What is it Like to Serve at Mass?

[SanctaMommy]

Nope. I’ve never once seen an adult. We usually have about four kids, age 12-15. Lectors, cantors and EMs are adults. Originally I didnt even understand the question because it’s exclusively a youth ministry here.

 

[jonnyws]

How long have you been serving? 2 years

**Do you serve in the OF or EF? **OF but I’d like to train for the EF as well.

**What do you most like about serving? ** I’m not sure I like or dislike it, I’m a Lay Chaplain so MC and occasional server comes with the territory. I have a lot to organise and do for Mass and during Mass its sort of second nature to keep half an eye on how everything flows and that everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing that I guess its something I just do. My main focus is always on the Mass itself and everything else that I have to do sort of just runs as an undercurrent to the primary act of worshipping the Lord.

Do you have a set time to practice? How often? No practice, if something different is going to happen in the Mass the Priest and I will usually have talked about it earlier in the week and having written the order of service and set up the Hall where we have Mass I’ve got a fairly good idea of what needs done.

Do you get nervous? If there’s something different going on or I’m in an unfamiliar Church then yes, otherwise no.

What is the primary thought in your mind while serving? As I said above what’s going on during the Mass is my primary thought, the majority of the time I don’t have to consciously think about serving, its just part of my worship.

Has serving helped you in your spiritual life? I some ways yes and in some ways no. It has certainly been a blessing to be close to the Altar, to understand what is going on in all the little gestures and to be in a position to clearly hear the readings. That’s knowledge to a large extent though. If my spiritual life has grown its down to grace and I wouldn’t attribute it to anything specifically that I do. We pray Morning and Evening Prayer from the Divine Office at the Uni I’m at and I would say that just as I don’t get anything more spiritually from presiding at the office or simply taking part I don’t get anything more spiritually from serving at Mass or not.

**Has serving helped foster in you, or a server you know, the desire to become a priest? ** Not particularly. The Mass has and perhaps more than that the Priests I know and have met and the lives they lead has.

 

[TrueLight]

**

Has serving helped you in your spiritual life?** I some ways yes and in some ways no. It has certainly been a blessing to be close to the Altar, to understand what is going on in all the little gestures and to be in a position to clearly hear the readings. .

Speaking of all the gestures, I just learned what it means when during the prayers at the foot of the altar, when the priest moves his head from left to right and then the server does it afterwards, they are giving a nod to Peter and Paul and that one side of the altar is Peter and one side is Paul?

Something like that.

 

[TheMc]

Speaking of all the gestures, I just learned what it means when during the prayers at the foot of the altar, when the priest moves his head from left to right and then the server does it afterwards, they are giving a nod to Peter and Paul and that one side of the altar is Peter and one side is Paul?

Something like that.

Not sure about the priest, but for the server, I thought that he was turning towards the priest simply because he was addressing him.

et te pater…et tibi pater
and to you, father…and you, father

 

[TrueLight]

Not sure about the priest, but for the server, I thought that he was turning towards the priest simply because he was addressing him.

et te pater…et tibi pater
and to you, father…and you, father

Oh wow. You’re right. Talk about misinformation.

Someone just told me that yesterday and I just looked it up and found this:

S: Deeply bow your head and shoulders low towards the Altar and say:

Confíteor Deo omnipoténti, beátæ Maríæ semper Vírgini, beáto Michaéli Archángelo, beáto Ioánni Baptístæ, sanctis Apóstolis Petro et Páulo, ómnibus Sanctis,

with head and body deeply bowed, turn towards the Priest and say:

et tibi, Pate
turning again toward the Altar, continue:

quia peccávi nimis cogitatióne, verbo, et ópere:

lightly strike your breast three times and say:

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. Ideo precor beátam Maríam semper Virginem, beátum Michaélem Archángelum, beátum Ioánnem Baptístam, sanctos Apóstolos Petrum et Páulum, omnes Sanctos,

with head and body deeply bowed, turn towards the Priest and say:

et te, Pater, turning again toward the Altar, continue: oráre pro me ad Dóminum Deum nostrum.

Remain with head and shoulders deeply bowed while the Priest says:

 

[TheMc]

Oh wow. You’re right. Talk about misinformation.

Someone just told me that yesterday and I just looked it up and found this:

No no. You might be right still, I’m just saying that’s what I’ve noticed on a practical level.

There still might be (and probably is) a deeper symbolism.

 

[CatholicZ09]

Really? Never?

The only time they have adult altar servers in my parish is during the week when the kids have school. Whenever kids are off, they call them to do the jobs. All the servers on the weekends are always young kids.

 

[TrueLight]

The only time they have adult altar servers in my parish is during the week when the kids have school. Whenever kids are off, they call them to do the jobs. All the servers on the weekends are always young kids.

I guess it also depends on how big the parishes are and if there are young families.

 

[ProVobis]

Speaking of all the gestures, I just learned what it means when during the prayers at the foot of the altar, when the priest moves his head from left to right and then the server does it afterwards, they are giving a nod to Peter and Paul and that one side of the altar is Peter and one side is Paul?

Something like that.

TheMc gave the gestures for the servers when they turn towards the priest twice during the Confiteor. The Priest’s Confiteor varies slightly in that he says “et vobis fratres” and “et vos fratres” turning once to the left server and once to the right server each time. The servers here represent the entire congregation at the altar. In fact they represent the congregation in all their responses.

At Solemn High Masses the ones who role as the deacon and subdeacon give the server responses.

 

[ProVobis]

I’m not sure I like or dislike it, I’m a Lay Chaplain so MC and occasional server comes with the territory. I have a lot to organise

In those parishes which have both the OF and EF,when they switch from one form to the other, the servers have the added functions of preparing the entire altar for the Mass, with the candles, the linens, the Missal, the altar cards, and sometimes even the chalice with the coverings. (In pre-Vatican II only the priest ever held the chalice.) Of course, the cruets have to be filled before Mass and a fresh cloth provided for the priest at the Washing of the Hands. So servers have responsibilities other than just serve at the Mass itself. In our parish we even had locker-posted prayers to recite before we slipped on the cassock and surplus.

 

[TrueLight]

TheMc gave the gestures for the servers when they turn towards the priest twice during the Confiteor. The Priest’s Confiteor varies slightly in that he says “et vobis fratres” and “et vos fratres” turning once to the left server and once to the right server each time. The servers here represent the entire congregation at the altar. In fact they represent the congregation in all their responses.

At Solemn High Masses the ones who role as the deacon and subdeacon give the server responses.

This is all so fascinating!

 

[Aramis]

This is most unusual. Aside from ushers, EMs, cantors and lectors, all the help at mass is done by preteens. I have never seen an adult altar server.

I see one almost every week… Subdeacon Steven!

Then again, he’s been ordained a Byzantine subdeacon, and his duty is to serve.

 

[TrueLight]

I was going to ask this in another thread, but it makes more sense to ask it here.

For those who serve in the EF, are you doing all the responses that are stated in the missals? If so, do you have to memorize them?

For example, in the Orates Fratres:

P. Orate fratres.
Wait till the priest has turned back to the altar; then say without bowing:
**S. SUSCIPIAT DOMINUS SACRIFICIUM DE MANIBUS TUIS, AD LAUDEM ET GLORIAM NOMINIS SUI, AD UTILITATEM QUOQUE NOSTRAM, TOTIUSQUE ECCLESIAE SUAE SANCTAE.
**
While the priest reads the SECRET PRAYERS, say what you can of the following:
O Lord God, receive the Bread and Wine which we offer by the hands of Thy priest, for they will become the Body and Blood of Jesus; and for His sake grant us Thy grace and blessing.
O God, we offer Thee our poor actions, prayers, and sacrifices of this day, together with the glorious merits of Our Lady and the Martyrs, for the conversion of our beloved counry.
Deign to receive, O Lord, the homage of all devout Altar Servers together with the virtues and merits of St. Stephen; and for his sake bless us and make us fervent and faithful.

I can’t hear what the servers are saying so is anyone actually responding as above in bold?

 

[tradcathconvert]

I was going to ask this in another thread, but it makes more sense to ask it here.

For those who serve in the EF, are you doing all the responses that are stated in the missals? If so, do you have to memorize them?

For example, in the Orates Fratres:

I can’t hear what the servers are saying so is anyone actually responding as above in bold?

The Latin you bolded is what the servers are saying. In a Dialogue Mass you might hear others join in. In any event, at least the servers/altar boys have to make that response.

 

[TrueLight]

The Latin you bolded is what the servers are saying. In a Dialogue Mass you might hear others join in. In any event, at least the servers/altar boys have to make that response.

Yes, so my question was are the servers actually saying those things? I can’t hear them from the pews, so its hard to tell.

I know the celebrant reads a lot of the responses from the books and I know people have mentioned they don’t practice much, but I guess they learn a minimum amount of responses?

 

[tradcathconvert]

If you are talking about this

O Lord God, receive the Bread and Wine which we offer by the hands of Thy priest, for they will become the Body and Blood of Jesus; and for His sake grant us Thy grace and blessing.
O God, we offer Thee our poor actions, prayers, and sacrifices of this day, together with the glorious merits of Our Lady and the Martyrs, for the conversion of our beloved counry.
Deign to receive, O Lord, the homage of all devout Altar Servers together with the virtues and merits of St. Stephen; and for his sake bless us and make us fervent and faithful.

then the servers would say it silently. All their spoken prayers/responses at Mass have to be in Latin.

 

[TrueLight]

If you are talking about this

then the servers would say it silently. All their spoken prayers/responses at Mass have to be in Latin.

Yeah, I know they’re in Latin. I pasted the English instead of the Latin.

So they don’t actually say the words? They say in in their hearts?

 

[GwenL]

Our servers say each and every word of their responses.

We just started the TLM (once a month) in November, so server training has been a steep learning curve. The guys use note cards that they store on a strap inside their sleeves/cuffs, and hold hidden in their hands to read the responses. I’m sure that they’ll have the responses memorized with enough practice.

 

[tradcathconvert]

What you posted in English they would say in their hearts. The Latin you posted, which they do say out loud means: “May the Lord receive this sacrifice at thy hands, to the praise and glory of His name, to our own benefit, and to that of all His Holy Church.” The prayers you posted in English, while wonderful if the servers have learned them and pray them in their heart, are not required.

 

[MarkThompson]

Yeah, I know they’re in Latin. I pasted the English instead of the Latin.

So they don’t actually say the words? They say in in their hearts?

All the responses printed in the missal for the servers to say, the servers say (assuming that they are not illicitly abbreviating the Mass). If they do not have them memorized yet, then they use a crib sheet, not unlike how a priest can use altar cards.