“Sound familiar?” is what I’m always tempted to ask after the readings on Holy Days, such as Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. The nature of the ritual involves repetition. The liturgical year is arranged the same way each year (with minor adjustments from year to year), but we can safely say Advent always comes before Christmas and Lent before Easter. There is an extended season of Christmas after Christmas Day; likewise, an extended time of Easter follows Easter Sunday. The lectionary, the book that contains the readings we hear at Mass, assigns particular readings to every day of the year. Although the priest has some discretion to choose other readings within limited circumstances, we often hear the same readings from year to year, every other year, or every three years.

The readings that are assigned in the lectionary for weekday Masses are arranged in a 2-year cycle: Years I and II. The readings that are assigned to Sunday Masses (and Saturday Masses of anticipation) are arranged in a 3-year cycle: Years A, B, and C. On certain Holy Days of Obligation such as Christmas Day and Easter Sunday — because of their importance to the Catholic faith — the same readings are assigned every year. We will hear the story of Jesus’s birth on Christmas morning and the story of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Currently, in July 2023, we are in Year A/Year I.

Notice that I used the term “cycle” above. Oftentimes, we think of the liturgical year or the cycle of readings in a circular way; they repeat after a certain duration, and we’re back to where we began one, two, or three years ago. But the liturgical year and the cycle of readings can be better thought of in terms of a spiral. There’s a circular motion in a spiral, but the design of the spiral never returns to the original point. This is a better description of the liturgical year and the cycle of readings. Even though the readings repeat from year to year, you and I are different than we were the last time we encountered particular words from Scripture, and we might hear those words of Scripture very differently than before. I hear the Christmas story and the Resurrection story differently than I did three years ago, 10 years ago, or 50 years ago. My life experiences have changed me, and hopefully, my faith life has deepened. So even though the Church will not surprise you with a different passage of Scripture read on Pentecost Sunday, and you will hear the story about the Holy Spirit coming to the Apostles, you may be surprised by what God says to you in the hearing of that same Pentecost story this year.

Listen carefully, then, to the readings proclaimed in Scripture. Listen as if you’re hearing those readings for the first time. Let your life experiences interact with the Holy Word of God, and in that space of interaction, allow the Holy Spirit to enter and communicate what God needs to communicate to you. You may be surprised at how unfamiliar, new, and exciting the story seems to you.

— Josh Perry is director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Burlington.

—Originally published in the July 1-7, 2023, edition of The Inland See.