WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.

Pope Leo XIV Inspires Love For Jesus In The Sacred Liturgy

-

For those of us who are privileged to serve in the sanctuary, to serve Jesus and his priest, the recent words of Pope Leo resonate deeply.

Being so close to the sacred actions of Liturgy, how can we not be completely captivated by the Lord? Is the opportunity to serve in the sanctuary not a sublime gift to be treasured beyond Sunday throughout the week? Of course it is! We are loved by Jesus - each one of us! We hope and pray that our actions are grafted to the action of Jesus in the Mass.

The Holy Father spoke recently at a gathering of French altar servers in Rome. A few phrases stand out.

Dear Altar Servers, the celebration of the Mass saves us today! It saves the world today! It is the most important event in the life of the Christian and in the life of the Church, for it is the encounter where God gives Himself to us in love, again and again.

In that paragraph is a flood of inspiration! "The Mass saves us today!" Therein the temple of the Lord, kneeling in the sanctuary, we are drawn into eternity to meet "God gives Himself to us in love, again and again."

How can we not "(k)eep in mind the greatness and holiness of what is being celebrated"?

The Holy Father reminds us of the character of the dedicated altar server.

May your attitude, your silence, the dignity of your service, the liturgical beauty, the order and majesty of your gestures, lead the faithful into the sacred greatness of the Mystery."

  1. Attitude. Our minds are wholly centered on the Lord. We serve God; we serve His priest; we support each other. We "lead the faithful into the sacred greatness of the Mystery."
  2. Silence. We are transparent to the presence of God.
  3. Dignity of service. We are part of the shape of the Mass, the architecture of the Liturgy. We are models of prayer.
  4. Liturgical beauty. Is it possible to exhaust the nature of Divine Worship in a blogpost or even an entire book? The beauty of the earthy liturgy is configured to the heavenly Liturgy. Colour, light, texture/incense, fabric/vestments, movement/gesture, sound, silence... are saturated with the art of worship due to God.
  5. Order and majesty of gestures. As above, liturgical gestures are the actions through which Jesus makes himself present. We see, for example, crosses in the movements of the servers, crosses in the priest's gestures over the Gospel pages, the gifts and the people.

Pope Leo's comments could be considered a form of a charter for altar serving.

Reference: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-08/pope-leo-xiv-france-altar-servers-mystery-mass.html

The Guild of Saint Stephen: https://www.guildofststephen.org/

Comments

Post a Comment

Your comments will be appreciated and posted if 1) they are on topic and 2) preserve decorum.

Stand by your word.

Popular Posts

A Bishop Missing The Obvious Signs Obviously?

-
Image
Air Martin It seems that God’s signs are going unnoticed by those whom the lay faithful rely on for guidance. What signs, you ask? Let’s give credit to writers who are capturing what should by now be the most obvious sign—or collection of signs—of God speaking to His people, His Church. Brian Williams @LiturgyGuy Yesterday Charlotte ordained 10 men to the priesthood, a record high in the diocese’s 54 year history. Interestingly, 8 of the 10 ordained came from parishes directly impacted by Bishop Martin’s restrictions against the TLM and/or altar rail ban. Meanwhile, two of the mega parishes in Charlotte, both of which fit the liturgical style +Martin favors—including one with over 12,000 registered families—haven’t produced a priestly vocation since well before COVID. Will this vocations boom continue in the coming years under Bishop Martin? Also interesting to note that one of the twelve ordained this past week by the FSSP also grew up here in Charlotte serving at St. Ann’s TLM. Bisho...
Read more

Slaughter Not The Sacred Liturgy

-
Image
Screenshot | Charlotte Ordinations | CM Author Sarah Cain writes at Crisis Magazine about the naughty and knotty situation in the Diocese of Charlotte. Inspired by a recent ordination Mass, the author captures the flavour of the event as well as offering a wider perspective. Avoiding the Blackpill Temptation by Sarah Cain crisismagazine.com/opinion/avoiding-the-blackpill-temptation ... Ours is a diocese that has been the subject of an abundance of articles over the past couple of years, ever since the newly-appointed Bishop Michael Martin instituted controversial changes. The music at this weekend’s Ordination Mass was grossly inappropriate. Even that phrasing is somehow an understatement(.) (T)he bishop held up the Host weakly with one hand, as he is now known for doing. It’s a posture that is difficult to understand as anything other than indifference. Thus, the projection of such casualness is a source of pain for many faithful Catholics. A woman in a red choir robe sat in the s...
Read more

Rorschach Test For Catholics

-
Image
Walter Joseph Kovacs (Rorschach) by CohenAW "Do you see what I see? Why don't you see what I see?! I want you to see what I see!" Test #1 What a diocesan Catholic sees: "Liturgical dance." Quod sodalis FSSPX videt: "Blasphemia!" What a charismatic Catholic sees: "Gift of tongues." Test #2 What a diocesan Catholic sees: "Sign of Peace." Quod sodalis FSSPX videt: "Abusus liturgicus!" What a charismatic Catholic sees: "Baptism by fire." Test #3 What a diocesan Catholic sees: "Synodality." Quod sodalis FSSPX videt: "Haeresis!" What a charismatic Catholic sees: "Spirit of Vatican II." Test #4 What a diocesan Catholic sees: "Spectacle!" Quod sodalis FSSPX videt: "Caelum in terra!" What a charismatic Catholic sees: "Um... uh... zabbababaha quaamaaaa feraae auteaaam." Test #5 What a diocesan Catholic sees: "Lay presider." Quod sodalis FSSPX videt: ...
Read more

Ordinariate in the Middle: the Ordinary Form Mass, Divine Worship, and the Extraordinary Form

-
Image
Adapted from a post published in 2018 - edited and expanded  JULY 2023 [ 15 minute read ] Many Catholics are confused. Why? How? Catholics are distracted by liturgical infighting and, consequently, are suffering a confusion of identity. The devil knows that the Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life (LG 11 totius vitae christianae fontem et culmen ). Attack the Mass - or undermine human beings' understanding of what the Mass is and should be - and you divide and conquer, sow confusion, and rob people of their dignity and identity. How might we ease the confusion, promote faith, hope and love, and thwart the devil's assaults? We must be allied to Jesus Christ. We meet Jesus in the Eucharistic Liturgy. Divine Worship, the venerable English Mass of the Personal Ordinariates, offers an authentic via media or middle way past the infighting and confusion, and moves man toward communion with God. Divine Worship affirms all that is good and true and beautiful that is also...
Read more

Divine Worship of The English Patrimony: Icon of True Worship

-
Image
The beauty of Catholic ritual action in the Mass is theological before it is aesthetic. Its gestures, postures, and ordered movements arise from—and reveal—the Church’s participation in the Paschal Mystery . The liturgy is not a human construction but the self‑manifestation of Christ the High Priest acting through His Body. Thus, ritual action becomes a sacramental epiphany of divine life. At the foundation lies the Church’s conviction that the Incarnate Word sanctifies not only the soul but the body. Because Christ redeemed human nature in its fullness, the body becomes capable of expressing supernatural realities. This is why the faithful stand to hear the Gospel, kneel in adoration, strike the breast in repentance, and trace the Sign of the Cross over themselves. These are not symbolic flourishes but anthropological-sacramental acts: the body becomes the instrument through which the believer enters the mystery. Ritual action thus forms the Christian according to the logic of the In...
Read more

Divine Worship: What the World Needs Now

-
Image
The Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Sacraments, is celebrated in many distinct and beautiful ways.  Catholics are familiar with the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo). Fewer are familiar with the 1962 Latin Mass (Missa Antiquior). Our eastern Catholic brethren offer the Divine Liturgy (Byzantine, Ukrainian Greek), the Raza (Chaldean), the Holy Qurbono (Maronite, Syro-Malankara), the Holy Qurbāna (Syro-Malabar), the Badarak (Armenian), and more. In the personal ordinariates created by the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus , the Mass is known as Divine Worship. The names we give to the sacred Liturgy say something about the nature of the Eucharist, our orientation to God, and the Church's mission. Of course, we also know the Liturgy as the Eucharist (εὐχαριστία), meaning 'thanksgiving'. 'Mass', a nickname of sorts derived from the Latin word for dismissal in the Mass—'ite missa est' (Go, it is the dismissal. Go, you are sent.)—refers to the mission of the ...
Read more

POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas

Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good” (paragraph 211).

THOMAS SOWELL

Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

PSALM 6

Depart from me, all you workers of evil; for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and sorely troubled; they shall turn back, and be put to shame in a moment.

WORDS TO THE WHYS

An idle wight abideth in sloth, and doth chastise all who seek to render aid.

JACOB ANSCOMB

Judge not, saith the Lord. Wherefore do these knaves of malice and guile cast their cruelty upon others, fearing not the fires of perdition?