When someone says to us after our reading, "Great Job!" or "You really nailed it up there," these accolades can be dangerous to our health as a lector when we bask in them too much . . . (Read On)

In Mark 4:21-22a, Jesus asks, "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?" The ambo is that lampstand from where our hidden emotions can be made visible,

We've all heard people say, "Each time I read the same Scripture, I always get something new from it." Dig for that something new. Then convey its freshness from the depths of your heart.

One of the most striking examples of the ultimate lector is from the Book of Nehemiah, describing how the prophet Ezra's deep knowledge and dedication to the Torah resulted in a delivery so powerful that he captured the full attention of the people,

As we look out over our listeners, we should always ask ourselves, “What am I'm telling them about myself before I even say a word? What fruits of the Holy Spirit are shining through in me?

In a parish ministry of thirty-some lectors, I observed a typical bell curve pattern where a very few at the beginning were great proclaimers, another few at the far end were terrible, and all the others fell somewhere in between.

There's a tie-in with the religious practices of post-exilic Jewish priests in the Book of Malachi and the Ministry of Lector. Temple worship was out of hand and filled with abuses. Priests were offering animal sacrifices from sick and diseased stock vs. healthy unblemished "prized" lambs as their ancestors once did. They were placing defiled food on the Lord's altar. 

Fr. Lawrence Mick in his guide to participating at Mass, Worshiping Well, notes, "Many Catholics view the Liturgy of  the Word as some kind of Catholic version of Sunday School," like an educational experience instead of a spiritual one.

We may no longer see the Sunday Missal in full supply at the pews as in the old days, but there will always be those few who "must" bring their own missals to church and read along with the proclaimer, as well as those who feel they must pull the readings up on their iPhones for the same reason.

One of my great lay teachers once said that when we proclaim the readings to the people, there's a fine line between where their attention is drawn - - to God's Word or to ourselves.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light: Matthew 6:22 A sound eye is a natural eye: not one that lectors use deliberately to try to connect with the assembly. When our eye contact is forced, its pretense easily shows.

Our love and hunger for the Scriptures, our faith in Christ's presence in them, and our conscious preparation before we approach the ambo can't be acted out.