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Lectionary, The Season of Pentecost

© Tim Zingale

This month I would like to look at two different items.

The use of the Lectionary and then the season of Pentecost. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Lectionary started as early at the second century. In practice the term Lectionary is used to denote one of two things: (1) the book containing the collection of Scriptural readings which are chanted by the deacon, subdeacon, or a lector during Mass; (2) any book from which the readings were taken which are read aloud in the Office of Matins.

The Lectionaries are important to individual church groups as they The Lectionaries are, of course, the service books of the church, containing the appointed readings ("lections") for each day of the church year. These readings of the appointed text are important as an attempt is made to cover all the relevant theology of the church. If a pastor uses the Lectionary for preaching, he/she is assured to have preached on all the important topics of the church.

In the early church, the lector would start reading in either the epistles or the gospel and stop when the presiding minister would request it. This practice was replaced by a book which consisted not of entire narratives, but only of extracts arranged according to feasts, and made expressly to be read in the service. In the early centuries the Scriptural passages to be read at Mass, whether taken from the Gospels, the Epistles, or the Old Testament. Gregory then combined these different readings into one Lectionary which then had appointed reading from the Old Testament, the Epistles, and the from one of the Gospels. In latter years, the practice of rotating the gospels on a three year cycle came into being. This year, our reading is from the Gospel of Mark and is called Lectionary B.

The season of Pentecost is the longest season of the church year. The church year begin with the first Sunday of Advent and ends with Christ the King Sunday.

The season of Pentecost covers the time from the end of Easter until Advent. It is the longest season of the year covering anywhere from 5 to 6 months of the church year. It is sometimes referred to as the season of "ordinary time". Pentecost is a time of praise, of fellowship, and of spiritual renewal, as each Christian draws the Spirit into himself or herself with every breath.

The Season of Pentecost is the Season is which Christians develop their relationship with the risen Christ. Festival Days during Pentecost include the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Trinity, Reformation Day, All Saints' Day, and Christ the King.