Question
Should the Lectionary or Book of the Gospels be kept on the lectern after its read or enthroned or placed somewhere else?
-- Overbooked in Ogden
Answer
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal 2002 does not give instruction for a throne or "extra" place for the Lectionary or Book of the Gospels. It states in number 309:
The dignity of the word of God requires the church to have a place that is suitable for proclamation of the word and is a natural focal point for the people during the liturgy of the word. As a rule the lectern or ambo should be stationary, not simply a movable lecturn.
Many churches are now adding a place for the Book of the Gospels. In another spot in the GIRM 2002, with a Mass with a Deacon, taking into consideration a new trend, says in 175:
[T]he deacon may carry the Book of the Gospels to the credence table or to another appropriate and dignified place.
Presumably, this "dignified place" could be a place to "enthrone" the Book of the Gospel. Another thought to remember, the word is proclaimed and both an "aural" and "oral" event. We are not focusing on the book; rather on the living Word of God "fulfilled in our hearing."