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Formed in Christ

Friday, September 19, 2025Faith

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Generally, it is safer to state that the Sunday readings cannot be changed by anyone except the Roman Pontiff.

A few weeks ago, a call came to my desk not intentionally related to this column. After greeting each other, the caller asked me "Can the priest change the readings at Mass?" I answered, "It depends." Then an explanation probably with more details than the caller expected followed. The caller told me that "I use Magnificat and so I notice the difference."
Keeping in mind that the basic framework of these columns is about the Sunday Parish Mass, in case you are wondering along with that caller, here is an answer: It depends.
Generally, it is safer to state that the Sunday readings cannot be changed by anyone except the Roman Pontiff. And there is only one of them, and he is not the local bishop, the pastor of the parish, or the author of a weekly column.
There is a greater degree of latitude for weekdays, but even then, it is limited.
The "no exception" applies to regularly scheduled parish Masses, called Masses of Obligation, on all Sundays, with some very little wiggle room for the Sundays in Ordinary Time -- the green ones. There is no wiggle room for the Sundays of Advent and Christmas, Lent or Easter.
And, of course, when a reading is permitted to be replaced, it cannot be replaced by anything other than a reading from the Holy Bible, and more precisely from the selections in the Lectionary for Mass.

On Sundays, the entire liturgy is of one piece. The readings and prayers of the Mass were assembled and are related to each other. Sometimes this is obvious, and sometimes it would take more than a little bit of liturgical (some might say archeological) digging to get the connections, but they are there.
Each Sunday has three biblical readings, four if you count the Psalm or canticle between the first and second readings. Most often, the first reading, usually from the Old Testament, is lined up with the Gospel reading. The compilers took an incredible amount of care and were even more astonishingly familiar with the entire Bible when they were tasked by the Second Vatican Council to provide this greater exposure, or as the Council says, "richer fare" for us.
As hinted last week, the Sunday readings are arranged in a three-year cycle with one of the three synoptic Gospels -- Matthew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. The first reading will be from an Old Testament book, and it and the Gospel will kind of echo each other.
The second reading almost always seems like an orphan, as it is rarely related to the first or the Gospel reading.
This can provide the preacher with more options, as he could choose to preach about the second reading. More on that when we get to the column about the second reading in a few weeks.
Each reading should also have its own minister. If possible, there should be a different reader for the first and the second readings, there should be a cantor or psalmist for the Psalm or canticle between those two readings, and either the deacon or priest should proclaim the Gospel.
Each of those ministers should have prepared the reading for that week well in advance of the proclamation. The preparation should include the technical or public speaking aspect, as well as the spiritual aspect, which conveys to the rest of the assembly that the reader believes the text and wants to have you hear and believe it as well.
On some more solemn Sundays (e.g., Easter time) or on solemnities of obligation (e.g., Christmas), the one who proclaims the Gospel might even chant it. This takes a lot of preparation, and not every deacon or priest can do this. But if the parish is blessed with a deacon or priest with such gifts, his chanting of the Gospel a few times each year can add beauty to the entire celebration.
All the readings, including the Psalm, are to be proclaimed from the ambo. Other than the homily and the general intercessions or the universal prayer, the ambo is used for nothing other than God's word.
The sacred texts should be proclaimed from the Lectionary and not from a Bible, and less from a "worship aid" (e.g., a Missalette) or even more to be reprobated from typed or transcribed pages.
Jesuit Father Felix Just has made available a lifetime of work detailing his love of "the sacred page" as the Bible may rightly be called. His website has a wealth of information about our Lectionary and other biblical information. Bookmark: catholic-resources.org/Lectionary.