C'mon Guys! You Can Do Better!

Fr Zed looks at the mess the post-Conciliar "deform" made of the new Lectionary, focusing on the readings for today, the 19th Sunday in "Ordinary Time".

From Fr Z's Blog

This is from twitter… and I offer this with nothing but great admiration for both Matthew Hazell and the amazing Dr. Kreeft.

Firstly, this is, truly, quite funny. I think it is hilarious and refreshing that this was published.

His scriptis, humillime contra respondeo exarens….

I don’t comment much on the Novus Ordo readings these days. However, I went to look at the readings for this 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time year C and found that the Gospel is Luke 12:32-48, which includes an admonition about almsgiving (which is also appropriate for a Jubilee year) and then a parable about the servants waiting for their master to return from a marriage feast: if they are ready, the master will gird himself and serve them. Also, if the master knew when the thief was coming, he’d make ready. Of course this is about the Second Coming (or maybe also our moment of going to the Judge in death). But this section of the pericope also has an allusion to Passover: ““Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning,…” (v. 35). Then there is a dialogue with Peter and Lord adds additional parables which include the negative side for servants who are not ready or who take advantage of the master’s absence. It’s a long Gospel, but in effect it is about readiness for that inevitable about which we don’t know the hour. Also, at the very beginning of the Gospel reading, there is the beautiful and consoling message from Our Savior, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Therefore, give and alms and, for all love, be ready… PLEASE! God wants us with Him. Don’t screw up.

Going back to the Old Testament reading from the Book of Wisdom 18:6-9a, we read, and this is in the tweet, what is in effect a rapid recounting of the night of the Passover before the Exodus from Egypt.

6 That night was made known beforehand to our fathers,
so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge of the oaths in which they trusted.
7 The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies
were expected by thy people.
8 For by the same means by which thou didst punish our enemies
thou didst call us to thyself and glorify us.
9a For in secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices,
and with one accord agreed to the divine law,
…

After all the plagues, God warned the people what was going to happen so that they could prepare for the night of the destroying angel.  They had to put blood on their doorposts and eat the lamb standing and with their loins girded in readiness to get outta Egyptian Dodge.

So, it isn’t really all that hard to connect the Old Testament reading and the Gospel.  In fact, the Second Reading from Hebrew about Abraham also fits in, since Abraham was ready and willing to do whatever it was that God would ask of him, including sacrificing Isaac which seemed like a contradiction of God’s promise.

Anyway, this set of readings underscores a problem with the Novus Ordo Lectionary.  First, the addition of a third Scripture reading overloads the formulary and leaves the impression that we are participating in a didactic moment rather than a time for worship and sacrifice.  Moreover, the separation of place where Scripture is read away from the altar, obscures the fact that the readings themselves should be sacrificial offering.  That’s why in the Vetus Ordo they are read by the priest at the altar!  That’s where sacrifice takes place and the priest is the one who offers it.   A second problem with the Lectionary is that the Old Testament readings are often beyond the priest’s ability to tackle, because of his poor or downright bad formation in Scripture in seminary.  I trust things are getting better.  The Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology is highly to be praised for getting priests up to speed with great scripture resources, much to their personal edification but importantly also the benefit of their flocks.

Finally, I hope you will go and click on that tweet from Matthew Hazell, because it is a chain of tweets.  He exposes the process of the cutters and pasters of the Consilium who snipped and glued the Lectionary together.  It is revelatory.  Pay attention to Hazell’s commentary along the way.  I don’t think there is anyone who has done such a thorough and objective autopsy on what happened under the aegis of the infamous Bugnini driven Consilium.