Incense Gets In Your Eyes
What is an altar server? How to become one? What is their training? What can we expect from them? So many questions have been asked by some curious people – the churchgoers. What is it that makes an altar server an altar server? He – or sometimes she, is a servant of God and His Holy Church. These questions usually come to our minds whenever we see one wearing their white robes holding a metal shaft with a candle or a cross on the end. Making their way first going to the altar as they signal the start of the Mass by ringing their fancy sanctus bell or swaying a censer giving us all a bit of the scent of the heavens, and sometimes, very minor coughing. These young guys are called Altar Servers or “Sakristan”, they are being commissioned as a volunteer of the Church to assist the priest in administering the Holy Mass. Let me share this essay tackling the very essence of these servers and how did the ministry affect them in a good or bad way.
I am an altar server for more than a decade, I started joining the ministry way back 2006, I was 12 years old then. For me, it was such a thrilling experience to be part of such an organization. I can wear the white robe called Alb which in Latin means white, symbol of my Christian and Catholic baptism. Our training is seminar-based sessions just like studying in school sitting for long hours and listening to the formator – that’s how we call our trainer. The sessions are scheduled every Saturday but it usually depends on the availability of the formator and the neophyte and it also differs with each parish. The lectures mostly composed of basic liturgical knowledge with a bit of catechism and sorts. During that period, an altar server must be able to be equipped mentally and one must know the reasons why they are doing what they are doing. The most important trait of an altar server is obedience. It is instilled in our minds
from the very beginning of our seminar – this is to ensure our obedience will never be compromised because we are taught that to be an altar server is to obey what is being commanded by the persons with ecclesial authority. We are also taught that we are the knights of the altar of Christ, mere soldiers, and warriors with soutane vested on us instead of metal armor, with thurible and candle poles being carried to the battle instead of firearms thus, this makes us a real knight in the eyes of God and the Church. For some 4 to 6 weeks, the lecture part of the training will end and the practical part will begin wherein we are trained hands-on for the actual proceedings on the chronology of the Mass. We are taught how to bow, to genuflect and to keep our hands together on the prayerful position all the time, yes, all the time. Carrying of the sacred vessels such as the Chalice and the Ciborium are also being taught during this phase of the training. We must be able to carry out the proper of the proper as our formator told us to do so. Altar servers hate distractions or become the distraction themselves. During our training, we are also trained to move as little as possible to lessen the distraction on the sanctuary because the movement equals distraction that is why as much as possible we lessen our movement. After all of the training, we finally come to our most awaited moment, the commissioning or investiture. It is the rite-of-passage for us altar servers where a Mass will be dedicated to us together with our parents holding our surplices. The priest will commission us in the parish, present us after God the people and our parents are also there to vest us the surplice to formally welcome us to the ministry of altar servers. I remember that day so vividly up until today as I am writing this essay – I am happy. I was commissioned in the Parish for more than a decade, held the highest possible position in the ministry and I also had the opportunity to share what I know to my fellow servers as the formator for quite some time. I was happy with what I am doing during my stay in the ministry. It’s as if my Sunday will never be completed without me doing the service. It helped me a lot especially in conquering my shyness and fear to be in front of an audience. Being an altar server also improves my knowledge about the religion where I belong, and the meanings of the ceremonies and rituals that are being carried out by the clergy. Being an altar server also molds me to reason in line with what I know is morally correct. However, I feel like I’m lacking something – being an altar server is not enough.
As an altar server, I can say that there are some cons and questions that keep on lingering on my mind as the time went by. I came to the point where I question many things regarding my spirituality. I know that I am already doing a good thing, which is being an altar server – but I feel that there is more to it. Here’s my honest take on what we are doing: People might think that us, servers are always in the spirit of prayer and religiosity of some sort but the reality is that we are just doing what we are told to do so, to perform our duties and to go home after. That’s it. We are not engaged in prayerful activities that much. Occasional rosary whenever we are being ordered to pray it. I came to a point where I felt like all of this is just a mandated routine romanticized by the ceremonies and rites. Altar servers are very much prone to corruption of their ideals, morals and social behaviors. I’ve been the president of the ministry for almost a decade and I admit that I was corrupted too. I enjoyed the fake power of being the man at the top of the food chain. I was blinded until I immersed myself in some other formations and those formations woke me up in the reality that there is no such power in this kind of organization but a responsibility given to you as a servant leader of the ministry, it is never a power, and it never will be. Another point is that the thing that we are doing is being more of a job with corresponding punishments per offense, yes, punishment. In our case, it is almost a totalitarian organization and only the favorite ones get the primetime schedule, the 6 o’clock evening Mass. I think that the embedded ‘obedience’ in us during our training days contributes to this point a lot, we became blind followers, blinded by how the system works – and sadly, we accepted it because we cannot do anything, it has been there ever since. The rottenness of the system will always be there until someone will attempt to break the system. Nowadays, there’s this thinking that the altar servers can sometimes be one of those people who has the worst attitude, and I can’t blame them because apparently, that’s the reality. Having said this, I argue that being an altar server is not enough to improve a person’s religiosity and spirituality holistically; they needed something more, something that will help them to be deeply in touch with the Lord.
My argument is that the ministry’s formation system must create a spiritually holistic formation system wherein the members will not only be taught how to move and to obey but also how to pray to deepen their relationship with God. In this way, there’ll be a balance between the two disciplines. They must also be trained that being placed in a position higher than the other servers doesn’t mean power but responsibility to lead. The ministry of altar servers are lacking the spirituality and this is the reality. They are conditioned that everything they’re doing is part of their job, they are also taken for granted often. I am also in the reality of the corruption of the youth’s ways of seeing things and I believe that these are inevitable especially we are in modern times and we have all the information at the tip of our hands but we cannot let these factors destroy the credibility of the ministry. Parents entrust their children
to the ministry because they do not want their children to be in the wrong hands, but the reality is the opposite, unfortunately, it is in the ministry where their children are being exposed to perversion, vices and despicable practices and yet we have the face to show up in the Mass, vested in white, acting as if we are praying in front of everyone, we are fooling ourselves and we are becoming fools forever – we are hypocrites. I am not generalizing the whole universal Church kindly understand. The Church’s dark past is something that we don’t deny but we are now living in the present times and we are the pilgrim Church, we are the ship that goes with the flow of the ever-changing time. Going back to my story, I immersed myself in other formations and also joined the youth ministry; a ministry oriented in the molding of the young people closer to the service of God. At first, it was a bit odd for me to see these young people praying and praising, I did not experience it in my stay at the ministry of altar servers. I get used to it and it helped me so much in my spirituality. I also attended the Cursillos de Cristianidad movement which helped me a lot in my prayer life and at this point, these realizations came to me: Our liturgical formations are not enough, attending the Mass is not enough, a person must be able to learn on how to fully immerse his or herself in a holistic spiritual life.
I am all aware that these arguments are near to impossible nowadays but I believe that the ministry can at least do something to lessen the effects of the said dangers to its members by recalibrating its methods and by helping the altar server to have a stronger bond with God. The formations must not only focus on the how’s but also on the why’s of our faith. An altar server is a layperson commissioned to serve the Church and to be a living statement of God’s love for us. An altar server’s symbol is already an evangelization, the vestment, the censer, the cross, the candles and all the things we see about them is a message of God’s unending love and grace for us all. We do not expect them to be perfect in every aspect of life for there is no such thing as perfect and mistakes are ought to be experienced by us because I believe that this is the essence of our being human, but we expect them to be these young people who are keeping the faith in humanity alive together with other good people whatever race, gender or religion they belong. An altar server is a statement of God’s compassion, a symbol of hope and the picture of the future Church.
I am an altar server for more than a decade, I started joining the ministry way back 2006, I was 12 years old then. For me, it was such a thrilling experience to be part of such an organization. I can wear the white robe called Alb which in Latin means white, symbol of my Christian and Catholic baptism. Our training is seminar-based sessions just like studying in school sitting for long hours and listening to the formator – that’s how we call our trainer. The sessions are scheduled every Saturday but it usually depends on the availability of the formator and the neophyte and it also differs with each parish. The lectures mostly composed of basic liturgical knowledge with a bit of catechism and sorts. During that period, an altar server must be able to be equipped mentally and one must know the reasons why they are doing what they are doing. The most important trait of an altar server is obedience. It is instilled in our minds
from the very beginning of our seminar – this is to ensure our obedience will never be compromised because we are taught that to be an altar server is to obey what is being commanded by the persons with ecclesial authority. We are also taught that we are the knights of the altar of Christ, mere soldiers, and warriors with soutane vested on us instead of metal armor, with thurible and candle poles being carried to the battle instead of firearms thus, this makes us a real knight in the eyes of God and the Church. For some 4 to 6 weeks, the lecture part of the training will end and the practical part will begin wherein we are trained hands-on for the actual proceedings on the chronology of the Mass. We are taught how to bow, to genuflect and to keep our hands together on the prayerful position all the time, yes, all the time. Carrying of the sacred vessels such as the Chalice and the Ciborium are also being taught during this phase of the training. We must be able to carry out the proper of the proper as our formator told us to do so. Altar servers hate distractions or become the distraction themselves. During our training, we are also trained to move as little as possible to lessen the distraction on the sanctuary because the movement equals distraction that is why as much as possible we lessen our movement. After all of the training, we finally come to our most awaited moment, the commissioning or investiture. It is the rite-of-passage for us altar servers where a Mass will be dedicated to us together with our parents holding our surplices. The priest will commission us in the parish, present us after God the people and our parents are also there to vest us the surplice to formally welcome us to the ministry of altar servers. I remember that day so vividly up until today as I am writing this essay – I am happy. I was commissioned in the Parish for more than a decade, held the highest possible position in the ministry and I also had the opportunity to share what I know to my fellow servers as the formator for quite some time. I was happy with what I am doing during my stay in the ministry. It’s as if my Sunday will never be completed without me doing the service. It helped me a lot especially in conquering my shyness and fear to be in front of an audience. Being an altar server also improves my knowledge about the religion where I belong, and the meanings of the ceremonies and rituals that are being carried out by the clergy. Being an altar server also molds me to reason in line with what I know is morally correct. However, I feel like I’m lacking something – being an altar server is not enough.
As an altar server, I can say that there are some cons and questions that keep on lingering on my mind as the time went by. I came to the point where I question many things regarding my spirituality. I know that I am already doing a good thing, which is being an altar server – but I feel that there is more to it. Here’s my honest take on what we are doing: People might think that us, servers are always in the spirit of prayer and religiosity of some sort but the reality is that we are just doing what we are told to do so, to perform our duties and to go home after. That’s it. We are not engaged in prayerful activities that much. Occasional rosary whenever we are being ordered to pray it. I came to a point where I felt like all of this is just a mandated routine romanticized by the ceremonies and rites. Altar servers are very much prone to corruption of their ideals, morals and social behaviors. I’ve been the president of the ministry for almost a decade and I admit that I was corrupted too. I enjoyed the fake power of being the man at the top of the food chain. I was blinded until I immersed myself in some other formations and those formations woke me up in the reality that there is no such power in this kind of organization but a responsibility given to you as a servant leader of the ministry, it is never a power, and it never will be. Another point is that the thing that we are doing is being more of a job with corresponding punishments per offense, yes, punishment. In our case, it is almost a totalitarian organization and only the favorite ones get the primetime schedule, the 6 o’clock evening Mass. I think that the embedded ‘obedience’ in us during our training days contributes to this point a lot, we became blind followers, blinded by how the system works – and sadly, we accepted it because we cannot do anything, it has been there ever since. The rottenness of the system will always be there until someone will attempt to break the system. Nowadays, there’s this thinking that the altar servers can sometimes be one of those people who has the worst attitude, and I can’t blame them because apparently, that’s the reality. Having said this, I argue that being an altar server is not enough to improve a person’s religiosity and spirituality holistically; they needed something more, something that will help them to be deeply in touch with the Lord.
My argument is that the ministry’s formation system must create a spiritually holistic formation system wherein the members will not only be taught how to move and to obey but also how to pray to deepen their relationship with God. In this way, there’ll be a balance between the two disciplines. They must also be trained that being placed in a position higher than the other servers doesn’t mean power but responsibility to lead. The ministry of altar servers are lacking the spirituality and this is the reality. They are conditioned that everything they’re doing is part of their job, they are also taken for granted often. I am also in the reality of the corruption of the youth’s ways of seeing things and I believe that these are inevitable especially we are in modern times and we have all the information at the tip of our hands but we cannot let these factors destroy the credibility of the ministry. Parents entrust their children
to the ministry because they do not want their children to be in the wrong hands, but the reality is the opposite, unfortunately, it is in the ministry where their children are being exposed to perversion, vices and despicable practices and yet we have the face to show up in the Mass, vested in white, acting as if we are praying in front of everyone, we are fooling ourselves and we are becoming fools forever – we are hypocrites. I am not generalizing the whole universal Church kindly understand. The Church’s dark past is something that we don’t deny but we are now living in the present times and we are the pilgrim Church, we are the ship that goes with the flow of the ever-changing time. Going back to my story, I immersed myself in other formations and also joined the youth ministry; a ministry oriented in the molding of the young people closer to the service of God. At first, it was a bit odd for me to see these young people praying and praising, I did not experience it in my stay at the ministry of altar servers. I get used to it and it helped me so much in my spirituality. I also attended the Cursillos de Cristianidad movement which helped me a lot in my prayer life and at this point, these realizations came to me: Our liturgical formations are not enough, attending the Mass is not enough, a person must be able to learn on how to fully immerse his or herself in a holistic spiritual life.
I am all aware that these arguments are near to impossible nowadays but I believe that the ministry can at least do something to lessen the effects of the said dangers to its members by recalibrating its methods and by helping the altar server to have a stronger bond with God. The formations must not only focus on the how’s but also on the why’s of our faith. An altar server is a layperson commissioned to serve the Church and to be a living statement of God’s love for us. An altar server’s symbol is already an evangelization, the vestment, the censer, the cross, the candles and all the things we see about them is a message of God’s unending love and grace for us all. We do not expect them to be perfect in every aspect of life for there is no such thing as perfect and mistakes are ought to be experienced by us because I believe that this is the essence of our being human, but we expect them to be these young people who are keeping the faith in humanity alive together with other good people whatever race, gender or religion they belong. An altar server is a statement of God’s compassion, a symbol of hope and the picture of the future Church.
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