirituality for the person,” Zelada said. “A lector is not someone who reads in public before an assembly but one who communicates his own faith in what he is reading.”

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