Pope Leo XIV Inspires Love For Jesus In The Sacred Liturgy

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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/

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