Third Sunday of Ordinary Time – Jan 26, 2025
“Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the occasion” (Neh 8:4). When Ezra read to the people from the book of the law, he did so from a very specific place dedicated to that very act of proclaiming God’s word.
In our churches today, we also have a dedicated place for that kind of ritual action, a place revered as highly as the eucharistic altar itself.
Psalmists and homilists should, as a norm, be at the ambo when they lead the psalm or give the homily. Doing so reminds us that at both ambo and altar, Christ is present, feeding us with love.
Of this dedicated place, called the ambo, the General Introduction to the Lectionary for Mass says:
It should reflect the dignity of God’s word and be a clear reminder to the people that in the Mass the table of God’s word and of Christ’s body is placed before them. Great pains must therefore be taken, in keeping with the design of each church, over the harmonious and close relationship of the ambo with the altar. (32)
This is why the ambo is used only for the proclamation of the readings, the responsorial psalm, the Exsultet, the homily, and the universal prayer (see General Instruction on the Roman Missal, 309). It is also why psalmists and homilists should, as a norm, be at the ambo when they lead the psalm or give the homily. Doing so reminds us that at both ambo and altar, Christ is present, feeding us with love.
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