My wife and I struggle to find time to actually get out and have a date. My spiritual director constantly reminds me of the need for a husband and wife to put their vocation first, to make time for a date. For a while, that meant Friday nights were our date night, and sometimes that still works. Many times life gets in the way, and I admit that’s our fault. While going to a hospital to the ER seems to be our normal modus operandi, we wanted to try something different. So tonight when we noticed that there were no altar servers scheduled, we decided to serve together at the altar.
I think that fits in perfectly with the liturgical season and the readings for tonight. Joseph had been called to take care of Mary. The last line of the Gospel tends to speak to exactly what that means as a husband and a father. “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” That is, Joseph was told by the Lord that he needed someone to look after Mary, to look after the Mother of His Child. So he did. We don’t know much about Joseph, but we know that he was a man of faith, one who tried his best to provide for Mary and Jesus. He was a good father. A man who was willing to let go of his fear and be there.
What does that have to do with serving at the altar? Everything. We Catholics often don’t use the term “personal relationship” when talking about our faith. That’s beginning to change as people become more aware of what that really means. The reason we hesitate to use it is that we realize religion is not just personal. It’s communal. It’s a family. It’s a relationship. In altar serving, we like Joseph, lead those people in our lives toward the one person who can make a difference, the only mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. There is nothing more honorable, more powerful than humbly serving Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is the closest we as laypeople can come to being right there, to kneel at the base of the altar, at the base of the cross, as Jesus Himself consecrates the Host through the Holy Spirit. To be at the foot of calvary as Jesus says, it is finished… and this my child is just the beginning.
So as Advent comes to a close and Christmas quickly approaches, we continue to follow Mary and Joseph on their journey as they act as guides, pointing as she did at Cana to Jesus and directing us to “do whatever He tells you.” Christmas isn’t just a remembrance, it isn’t just a time of giving gifts and getting with family. The word itself reminds you that it is all about Christ’s Mass. It is about the living Word of God who became flesh 2000 years ago, coming again in our lives, in our heart, and in the Eucharist. He once came as a babe, unable to fend for himself, unable to feed or clothe himself. He placed His very body into the hands of Mary, His Mother, and entrusted His life to her.
Now, He has come again in the Mass in the form of bread… body, and blood, soul and divinity. The God of the universe has become something even more helpless, the power that creates all things rests in your hands or on your tongue. He places His life in your hands, that you might receive Him. It’s an opportunity at Mass, every single time, to allow Jesus to be born in you. To allow the Eucharist to change you into another ‘Christ’. How much more personal can you get than that?
So if you are an adult and want to altar serve, talk to your parish. Of course, we want our children to be involved, especially young men. We need Priests in the future and nothing can make them more aware of the Mass than being at the altar. The thing is children walk in the footsteps of their parents, and statistically, they follow the men more than the women. If dad takes his faith seriously, the children will. Sorry moms =/ You spend 9 months carrying them around, push them out for hours, and they come out looking and acting like us. That’s why it’s so important for both parents, especially dad, to be at Mass. To serve at Mass. To have a personal relationship with the God of the universe, and that begins with the Sacraments.
So what kind of date night are you considering? I hope we may have more like tonight. What is more romantic than a man and woman, joined by the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, kneeling before Jesus at the Mass. Those whose job it is to help each other to get to Heaven, the ones responsible for being and bringing the domestic Church to the world, going first to Jesus before setting out 2 by 2 to witness to His love and mercy. What table more elegant, lit by candlelight with wine and a meal, than the very wedding banquet of Heaven being made present to you both as Heaven kisses Earth in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Make time for Jesus in your relationship, and everything else will fall into place.