Consuming the Word: The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church by Scott Hahn

Author:Scott Hahn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Catholicism, New Testament, Christianity, Religion, Biblical Studies, Worship
ISBN: 9780307590824
Publisher: Image
Published: 2013-05-28T04:00:00+00:00

The lectionary we currently use was published in 1969, but it draws upon millennia of refinement, the wisdom of the sages of ancient Israel and the saints of the Church. It assigns readings over the course of three years. Year A uses the Gospel According to Matthew, Year B uses Mark, and Year C uses Luke. Certain key passages from John—for example, Jesus’s Bread of Life Discourse—are read on prescribed Sundays every year. John is also used frequently on feast days and throughout Lent, and to fill gaps left by the other Gospels, especially in Year B, since Mark’s Gospel is very short.

So there are at least three hundred and sixty-five sets of liturgical readings every year. (Many days also have optional readings, for feasts of the saints.) There are four readings each Sunday and holy day: usually, a reading from the Old Testament, a Psalm, a reading from the New Testament books other than the Gospels (Acts, letters, Apocalypse), and, finally, a reading from the Gospel. By including books from both the Old and New Testaments, thematically coordinated, the Church ensures that we are always reading the New in light of the Old, and the Old in light of the New.

There is a world of difference between this system and what my congregations knew when I was a Protestant pastor. A priest who celebrates Mass daily is required to proclaim much of the Bible in the course of a three-year cycle. Catholics who attend daily Mass will hear much of the Bible read and preached again and again over the course of a lifetime. Those who attend every Sunday and holy day, which is the minimum the Church requires, will be sure to hear the most important passages repeated regularly.

The Catholic approach to Scripture is precisely opposite to the approach I used as a Protestant. In the Catholic Church today, as in the ancient Church, the readings are prescribed to suit the day, and the preaching should follow from the readings.

In fact, the Catholic schema proved so effective in communicating the Word of God that it was subsequently adapted by many Protestant bodies. It follows the earlier Catholic lectionary fairly closely, and it is used by congregations from a wide variety of traditions, from Anglican and Methodist to Presbyterian and Baptist. Historians may one day rank the 1969 lectionary as the most significant ecumenical advance of the twentieth century. Christians formerly divided from one another are now united on Sunday, at least in the readings they use in worship.

Since the lectionary itself is held in common by a growing number of Christians, Catholics and Protestants may find, more often than before, that they are “on the same page.”

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