The lectionary, calendar and other revisions of the church’s prayer after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s are the work of biblical, liturgical and catechical scholars, mostly from Europe, who were taked with providing a fuller experience of the liturgy for Catholics throughout the world. It was a monumental work and we’re still absorbing it. 

The lectionary offers readings, psalms and prayers for Sundays and every day of the year. For Sundays this year we’re reading from the Gospel of Luke..

For weekdays we will  be reading from Matthew’s Gospel till the 22nd Week, then we’ll read from Luke’s Gospel. Ending the church year, we’ll read from the accounts of the last time from all the gospels. The lectionary follows this same cycle of gospel readings every year, and so following the lectionary yearly helps us become familiar with the gospels.

The first readings weekdays for ordinary time in our lectionary are arranged in a two year cycle that includes readings from the Old Testament and writings from the New Testament, especially the letters of St. Paul. For the next two weeks we will be reading from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

For myself I find following the lectionary a good way to pray. It’s a day by day way of praying. It’s a way of learning the faith seasonally instead of systematically. Year by year, day by day, it reveals the mysteries of God. It’s a school that’s open every day, not confined to a classroom or a catechism or a theology book. It’s for slow learners who forget and have to be reminded year by year. That’s most of us.

I find too that this approach also seems to offer an answer to what’s happening in daily life, in my personal life and in the big world that’s changing so fast today. Not a perfect answer, but enough to see God’s hand in it all. 

You can find the readings from the lectionary online at the website of the US Catholic bishops. www.usccb.org   I usually link to the readings in this blog, which follows the lectionary.