Sunday, September 30, 2007

Disheartening

This morning I served as a lector at my parish; one of my favorite ways to be an active member of my Church. I have been an active lector at this parish since March of 2007.

Today I was startled to be greeted by my co-lector with the statement, "So, I have absolutely no idea what my reading is about. It's kind of weird."

Wait a minute.

When I accepted the role as a lector at our parish I was asked to commit fully to preparing each reading so that my fellow parishioners would be able to understand the Word. I was given several resources to help study each reading. At our training session, Fr. asked us to spend time each day studying and reflecting on the reading so that we would be prepared to present the scripture to the congregation. Further, he encouraged us to call him with any questions that we may have about the reading and he would help us.

Essentially, if we don't understand the reading, how can we convey meaning to the members of the parish? Our informed delivery of the Word is essential, especially in our parish because we do not use missalettes and parishioners rely on the clear and informed vocal delivery of the lector to hear the word.

I was overwhelmed and completely frustrated by my co-lector's introductory remarks. I probably should have said more than I did to him; however he made his remarks to me as we were lining up to process into Mass.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are like me. I expect as much out of others as I do myself and a lot of times find myself disappointed with their behavior. I am not sure what the answer is, as I have no intentions of lowering my standards. On a whole, I have just become disgruntled as to how sloppy and lazy some people are.
Kelli