{"id":25834,"date":"2014-07-15T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=25834"},"modified":"2015-01-16T10:02:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T17:02:04","slug":"altar-boy-top-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2014\/07\/15\/altar-boy-top-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Reasons to be an Altar Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the parish where I grew up it was understood that, upon receiving their First Holy Communion, boys were then eligible for training to become altar servers. I followed in this tradition and became an altar boy at the age of eight. Even after we changed parishes, every week I served on the altar and did so\u00a0for many years. I continued to serve regularly until after I completed university and, even then, when I was back home visiting my family I would typically don my cassock and carry a candle on Sundays.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"860\" height=\"484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6wkBzCsz20c?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">I loved being an altar server and I think that all parents should consider encouraging their sons to become altar boys. In this post I&#8217;d like to share my top ten reasons why altar serving is great&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>1. Engaged in\u00a0parish life<\/strong><br \/>\nIf your son becomes an altar server, it is much more likely that he will become more engaged with parish life. This will teach him, early on, the important lesson that to be a member of the parish means to serve that parish (in whatever\u00a0way that may be).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>2. Experiencing Fraternity<\/strong><br \/>\nBecoming an altar server will mean your son will make new friends with the other altar servers. Now, altar servers are no angels (believe me!), but having a sense of brotherhood is a positive thing, and I suppose your kids could be hanging out with a worse crowd? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>3.\u00a0Best seats in the house!<\/strong><br \/>\nAltar servers always have a really good view of the &#8220;action&#8221; at Mass. If he joins, your son\u00a0will see first hand the priest washing feet on <a title=\"Sounds like a the case of the Maundays\u2026\" href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2012\/04\/05\/sounds-like-someone-has-the-case-of-the-maundays\/\">Maundy Thursday<\/a>\u00a0because he\u00a0will be\u00a0collecting\u00a0the towels. At the elevation of the host and chalice your son\u00a0will be kneeling a few feet in front of the\u00a0Blessed Sacrament, swinging\u00a0the incenser.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\">For most\u00a0young boys, passively watching stuff happen at a distance isn&#8217;t that exciting. In fact, it&#8217;s kinda boring. However, being physically involved with what&#8217;s happening is much more interesting and is far\u00a0more likely keep their attention. This close proximity provides a wonderful\u00a0opportunity to engage with the liturgy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\">Not only will the liturgy hold their attention, if the altar servers are trained well they should be among the best liturgically-formed members of the parish. After our parish priest of many years left, all the altar servers were retrained by the new pastor, during which he\u00a0took\u00a0us\u00a0through the liturgy explaining <em>what<\/em> happens and,\u00a0more importantly, <em>why<\/em> things happen and what they <em>mean<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>4. Learning d<\/strong><b>iscipline<\/b><br \/>\nTo be an altar server requires discipline, remembering sequences and following instructions. These are good skills for any young man to develop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>5. It&#8217;s always fun when there&#8217;s fire and smoke<\/strong><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve always considered it to be a great sign of faith that the Church has altar servers. After all, you&#8217;re taking teenage boys, dressing them in long, flowing gowns and then giving them naked flames. Altar servers are in charge of the fire (candles) and smoke (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thurible\" target=\"_blank\">thurible<\/a>) at Mass and that&#8217;s, well, quite frankly, awesome.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>6.\u00a0Proximity to the sacred<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen you&#8217;re an altar server, you typically attend initial training days and often turn up early on certain feasts, such as Easter, to run\u00a0through the more complicated liturgies. Therefore, to be an altar server means that your son will spend more time in the presence of the sacred, which has to be a good thing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>7. Presents!<\/strong><br \/>\nIt is quite typical for\u00a0the altar servers to receive chocolate at Easter and Christmas, as well as on some other major feasts. At my first parish we also had occasional\u00a0group trips to the seaside. These were\u00a0some pretty sweet perks!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>8.\u00a0Words of encouragement<\/strong><br \/>\nYour son will\u00a0occasionally receive words of encouragement from other parishioners which will encourage him to take pride and care in his parish ministry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>9. Dignity &amp; Disaster<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you are an altar server, things will go wrong from time to time. Occasionally cassocks will be set of fire, vessels will be knocked over and accoutrements will be left in the wrong place etc. Your son will quickly learn the importance of remaining calm and dignified in a time of crisis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: left\"><strong>10. Proximity to priestly ministry<\/strong><br \/>\nAltar servers get to see more of priestly ministry\u00a0than the typical parishioner. They see the preparations prior to the liturgy and will most likely pray with the priest before Mass begins. Through this, your son\u00a0will get further insight into the life of a priest and this could possibly stir a vocation within him. I personally believe that if we can get the altar server guild thriving, vocations to the priesthood will follow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">So, in light of all this, I&#8217;d invite you to encourage your sons to become altar servers! I&#8217;d also encourage you to invest time and energy in the altar serving ministry of\u00a0your parish, to ensure that it is properly organized, that the altar servers are properly trained and that the group as a whole thrives.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_39692\" style=\"width: 585px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39692\" class=\"wp-image-39692 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Servers.jpg\" alt=\"Servers\" width=\"575\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Servers.jpg 575w, https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Servers-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-39692\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">No, none of these are me&#8230; The pictures of me as an altar boy are kept securely back in England!<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">My time as an altar server was\u00a0one of the things which really helped foster my early spirituality, develop my understanding of the Faith and it sowed many seeds which would bear fruit later in my life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #993300\"><em>\u201cIf any one would be first, he must be last\u00a0of\u00a0all\u00a0and\u00a0servant\u00a0of\u00a0all.\u201d<\/em> &#8211; Mark 9:35<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the parish where I grew up it was understood that, upon receiving their First Holy Communion, boys were then eligible for training to become altar servers. I followed in this tradition and became an altar boy at the age of eight. Even after we changed parishes, every week I served on the altar and did so\u00a0for many years. I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2588,2969,91,396,2695],"class_list":["post-25834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-altar-server","tag-featured","tag-liturgy","tag-priesthood","tag-son"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/altar.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25834"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53688,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25834\/revisions\/53688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}