List of Mass Readings?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ne_OrangeKnight
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Ne_OrangeKnight

Guest
My mother-in-law-to-be is a fallen away Catholic, and I was talking to her recently about the Church, and her problems with it. One thing that she didn’t like was how readings for Mass are chosen ahead of time, and she thinks that it narrows the amount of Scripture that we get access to. Now, I know that this isn’t true; I think that daily Mass goers get something like 75% or so of the entire Bible in a given year, and almost 100% of it over the full 3-year cycle. I mentioned something to this effect, but she just said that, yeah, she used to go to daily Mass sometimes, and then changed the topic.

So, I want to prove the point. Does anyone know of a site where a list of the full readings schedule is given? It would be even better if it were laid out in some sort of order, but I can put the work in myself, if need be.

Sam, the Neon Orange Knight
 
How is the Lectionary arranged?
*The Lectionary is arranged in two cycles, one for Sundays and one for weekdays.
The Sunday cycle is divided into three years, labeled A, B, and C. 2006 is Year B. 2007 will be Year C, 2008 will be Year A, etc. In Year A, we read mostly from the Gospel of Matthew. In Year B, we read the Gospel of Mark and chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. In Year C, we read the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of John is read during the Easter season in all three years. The first reading, usually from the Old Testament, reflects important themes from the Gospel reading. The second reading is usually from one of the epistles, a letter written to an early church community. These letters are read semi-continuously. Each Sunday, we pick up close to where we left off the Sunday before, though some passages are never read.

The weekday cycle is divided into two years, Year I and Year II. Year I is read in odd-numbered years (2007, 2009, etc.) and Year II is used in even-numbered years (2006, 2008, etc.) The Gospels for both years are the same. During the year, the Gospels are read semi-continuously, beginning with Mark, then moving on to Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of John is read during the Easter season. For Advent, Christmas, and Lent, readings are chosen that are appropriate to the season. The first reading on weekdays may be taken from the Old or the New Testament. Typically, a single book is read semi-continuously (i.e., some passages are not read) until it is finished and then a new book is started.

The year of the cycle does not change on January 1st, but on the 1st Sunday of Advent (usually late November) which is the beginning of the liturgical year. The liturgical year 2007 begins on December 3, 2006, and ends on December 1, 2007.

In addition to the Sunday and weekday cycles, the Lectionary provides readings for feasts of the saints, for common celebrations such as Marian feasts, for ritual Masses (weddings, funerals, etc.), for votive Masses, and for various needs. These readings have been selected to reflect the themes of these celebrations. *usccb.org/nab/faq.shtml#2

The USCCB keeps a 3 month refernce on the same site
 
For the Extraordinary Form, the readings are all in the 1962 daily missal. Usually there is commentary on them as well. For example, yesterday’s Gospel was Jesus’ mastery over death.
 
Ne_OrangeKnight said:
Now, I know that this isn’t true; I think that daily Mass goers get something like 75% or so of the entire Bible in a given year, and almost 100% of it over the full 3-year cycle.
Click to expand...
I believe this is somewhat exaggerated. According to the BCL Newsletter on Summorum Pontificum, the current lectionary covers 14% of the Old Testament and 71% of the New Testament (I presume over a 3 year period).

tee
 
Ne_OrangeKnight said:
My mother-in-law-to-be is a fallen away Catholic, and I was talking to her recently about the Church, and her problems with it. One thing that she didn’t like was how readings for Mass are chosen ahead of time, and she thinks that it narrows the amount of Scripture that we get access to.
Sam, the Neon Orange Knight
Click to expand...
What?! , does she think that the only time we are exposed to Scripture is at Mass? Just because the Mass readings are set, it in no way narrows our access to Scripture. No one is stopping us from picking up a Bible and reading it ourselves. In fact, a plenary indulgence is granted, under the usual conditions, for reading the Bible for 30 minutes, so not only is access to the Bible unrestricted, reading it is encouraged.

From the Enchiridion of Indulgences, No.50:
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who use Sacred Scripture for spiritual reading with the veneration due the word of God. A plenary indulgence is granted if the reading continues for at least one half hour.

hismercy.ca/content/ebooks/The.Enchiridion.of.Indulgences.pdf
 
Linda_Marie said:
What?! , does she think that the only time we are exposed to Scripture is at Mass?
Click to expand...
Something to that effect, yes. It seems that she grew up without any real urgings to read Scripture. And, honestly, that was also my experience for quite a while, and isn’t terribly uncommon as far as I’m aware.

I tried to explain that to her that such a thing isn’t actually what the Church wants or teaches, but, again, she just kind of shrugged and changed the subject. So I ask again: is there, somewhere, a site with the comprehensive list of readings for the entire cycle, including daily Mass?

Sam, the Neon Orange Knight
 
I haven’t found anything on-line yet but in the back of my New American Bible - Saint Joseph’s Edition there is the list of the 3-year cycle of readings for Sunday Mass.

You could look in a Weekday Missal and extract the references for daily Mass.

Try this - it isn’t in one compact page but I think it is all there.
catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1998USL.htm
 
For Daily mass attendees,
The actual amount is 71.5% of the NT and 13.5% of the OT. Breaking down even further:
TORAH 14.8%
Historical Books 9.4%
Wisdom Books 11.7%
Four Major Prophets 18.5%
Twelve Minor Prophets 25.9%

Gospels 89.8%
Acts 48.9%
Pauline Letters 56.7%
Deutero-Paulines 64.7%
Hebrews 62%
Catholic Epistles 67.6%
Revelation 31.9%

For Sundays and Feast Days, it’s less, OT 3.7% and NT 40.8%.
From Proclaim.NET
 
The back of the Ignatius Press bible also has all the readings listed out by cycle for Sundays and daily Mass. It’s several pages worth, but you can see how the Gospel readings and often the Epistle readings are mostly contiguous. And if anyone complains about the percentage, I’d like to know which protestant church regularly reads the ‘begats’ and long, long rules sections from Levitcus at their Sunday services–or even when they read the Bible at home!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top