G
Greenfields
Guest
Thank you for all your replies 
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jesusmademe
Guest
You know what…I’ve been thinking about this. This issue was adressed in another thread but in a differnt way. It was a discussion about preparing for the music even if not in the choir.
I hate being unprepared (evwn if that happens all the time).
With music I have to sing the correct notes and words. Thus I prepare.
I dont chant/read the readings so in this sence I dont prepare.
I always follow along the mass (both the hymns and the order of Mass). For this I use the hymnbook Cecilia.
The Liturgical week is from Sunday to Sunday. In the older times you heard the readings on Sunday and could meditate on it the whole week.
The obvious questions are: when do you start going through the Mass readings? And why do you read them before Mass?
I hate being unprepared (evwn if that happens all the time).
With music I have to sing the correct notes and words. Thus I prepare.
I dont chant/read the readings so in this sence I dont prepare.
I always follow along the mass (both the hymns and the order of Mass). For this I use the hymnbook Cecilia.
The Liturgical week is from Sunday to Sunday. In the older times you heard the readings on Sunday and could meditate on it the whole week.
The obvious questions are: when do you start going through the Mass readings? And why do you read them before Mass?
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
In my case, I start reading next Sunday’s no later than the Wednesday before. Two reasons: the language challenges I mentioned in my earlier post, and I study the texts to understand what they mean. This goes beyond reading them to know what they say.
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Clare
Guest
We do have one in church that I will use the read before Mass starts, however I’ve just subscribed to Magnificat, so I have the daily readings as well.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
I have one somewhere but I don’t use it or take it to church. USCCB has the daily readings on its website, and Catholic Culture usually has the daily saint collects on its website (though sometimes I have to hunt around the web for them). So no real reason for me to carry a missal around.
I generally don’t read the readings in advance. I’ve tried sometimes to do lectio divina and I don’t get big new insights doing it, it seems more like I am just dwelling on the obvious a lot of the time. I also prefer to hear the readings being read. Occasionally I will read along if for example I can’t hear the person who is reading, or they’re reading in a foreign language, with a thick accent, etc.
If for some reason I don’t hear all the reading or my mind wanders or I’m late for daily Mass and miss the reading, I will usually read the readings off the website after, though it might be “later the same day” or “a few days later” depending on how busy I am.
I generally don’t read the readings in advance. I’ve tried sometimes to do lectio divina and I don’t get big new insights doing it, it seems more like I am just dwelling on the obvious a lot of the time. I also prefer to hear the readings being read. Occasionally I will read along if for example I can’t hear the person who is reading, or they’re reading in a foreign language, with a thick accent, etc.
If for some reason I don’t hear all the reading or my mind wanders or I’m late for daily Mass and miss the reading, I will usually read the readings off the website after, though it might be “later the same day” or “a few days later” depending on how busy I am.
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lilypadrees
Guest
I subscribe to the Missal our parish uses. So I don’t have to take it with me to Mass. The Music Issue comes with it. So I can keep up musically as well.
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jlc2k2
Guest
I don’t use a Missal but I have the Every Sacred Sunday journal. I try to read the readings ahead of time (unfortunately normally right before Mass) and still follow along in ESS at Mass. It helps me to focus on the readings instead of having my mind wander, which is easy to happen when i’m wrangling our circus. I also try to make a note or two during the homily so I’ll remember it.
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tafan2
Guest
Hogwash, one should do what’s best for themselves to know the readings during mass. If that is reading them ahead of time and then listening, fine. If it is reading along during mass, fine. If it is just listening, fine.
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Irishmom2
Guest
I use the book our parish provides in the pew. Sometimes I read along, sometimes not, it depends on which priest we have. 2 out of 3 I can just listen to, but one I need to follow along or I get distracted. His voice is a bit monotone and my mind will wonder if I don’t follow along.
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ELCore
Guest
I also have the MTF’s Daily Roman Missal. It is a beautiful book. I read it before I go to church.
ralfyman
New member
I have the MTF Missal and I bring it to every Mass.
When I don’t attend Mass on ordinary days, I read the Scriptures for the Mass of the day before I go to bed; that serves as part of my daily prayer.
I also use the various prayers, devotionals, and memorials found in the same book.
When I don’t attend Mass on ordinary days, I read the Scriptures for the Mass of the day before I go to bed; that serves as part of my daily prayer.
I also use the various prayers, devotionals, and memorials found in the same book.
How/when/why do I look at the readings ahead of time? I’m not consistent but I’ll share this:
My parish (well, the parish where I attend Sunday Mass) has a weekly bible study during 9 months out of the year. They meet on Tuesday mornings and go over the readings for the upcoming Sunday. It’s led by a parishioner who is the primary Liturgy professor at the seminary. I attended regularly for 5 or 6 years until work and a move made it impractical. We would delve pretty deeply, not only into the individual readings themselves, but also into the relationship between the different readings chosen, the nature of Hebrew poetry, and all sorts of other aspects of the readings. Today, just reviewing the readings brings a lot of that back.
Since I sing in the choir, I know what the various hymns will be. Whether old or new, my choir director (who is a longtime friend of the liturgy professor) picks hymns that reflect either the readings or one of the other Mass propers.
I also subscribe to a weekly email "homily’ from a priest I have known since he was in seminary. (It comes out on Saturday morning.) He picks an idea from one or more of the readings and expounds on application of that reading to current events, sometimes local, sometimes global.
My parish (well, the parish where I attend Sunday Mass) has a weekly bible study during 9 months out of the year. They meet on Tuesday mornings and go over the readings for the upcoming Sunday. It’s led by a parishioner who is the primary Liturgy professor at the seminary. I attended regularly for 5 or 6 years until work and a move made it impractical. We would delve pretty deeply, not only into the individual readings themselves, but also into the relationship between the different readings chosen, the nature of Hebrew poetry, and all sorts of other aspects of the readings. Today, just reviewing the readings brings a lot of that back.
Since I sing in the choir, I know what the various hymns will be. Whether old or new, my choir director (who is a longtime friend of the liturgy professor) picks hymns that reflect either the readings or one of the other Mass propers.
I also subscribe to a weekly email "homily’ from a priest I have known since he was in seminary. (It comes out on Saturday morning.) He picks an idea from one or more of the readings and expounds on application of that reading to current events, sometimes local, sometimes global.
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Loud-living-dogma
Guest
I tried to do the readings ahead of time last weekend. That’s what caused my current rant about not being able to “unhear” Marty Haugen for the reading about “We are many parts”. 
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OraLabora
Guest
I do, but when the French lectionary was updated recently, I subscribed to Prions en Église, for the time being. I receive a new missalette monthly, and I have a nice fake leather binder for it. I also bought a Sunday (but not weekday) Missal with the new translations but I almost never use it.
Where I attend Mass, the readings are always chanted. Depending on who the cantor is, it is more or less difficult to understand, so I always read beforehand, and sometimes I follow along, at least for the 1st and second readings. For the Gospel, on Sundays I have already read the Gospel at Vigils, and again just before the Mass. I attend weekday Mass once a week, when I work at the abbey library.
The nice thing about the missalette is that it is light and compact, and it corresponds to my country’s calendar (but not the abbey’s as they follow the Benedictine, and they don’t transfer solemnities to the nearest Sunday).
During the week, when I don’t attend Mass, I have my Bible on a lectern in my small oratory. It is the Bible de la Liturgie (liturgical Bible, in French). After Vigils I open it to the Gospel of the day, and I go back to it a few times during the day to meditate on the Word.
Where I attend Mass, the readings are always chanted. Depending on who the cantor is, it is more or less difficult to understand, so I always read beforehand, and sometimes I follow along, at least for the 1st and second readings. For the Gospel, on Sundays I have already read the Gospel at Vigils, and again just before the Mass. I attend weekday Mass once a week, when I work at the abbey library.
The nice thing about the missalette is that it is light and compact, and it corresponds to my country’s calendar (but not the abbey’s as they follow the Benedictine, and they don’t transfer solemnities to the nearest Sunday).
During the week, when I don’t attend Mass, I have my Bible on a lectern in my small oratory. It is the Bible de la Liturgie (liturgical Bible, in French). After Vigils I open it to the Gospel of the day, and I go back to it a few times during the day to meditate on the Word.
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jesusmademe
Guest
Isnt the idea of chanting (using recitation tones) that one should be heard?
I think people started chanting less due to the invention of the microphone.
I think people started chanting less due to the invention of the microphone.
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Fauken
Guest
I use my Angelus Press Missal for the EF and my MTF Missal for the OF.
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OraLabora
Guest
My understanding of the reason for chanting (at least in this era!) is that it prevents the lector from colouring the text with his own bias. The text is either chanted recto-tono, or with inflections at standard punctuation marks or places of notable emphasis.
I’ve become so used to it, that on the rare times I hear a reading in a parish, it drives me bananas when the lector invariably tries to colour the text in his or her own way.
The Mass and Office short readings are done with inflections; the Vigils (Matins) readings, and the refectory readings, are done recto-tono.
I’ve become so used to it, that on the rare times I hear a reading in a parish, it drives me bananas when the lector invariably tries to colour the text in his or her own way.
The Mass and Office short readings are done with inflections; the Vigils (Matins) readings, and the refectory readings, are done recto-tono.
X
Xarto
Guest
No, not many people use a missal although I’ve seen some people use the Magnificat which I think is one. Personally I read the Readings and Gospel before mass, I use a Catholic Bible app with uses the Douay-Rheims (Catholic Public Domain Version).
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EnglishYew
Guest
I do. Keep it in my car so I don’t forget. I’ve noticed another person using one lately.
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OraLabora
Guest
I really like the Magnificat, it’s available in French as well. BUT, and it’s a big BUT, it follows the French liturgical calendar, not the Canadian one. So from time to time it’s out of synch.
Of course, since I attend Mass at a monastery, Prions en Église is out of synch as well on occasion, as it follows the local Roman calendar, not the monastic one. So Epiphany, Ascension Thursday and Corpus Christi are transferred to the nearest Sunday, while the monastery celebrates them on their traditional days (Jan. 6th, Thursday and Thursday). Plus there are saints that are mandatory memorials that aren’t in the general Roman calendar.
Of course, since I attend Mass at a monastery, Prions en Église is out of synch as well on occasion, as it follows the local Roman calendar, not the monastic one. So Epiphany, Ascension Thursday and Corpus Christi are transferred to the nearest Sunday, while the monastery celebrates them on their traditional days (Jan. 6th, Thursday and Thursday). Plus there are saints that are mandatory memorials that aren’t in the general Roman calendar.
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