Liturgical Calendar And Daily Readings

[mpriest88]

If understand it correctly, if someone attends Holy Mass everyday for 3 years they would have read the entire bible or at least most it. How can this be possible if you read the same readings every year, on the same day regardless of the Year or Cycle. Example: 15 May 2012 - Tuesday of the 6th Week of Easter - Readings were Acts 16:22-34 , Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 7-8 & John 16:5-11. These are to be read every Tuesday of the 6th Week of Easter from 2012 - 2029, EXCEPT in 2016 when the following readings are to be read: First Corinthians 15:1-8, Psalms 19:2-3 4-5 & John 14:6-14. If I am wrong I apologize and would appreciate it if someone to correct. Thank you. Mike

 

[YoungTradCath]

Are you a priest?

 

[mpriest88]

No I’m not. I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum

 

[YoungTradCath]

No I’m not. I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum

No, it’s fine, this is the right forum. I just thought you were a priest, considering your username.

All I know is the three year Sunday cycle and two year weekday cycle supposedly goes through most of the Bible.

 

[TypesAndShadows]

What’s going on here is that you have absorbed a fairly common myth among lay Catholics, particularly among lay Catholics who do not attend daily Mass.

First, the cycle of readings for Sundays and Holy Days follows a three-year cycle. So, on Sundays and Holy Days you read from Year A, Year B, or Year C. On those days there is a first reading (typically from the Old Testament, but sometimes from the Acts of the Apostles), a Responsorial Psalm, a Second Reading (from the New Testament), and a Gospel Reading. This three-year cycle gives very good coverage of the Gospels, alright coverage of the New Testament, and poor coverage of the Old Testament.

We are currently in Year B. If you look at this table, for example, you should be able to see that the readings on a given Sunday are different this year (Year B) than they were last year (Year A), and different again from what they will be next year (Year C). catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1992Canada.htm

My Bible has a nicer table than that, which makes it clearer, but I couldn’t find similar online.

You can also look at this table, to get an idea of how much of each Bible book you hear by attending Sundays and Holy Days: catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Index-Sundays.htm

Overall, by attending Sundays and Holy Days, you hear 3.7% of the Old Testament (excluding the Psalms, which are used more heavily), and 40.8% of the New Testament. You’ll have heard 57.8% of the Gospels.

What about daily Mass? The readings at daily Mass follow a two-year cycle, independent of the three-year cycle for Sundays and Holy Days. We are currently in Year II. In the Season of Easter, the weekday Mass readings are the same in both years: catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1970USL-WeekdaysA.htm
In Ordinary Time, the First Reading and Responsorial Psalm are different in Year I and Year II, but the Gospel remains the same. There is no Second Reading in daily Mass: catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1970USL-WeekdaysB.htm

If you attend daily Mass, you will hear 13.5% of the Old Testament (excluding Psalms) and 71.5% of the New Testament, including 89.8% of the Gospels. catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Statistics.htm

The idea that you will hear the whole Bible is a myth, a strangely tenacious myth. Some Old Testament books are not used at all.

This table, unfortunately without percentages, shows when various parts of the Bible (including Psalms) are used in readings, psalms, antiphons, and acclamations in all sorts of Masses. It’s interesting to see what is and isn’t used: adtelevavi.110mb.com/RomanRiteOF.htm (WARNING: very large page)
Now we just need something similar, with percentages, that also includes the verses used as part of the Order of Mass.

If you also pray the Liturgy of the Hours (as priests and religious do), then you’ll have almost (but not quite) complete coverage of all the Psalms.

1. Three psalms (58, 83, and 109) have been omitted from the psalter cycle because of their curses; in the same way, some verses have been omitted from certain psalms, as noted at the head of each. The reason for the omission is a certain psychological difficulty, even though the psalms of imprecation are in fact used as prayer in the New Testament, for example, Rv 6:10, and in no sense to encourage the use of curses

ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDWGILH.HTM#Ch%20III-IV
You will have no extra coverage of the Gospels (the Gospels are excluded from the Liturgy of the Hours).

1. The two-year cycle of readings for the liturgy of the hours is so arranged that each year there are readings from nearly all the books of sacred Scripture as well as longer and more difficult texts that are not suitable for inclusion in the Mass. The New Testament as a whole is read each year, partly in the Mass, partly in the liturgy of the hours; but for the Old Testament books a selection has been made of those parts that are of greater importance for the understanding of the history of salvation and for deepening devotion.

The complementarity between the readings in the liturgy of the hours and in the Mass in no way assigns the same texts to the same days or spreads the same books over the same seasons. This would leave the liturgy of the hours with the less important passages and upset the sequence of texts. Rather this complementarity necessarily demands that the same book be used in the Mass and in the liturgy of the hours in alternate years or that, if it is read in the same year, there be some interval in between.

(ibid)

Note that the Book of Ruth, for example, is absent from the readings at Mass, but included in the Liturgy of the Hours.

In summary: if you never read the Bible yourself, but faithfully attend Mass, you will hear the most important parts of the Bible, and will be presented with the history of salvation. If you attend daily Mass, and even follow the Liturgy of the Hours fully, you still will not hear the whole of the Bible, but you will hear the most important parts more often, and will be presented with a fuller version of the history of salvation.

If you want to read the whole Bible, get a Bible and read it! Some of my favourite bits are not included in the Mass readings, because they are ultimately not as important for understanding the plan of salvation.

Sorry for the long reply, but this is a common misconception and I hoped to provide the most helpful links I know of for future enquirers.

 

[mpriest88]

Thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut. However, I’m still confused. I checked the links TypesAndShadows posted. The link catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1992Canada.htm laid out the information for Sundays and Holy Days perfectly. I understand that now. What about the days that aren’t Sundays or Holy Days? There are readings, but how do you know which ones?

Please understand I am not trying to be difficult. I just want to make sure I’m correct.

Here is the reason and purpose I need this information. I’m writing a website for our parish and I want to add a Daily Reading section for my fellow parishioners. I’m compiling a database with readings so someone can click on a specific day, week, month, year or a combination of them and have the corresponding readings displayed.

Again, thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut and helping me to get a grasp on this subject

 

[TypesAndShadows]

Thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut. However, I’m still confused. I checked the links TypesAndShadows posted. The link catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1992Canada.htm laid out the information for Sundays and Holy Days perfectly. I understand that now. What about the days that aren’t Sundays or Holy Days? There are readings, but how do you know which ones?

Please understand I am not trying to be difficult. I just want to make sure I’m correct.

Here is the reason and purpose I need this information. I’m writing a website for our parish and I want to add a Daily Reading section for my fellow parishioners. I’m compiling a database with readings so someone can click on a specific day, week, month, year or a combination of them and have the corresponding readings displayed.

Again, thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut and helping me to get a grasp on this subject

If you look at my paragraph starting “What about daily Mass?”, I give you a couple of links for those. If you have a Catholic Bible, you might find there is a table in the back of that, showing you the same. If you bought a Daily/Weekday Missal (as opposed to a Sunday Missal), this would have the daily Mass readings.

You might also be interested in these websites, which have already done something similar to what you aim to do:
*easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php
*universalis.com/mass.htm
*usccb.org/bible/readings/
*carlowcathedral.ie/todays-mass-readings/ → I would notice that this uses Universalis content, see the Universalis page universalis.com/n-webmasters.htm

If you’re writing the parish website, and do not have access to your own Daily Missal/ Weekday Missal, I’m sure you could ask your priest if he has something you could use to look up the daily Mass readings. Or there is probably a parishioner (usually the older ones, in my experience) who is happy to lend you theirs!

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut. However, I’m still confused. I checked the links TypesAndShadows posted. The link catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1992Canada.htm laid out the information for Sundays and Holy Days perfectly. I understand that now. What about the days that aren’t Sundays or Holy Days? There are readings, but how do you know which ones?

Please understand I am not trying to be difficult. I just want to make sure I’m correct.

Here is the reason and purpose I need this information. I’m writing a website for our parish and I want to add a Daily Reading section for my fellow parishioners. I’m compiling a database with readings so someone can click on a specific day, week, month, year or a combination of them and have the corresponding readings displayed.

Again, thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut and helping me to get a grasp on this subject

Instead of creating your own listings of the readings why don’t you link to the USCCB website which contains this.

See this link;USCCB Daily Readings

 

[Chatter163]

The “reads almost the whole bible” myth resulted from the public relations spin from when the new lectionary was unveiled in 1969. It was an attempt to appear “more scriptural” than the previous Order of Mass and also to appeal to ecumenical circles. It worked in the latter regard, as the mainline Protestant churches all pretty much adopted it, then tweaked it into a revised version, which left out many of the Catholic aspects (feasts of Our Lady, the Blessed Sacrament, etc.)

 

[OraLabora]

the Gospels are excluded from the Liturgy of the Hours

Not entirely. You can use the option of making the Office of Readings into Vigils for Sundays, feasts and solemnities. In which case you read (or in community proclaim) the Gospel after the three OT canticles. It can either be the Gospel of the day or one of the suggested Gospels. These are the former “third nocturnes”. In the current Monastic Breviaries, the Gospel is always read on these days; in the LOTH it’s optional. The monastics still have a third nocturne in their breviaries. In the LOTH the canticles and suggested Gospels are in an appendix.

 

[mpriest88]

Thank all of you for your assistance and patience. I believe I understand it now. Thank you again

 

[TypesAndShadows]

Not entirely. You can use the option of making the Office of Readings into Vigils for Sundays, feasts and solemnities. In which case you read (or in community proclaim) the Gospel after the three OT canticles. It can either be the Gospel of the day or one of the suggested Gospels. These are the former “third nocturnes”. In the current Monastic Breviaries, the Gospel is always read on these days; in the LOTH it’s optional. The monastics still have a third nocturne in their breviaries. In the LOTH the canticles and suggested Gospels are in an appendix.

Oh, that is interesting. Do you know anywhere online that lists these, or discusses them?

 

[OraLabora]

Oh, that is interesting. Do you know anywhere online that lists these, or discusses them?

From the General instructions for the Liturgy of the Hours themselves:

1. Further, since in the Roman Rite the office of readings is always of a uniform brevity, especially for the sake of those engaged in apostolic work, those who desire, in accordance with tradition, to extend the celebration of the vigils of Sundays, solemnities, and feasts should do so as follows.

First, the office of readings is to be celebrated as in The Liturgy of the Hours up to the end of the readings. After the two readings and before the Te Deum canticles should be added from the special appendix of The Liturgy of the Hours. Then the gospel should be read; a homily on the gospel may be added. After this the Te Deum is sung and the prayer said.

On solemnities and feasts the gospel is to be taken from the Lectionary for Mass; on Sundays, from the series on the paschal mystery in the appendix of The Liturgy of the Hours.

Vigils

The canticles and reading references themselves will be in the appendix of the LOTH.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

The “reads almost the whole bible” myth resulted from the public relations spin from when the new lectionary was unveiled in 1969. It was an attempt to appear “more scriptural” than the previous Order of Mass and also to appeal to ecumenical circles. It worked in the latter regard, as the mainline Protestant churches all pretty much adopted it, then tweaked it into a revised version, which left out many of the Catholic aspects (feasts of Our Lady, the Blessed Sacrament, etc.)

While some did adopt it they have now left it for the Revised Common Lectionary.

 

[Chatter163]

While some did adopt it they have now left it for the Revised Common Lectionary.

Which is why I said:

The “reads almost the whole bible” myth resulted from the public relations spin from when the new lectionary was unveiled in 1969. It was an attempt to appear “more scriptural” than the previous Order of Mass and also to appeal to ecumenical circles. It worked in the latter regard, as the mainline Protestant churches all pretty much adopted it, then tweaked it into a revised version, which left out many of the Catholic aspects (feasts of Our Lady, the Blessed Sacrament, etc.)