Can you "mix and match" prayers and readings?

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Today’s morning Mass was the memorial of St. Boniface; I was the lector at this Mass.

The pastor came in wearing a red chasuble, and the opening prayer was for the memorial. When I got up to read, I noticed the Lectionary was open to the Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time. Fearing a mistake had been made, I flipped forward to the readings for St. Boniface.

After the responsorial psalm, I sat down, and when the priest came to the ambo, he turned back to the ordinary reading. I felt silly. I apologized afterwards, and he reminded me that the presider chooses the readings, and I should have checked with him. I agree, I should have checked. (It’s not that I didn’t want to read about Tobit getting bird droppings in his eyes, I just thought it was improper to mix and match the Propers for a Mass.)

So my question is, is it okay to “mix and match” readings and prayers like that? For the memorial of St. Boniface, is it required to use the readings and prayers for that memorial in particular, or can the priest choose which to say? At what point does it cease to be the memorial Mass of St. Boniface?

I’m not trying to start a fight, I just want to be better educated.
 
Incidentally, Japhy, in the Liturgy of the Hours, the concluding prayer of “Memorials” is always proper. The same prayer from the LOTH is used for the opening prayer at Mass. Unless one prays with the breviary, he would not be aware of this.
 
Joysong said:
Incidentally, Japhy, in the Liturgy of the Hours, the concluding prayer of “Memorials” is always proper. The same prayer from the LOTH is used for the opening prayer at Mass. Unless one prays with the breviary, he would not be aware of this.
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I am aware of that, because I had my breviary with me. 😉

I noticed that several months ago – the fact that the prayer in the breviary and the Collect at Mass are the same. I was wondering why what I was hearing sounded so much like what I had just prayed!
 
japhy said:
Today’s morning Mass was the memorial of St. Boniface; I was the lector at this Mass.

The pastor came in wearing a red chasuble, and the opening prayer was for the memorial. When I got up to read, I noticed the Lectionary was open to the Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time. Fearing a mistake had been made, I flipped forward to the readings for St. Boniface.
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*Is *there a proper reading for St Boniface? Or did you select from the commons of pastors, bishops, or similar?
japhy said:
So my question is, is it okay to “mix and match” readings and prayers like that? For the memorial of St. Boniface, is it required to use the readings and prayers for that memorial in particular, or can the priest choose which to say?
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The USCCB Liturgical Calendar 2007 says, on page 5 (with my emphases):
The cycles given above have been used in the preparation of this calendar. The readings from the Proper of Seasons and Proper of the Saints have been used for all solemnities and all feasts since they must take the place of the weekday readings for those respective days. The readings from the weekday cycle generally are to be used even on days on which a memorial or optional memorial of a saint occurs. The exceptions to this rule are the memorials or optional memorials which have “proper readings” (usually only the Gospel) assigned to them in the Lectionary for Mass. These readings are marked with an asterisk (*) and must be used on those days. Substitutions from the Sanctoral Proper or from the Common of Saints may be made for the other readings suggested for those memorials or optional memorials. The priest celebrant, however, should not omit too often or without sufficient cause the readings assigned for each day in the weekday cycle. (See the Introduction to the Lectionary for Mass, no. 83.) In this calendar, optional memorials are designated by brackets.
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tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
*Is *there a proper reading for St Boniface? Or did you select from the commons of pastors, bishops, or similar?
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I turned to the page in the Lectionary for June 5th, and it had a reading from Acts of the Apostles on it.

After reading the excerpt you showed, I will go back to the Lectionary to see if that page had asterisks or not. Today is only a memorial, not a feast nor a solemnity, so it is very likely I erred in reading from Acts this morning. Since there was at the top of the page (if I remember correctly) the option to read from the proper of martyrs (or somesuch), there probably was no asterisk, and I made a mistake.

Thanks for the information, TFM. I’ll let my pastor know it won’t happen again. 😉
 
japhy said:
I turned to the page in the Lectionary for June 5th, and it had a reading from Acts of the Apostles on it.
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Ah, of course. These readings would typically be used during a Mass celebrated in a place under the patronage of St Boniface.
japhy said:
After reading the excerpt you showed, I will go back to the Lectionary to see if that page had asterisks or not.
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The asterisks (*) referred to are marks in the calendar document, not the lectionary.

tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
Ah, of course. These readings would typically be used during a Mass celebrated in a place under the patronage of St Boniface.

The asterisks (*) referred to are marks in the calendar document, not the lectionary.
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Ah, I see. Ok. Mea culpa, egg on my face. (Better than bird droppings in my eyes!)
 
(Better than bird droppings in my eyes!)
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😃

Actually, one of my former employers who was the owner of a large construction firm had some pigeon droppings fall into his eyes when he was inspecting a bridge. He did go blind! This scripture account of blindness would be true, in case anyone wondered. Those droppings will eat into the paint of a car, too, as many of you already know.
 
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