Homily for Institution of Lectors and Acolytes

August 12, 2023
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Deuteronomy 6:3-9
Psalm 19:8-11
Acts: 2:42-47
Luke 24:44-48

“Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly; for the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! — The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

“Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today.”

These words are the proclamation of the Word of God. They are both the Word Himself doing the proclaiming and the Word giving Himself generously to be proclaimed and understood by us through the Word’s gift of faith shared through the ministry of the lector. Faith comes to us through listening to the Word of God proclaimed.    

Actors use their voices to project their written lines to convey the story as a work of art. On the contrary, the Word of God uses the voice of the lector to proclaim Himself that the listeners might receive faith; the voice of the lector does not use the Word. The Word uses each of our voices to transmit the gift of faith by which we know the truth that cannot be discovered, but only revealed. The truth is revealed to us when we listen to the Word of God. We could not discover that God has given His own Son to suffer, to die, and to rise for us out of His unconditional love, that the Son is the Word made flesh. Rather, God reveals this to us by the proclamation of His Word. So, we institute these men as lectors, who have listened to the Word of God, have received faith, and ask that their voices and selves be given over to the Word, through listening, prayer, and proclamation.

“Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly; for the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! —  The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

“Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today.”

The Word is not just proclaimed and spoken. The Word is made flesh in Jesus Christ — and continues to be made flesh in the celebration of the Eucharist — the Eternal Sacrifice of the Mass — the celebration in which Jesus Christ uses the priest’s voice to offer sacrifice to His Father and to pray His words of consecration. They are words that we listen to and to which we respond and receive. These words are of the Word, the Gospel and offer us faith through listening, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”

The acolyte listens to this Word and receives and then gives witness to this central mystery of the Word made flesh, by offering service to the Eucharist and contemplation of the mystery of God’s unconditional love and mercy, and the nourishing of God’s Holy People with the Bread of Eternal Life — that those who receive might be transformed to be witnesses of these actions of Christ the Word made flesh: witnesses and not simply bystanders.

The ministry of lector and the ministry of acolyte lead these men more deeply towards the mystery of ordained service as a deacon in the image of Christ the Servant, who came to serve and not to be served.

“Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly; for the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! — The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today.”

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“Escucha, Israel: El Señor, nuestro Dios, es el único Señor; amarás al Señor, tu Dios, con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con todas tus fuerzas. Graba en tu corazón los mandamientos que hoy te he transmitido. Repíteselos a tus hijos y háblales de ellos cuando estés en tu casa o cuando vayas de camino; cuando te acuestes y cuando te levantes; átalos a tu mano como una señal y póntelos en la frente para recordarlos; escríbelos en los dinteles y en las puertas de tu casa.”

Escuchamos a Esto porque estas son de la Palabra de Dios. Ellos no simplemente las palabras de Moisés — las palabras de historia. La Palabra es viva y la Palabra de Dios se usa la voz del lector, el lector no se usa la Palabra como un vehículo por su voz. El lector primeramente tiene que escuchar a la Palabra y después escuchar el lector tiene que responder y decir sí a Él. Es simplemente el ministerio del lector, lo que estos hombres van a recibir hoy en esta Misa.

La Palabra no es simplemente proclamada, la Palabra es encarnado también por la acción del Espíritu. La Palabra Encarnado se usa la voz del sacerdote hacerse presente no simplemente por las palabras pero en la realidad del Pan y Vino Consagrados, la Eucaristía. Y el acólito es el ministerio de servicio de la Eucaristía, adorar el Santísimo y llevar el misterio del Pan de Vida como testigos a los débiles y hambrientos. El acólito no es simplemente un monaguillo grande, en cambio es un ministerio se revela el amor de Dios en servicio bautismal y hacerse testigos, no espectadores.

Los ministerios del lector y del acólito tiene su fuente en la escucha. “Escucha, Israel: El Señor, nuestro Dios, es el único Señor; amarás al Señor, tu Dios, con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con todas tus fuerzas. Graba en tu corazón los mandamientos que hoy te he transmitido. Repíteselos a tus hijos y háblales de ellos cuando estés en tu casa o cuando vayas de camino; cuando te acuestes y cuando te levantes; átalos a tu mano como una señal y póntelos en la frente para recordarlos; escríbelos en los dinteles y en las puertas de tu casa.”