HOW ARE THE READINGS CHOSEN FOR EACH MASS?

The biblical readings for the mass change every day, every week. But have you ever wondered how they are chosen? The readings have been organized in such a way that they go according to each liturgical season during the year: Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, special feasts…).

The Church has a large book called a lectionary, where the biblical readings are divided into three different groups or cycles for the Sundays and feasts of the year, (A reads Matthew, B reads Mark, and C reads Luke). The weekday cycle is divided into two years, Year I and Year II. Year I is read in odd-numbered years (2023, 2025, etc.) and Year II is used in even-numbered years (2022, 2024, etc.).

Each mass in the lectionary on Sundays and feasts has three readings:

• First reading: Old Testament

• Second reading: Epistles of the Apostles or Apocalypse, depending on the time

· Third reading: Gospel

The objective of this distribution is to know the main events of the history of Salvation, above all to know the message that Jesus left us. Something we can do is read in our Bible those texts that we have heard at mass, doing a broader reading to understand it better.

P. Tarcisio