Among all the ministers, the readers hold a very important position. The readers are entrusted with the ministry of proclaiming the Word to the listening assembly. As they do so, an active transformation takes place. The Scriptures become the living Word that is addressed to a particular group of people. This spoken Word forms the hearers into a chosen people, an assembly.
The proclamation of the Word of God in the assembly is an act of Christ, through the mediation of the Church. It can be said that the proclamation of the Word is a sacramental sign, in the sense that "Christ is present in his Word, since it is himself who speaks when the Holy Scriptures are read in the Church" (SC, 7). It is the actual liturgical proclamation that counts, and this is done thanks to the ministry of the readers who give God their voice and make the Scripture resound in the assembly.
Readers are to be fully initiated (having received the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation), and be practicing Catholics who have, by their actual Christian living, shown that they have taken their faith seriously.
