Listening to Scripture

[brycehecht]

I have a question. I will be attending a vocations event at my diocese tomorrow. There will be a time for prayer at the Cathedral, followed by a hockey game at an arena. During the prayer service, I am going to presume there will be a reading or two. When listening to the readings, is it appropriate to close your eyes and listen, in order to cut out distractions, or should my eyes be on the lector? Thanks

 

[Jguerra]

brycehecht, you can certainly close your eyes for the readings. What is that verse in Romans–Faith comes from hearing and what is heard is the word of Christ (10:17)?
The word of God proclaimed at Mass is meant to be heard, assuming the lector/deacon/priest is spot on, right on target with the delivery of the reading.

Best wishes during your vocation event.

Joe

 

[LegoGE1947]

brycehecht, you can certainly close your eyes for the readings. What is that verse in Romans–Faith comes from hearing and what is heard is the word of Christ (10:17)?
The word of God proclaimed at Mass is meant to be heard, assuming the lector/deacon/priest is spot on, right on target with the delivery of the reading.

Best wishes during your vocation event.

Joe

Whenever I close my eyes to hear Scripture read, my wife pokes me in the side with her elbow, thinking I have dosed off!

 

[Fidelis]

Try doing both and see what works best for you. Personally, unless there is something distracting about the lector that takes my mind off the readings being proclaimed, I find it’s better to look the lector as he or she is speaking, just like you might look at anyone else who you are supposed to be giving your attention too. I would tend to think also that lectors would appreciate having some visible indication that people are paying attention to the proclamation rather than people looking somewhere else or appearing to be asleep.

 

[ClearWater]

I have a question. I will be attending a vocations event at my diocese tomorrow. There will be a time for prayer at the Cathedral, followed by a hockey game at an arena. During the prayer service, I am going to presume there will be a reading or two. When listening to the readings, is it appropriate to close your eyes and listen, in order to cut out distractions, or should my eyes be on the lector? Thanks

We have one priest who tells us to close our eyes when we pray, because that works for him. He seems to think it works for us, but I find that I seem to focus better when I look at the person speaking.

Each to his own. If you find it works better to close your eyes, then do that.

Oh, hope you have a nice time at the event! Good luck!