The First Reading at Catholic Mass: Why It's Usually from the Old Testament

The Liturgy of the Word opens with the First Reading, after which the reader proclaims, "The word of the Lord," and all reply, "Thanks be to God" (Order of Mass 10). In this session of The Mass Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre explains why it is usually drawn from the Old Testament and deliberately chosen to harmonize with the day's Gospel. He traces the practice to Moses, who commanded that the Law "be read before all Israel in their hearing" (Deuteronomy 31), and to Jesus, who "stood up to read" the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4) — showing that reading the Old Testament aloud in the assembly is an ancient inheritance from Israel and the synagogue (Philo; Justin Martyr). Drawing on St. Augustine, who preached on how "the first reading" from Isaiah was paired with the reading from the Apostle Paul, he shows why the Church still reads the Old Testament in the New Covenant: the two Testaments illuminate one another.

Key passages & sources examined: "The word of the Lord… Thanks be to God" (Order of Mass 10); the Law read before all Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9–13); Jesus reading Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4:16–22); the synagogue custom of "sitting and listening" (Philo, Special Laws 2.62); the office of the lector (St. Hippolytus); and St. Augustine on pairing the first reading with the Apostle (Sermon 45).