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Altar servers called to bring 'beauty and grace' to liturgy
By Ambria Hammel, ahammel@catholicsun.org
November 20, 2008
It’s like being a junior priest. That’s how 11-year-old Timothy Ruane described life as an altar server.
Ruane, who serves at three Valley parishes, joined more than 60 servers — including boys, girls, teenagers and some men — at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral Nov. 1. That’s where Fr. Rob Clements, rector of the cathedral, offered a special Mass in honor of diocesan altar servers.
They hailed from at least eight different parishes and as far away as Flagstaff. Some dressed in traditional church attire, others in their parish T-shirts and still others in their albs.
Eighteen altar servers helped Fr. Clements and Fr. Jeff Harvey, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, during the Mass.
“It’s a real privilege to serve God in this way and it’s also a real honor to carry the cross,” 11-year-old Ailan Samuels said of the ministry. He made the pilgrimage to the cathedral from San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff.
Samuels, along with his 9-year-old brother, Callum, have been helping priests prepare for, celebrate and clean up after Mass for two-and-a-half years.
“People sitting in church look up at the altar and need to be brought to the Lord,” Fr. Clements told the servers during his homily.
“They need to see, hear and experience people who know what they’re doing, what they’re about. They need to see beauty and gracefulness,” he said. “That’s what good servers make possible,”
Jesus Flores, an altar server at St. Augustine Parish, agreed. He said being a role model for fellow Catholics is the best part of his ministry.
The servers know it takes time to develop the beauty and gracefulness it takes to be a good role model.
“You’re all confused,” Hector Martinez said of serving Mass for the first time three months ago at St. Augustine. “If you make a little mistake, you will be nervous.”
Mistakes are part of the process, Fr. Clements said, but stressed “that they make the responses during the Mass, that they focus their attention on the readings, on the liturgical action — that’s what’s most important.”
Michael Geraldo said he gets more out of Mass when he’s on the altar and likes leading others deeper into worship as well. An altar server has many responsibilities, but Geraldo’s favorite is ringing the bells during the high points of the liturgy.
“It makes you feel important,” Geraldo said.
The Mass for altar servers marked the first pilgrimage Mass for a special group in the diocese during the Year of St. Paul. Fr. Clements offered them a communal blessing and challenged them to carry the effects of special graces back to their own parishes.
Catherine E. Hanley in Flagstaff contributed to this story.
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