The major difference between a “reading” and a “proclamation” in liturgy involves the degree to which the person proclaiming a Scripture passage is personally involved with the passage. By that we mean how much the proclaimer is investing in who they are, what they believe, and how they understand the passage in their effort to proclaim the message in the passage. In short, the significance the passage has for the proclaimer is reflected in the way the lector “proclaims” the passage to his or her fellow disciples.

We hope you enjoy our web site and that it helps you to proclaim the Word more effectively!

Audio versions of proclamations are being added
We have added as a feature of our site recordings of actual lectors delivering their proclamations of Scripture at a given weekend liturgy!  We hope you’ll understand and accept the background noises in our recordings — present at any liturgy:  babies crying, people coughing, heals clicking on the sanctuary floor, etc.   We are not professional sound recording experts!  Occasionally, some recordings will not be available but we are working to add them as soon as they are available to us.

Hearing what a proclamation sounds like can be very useful to you as you prepare to present your own proclamation of the passage.  Most of us have never had the experience of hearing our own  recorded   voice.  You may well change your approach to it as a result of what you hear!  Listen to the recording you are interested in.  Evaluate it in terms of what you think you sound like.  Then, practice your proclamation until you are satisfied that it has the qualities you liked in the recording as well as avoided the things you didn’t like in the recording.  Record yourself whenever possible.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised as well as prodded to make changes in what you “thought” was  an effective proclamation.

Directions for accessing either the printed or recorded version of the readings are on the Season’s page.  Just click on the icon for the version of the proclamation you are interested in viewing or listening to.  Since there is a difference between men and women and how they proclaim we will endeavor to include both female and male versions of each proclamation (except the Gospel).

Please let us know what you like or don’t like about this new approach as well as how helpful it is to you.  Use the CONTACT TAB or email us at:  gene@lectorsproclaim.org