“Thanks be to God”

My little boy has been programmed to mutter ‘Thanks be to God’ almost automatically. You see, whenever I practice my lectoring, I will read out loud and ended with ‘The Word of the Lord’. Whenever he heard that, he will replied with ‘Thanks be to God’. Sometimes, when he is outside my bedroom, in the living room, he would say it too, much to my amusement.

Then, he will grumbled, “Mommy…why can’t you say that yourself?” I told him, “Because mommy read it, so someone has to reply that they heard it.” He insisted, “But I don’t want to say it!” Actually, I didn’t ask him to respond hahahaha but he just did it out of habit. Lucky I only have lector’s duty like once a month or else, he will forever clamped up at the mention of ‘The Word of the Lord.’

Anyway, I make discovery every time I go through the readings. For example, in the last Sunday, which is the second Sunday of Advent and this Sunday, which is Gaudete Sunday, the readings of the Gospel are similar. One is from Gospel of Mark and the other Gospel of John.

In both Gospels, the birth of Jesus has been foretold since the times of Isaiah (which is almost 4,000 years ago). The prophet Isaiah already knew that God will send someone to lead the way in the wilderness. So, it is such an awesome and blessed opportunity to be able to read the passages from Isaiah, proclaiming the arrival of someone to our world.

Isiah 61:1-2a

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.

I praise and thank God for His gift. Being a lector is truly a blessing and God’s gift to me. I firmly hold to His Word :

God has called you and He will not fail you. (Letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 24)

And truly, God has not failed me because I know I am not able to be a lector just on my own will. But I managed somehow because I truly believe I won’t do too badly if I keep having faith in Jesus to prod me, calm the butterflies in the stomach, stop the quivering in my voice and give me the ability to tell the congregation the Word of the Lord. Like Father FA reminded us, the lector ministry is a very important one because we lectors must prepare the congregation well in order for them to hear the Word of God when the priest break the Word to them.