Lector tips?

[Reuben_J]

I’m been a lector for well over a year now, and I only read approximately one a month.

…
But the thing that really hurt me and felt like punch in the gut, is when one of my friends, who is a EM, after I told her what I thought was good news, as I was overjoyed in being selected as a EM, is that she basically chastised me and gave me the third degree as to why I couldn’t do it. That hurt. I only want to serve the Church and God and felt that the Lord has called me to serve the Church as both lector and EM, but after hearing what my friend said, it makes me want to give up serving in any capacity whatsoever. Can anyone give me any advice and opinions?

Your parish lectors situation is not bad if you are reading once a month. You people have enough to go around. Then you can either choose to be a lector or EHMC. For the latter, you can serve every week, after all you are attending the mass. There is no restriction in the frequency that you can serve as an EHMC.

Your friend should commend you for willing to serve, not chastising. After all the priest has given you permission to do both in the parish. You are not against the rule since you do not do both in a mass - I suppose that would be Sunday mass.

In my younger days I used to serve two parishes as a lector - we serve in the cathedral but at times also went to a nearby sub-parish for convenience. But once I became an EHMC, I stopped reading.

Don’t feel too bad. It is true we have high expectation that people of the church should have higher standard but in reality, they are probably no different that our non-Christian neighbors - sometimes we can be mean and inconsiderate with our comments. Being Christ-like can be quite elusive even for Christians.

 

[LiamQ]

I’m just a grumpy fool, but I would personally ask you not to attempt to “act out” the reading(s) in a dramatic way. Many lectors seem as if they’re performing. And while I welcome the chance to mortify my ridiculous impatience and condescension towards others——it’s also a tad distracting.

 

[Phemie]

I’m just a grumpy fool, but I would personally ask you not to attempt to “act out” the reading(s) in a dramatic way. Many lectors seem as if they’re performing. And while I welcome the chance to mortify my ridiculous impatience and condescension towards others——it’s also a tad distracting.

There are some who overdo it, but my beef is readers who don’t seem to know what “?” means. Everything comes out as a statement no matter what’s at the end of the sentence.

 

[FrDavid96]

I got asked at my parish to lector, and went through the training today. Does anyone have extra tips?

By all means, please remember that you are proclaiming the Word of God.
You are not reading a fairy tale to five-year-olds!

This is a big one with me.

It’s hard to describe in text. The best way I can describe the style is to say that it sounds exactly like someone is reading a fairy tale to children. The sing-song style that draws out names and certain words.

“Then Goood said to (pause) Aaaahbraham I will make your descendants as nooooooomerous as the staaaaars” Yuuck!

I don’t know why this style crept into the Mass, but it’s truly annoying.

 

[Glennon_P]

By all means, please remember that you are proclaiming the Word of God.
You are not reading a fairy tale to five-year-olds!

This is a big one with me.

It’s hard to describe in text. The best way I can describe the style is to say that it sounds exactly like someone is reading a fairy tale to children. The sing-song style that draws out names and certain words.

“Then Goood said to (pause) Aaaahbraham I will make your descendants as nooooooomerous as the staaaaars” Yuuck!

I don’t know why this style crept into the Mass, but it’s truly annoying.

I’m with ya on that one, Father.

On the other end of the spectrum is the person (laity and clergy alike) who seems to view the readings as somethingtogetthroughrealfastsowecangetonwiththerestoftheMass.

 

[Dorothy]

I’m just a grumpy fool, but I would personally ask you not to attempt to “act out” the reading(s) in a dramatic way. Many lectors seem as if they’re performing. And while I welcome the chance to mortify my ridiculous impatience and condescension towards others——it’s also a tad distracting.

When I went through training we watched a video of how NOT to read at Mass. In the video someone showed how unsettling it is when someone over dramatizes. The point got across.

 

[Luz_Maria]

There are some who overdo it, but my beef is readers who don’t seem to know what “?” means. Everything comes out as a statement no matter what’s at the end of the sentence.

That is because in English there are times that there are no cues at the beginning of the sentence and there is no such thing as an opening question mark (¿) or exclamation point (¡) to place at the beginning of their respective sentence. At times the cue words (what, who, where, etc.) ¡are not there! ¡Much easier! ¿Don’t you think?

All kidding aside. The tips others have given are excellent!

The manual to which Pianistclare gave the link is worth its weight in gold and is available in either English or Spanish. In my diocese (I do not know about others) Lectors must read from/use the Lectionary. Just make sure it is the correct book because there is one for each Liturgical Cycle - A, B, and C.

Others have noted mispronounced words. Another two that people many times do not say correctly are “every” and “because”.

Pray, relax, slow down.

You will do just great. Let us know how it all went.

 

[FrDavid96]

Exult.

Exalt.

Two different words. Two completely different words. Two different pronunciations.

The word “exult” appears quite often in the Psalms.

Most of the time, it gets pronounced as “exalt.”

 

[goout]

Exult.

Exalt.

Two different words. Two completely different words. Two different pronunciations.

The word “exult” appears quite often in the Psalms.

Most of the time, it gets pronounced as “exalt.”

As an aside father how do you translate your sig. This is the nearest I could google, which does not make much sense:
Where are you taking, “serve the Lord,” the liturgy?

 

[tee_eff_em]

Exult.

Exalt.

Two different words. Two completely different words. Two different pronunciations.

The word “exult” appears quite often in the Psalms.

Most of the time, it gets pronounced as “exalt.”

In a similar -]vain/-] -]vane/-] vein:

A Public Service Announcement



tee

 

[Melissa]

Invest in a copy of this book:

ltp.org/p-2945-workbook-for-lectors-gospel-readers-and-proclaimers-of-the-word-2017-usa.aspx

We provide this book to every one of our lectors.
It has context, and the words that should be emphasized are in** bold.**
Pronunciation is also phonetically printed in the margins, pauses indicated.
Brief historical notes are at the bottom of each page.

Money WELL spent.

Remember too, that you can hear the readings read on the usccb website.

That (linked guidebook) is the one that we get in my parish. While we read from the actual lectionary, the guidebook is a huge help in preparation. As our lector training class emphasizes, a quick read-through before Mass is not proper preparation.

My parish provides a copy of this book to each lector family (we have more than one married couple in which both of them lector, so they really only need one copy between them).

 

[DaveBj]

In a similar -]vain/-] -]vane/-] vein:

A Public Service Announcement



tee

 

[tafan]

I know I am late to this discussion, but would say the following:

Remember you are reading, not giving a speech. Eye contact with the congregation is not important. As others have said, any attempt to dramatize it is wrong.
As for the pace of reading, I would much prefer someone who went a little too fast to some of those who go to slow. The comment I have heard of “when in doubt, slow down”, I tend to disagree with. We have a couple of lectors at our church who love to read real slow. It is quite annoying.

Correct pronunciations are important, practice these. Make sure the microphone is well positioned.

 

[FrDavid96]

As an aside father how do you translate your sig. This is the nearest I could google, which does not make much sense:
Where are you taking the Liturgy, “serve the Lord,” ?

Roughly, where are you taking the Liturgy, you “ministers of the Lord”?

In other words, you’re supposed to be the servants of the liturgy, not ‘moving’ (ie changing) it, and not using the liturgy to serve yourself.

It also reminds me of the “Quo vadis?” quote attributed to St Peter. (Peter was leaving Rome, met Christ on the way and asked “where are you going?” “to Rome to be crucified again.” Peter turned around.)

I stole it from a Notitiae from 1970 notitiae.ipsissima-verba.org/show/236

 

[jimkhong]

I am sure you plan to practice practice practice as well as to pray (as two posters so helpfully advised). In between the prayer and the practice, can I suggest that you take time out to understand the reading. Understand what God is saying to you in the reading (there are lots of online commentary if you do not want/afford to invest in a library of commentaries or I am sure the priest or someone knowledgeable in your parish would be happy to be your guide for a while until you can reflect on your own).

The office of reading is part of the office of the prophet and a prophet is someone who relays God’s message to humankind. So understand God’s message to you in the reading and understand which part of that message God wants you to relay when you read at mass. Then you can determine how you wish to read the reading, where the emphasis is, etc. If you are not sure of your interpretation (eg., it sounds too far out of the teaching of the Church), speak to the priest (most of the time it is not and forms part of your own catechism as well).

All the other advice you are getting are valid as well. Just to share something I think most are aware but just got left out in the technicalities.

 

[fbl9]

I am sure you plan to practice practice practice as well as to pray (as two posters so helpfully advised). In between the prayer and the practice, can I suggest that you take time out to understand the reading. Understand what God is saying to you in the reading (there are lots of online commentary if you do not want/afford to invest in a library of commentaries or I am sure the priest or someone knowledgeable in your parish would be happy to be your guide for a while until you can reflect on your own).

The office of reading is part of the office of the prophet and a prophet is someone who relays God’s message to humankind. So understand God’s message to you in the reading and understand which part of that message God wants you to relay when you read at mass. Then you can determine how you wish to read the reading, where the emphasis is, etc. If you are not sure of your interpretation (eg., it sounds too far out of the teaching of the Church), speak to the priest (most of the time it is not and forms part of your own catechism as well).

All the other advice you are getting are valid as well. Just to share something I think most are aware but just got left out in the technicalities.

Just my opinion, a prophet does not necessarily need to understand or even have a personal take on God’s word, to proclaim God’s word. Perhaps one should remember that is what the job description really is anyhow, to proclaim.

 

[Irishmom2]

We have some great lectors, and some not so great lectors at our parish. It has to do with punctuation. Some people read as if there is a period where there is a comma. Some read as if there is a period when the sentence continues on the next line. Hard to follow if you aren’t reading along.

And although I agree with Fr. David’s very fine example of how not to emphasize words, reading them with absolutely no inflection is pretty bad as well. Droning is pretty ineffective reading.

 

[Reuben_J]

I am sure you plan to practice practice practice as well as to pray (as two posters so helpfully advised). In between the prayer and the practice, can I suggest that you take time out to understand the reading. Understand what God is saying to you in the reading (there are lots of online commentary if you do not want/afford to invest in a library of commentaries or I am sure the priest or someone knowledgeable in your parish would be happy to be your guide for a while until you can reflect on your own).

The office of reading is part of the office of the prophet and a prophet is someone who relays God’s message to humankind. So understand God’s message to you in the reading and understand which part of that message God wants you to relay when you read at mass. Then you can determine how you wish to read the reading, where the emphasis is, etc. If you are not sure of your interpretation (eg., it sounds too far out of the teaching of the Church), speak to the priest (most of the time it is not and forms part of your own catechism as well).

All the other advice you are getting are valid as well. Just to share something I think most are aware but just got left out in the technicalities.

To be a lector is not just about reading correctly and nicely but also to be changed in our life by the word. Sometimes we only care too much on the first part but pay little attention to the latter. Thus it become like a performance without any joy of doing it.

 

[tafan]

I am sure you plan to practice practice practice as well as to pray (as two posters so helpfully advised). In between the prayer and the practice, can I suggest that you take time out to understand the reading. Understand what God is saying to you in the reading (there are lots of online commentary if you do not want/afford to invest in a library of commentaries or I am sure the priest or someone knowledgeable in your parish would be happy to be your guide for a while until you can reflect on your own).

The office of reading is part of the office of the prophet and a prophet is someone who relays God’s message to humankind. So understand God’s message to you in the reading and understand which part of that message God wants you to relay when you read at mass. Then you can determine how you wish to read the reading, where the emphasis is, etc. If you are not sure of your interpretation (eg., it sounds too far out of the teaching of the Church), speak to the priest (most of the time it is not and forms part of your own catechism as well).

All the other advice you are getting are valid as well. Just to share something I think most are aware but just got left out in the technicalities.

I really don’t like this advice. I do not believe it is up to the lector to decide which part of the reading should be emphasized. The reading, in its entirety, is the message God wants you to relay when you read at mass. Trust the Church on this, not your own private interpretation.