Today was the second Sunday of the month, which means I interpreted at Mass this morning.

My normal routine is to review the readings for the day, plus certain other prayers that change every week, in the missalette prior to the Mass. That way, I won't be caught by surprise by a word or a phrase that takes some extra time to decide how to interpret clearly.

The Church has a three-year cycle, with different readings for each day for year A, year B, and year C. However, in the Lectionary, ALL the readings for a given day are grouped together. For example, today was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The readings for year A, year B, and year C for this feast day are all printed together, one after the other.

I guess this was destined to happen to me eventually, that at some point in time I was going to encounter a lector who READ THE WRONG READINGS for the day. I know I reviewed the correct readings ahead of time, because unlike the Lectionary, my missalette only HAS this year's readings in it. Oh well... I've been doing this for about 6 years now, so instead of being surprised that we had a mixup today, I guess I should be surprised that I didn't experience this sort of thing sooner. In any event, instead of interpreting the readings that I'd practiced ahead of time (including at the breakfast table this morning -- I really need to stop doing that, because one of these days I'm bound to overturn my coffee mug), I had to wing it and just interpret whatever I heard. Normally, the only time I have to do THAT is during the homily, because I'm able to practice the rest of the Mass ahead of time.

Oh, well. It all turned out OK eventually, but aiee, I could do without this sort of surprise.

Here's hoping that the Eagles win their first playoff game of the season. It makes the parking around here a royal pain when the Eagles have a home game, but heck, they're OUR team and I'm rooting for them.