Readings for July 15th are driving me crazy

  • Thread starter Thread starter japhy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

japhy

Guest
I am a lector at my parish, and I serve at daily Mass on Tuesdays. I have just started preparing for Mass tomorrow by reading the First Reading and the Psalm, and I’m dreading it. I am afraid the First Reading’s content is difficult enough to understand while reading let alone hearing.In the days of Ahaz ( , king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah ),
Rezin ( , king of Aram, )
and Pekah ( , king of Israel, son of Remaliah, )
went up to attack Jerusalem,
but they were not able to conquer it.Those parentheses I’ve added are basically necessary to get the proper sense when reading it. Skipping a bit, we get to another complicated part, with this confusing form: *The LORD said: “Isaiah, say: 'They are saying ', but thus says the LORD: ‘…’”*Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz,
you and your son Shear-jashub,
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,
on the highway of the fuller’s field, and say to him:
Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear;
let not your courage fail
before these two stumps of smoldering brands
the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans,
and of the son of Remaliah,
because of the mischief that
Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah,
plots against you, saying,
“Let us go up and tear Judah asunder, make it our own by force,
and appoint the son of Tabeel king there.”

Thus says the LORD:
This shall not stand, it shall not be!
Damascus is the capital of Aram,
and Rezin is the head of Damascus;
Samaria is the capital of Ephraim,
and Remaliah’s son the head of Samaria.

But within sixty years and five,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm
you shall not be firm!I get a headache just reading it. I really hope I’m able to proclaim it in a way that the congregation understands it. :confused:

The Psalm also has a poor choice of words in one set of verses, too: “Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised / in the city of our God. / His holy mountain, fairest of heights, / is the joy of all the earth.” Other translations (even the Bible-form of the NAB, as opposed to the Lectionary-form of it) use “greatly” rather than “wholly”. I’m going to practice pronouncing the “wh” and the double-“ll” in “wholly”, so that it doesn’t sound like “holy”.

Sigh!
 
I’m sorry I can’t help you with pronounciation. An interesting aside is (Isa 7:14) says the Lord will give a sign of a young woman/virgin shall concieve and bear a son. It was fulfilled in (Isa 8:3-4) Jerusalem was spared from its enemies during those years. But, in fewer than seventy years Ephraem was conquered. (ten lost tribes) Israel was spared but those Israelites who had rejected the Davidic line of kings were destroyed and forgotten.

Then that prophecy became a prophecy of the Lord’s birth, and a remnant of Israel was saved and those who rejected Him were destroyed and fogotten in fewer than seventy years. (70 A.D.)
 
The funny thing is, I can pronounce all the names in the First Reading… it’s just going to be the “wholly” vs. “holy” that’s a problem.

I think I’m going to have to read the First Reading a little more slowly and deliberately than I’m used to… not a bad thing, of course.
 
COPLAND_3 said:
Well, how did it go? Good I hope!
Click to expand...
I think I did quite well, pacing myself and practically pronouncing the commas! 😉 Glory be to God in His saints, of course… I always pray for the intercession of the author of the Scripture I am about to proclaim (as well as the Holy Spirit).
 
japhy said:
I think I did quite well, pacing myself and practically pronouncing the commas! 😉 Glory be to God in His saints, of course… I always pray for the intercession of the author of the Scripture I am about to proclaim (as well as the Holy Spirit).
Click to expand...
Yay! 🙂
 
It sure is a relief to see lectors approach their ministry with reverence! I am glad to hear it went good!👍
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top