Saturday, January 23, 2010

“Serving the Lord is our privilege.”

At a very important time in Jesus’ life, He accepted the services of a young boy. This young boy provided five loaves and two fish for that very momentous miracle with which Jesus launched his teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Sacred Writers do not tell us the name of the young boy, only his deed, and his act of service. Altar servers also perform a great deed of service.

St. Dominic Savio and another boy Joseph Bongiavanni were close companions at St. John Bosco’s Oratory. Together they founded the Immaculate Conception Sodality for the purpose of frequenting Holy Communion. He and Joseph exchanged ideas for a special sodality for servers before Dominic’s death in 1857. Joseph shortly thereafter formed and served as the first president of an auxiliary of the Blessed Sacrament Sodality, the Knights of the Altar.

Don Bosco recorded in his publication, Catholic Letters that the new sodality of the Knights of the Altar served their first Mass on January 31, 1858, on the occasion of the feastday celebration of St. Francis de Sales. January 31 is now the feastday of St. John Bosco himself. Don Bosco celebrated the Mass and officially commissioned the Knights of the Altar in Divine Worship on February 2, 1858.

Why the name Knights?

Medieval Knighthood, in the service of manor lords, calls forth such ideals as honor, loyalty, justice, chivalry, and respect for all. In the use of this term, the Altar Server is reminded of his duty to serve the Lord of lords with fidelity and honor, to treat others with respect and justice, and to live a good personal life, defending always the rights of God and His Holy Church. In the names page and squire, the server is reminded again of the years of patient practice and study that went into the training of a knight and should consider with what devotion and perseverance he should attend to his own training in the service of the Altar. The chevalier was a traveling knight, which should remind the server that he should be ever traveling toward his heavenly goal.

OUR GOAL

The aim of a Knight of the Altar, and indeed all persons, is to go to heaven and be with God our Father - in other words, to become a Saint. However, God wants us to be saints not only after our earthly life, but rather precisely here on earth, by doing our ordinary activities in the best way that we can. For a Knight, "ordinary activities" include, among others, prayer, study, work, recreation, relationship with our family and friends, and services done in the church as a member of the Knights of the Altar Organization.

The "Norms of Piety" are basic prayers and good habits through which we relate ourselves to God and to others, and form ourselves to become better persons. Through these norms, which have always been recommended to us by our Mother the Church, a Knight can live a life of intimate union with God, the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, his guardian angel, and the other angels and saints in heaven. This rich interior life will surely overflow into a better relationship with others, bringing them closer to God, and thus making us true apostles of Christ in our own little way, without doing extra-ordinary deeds nor calling the attention of others, but rather by living our most ordinary life according to God's will at all times.

These norms are not chains which limit the freedom of a Knight, but rather a guide to help him set the pace of his relationship with God. They are general considerations which a Knight can suit to his personal situation, in an orderly way but with flexibility. By gradually learning these norms, a Knight can live them all within a few weeks or a few months (each one according to his circumstances).

"The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest" (Mt.9,37-38). A Knight of the Altar, through baptism, is a laborer in God's field. Many are called to become priests, and a Knight should seriously consider in his prayer whether God has given him this great gift of vocation to the priesthood. He should constantly ask God to make His will known to him, and be always ready to follow Him if He calls him to be a priest.

WHAT WE ARE?

PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE

*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.