LECTOR PROCEDURES PRIOR PREPARATION
Please be sure to spend some time going over the upcoming Readings, making sure you feel comfortable with the pronunciation of all words and names, and reflecting on the Scriptures. Read the commentary in the Lector Workbook, as well as the helpful hints on where to place emphasis and pauses. Practice reading aloud several times. There is quite a difference between reading something silently, and reading aloud. Please remember that you are proclaiming the Word, and not doing a dramatic presentation. Your reading should be clear, loud enough to be heard by all, and read at a normal pace…reading too slowly and pausing too often is just as distracting as speed-reading or mumbling through certain sentences.
IMMEDIATE PREPARATION
Arrive early for Mass. Sign in by your name (or by the name of the person you are substituting for) on the list on the Ambo outside the Acolyte oom. Familiarize yourself with the Prayers of the Faithful (hanging on the same bulletin board). When there is a deacon, he will read the Prayers of the Faithful.
Go to the Lectionary on the Ambo to be sure it is open to the proper readings.
HOSPITALITY
After you have looked over your readings, etc., go to the narthex to join the EM’s, and greet the people as they enter the church.
ENTRANCE
When Mass is ready to begin, you will join the entrance procession and will take your place in front of the deacon and priest.
When there is no deacon, you will carry the Book of the Gospels in the entrance procession (depending on the celebrant). The Book can be found in the priest’s vesting room - knock on the door and ask Father for the Book (depending on the Mass, the Book of the Gospels may be on the small counter below the Ambry where the Holy Oils are kept, just behind the Baptismal Font). When you get to the altar platform, do not bow…simply walk up the steps and around the altar, facing the congregation, and place the Book in the clear holder on the altar; then bow to the book, and proceed to your seat. It is preferred that you sit in one of the center sections near the front so you can approach the ambo from the middle of the church.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
As you come forward for the Readings, stop at the foot of the altar platform, center, and bow before you proceed to the ambo. Be sure to approach the ambo from the front, not from the side steps by the organ.
After the First Reading, be seated on the bench cushion behind the ambo (please do not lean back on the brick).
After the Responsorial Psalm has been prayed, step forward and proclaim the
Second Reading. After you have finished the Second Reading, close the Lectionary and place it on the shelf in the ambo, under the binder.
When leaving the altar platform, turn to your right and go down the steps (toward the organ) and then return to your seat. It is not necessary to bow again, at any time during the Mass, at the front of the altar, including when/if you approach to read the Prayers of the Faithful.
PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
If there is no deacon, you will read the Prayers of the Faithful. If you do not want to sing ‘Let us pray to the Lord,’ the words may be read.
In order to eliminate a long pause before you begin the Prayers, please walk to the ambo when we get to the words “WE BELIEVE IN ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH…” during the Creed. This way, you will be ready to begin the Prayers immediately after Father says the opening prayer.
Remain at the ambo until Father completes the Closing Prayer after the Prayers of the Faithful, and then return to your seat as you did after the Readings. Please do not walk down from the altar while Father is in the midst of the Closing Prayer.
You do not need to participate in the recessional procession.