# 26 — READING AS A LECTOR
Serving as a Lector at church has been a great blessing and, honestly, a surprising challenge. It is much more than simply reading aloud the text in front of oneself; the duty is proclaiming the Word of God from the heart. I love it when I come across a difficult passage of Scripture, such as this one: a reading from the First Letter of Saint Peter, which I proclaimed at Mass yesterday. As I practice reading it, I discover that the lack of punctuation actually renders the text difficult to understand. This roadblock invites me to slow down with the reading, patiently try to understand it, and ultimately internalize it. Although, I will admit, it is somehow fun annotating the text and adding my own punctuation — not simply to help me read later, but to also help me see the big picture. I deconstruct the text by circling words that precede interchangeable phrases and putting brackets around prepositional phrases. Like a Christmas tree that is merely a tree without lights and ornaments, so too is a passage of literature that is devoid of its complex beauty when the text is stripped of important contextual words and phrases. Scripture, when seemingly intimidating, just draws me closer to see the meaning behind it all and to discover the Divine Author through His Word.
A reading from the first Letter of Saint Peter (1 Peter 1:10-16):
“Beloved: Concerning the salvation of your souls the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and investigated it investigating the time and circumstances that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories to follow them. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you with regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who preached the Good News to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels longed to look.
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.”