Catholic Online Forum

James,

I guess because I think of the priest as Christ proclaiming the word and don't understand why the priest should stand there and read in a flat monotone when it's not how Christ spoke. It's not the way the word was originally spoken and I don't understand why the word should not be proclaimed in the manner it was likely spoken at the time. This includes the lectors even though they're not priests but they're are replicating a language that was spoken and written with a particular meaning and with different areas of emphasis. Standing up at the ambo reading with head bowed as though one was called upon to read in a classroom simply makes no sense to me.

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Valerie Garcia
vals1990@yahoo.com

"Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou mayest return to Him ....." St. Benedict

I don't know what Aramaic sounds like so it's hard to imagine how Jesus might have sounded. I know when I was learning Dine', Navajo, I regularly got into trouble and had the native speaker who coached me laughing. Dine' is a tonal language with a high and low inflection similar to many Asian languages, they are related. Simply intoning a word incorrectly changes it's meaning, sometimes embarrassingly so. Similarly, incorrectly emphasizing parts of the scripture and/or omitting or inserting words can seriously change the meaning of the citation, sometimes making the reading incomprehensible. The point is, the lay readers really don't understand the full meaning of the scripture, they may have some training but hardly enough to be interpreting the scripture and that is what they are doing when they "emote" during the readings. Just read the words without emotion, flat if you will, and let the celebrant provide the proper emphasis during the Homily.

We have really strayed from the initial issue; should the congregation follow along with the readings in a Missal? I still maintain that if doing so helps us get more out of the Liturgy it should be done. I am still unaware of any universal prohibition on following the readings with a Missal and know full well there will not be one coming in the foreseeable future.

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BobA

Moderator's Note:

As BobA indicated, we have gone a bit far afield from the original topic. Furthermore, I don't see that there is a specific doctrine or law that is indicated here. Therefore, I have moved this topic into a more free-for-all, opinion part of the forum.

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Dean
Most people's sense of history goes back to breakfast time - Benjamin Netanyahu

I had the pleasure of hearing both the reading and Gospel sung at a weekday Byzantine rite Divine Liturgy recently.

Listening to scripture being sung is a much different experience than what I am used to.

I must admit that sometimes I got caught up in listening to the beauty of the music and missed out on the words that were being sung, though.

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squirt
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Jamais le mal n’aura le dernier mot. La foi et l’amour déplacent les montagnes de la haine.
- Marguerite (Maggy) Barankitse

I also heard the Gospel sung by a Byzantine rite priest who read for our Abbot on the day of his Abbatial blessing ( have no idea how to spell abbatial or if it's even a word). I also heard it in a Divine liturgy but in another language.

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Valerie Garcia
vals1990@yahoo.com

"Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou mayest return to Him ....." St. Benedict

The Divine Liturgy that I attended was mostly in English, and partially in Ukrainian.
We had Ukrainian / English missals in order to (try to) follow along.

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squirt
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Jamais le mal n’aura le dernier mot. La foi et l’amour déplacent les montagnes de la haine.
- Marguerite (Maggy) Barankitse

For those of you who are readers during the Liturgy; is there any training or coaching and if so, by whom? I would expect such an important part of the Mass would be carefully controlled and monitored by the pastor and that training would be at the hand of at least a deacon.

I have heard some readers who are quite good but the majority skip and mispronounce words and tend to use a theatrical inflection rather than one that emphasizes the meaning of the reading. I much prefer the lay readers use flat reading style and allow the celebrant to emphasize the passages during the homily; in truth, I prefer the celebrant or deacon do the readings.

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BobA