Knights of the Altar: Order of the Mass

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Order of the Mass

Entrance Procession:

Wait for the priest at the entrance where the Entrance Procession is to begin. Sometimes the usher will close the front doors and clear the center isle for you. When signaled to go, the cross-bearer and the candle-bearers will proceed into the isle and wait for the priest. The cross-bearer should stand at the third pew from the back with the two candle bearers one pew behind him. If more servers are present, they should line up behind the candle bearers. Servers should wait in these positions for the start of the entrance hymn. At the start of the entrance hymn, the servers will lead the entrance procession to the Altar.

After entering the Sanctuary, the cross-bearer will face the altar, bow, and move to the cross-bearer Mass position. Following the cross-bearer, the candle-bearers will enter the Sanctuary and will also bow to the Altar and then proceed to place their candles in their Mass places and then go to their Mass positions. The cross-bearer will place the processional cross in the stand. All servers will then genuflect to the tabernacle (at their assigned positions) when the priest (and deacon) genuflect.

Opening Prayers:

During the Glory to God in the Highest (Lord have mercy . during lent), the server behind the priest's chair (server number three) will pick up the sacramentary and wait for the priest to say, Let us pray.

When the priest says, Let us pray, server three will proceed directly in front of the priest. Server three will then give the priest the sacramentary. The priest will then open the book and give it to server three to hold. Hold the sacramentary at the height that the priest hands it to you. Keep the pages flat, and do not move about while the priest is reading.

When the priest is finished, close the sacramentary and return it to its place. Sit down in your chair for the first readings.

The Alleluia:

At the end of the second reading, during the Alleluia, servers two and three should get up and walk to the procession candles on the Altar Steps. Servers two and three should genuflect to the tabernacle and then pick up their candles. They should stand facing the Altar with their candles and wait for the priest or deacon.

The Gospel:

Servers two and three should then bow to the Altar with the priest or deacon and then proceed to the gospel stations at either side of the podium when the priest or deacon move to the podium. The other servers should stand at their normal positions when the people and stand.

Servers two and three should stand at the gospel positions. The servers holding the candles should face the reader during the Gospel. All servers should pay very close attention to the words of Jesus in the gospel and face the reader to demonstrate to the people how they are paying attention.. The arm that is holding the upper part of the candle should point toward the people.

Maintain these positions during the gospel and then return the candles to altar step again when the Gospel is over, Genuflect to the tabernacle, and return to your seats. Sit down and listen to the homily.

The Collection:

All servers sit with the people during the collection. Candle-bearers, during the last collection, when the ushers are about half of the way down the middle aisle, will stand up and proceed to their candles and then genuflect to the tabernacle in unison. After genuflecting, they should pick up the candles and proceed to the back of the church.

When the ushers have the procession ready, turn toward the altar and lead the gift procession to the priest. Do not wait for the priest to tell you to move. Start as soon as you are ready. It is always better to be ready than caught off guard. The cross bearer (server #1) and the optional server (server #4) should stand when the priest and deacon stand and follow them to receive the gifts. Servers should wait at the left side, and behind, the priest. Server one should take the water and wine cruets from the priest and place them on the credence table. If there is no deacon. Take the gold paten with the unconsecrated hosts first, then the cruets. The optional server(s) can take whatever the priest or deacon hands them.

The candle-bearers should walk together (starting on your left foot) toward the sanctuary. Never carry anything but your candle! When you reach the sanctuary, pass around the priest and deacon and proceed to the front of the altar. Set down your candles and genuflect to the tabernacle and move to positions where they can help the priest and deacon accept the gifts.

Servers should take the intention book and place it on the lower shelf of the credence table. Never set it on the Altar. The priest will take the collection basket and place it in front of the altar or another appointed place.

Preparation of the Gifts:

Server one should remove the tops from the wine and water cruets and give them to servers two (wine) and three (water). With server two having the open wine cruet and server three having the water cruet, they should stand with their toes touching the Altar step and wait.

Server two and three should hand the deacon or priest the wine or water as directed. Stand together until the deacon or priest is finished. If it is the priest who takes the wine and water, bow together to the priest when he is finished and returns the cruets to them (never bow to the deacon). Return to the credence table with the water cruet where server number one should give server two an unfolded finger towel and server three the washing bowel.

Server one should then stand ready to assist the younger servers if the need arises.
Servers two and three should return to the altar step and stand there with your toes touching the step. When the priest comes to you, server three should hold out the bowl. Server three should then pour the water over the priest's hands, collecting the water in the bowl until the priest signals the server to stop pouring. Server two will then hand the towel to the priest. When server three has the towel back, both servers should bow to the priest and return to the credence table. Server number one should then neatly arrange the cruets, towel, and bowl on the table.
No server is to sit down. They are to return to the altar and stand. Remain standing there until all kneel. Server number one should stay in this position until after all are kneeling.

The Eucharistic Prayer:

All servers return to there normal positions and kneel on the Altar Step.

The Altar Bells

The bells will be rung at three separate times during the Consecration:

First:

• When the priest holds his hands over the gifts of wine and water and says:
Eucharistic Prayer No 1: "Bless and approve . . . Let it become for us the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord."
Eucharistic Prayer No 2: "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Eucharistic Prayer No 3: "We ask you to make them holy by the Power of Your Spirit, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."
Eucharistic Prayer No 4: "Father, may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. . . .

• The server should ring the bell again (three distinct rings; one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit) during the elevation of the Body of Jesus Christ our God.

• The server should ring the bell for the last time (three distinct rings as before) during the elevation of the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Because these are solemn times, (the bread and wine we offered just before has now become the real BODY and BLOOD of Our God, Jesus Christ) ring the bells reverently. At the two elevations, the bells are to be shaken three distinct times in honor for the Holy Trinity: Once for the Father, Once for the Son, and Once for the Holy Spirit.

The Closing Prayers:

Server number two should assist the priest or deacon in removing all objects from the Altar after the purification of the chalice, paten, and ciborium(s). If any chalice, paten or ciborium which has held the Eucharistic Bread and/or Wine has not been purified by the priest or deacon for some reason it must be handled in a very reverent manner since the Real Body of Jesus Christ is still present in them. Even after these items have been purified, they must still be held in reverence because of the sacramental use of these items during the Consecration.

All servers are to sit until the priest says: "Let us pray" then server three will proceed directly in front of the priest and give the priest the sacramentary. The priest will then open the book and give it to server three to hold. Hold the sacramentary at the height that the priest hands it to you. Keep the pages flat, and do not move about while the priest is reading. When the priest is finished, close the sacramentary and return it to the stand behind the deacon's chair.

Note: Some times the priest will say the final prayer from the Altar and the book will not be needed.

All servers should then be standing in front of their chairs and follow along with the people.

The Exit Procession:

When the priest and deacon are kissing the altar, servers two and three should proceeded to the front of the Altar, genuflect to the tabernacle, pick up the candles, and return to their standard positions. Cross-bearer should pick up the processional cross. When the priest and deacon have walked around to the center of the altar the servers should take up their final procession positions. When the priest and deacon genuflect, all servers bow to altar. All servers then turn and proceed quickly down the center aisle. Extinguish candles in rear of the church and get back to the sacristy as quickly as possible.

No comments:

Post a Comment

knights of the altar

Holiness, or the fullness of Christian life, is given to us by God through grace, but requires a mature personality, a firm will and good habits. Our Christian life is not simply a life of do's and don't's, but rather a life of imitating Christ, our model, who is Perfect God and Perfect Man. Through grace and human effort we can acquire the virtues or good habits that make us better persons, by striving for that human perfection presented to us by Christ, not only when we reach heaven, but even here on earth.
Virtues are not something abstract, separated from one's everyday existence. It affects precisely his life, his outlook, his actions and his relationship with others, so much so that one not only "lives and acts in a virtuous way", but rather one "is a virtuous person."
Like most other things in life, the virtues have to be learned. God may give them to us as gifts, but we should also cooperate with His grace and do our part. When we know more about the virtues, we begin to love them more, and we realize the good that they bring about. Little by little, we discover that it becomes easier for us to fulfil our duty of being good examples to others - good examples of ordinary persons in the middle of the world, just like everybody else, who live their Christian vocation fully, in the most natural way, so that others could see that the Christian life is a life full of joy, inspite of all the difficulties that man encounters in this world.
For an Altar Server all these may seem a difficult task, but for those who trust in God's grace, nothing is impossible. When the Holy Spirit reminded us in the Second Vatican Council of our duty to seek holiness - a duty of all Christians - He was not presenting to us an unreachable ideal. Instead, He wants us to realize that we can live the fullness of our Christian vocation without looking for the impossible, and without even searching for extraordinary moments to live it.
Lastly, by living these virtues very well, the Altar Server prepares himself to receive many graces from God - and among these graces, for a great number of the Servers, is the gift of vocation to the priesthood. This is one of the greatest graces that he can ever receive, and aside from thanking God, he should also do his best to nurture it until the time comes for him to formally undergo the necessary formation to become a priest.

Knights’ Pledge

We, The Knights of the Altar, pledge allegiance to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, to His representatives on earth, and to Mary, our Queen Immaculate, whom we will serve faithfully until we attain eternal triumph in heaven. We pledge ourselves to form a worthy guard of honor to our Divine Eucharistic King in whose service we willingly assume the dignity and honor of becoming Knights of the Altar; to render faithful, reverent and edifying service to God by assisting His visible representatives, the Bishops and Priests, in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in all other liturgical and devotional functions; to enkindle in the hearts of the faithful, whom we represent at the altar, greater piety and devotion by reverently performing the duties of our holy office and by giving good example in our daily lives.

Knights of the Altar Changing boys for the better.

Knights of the Altar manifestly hit that balance in three ways: understanding the boys’ need for acceptance by a group, healthily promoting their desire to be heroes, and catering to their love of competition and challenges.

Peers. Respect. Acceptance. 12-14 year olds have an almost universal proclivity to find strength in numbers, to look to their companions for support and approval, and to show little or no capacity for independent thinking. If something will bring them acceptance by their group of friends, they do it. If not, they reject it. They define themselves by their group of friends and by the acceptance they feel within that group.

All groups, though, form around one or two charismatic individuals who define what behavior is “cool”, and therefore what behavior will find acceptance within a group.

For lack of a better word, “cool” refers to whatever brings adolescents the peer-acceptance they seek. It can mean the qualities in a person which earn him the respect of his peers, or the qualities in an activity or a possession which will earn that respect. For example, a kid is cool when he is popular (funny, daring, athletic, rebellious, etc) and other kids imitate him; a thing (like wearing certain types of clothes, owning something special, belonging to a certain group, listening to certain music) is cool when doing (or wearing, etc) that thing earns a kid the respect of his peers.

The leaders who decide what is “cool” are generally of two kinds. One kind seems to attract a group of boys to him because of his perceived “experience.” Another kind does the same because of his self-assuredness.

First, “coolness-by-experience.” Since an adolescent’s world is so closed, so hemmed in by adult restrictions, those viewed as cool kids are often the ones who have more independence from adult authority and therefore more access to the experiences that to other boys are still forbidden fruit. Since these same boys also tend to be less respectful to adult authority, and tend to denigrate those still under that authority, they create a climate of rebelliousness and disrespect toward adults.

These kids and their followers, however, are inherently insecure. Three things result. The first is that they find security and acceptance by bragging about “experiences.”

Second, the leader in this group feels the need to constantly reinforce his position of predominance. He does this either by openly voicing rebellion against and disdain for adult authority (which leads their followers to increase their good standing with the cool kid by aping those attitudes), or by continuously pushing the boundary of things he dares to do further and further into forbidden territory. This also leads his followers to imitation.

Third, all the boys’ constant fear of not being accepted by the others leads them to outdo each other in staying away from (and therefore openly rejecting) kids not considered cool by their group, which nine times out of ten will lead to bullying.

Any school teacher will recognize the above description. Since “experiences” tend to become more and more morally dubious as the boys grow older, the negative influence of a group like this can be devastating.

Next, however, are those boys who are “cool” because of their self-assuredness. There are few common ingredients for their self-confidence other than the crucial one that they always feel supported by their parents. Often times these boys will be good athletes. Other times they will be smarter than average, or will simply have an innate ability to make friends through kindness. They differ from the “experience” leaders in several important ways.

First, their self-assuredness precludes any desire to form a group of admirers. They are content with being themselves. They can form a group around them at will, however, and when a group does form, often it is simply because they are fun people to be around, and enjoy accepting others the way they are.

Second, since they are not afraid of losing their position of leadership, they do not as often attempt to mark their territory at the expense of adult authority.

Finally, their group, if and when it forms, is generally open to any type of kid, without the fear-driven apartheid practiced by the other type of leader.

Obviously, forming a group of kids around a leader like this is crucial for the success of any youth program. Knights of the Altar was able to recruit the positive leaders in the school, and so it thrived.

Knights of the Altar promotes the boys’ desires to be heroes. This is a universal phenomenon: boys want to be heroes, or better said, they have heroes they want to be like. Cue in the lack of discrepant judgment mentioned above, and it is easy to see why so many young people can make heroes of rotten role models like some rock stars and professional athletes. By instructing young people about what true heroism consists in – living the virtues – and presenting them with examples or archetypes of people who do that – Jesus Christ, saints, knights – a youth program can turn the child’s desire for heroism into a positive, healthy force. Knights of the Altar presents the archetype of knighthood as a model of virtuous living. Since this appealed to the boys’ sense of adventure and hero-worship, the program prospered.

Knights of the Altar caters to the boys’ love of competition and challenge. Boys, and indeed males of all ages, define their sense of self-worth by their ability to overcome challenges. The program presented the boys with difficult tasks like moving to the next stage of Squire or Knight, while at the same time proffering encouragement and reward (an exciting investiture ceremony, serving more complicated Masses). It was thus able to keep the boys’ interest and commitment.

Knights of the Altar is changing boys for the better, but what about the girls? And how deep is the change? Deep enough to open their hearts to a possible priestly vocation?

It would be helpful to review the conditions Pope John Paul II prescribed when, on March 15, 1994, he allowed the practice of girls serving Mass. They are as follows:

1) Female altar servers are not mandated, but permitted, and neither individual priests nor entire dioceses can be obliged to allow girls to serve at the altar.

2) Groups of altar boys are to be preferred, and support is to be given to such groups.

3) The reasons for allowing girls to serve should be explained to the faithful.

4) There is no right, on the part of anyone, not even ordained ministers, to serve the liturgy (or read, distribute communion, etc). The Church decides who may exercise that privilege.

So, girls can serve, but it’s preferable that boys do, and priests and bishops should promote altar boy groups. The best way to allow all of the above to happen would be to have separate programs for boys and girls.

There seem to be two reasons for this: first, the importance to 12-14 year old boys of “the group”; and second, their fear of teasing.

As has been mentioned, boys at this age only find security in their group. They are beginning to find girls attractive, but they relate to girls “as a group”; they do not pair off and start engaging the girls individually until later. Being forcibly separated from that group and having to deal with girls one-on-one is not an appealing experience for boys this age, and yet that is exactly what they are being asked to do if they have to serve Mass with a girl.

Add to that the fear of the teasing that he at least imagines he will receive from “the guys” if they see him up there on the altar with a girl, and it is rare to find a normal boy brave enough to endure the pressure. Isn’t the only other time you see a boy and a girl on the altar during a wedding? Rag. Rag. Rag. Tease. Tease. Tease. Immature? Yes, but that is exactly what 12-14 year olds are – not yet fully developed.

The only solution, if we want boys to be altar servers, is to develop separate programs for boys and girls. Not only will the boys breathe a sigh of relief, but you will get better participation out of both sexes. Boys and girls, gasp, are different. For one, the main attractions to altar serving for boys - the mystery and ritual, the competition, the challenges, the heroism – holds little truck with girls. A fascinating and authoritative look at the subject is Why Gender Matters by Dr. Leonard Sax, MD, PhD. (Random House, 2006.) Separate programs for each would benefit both sides.

Obviously, having an all-boy program would make promoting the vocation to the priesthood a lot easier. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make everyone happy. Some people, often parents or relatives, seem to think that joining an altar boy group is “dooming” a boy to become a priest. That is not true.

First of all, those who would most likely be responsible for promoting the priesthood among the altar boys (priests and seminarians), are the first to recognize that the vocation is a very individual gift from God, and cannot be chosen as if it were a career option. Second, the fact remains that God does call – everyone! All people have a vocation, literally a calling, to something. For nine out of ten of the boys in an altar boy program, that calling will be to fulfillment as a Christian husband and father. For a few, it will be a call to the priesthood. The advantage of an altar boy program that is focused on the service of Christ and that teaches boys to place importance on God’s plan for their lives is that it will help them all follow their vocation, whatever that may be. And that is the goal of Christianity: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Delete Post