Lector

Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”                                                                                      Mt 4:4

Reading and Explaining the Word of God

In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. (2)  Dei Verbum #2

When the Scriptures are read in Church, God himself is speaking to his people, and Christ, present in his own word, is proclaiming the gospel.  The readings of God’s word must therefore be listened to by all with reverence; they make up a principal element of liturgy.  In the biblical readings, God’s word addresses all people in every ear and is understandable to them, and a fuller understanding and efficacy are fostered by a living commentary on it, that is to say, by the homily, understood as an integral part of the liturgical action.  (GIRM 29) From “The Lector at Mass”  (Committee for Liturgy, USCCB)