Marking 1 Year As Instituted Lector
Today marks nearly a year of being an instituted Lector for the Church!
It has been great proclaiming the Word of God for the People of God!
Though, we are all familiar with people at our parishes who volunteer to proclaim the readings at Mass; many of us have probably took part in this task ourselves. However, as I explained in my post last year celebrating my installation as Lector, an installed Lector is someone who is officially called and deputized by the Church to proclaim the Word of God in her liturgies. This deputizing takes place in a rite in which the bishop or a priest in his place pronounce a special prayer over the person being installed. It often takes place during Mass. Here it is:
“Lord God, source of all goodness and light, you sent your only Son, the Word of life, to reveal to mankind the mystery of your love. Bless + our brothers who have been chosen for the ministry of reader. Grant that as they meditate constantly on your word they may grow in its wisdom and faithfully proclaim it to your people.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.”
Afterwards, we came and knelt before the presider with our right hands on the lectionary and responded “Amen” to the following:
“Take this book of holy Scripture and be faithful in handing on the word of God, so that it may grow strong in the hearts of his people.”
Though it is a ministry that any lay person can receive, it along with the other ministry of Acolyte, has been used primarily by dioceses (in the US at least) for men studying to be priests as steps along the path to ordination in the decades since Vatican II (I talked about both of these ministries and the historical development in part one of my series in 2020 when I was admitted to Candidacy for Holy Orders). The significance of the step that is Installation as Lector is that a man in seminary is officially deputized to proclaim the Word during liturgy, the same Word he will preach when he is ordained a deacon and then a priest. He is also officially charged to teach the Faith, the same Faith, he will dedicate his entire life to upon ordination. And he is also officially charged to prepare others for the reception of the Sacraments by his teaching of the Faith, the same Sacraments he will offer and administer as an ordained person. This is all I have been doing during my year as Lector!
It has truly been an honor to serve in this ministry.
And now I am pleased to announce that I will be taking the next step after Lector in the path to the priesthood tomorrow. I will discuss and share more tomorrow! Until then, God bless and pray for me!
Cover Image: Me proclaiming the Word at a Mass last year during Advent. (Diocese of Nashville)