Why are bible verses read out at Mass

[Archon]

why are bible verses read out at Mass?

 

[Nicea325]

On the contrary,the entire Mass is Biblical. Here is simply the first part: Liturgy of the Word

Greeting

Priest: In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)
People: Amen (1 Chr 16:36)
Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:13)
People: And also with you.

Liturgy of the Word

Penitential Rite

All: I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault. (Jas. 5:16) In my thoughts and in my words, (Rom. 12:16) In what I have done and what I have failed to do; (Jas 3:6) and I ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angel and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. (1 Thess 5:25)
Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. (1 John 1:9)
People: Amen (1 Chr 16:36)
All: Lord have mercy. (Tb 8:4) Christ have mercy. (1 Tim 1:2) Lord have mercy.

Gloria

All: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. (Luke 2:14)
Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, (Rev 19:6)
we worship you, (Rev. 22:9) we give you thanks, (Eph. 5:20)
we praise you for your glory. (Rev 7:12)
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, (2 John 3)
Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us; (John 1:29)
You are seated at the right hand of the Father, receive our prayer. (Rom 8:34)
For you alone are the Holy One, (Luke 4:34)
You alone are Lord, You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ. (Luke 1:32)
with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. (John 14:26)

[The Liturgy of the Word consists of four readings from Scripture: the first is typically from the Old Testament, the second a psalm, followed by a reading from one of the epistles. Finally, the Gospel is proclaimed during which the people stand out of respect for the Word. The chosen readings change daily.]

A Sermon on the readings follows.

(2 Tim 4:1-2)

Profession of Faith

All: We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, (Gen 14:19) of all that is seen and unseen. (Col 1:16) We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, (Luke 1:35) eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father. (Heb 1:3) Through him all things were made. (John 1:2-3) For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: (John 3:13) by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, (Matt 1:18) and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, (John 19:16) he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15:3-4) He ascended into heaven (Luke 24:51) and is seated at the right hand of the Father. (Col 3:1) He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1) and his kingdom will have no end. (Luke 1:33) We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, (Acts 2:17) who proceeds from the Father and the Son. (John 14:16) With the Father and Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. (1 Peter 1:10-11) We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. (Rom 12:5) We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2:38) We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. (Rom 6:5) Amen

 

[ConstantineTG]

In the Liturgy of the Word, we are fed with the word of Christ
In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are fed with the body and blood of Christ

 

[Hiskid1973]

Think what you would have been hearing Paul preach…He preached so long people fell asleep and fell out windows…What else would you want to hear ?

 

[Todd_Easton]

Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. (1 Timothy 4:13)

Could you please rephrase your question? I am not sure I understand what you are asking.

Are you asking, Why are they read out loud by a lector or priest or deacon as opposed to being read silently by each member of the congregation?

The public reading of Sacred Scripture might seem unnecessary today with our high literacy rates and the wide availability of printed Bibles but that was not the case for most of Christian history, when most people were illiterate and when Bibles had to be hand-copied and were very scarce and Mass was the only place most people could go to hear Sacred Scripture.

 

[Archon]

Please feel free to discredit my thread. I suffer from a form of schizophrenia diagnosed which meant I asked this in my illness not in openess so sorry if I cause any embarasment.

 

[TimothyH]

Think what you would have been hearing Paul preach…He preached so long people fell asleep and fell out windows…What else would you want to hear ?

I forgot about that. Guy’s name was Eutychus. Dude dozed off and fell right out of the open window and died “as Paul talked on and on” in Acts 20. Paul threw himself on the guy’s body and declared that he was alive, then went upstairs and celebrated the Eucharist, and then went right on talking some more, all night in fact, until dawn.

But the guy was alive the next morning. Talk about faith!

I like your posts, and had to laugh at this one, thinking about how I can’t even sit through a 20 minute homily and want to shoot myslef in the head depending on who is preaching.

-Tim-

 

[anruari]

On the contrary,the entire Mass is Biblical. Here is simply the first part: Liturgy of the Word

Greeting

Priest: In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)
People: Amen (1 Chr 16:36)
Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:13)
People: And also with you.

Liturgy of the Word
(shortened)

I would point out: And Also with You, is one of the few places you omitted to insert a reference. This is because it is a mis-translation from Et cum Spirito tuo (And with your spirit). the new translation fixes this. Comes from Gal 6:18 or several other places such as philipians, Timothy or Philemon.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist, similarly can be analyses with a vast part being taken from the bible. - however with 4 Eucharistc Prayers and so many prefaces to choose from it’s a huge task to provide all the cross references.

 

[Hiskid1973]

I like your posts, and had to laugh at this one, thinking about how I can’t even sit through a 20 minute homily and want to shoot myslef in the head depending on who is preaching.
-Tim-

Is it that bad… . I’m sorta spoiled with good preaching that inspires you to go deeper in Christ. He brings in greek and the early fathers plus historical like Josephus…He gets on a roll and joke about people needing to go eat and keeps going…people are free to leave…God bless you real good beloved of our Lord. 20 min.
is the minimum for him

 

[Amiciel]

The practice of reading biblical texts during the Mass, specifically during the Liturgy of the Word, originates in Jewish Prayer (CCC 1096). The readings at Mass seek to make us aware of Sacred Scripture which 2Tim 3:16 tells us is inspired by God and is meant for our instruction and training. And St. Jerome also tells us that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” For our spiritual life to grow as it should, we need to be acquainted with Jesus Christ. Thus, our need to be acquainted with Sacred Scripture.

More thoughts on this from link:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=8428886#post8428886

 

[Crumpy]

why are bible verses read out at Mass?

The earliest documents in the church indicate this is what was done in the earliest versions of the Mass.