Pericope is a bounded passage of Sacred Scripture selected for reading or proclamation as a unit, especially a passage assigned by an approved lectionary to a particular liturgical celebration.
A passage made intelligible as a liturgical unit
Pericope comes from a Greek word for a cutting around and names a continuous or occasionally composite selection read as one unit. In Catholic liturgy the Roman Lectionary determines the opening and closing verses, approved omissions, incipit, conclusion, and assigned day. A pericope is therefore not whatever span a preacher happens to quote, although biblical scholarship also uses the word for coherent passages outside liturgy.
The liturgical boundary does not claim that surrounding verses are unimportant or uninspired. Scripture belongs to canonical books whose arguments, narratives, genres, and historical settings exceed any one proclamation. The Church selects passages so that the mysteries of Christ and the breadth of the biblical treasury are proclaimed through ordered cycles; exegesis must still read each passage within its literary and canonical context.[1]
Assigned boundaries and approved omissions
A Lectionary citation can join nonconsecutive verses or omit material for a stated liturgical form. Those editorial boundaries belong to the approved book and may not be enlarged, shortened, or repaired privately at the ambo. Where the Lectionary prints a long and a short form, each is an authorized pericope with its own beginning and ending rather than an invitation to improvise a middle length.
Relationship to the biblical book
A liturgical pericope retains the sense of its inspired book even when juxtaposed with another reading. Typology and liturgical association can disclose a real unity in God's plan without erasing the literal sense of either text. Study Bibles, homilies, and catechesis should identify omitted context when it materially affects understanding rather than insinuating that the Lectionary has rewritten Scripture.
Place within the Roman Lectionary
Sunday, weekday, sanctoral, ritual, votive, various-needs, and Masses-for-the-Dead sections organize pericopes differently. Some readings are proper and required; some belong to a Common; some permit choice; and ordinary cycles proceed semi-continuously. Calendar rank and ritual context must be established before a reader assumes which pericope belongs to a civil date.
The Lectionary also supplies the responsorial psalm, Gospel acclamation, ritual headings, and approved liturgical forms. The Book of the Gospels contains Gospel pericopes for solemn proclamation, while the Missal normally does not function as the current complete Lectionary. A parish leaflet can reproduce a passage but does not acquire the liturgical book's authority merely through accurate copying.[2]
Citation and proclamation
A precise citation names the biblical verses and the liturgical occasion or Lectionary number when the assignment is relevant. Verse numbers alone may hide an approved omission or alternative form; a Lectionary number alone may obscure the scriptural context. Both can be supplied without treating the liturgical apparatus as part of the inspired wording.
The reader proclaims the pericope as received, using the approved translation, incipit, and conclusion. Pronunciation and phrasing should reveal its sense without theatrical rewriting. The homily interprets the proclaimed texts within the faith of the Church, but pastoral difficulty does not authorize substitution with a friendlier passage, devotional text, testimony, or paraphrase.[3]
References
- 1.Sacrosanctum Concilium — Vatican II's constitution on the liturgy, Scripture in worship, competent authority, active participation, the liturgical year, and the prohibition of private alteration
- 2.Decree promulgating the Latin typical edition of the Lectionary — The Congregation for Divine Worship's promulgation of the complete Latin Lectionarium Missalis Romani as the typical edition embodying the Ordo Lectionum Missae
- 3.General Instruction of the Roman Missal — The confirmed English edition of the Roman Missal's general instruction governing the structure, texts, choices, ministers, gestures, and pastoral celebration of Mass