It has been a great week to be on Pope watch. Our Holy Father Francis has been giving us much food for thought this past week and I would like to touch on a very particular matter, which as a parish priest, is of upmost importance to our faith and our evangelization of the world. The subject is altar servers.

Pope Francis hosted several hundred altar servers from Germany this past week and he gave them a wonderful talk. Why is this so important especially in the evangelization efforts of our community? We can ask the question and give the answer by observing our servers this Sunday, not in a hypercritical way but in asking the questions: what they are doing? Why are they doing this duty? Do they look like evangelizers?

1. They are serving Jesus through the community. Do you think that our altar servers would say that in answer to the question? But that is what they are doing. They are offering their time to God to serve His son, Jesus, by assisting in the sacrifice of the Mass. This is a great and important service. Serving God means knowing God and taking time with him in prayer and preparation for the Mass. It is a challenge to the parish, the parents and the servers to seek moments of preparation before Mass so that we can all be attentive to what is occurring within the Mass and how we are transformed in the work of the Mass.
2. The why’s of life are so very important. If we don’t know the reason we are serving God, then how can we be joyful and sincere in our service of others in our call to Christian love. This is what Pope Francis said to them, “It is important to realize that being close to Jesus and knowing him in the Eucharist through your service at the altar, enables you to open yourselves to others, to journey together, to set demanding goals and to find the strength to achieve them. It is a source of real joy to recognize that we are small and weak, all the while knowing that, with Jesus’ help, we can be strengthened and take up the challenge of life’s great journey in his company.” The celebration of the Eucharist is vital to life as we open our hearts to serve in the name of Jesus.
3. In baptism we are all called to the prophetic vocation of proclaiming God’s word. That is a scary reality for many people, especially the young. But we cannot flinch from speaking God’s mercy and love to all people and not just in the safe places but in the challenging areas of life, such as school and activities where the name of Jesus is often only whispered and hidden from the public square. Once more our Holy Father does not hold back in challenging the altar servers, “You are called to speak of Jesus to your contemporaries, not only those within your parishes or associations, but especially to those outside.”

This Sunday and the coming weeks, take time to pray and observe the altar servers and remind yourself that we all serve at the altar of our Lord when we truly and fully celebrate Mass in communion with our Catholic faith. And while the Pope’s words may have been for a group of German altar servers they are reminders to all of us of who we are called to be.

God bless

Fr. Mark

 

The full text of the Pope’s remarks are found below, give them as a gift to a altar server near you… http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/08/04/pope_meets_with_altar_servers_in_st_peters_square/1163018